"I wholeheartedly believe that any of us, any African-American, Black woman who has the privilege of sitting in an institution of higher education, is there because some ancestor made the journey across the Atlantic. Some ancestor was hung. Some ancestor was lynched. Some ancestor couldn’t vote. And far be it from us to not live and work in homage to them." - The Rev. Dr. Neichelle Guidry
Dean of Sisters Chapel and and director of the Women in Spiritual Discernment of Ministry (WISDOM) Center, the Rev. Dr. Neichelle Guidry, is inspiring Spelman students to think deeply about their faith and the challenges of the world. In a recent article that appeared on Faith & Leadership.com, Dr. Guidry passionately discusses her vocation -- helping form Black millennial women in ministry and faith.
Dr. Guidry is a spiritual daughter of New Creation Christian Fellowship of San Antonio, Texas, where the Bishop David Michael Copeland and the Rev. Dr. Claudette Anderson Copeland are her pastors; and where she was ordained to ministry in 2010.
She is a graduate of Clark Atlanta University (2007, BA, Lambda Pi Eta) and Yale Divinity School (2010, M.Div.), where she was the 2010 recipient of the Walcott Prize for Clear and Effective Public and Pulpit Speaking. She is also a graduate of Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary (2017), where she completed her Doctor of Philosophy in Liturgical Studies with a concentration in Homiletics.
Her dissertation is entitled, "Towards a Womanist Homiletical Theology for Subverting Rape Culture." She is the creator of shepreaches, a virtual community and professional development organization that aspires to uplift African-American millennial women in ministry through theological reflection, fellowship, and liturgical curation.
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For six years, Guidry served as the associate pastor to young adults and the liaison to worship and arts ministries in the office of the senior pastor at Trinity United Church of Christ on the South side of Chicago, where the Rev. Dr. Otis Moss III is the senior pastor. She also served as the 2016 Preacher/Pastor-In-Residence at the Black Theology and Leadership Institute at Princeton Theological Seminary.
Guidry was listed as one of “12 New Faces of Black Leadership” in TIME Magazine (January 2015). She has been recognized for “quickly becoming one of her generation’s most powerful female faith leaders” on Ebony Magazine’s 2015 Power 100 list (December 2015), and one of “Ten Women of Faith Leading the Charge Ahead” by Sojourners.