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Esther Jadhav

Wilmore, KY
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About Esther Jadhav

For over two decades my work within the Church and Higher Education have allowed me the opportunity to understand the urgency and the need to cultivate cultural competencies that enhance the witness and work of the Church and the importance of educational communities to empower and equip individuals and organizations. While many factors inform my experience and training regarding coaching organizations and individuals in the area of racial dynamics, primary is having lived, engaged with and served interculturally majority of my life in varied racial and ethnic communities both domestically and internationally. I have learned of the significance of human dignity and humanity's deep longing of it. Academically, I have pursued disciplines such as Anthropology, Sociology, and Theology. These academic disciplines have shaped my learning and informed my understanding of the richness and complexities of racial dynamics. In addition to being certified in Cultural Intelligence (CQ), I was most recently invited to serve as a member of the national research collaboration team, on Christians and racial justice and racial dynamics in U.S. Christian organizations conducted by Professor Glenn Bracey of Villanova, Barna Group, ReNew Partnerships, and Michael Emerson. I look forward to the opportunity of partnering with you in this work.

Areas of Expertise

Christian Colleges
Christian K-12 School
Churches
Individual 1 on 1 coaching
Other Organizations

Services

Please submit a proposal detailing your goals and outcomes. I look forward to working with you. You can reach me at [email protected]

References

Dr. Kevin Brown
President - Asbury University
Rev. Dr. Jadhav has excelled as a champion for intercultural engagement. She launched the annual Asbury University Embrace Conference, a campus wide conference that seeks to advance our community in grace-filled reconciliation initiatives. Dr. Jadhav serves as a mentor and coach to our community. This includes cultural intelligence training, cultural hospitality coaching, and consulting around institutional arrangements more accommodating and hospitable to a diverse set of audiences.
Dr. Howard Snyder
International Representative - Manchester Wesley Research Centre
A native of India and long-time resident in the U.S., Dr. Esther Jadhav has developed significant sensitivity to cultural values and differences and to fostering understanding among people of different cultural, racial, religious, and ethnic backgrounds. This sensitivity and related skills have been further honed through her doctoral research and her key position at Asbury University. Compassionate and insightful, she has helped build community and understanding within the university community.
Dr. Paul Stephens
AVP Institutional Research and Effectiveness - Asbury University
Esther brings world class scholarship and an unwaivering, personal calling to the work of cultural competency and racial justice. In her work Asbury Univeristy, Esther has faithfully served as a leader marked by wisdom in the face of complexity, innovation to meet evolving challenges, and steadfastness to this critical work. I highly reccomend and endorse her to any individual or entity who seeks a resource that is concurrently a content expert, a practical strategist, and a deep lover of God.
Dr. Shirley Hoogstra
President - CCCU
Esther brings extensive experience of working across cultures and communities in varied settings, both in the Church and Higher Education. She has developed initiatives and programs that elevate the critical role of theology in activating cultural responsibility as an institutional distinctive. She is a good communicator and an engaging facilitator. She has a great grasp of intercultural dynamics and uses her ability to listen and interpret to the benefit of the communities in which she serves.
Dr. Michael Emerson
Professor and Department Head of Sociology - University of Illinois Chicago
Dr. Jadhav has spent decades working for racial and ethnic diversity and inclusion. She has a deep passion and call for this work in the church. She is not only incredibly knowledgeable, but is compassionate in working with others, learning the context to tailor a plan for becoming ever more Christ-like. I highly recommend her.

Work Experience

Assistant to the D.S. (District Superintendent)
Lexington District, UMC - Lexington
2021 - Current

Serve to operationalize and mobilize the efforts of the Lexington District of the Kentucky Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church as an Assistant to the District Superintendent. This work entails developing strategies to meet the needs and demands of the churches in the Lexington District to equip leadership teams to meet their goals for ministry and mission.

Associate Vice President, Intercultural Affairs
Asbury University - Wilmore
January 2019 - Current

In this role I serve to provide institutional leadership and guidance across the university in all areas of cultural responsiveness with primary responsibility for institutional outcomes rooted in Asbury’s commitment to be a Christian Community that practices hospitality, mutuality, redemptive social action, and grace-filled reconciliation.

Education

- Ph.D. in Intercultural Studies - Emphasis in Contextual Theology
Asbury Theological Seminary - Wilmore, KY
2013 - 2021
- Masters - Th.M., Emphasis in World Missions and Evangelism
Asbury Theological Seminary - Wilmore, Kentucky
2009 - 2013
- Masters - M.Div., Masters of Divinity
Asbury Theological Seminary - Wilmore, Kentucky
1999 - 2003
- Bachelors of Arts - B.A. in Sociology and Anthropology
Mumbai University/ St. Xavier's College - Mumbai, India
1994 - 1998

Resources

Jadhav, Esther (Summer, 2014). A Wesleyan Theology of Cultural Competence. The Academic Open Press, Asbury Theological Seminary.

https://place.asburyseminary.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1040&context=firstfruitspapers

This article explores and offers Wesleyan theological resources to respond to the need for cultural competency in North America today.
Jadhav, Esther D. (Fall, 2020). The Place of Theology in Diversity Efforts in Christian Higher Education: A Wesleyan Perspective. The Asbury Journal.

https://place.asburyseminary.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2494&context=asburyjournal

Theology is critical to diversity efforts in the Church and in Christian Higher Education. In current culture there are at least two ways in which theology emerges in this work, as an afterthought and as foundational in some instances. In this article the author provides a discussion around the question: Does theology have a place in the work of diversity efforts in Christian higher education? This paper asserts that theology is core to this effort and demonstrates how Wesleyan theology can speak into diversity efforts both within the Church and Christian Higher Education.
Jadhav, Esther D. (November, 2021). Faith, Culture and Cultural Responsibility, Seminar presented at the AIKCU (Association of Independent Colleges and Universities) Inaugural Diversity Summit.

This presentation provides an understanding of theology's impact on the development of one's cultural awareness, understanding, appreciation and engagement from a Wesleyan perspective. Taking into account the classic work of Richard Niebuhr, Christ and Culture. This presentation provides some of the findings of a case study that was conducted during my doctoral research to understand the disparity between orthodoxy and orthopraxy.