Susan Whiteledge Nevius Ruach papers

Susan Whitledge Nevius Ruach is the daughter of Frances Melton Whitledge and Mason Allen Whitledge. Her family was a part of Henderson (KY) Methodist Church. After moving to Evansville, IN, Trinity United Methodist Church, Susan attended Stanley Hall Elementary School and Benjamin Bosse High School in Evansville, Indiana. In 1968 she received a BS from Indiana University and a ThM (MDiv) from Boston University School of Theology (magna cum laude) and was the Jacob Sleeper Fellow) in 1971. While in seminary she met Richard Nevius, and they were married in 1969. When they moved to Indiana after seminary, she began work on an EdD at Indiana University in adult education with emphasis on adult Christian education which was conferred in 1975. At the same time, she and Richard also changed their names, each one keeping their own family name, each taking the other's family name and then adding "Ruach" which means "spirit, wind or breath" in Hebrew. "Ruach" was chosen to express who they hoped to be as a family. Susan was ordained deacon in 1969 and elder in 1975 in the South Indiana Conference. She served on the staff of Beech Grove United Methodist Church from 1971 to January, 1975. From January, 1975 to 1977, she and Richard served as Co-Pastors of the Batesville United Methodist Church in Batesville, Indiana. Their son Evan was born in 1976 while at Batesville. Susan served Seelyville United Methodist Church from 1977 to 1983. While serving Seelyville, daughter Anne was born in 1979. From 1983 to 1994 Susan was Associate Council Director for the South Indiana Conference working in the areas of spiritual formation, clergy continuing education, staff support for the Board of Ordained Ministry and Christian education. From 1994-2001 Susan was Council Director for the South Indiana Conference. In 2001 she moved to the General Board of Discipleship of the United Methodist Church in Nashville, Tennessee, working in spiritual formation and leadership development in annual conferences until her retirement in 2012. In retirement, Susan had felt called to use her hobby of photography to invite viewers to pause, breathe, go beneath the surface, feel and think more deeply, wander inside their own souls, reconnect with their creative energy and touch the Mystery.

Susan has been especially committed to helping adults continue to grow in their faith, spiritual formation, spiritual leadership development, and recognizing and using the gifts of lay and ordained women in the church and the world.She has led and organized training events in local churches, districts, conference entities (Cabinets, UMW, etc.) and national groups on many topics, including spiritual formation, prayer, teacher training, discernment, planning, goal setting and leadership development. She also led over 20 Conference canoe camps.

Susan has written or co-written several different kinds of materials, including a workbook on spiritual formation for local churches, articles for conference and national publications, a chapter in Courageous Spirit: Voices from Women in Ministry which she co-edited, and poems and devotional pieces published nationally and internationally.

She was Co-Chair of the 1979 Clergywomen's Consultation, Chair of the National Division of Ordained Ministry's writing team which produced Spiritual Formation Resource Packet (1981-83) as well as serving on many other district, conference, Jurisdictional and national committees. In 1996, she led the South Indiana Conference Delegation to General Conference.