As a former LGBTQ reverend in the UMC and an interdisciplinary scholar, Elyse Ambrose offers a unique lens to sexuality and gender justice in faith communities. Her trainings consider robust meanings of the word “inclusion” as participants examine biblical, theological, and ethical foundations of Christian approaches to sexuality and gender, and focus on aligning their praxes with just ways of relating.

She is available to visit your faith community for half-day trainings for spaces seeking to approach gender and sexuality in more intentional, intersectional, and justice-focused ways.

Elyse Ambrose, Ph.D. is an educator, sexual ethicist, and creative. Elyse’s research, justice work, and art lies at the intersections of race, sexuality, gender, class, and spirituality. Her desire for her scholarship to impact and be informed by real lives leads to her synergy of theory and practice. To this end, she is the Founder and Creative Organizer of phoeniXspark, LLC which offers workshops and trainings in which participants co-create space for just relating, namely as it relates to gender and sexuality. Most recently, Elyse served as a Research Fellow at Columbia University's Center on African American Religion, Sexual Politics, and Social Justice. Her research has been supported by the Forum for Theological Exploration, the Louisville Institute for the Study of American Religion, Auburn Seminary/CrossCurrents, and Yale University’s Pettit Fellowship. Elyse’s work and commentary has been featured in Christian Century, the Huffington Post, Medium, For Harriet, and Vice. Learn more about Dr. Ambrose and her work at elyseambrose.com.