ABOUT US
Deborah’s Tree is a non-profit organization that provides spiritual resources and educational materials in a variety of media within the Swedenborgian theological and spiritual movement, focusing primarily on the work of female authors, scholars, clergy and artists. It serves the Swedenborgian movement worldwide by bringing balance through lifting up the voices of Swedenborgian women. It serves those Swedenborgian women by giving them a place to be seen and heard. It also serves people on a spiritual journey who are looking for the spiritual perspectives that they might find within the Swedenborgian movement.
This website offers you the opportunity to hear the voices of Swedenborgian women through what they have written, spoken and created. We also offer you the opportunity to connect with Swedenborgian women, and others involved in the Swedenborgian movement, through the online and in-person events that we promote.
By way of back story, as an advocate for women in the Swedenborgian movement, founder Roslyn Taylor had participated in efforts to increase female leadership, pioneered a path for women’s ministry, planted a church based on an equal participation model, edited a volume about wholeness theology by mostly female authors, established a long-running monthly brunch for mostly female speakers on spiritual topics, and helped plan and teach at the Gathering Leaves international retreats for Swedenborgian/New Church women.
Roslyn originally envisioned “Deborah’s Tree” as a traditional faith community within the Swedenborgian movement, taking its name from the Biblical prophet Deborah who sat under a palm tree as she provided spiritual guidance. Setting aside her vision as she continued her ordination studies, Roslyn started birthing it into reality after her ordination as a minister in the Swedenborgian Church of North America.
The decision to change course for Deborah’s Tree came as an “aha!” moment when Roslyn realized that, with “spiritual but not religious” being the largest faith identity in the American population, a spiritual community was needed more than a faith community. Along with wanting to provide her own resources for people who identify as spiritual but not religious, she also wanted to promote the work of many Swedenborgian women, whether intended for a general spiritual audience or specifically for the Swedenborgian community. Roslyn noticed that, although there were prominent women in leadership and influence positions within the Swedenborgian movement, the public face of the international Swedenborgian movement was still predominantly male, as it had been since its inception in 1787. Her long-standing advocacy for women’s voices helped change the focus of Deborah’s Tree to the work of women within the Swedenborgian movement around the world.
As you can see through our story and what we offer, we value equity, respect, cooperation, supportiveness, justice, sensitivity and intuition as values important to women. As participants in the Swedenborgian movement, we value freedom, inclusiveness, individual responsibility for our human growth processes, and bringing loving intentions and wise actions together in useful service.
Contact us via hroslyntaylor@gmail.com
OUR BOARD
Secretary
JOY BARNITZ
Joy describes her life path as taking her from the laboratory bench to the corporate board room and to the bedside. Raised in the Swedenborgian tradition, she is an ordained United Church of Christ (UCC) minister serving as a chaplain and as the coordinator of the No One Dies Alone program at a community hospital in the San Francisco Bay Area. Her seminary training included earning a Certificate in Women’s Studies in Religion. In addition to serving on the board of Deborah’s Tree, she is active in a local UCC congregation
( https://uniteducc.org/ ) that focuses on care for creation and on the Pacific Islander heritage of many of its members. A Veriditas-certified
( https://www.veriditas.org/ ) labyrinth facilitator, Joy is also active in the local interfaith
council ( https://tcicouncil.weebly.com/ ).
President
ROSLYN TAYLOR
Roslyn is a Swedenborgian minister whose ministry has included hospital chaplaincy, facilitating a Home Church, writing, and presenting workshops and lectures on a variety of spiritual topics. As an Australian American, Roslyn has served within the Swedenborgian Church of North America, and the New Church in Australia, and considers herself a "Universal Swedenborgian."
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Treasurer
PEG MERGAN
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