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Gail Mengel

Gail E. Mengel is a minister for the Community of Christ. In June 2005, she was named as the first Ecumenical and Interfaith Officer for the denomination.

Prior to this appointment she served as a member of the Council of Twelve and as a general officer for more than seven years. In that capacity she had responsibility for supervising the missionary and administrative work in the North Central USA and Canadian Provinces of Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Alberta.

Prior to ordination into the Council of Twelve, Gail was the Women’s Ministries Coordinator at the Church’s World Headquarters from October, 1990 to April, 1998. Gail and her family lived in Akron, Ohio for seventeen years, during which she served in many capacities of leadership in her Church, including Christian education, camping programs and ecumenical outreach. She served as a Regional Women’s Commissioner for Twelve years, and was the associate pastor for three years in the Barberton Congregation, Barberton, Ohio. She was ordained in 1986.

Gail has always been active in community and civic organizations including Boy Scouts of America, Girl Scouts of America, Parent Teacher Association, and League of Women Voters. She was awarded a Life Membership in the PTA in recognition of her service. Gail ran three successful campaigns for four year terms on the Board of Education in Fairlawn, Ohio. She served two years as president, six years as vice president, seven years as negotiations representative, and nine years as the legislative liaison to the Ohio School Boards Association before resigning to come to Missouri to work fulltime for the Community of Christ World Church.

Gail has written and served as senior editor for resources entitled, Guide for Retreat Planning, A New and Right Spirit, and Sustaining Faith. She chaired a committee for writing the course, With Equal Regard, which is part of the peace studies series. Gail authored a chapter for Count It All Joy, and she assisted in the writing of Sisters in Christ, a book published on the 1993 International Conference of Women.

Gail has traveled extensively and offered ministry in many regions of the Community of Christ World Church. She has broad experience as a community speaker on ecumenical and global issues.

Gail served as director for an International Conference of Women which gathered 4700 women from more than twenty-eight countries in June, 1993. She headed a delegation of ten members of her denomination to the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, China in 1995. In the following year, Hilary Clinton invited her to become a member of the White House Women’s Conference Circle. She was been selected as a United States representative to the Ecumenical Decade Festival in Harare, Zimbabwe, November, 1998.

Gail represented her denomination as their representative to Church Women United. In that capacity, she served as convener of the executive representatives of the twenty-six denominations that support CWU. She was elected as a voting member of the Board representing the denominations from 1995-2003. On July 31, 2004 she was installed as the 18th National President of CWU and serves as the chair of the National Board and Common Council.

Gail serves on the Justice For Women Working Group of the National Council of Churches, and was a member of the Advisory Council of the Center for the Prevention of Sexual and Domestic Violence, now know as the FaithTrust Institute. In April, 2006 Gail was elected to serve as a member of the Board of Directors of the Institute. In June, 2006 Gail was elected to serve on the Greater Kansas City Interfaith Council Board of Faith Advisors.

Community of Christ International Headquarters is located in Independence, Missouri.

Page Last Updated: 12/19/2011