Myrna Bas

Your enthusiasm about your participation in the work of the TEAM Board is appreciated. Thank you for broadening the scope for our mission. I am wondering if you have thought about how you feel now that you have attended a few meetings.

Thank you! I am excited about TEAM! The broader scope would be training and mentoring for our women in training and women clergy. Be present for them: celebrate with them and help carry their burdens in challenging times.

TEAM is doing an amazing ministry for women. It helps them afford an education to fulfill their vocation. What strikes me most is what is being done in Africa with two representatives, including a male pastor at the West Africa Division, reaching out to the English-speaking women on the continent. My vision is to have a similar outreach to the French-speaking women in ministry.

I love that the Board is made up of knowledgeable members with varied backgrounds in ministry, education, health, and finance. I love that other organizations have realized the value of TEAM and are pouring in with funds and support. I love that TEAM has strong communication and public outreach sides, which enable it to reach out and join their voices to support women in clergy in different conferences.

What is your profession? What role do you play at church?

I am a board-certified chaplain and pastoral counselor with the College of Pastoral Supervision and Psychotherapy (CPSP). By God’s grace, I also have experience as a missionary in the former Africa-Indian Ocean Division and in capacity and training administration in a financial international organization. I love it that I got to work in international organizations but at the church and corporate levels!

I volunteer as a chaplain for the Daily Manna and Prayer group. It has been a blessing to be present and support those who are in need of a pastoral ear. I am leading as the convener for my chapter with the College of Pastoral Supervision where I assist and guide chaplains towards their Board certification. I love that I get to support them in their chaplaincy ministry on a personal and ministry level. In collaboration with other conveners in our region, we work towards becoming better experienced chaplains.

At my local church, I co-lead grief care and divorce care support groups, and serve as the prayer ministry coordinator. It has been a joy for the prayer team to be called on to collaborate with women’s events, retreats and be involved in community events. We recently provided spiritual care for cancer patients and their families with chaplains at the Adventist White Oak Hospital for their cancer support day.

I also love writing so it was a joy to write Bible study lessons for one of our small groups for several years.

You are supportive of mission outreach and serve Heartlifters organization. In what other organizations do you hold membership?

Yes, I enjoy being part of the WGTS prayer team volunteers group where we pray for hundreds of people at their concerts.

Have you been involved in advocating for women?

I support women on a one-on-one basis through listening to and praying for them (including women pastors). I have supported women at my job by being a peer-to-peer representative, a diversity group representative for my department, and staff association group member for the whole organization. One of my great joys was – after a lot of hard work and push back - to have mostly women recognized for a different job title.

When I was teaching overseas, a friend and I created an evening program for children to teach them about Jesus and hygiene. It was a sight to see them climb up from the valley where they lived to where we held the meetings.

What a privilege it has been to be a liaison between my local church and my home country church, Mauritius, for the refugee ministry. My church offered backpacks for poor children (including low-income young girls and teenagers). When sharing these backpacks, I took that opportunity to encourage them and to also provide groceries to their families. I gave back to my home country and region by giving speeches and presentation on grief to women ministry efforts in Mauritius and Rodrigues Island.

Currently, TEAM is endeavoring to empower and support women called to ministry throughout the world by advocating for their recognition. Our trust is that leadership positions will continue to open for women.

What has been your experience in leadership? What is your training? What positions have you served in the church?

My leadership role started as a teenager, at my local church with leading Adventurers groups and having a leadership role in our Sabbath School. I loved putting together a group of teenagers to visit elderly shut-ins on Sabbath afternoons and to participate with our Pathfinder leader to visit a women’s prison. I led one of the Journey Groups for four years where I ministered to our group, had difficult conversations for better group dynamics, and extended our ministry to serving a family whose husband was a shut in and was present to help when the husband passed away. Initiated, with the hostess, social gatherings for the group and their families. What fun it was!

My training has been in organizational management, religion, chaplaincy, pastoral supervision and pastoral psychotherapy.

Positions served in the church: Adventurers club leader, Sabbath School Assistant leader, Elder, prayer ministry coordinator, Journey group leader and writer, Discipleship group leader, prison ministry prayer representative, Vacation Bible School group leader, grief and divorce care support groups co-leader, Board member.

One area most leaders have difficulty addressing is how best to recharge. What do you do to recharge?

I am an introvert and I need that ME time to recharge. During that time, I try not to feel guilty to rest. I’m getting there. I love to take walks in nature, especially if it is by a creek, a river or the sea, where I can be soothed by the sound of water! Funny shows are a go to too (laughter is good medicine, right?). I’m happy when I connect with friends and family who care and make me laugh. My constant though is re centering my mind on Jesus, the source of my strength, calm and peace.

Regarding the TEAM Summer Newsletter, would you be so kind as to share something you are proud of that is not on your CV?

I am most proud that friends, family, co-workers, church members, and neighbors feel comfortable to share their concerns with me and that God gave me the gift to be present for them and to listen. I can provide that safe space. I am proud that they can have a voice and understand that difficulties, short-comings and setbacks do not change who they are and that they have strength despite their challenges.

It gives me great joy and pride that I can help revive a light that is struggling to keep going on and to give meaning, with them, to their experiences. What a joy when they can come to the point of seeing that there is still hope for them. I am most proud of being able to share that "a setback is a set up for a come back" mission. Again, your willingness to be a part of TEAM is most appreciated.

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to serve and to grow.