GAIL E. MENGEL

Gail E. Mengel is a member of the Council of Twelve Apostles, the leading missionary quorum for the Community of Christ. In April 2002 she was assigned to the North Central/East Central U.S.A. Mission Field, which includes the Brush Creek USA Mission Center, Cedar Valley-Nauvoo USA Mission Center, Chicago USA Mission Center, Gateway USA Mission Center Headwaters Canada/USA Mission Center, Kentucky-Indiana Mission Center, and Lamoni Heartland USA Mission Center. She is also responsible for Ecumenical/Interfaith Ministries (U.S.A.) and Urban Ministries.

Ordained an apostle on March 31, 1998, Mengel’s previous assignments included the North Central U.S.A. and Canada Mission Field and the North Central Field. Prior to ordination into the Council of Twelve, Mengel had served as the Women’s Ministries coordinator at World Headquarters since October 1990.

Mengel and her family lived in Akron, Ohio, for seventeen years, during which they were active in the Kirtland Stake and Upper Ohio Valley Region of the church. Mengel provided leadership in Christian education, camping programs, and ecumenical outreach. She served as Kirtland Stake women’s commissioner for twelve years and was the Barberton, Ohio, congregation’s associate pastor for three years. She was ordained an elder in 1986 and a high priest in 1995.

Mengel has 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 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.

Mengel is enrolled in the master of arts in religion program at Graceland University. She has written and served as senior editor for Guide for Retreat Planning, A New and Right Spirit, and Sustaining Faith. She chaired a committee for writing the Temple School course With Equal Regard, which is part of the peace studies series. She authored a chapter in Count It All Joy and assisted in writing Sisters in Christ, a book about the 1993 International Conference of Women.

Mengel has traveled extensively and offered ministry in many regions of the World Church. She has broad experience as a community speaker on ecumenical and global issues. She served as director for the International Conference of Women that gathered 4,700 women from more than twenty-eight countries in June 1993. She headed a delegation of ten church members to the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, China, in 1995. She was selected as a United States representative to the Ecumenical Decade Festival in Harare, Zimbabwe, November 1998.

Mengel is the church’s denominational representative to Church Women United. She has been elected as the 18^th national president of Church Women United for 2004–2008. She has also served on the Justice For Women Working Group of the National Council of Churches, and is a member of the Advisory Council of the Center for the Prevention of Sexual and Domestic Violence and the White House Women’s Conference Circle.