Suzette Shreffler (kneeling) is annointed by CPMC Conference Minister Susan Janzen. Photo by Nathan Luitjens.
Suzette Shreffler was ordained for Christian ministry on Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024, at White River Cheyenne Mennonite Church in Busby, Montana, with Susan Janzen, conference minister for Ministerial Leadership, officiating.
Shreffler is the first Northern Cheyenne woman to be ordained by Central Plains Mennonite Conference. She joins Susan Hart, a Southern Cheyenne from Oklahoma, as the only ordained Cheyenne women in Mennonite Church USA. Hart is an MC USA Executive Board member and pastor of Koinonia Mennonite Indian Church, Clinton, Okla.
Shreffler grew up in Muddy Cluster, a hamlet between Lame Deer and Busby. In 1987, she left on a bus to Seattle, Washington, saying that she “would not return home until she could help her people on the Northern Cheyenne reservation.” Some years later, God called Shreffler to be back home with her people to share the good news of Jesus Christ.
She was licensed for specific ministry in April 2014 for her work as manager of the Everything Beautiful Thrift Store in Lame Deer, a ministry of the Northern Cheyenne Ministerial Association. She held that position until 2018, when she and her husband, Scott, felt God calling them to move on from Busby, not knowing for sure where they would land. But they knew God had a plan.
Suzette Shreffler (left) and Susan Janzen at Shreffler’s ordination. Photo by Nathan Luitjens.
Five months later, while in Pennsylvania, Suzette was called to serve as a local missionary with Central Pennsylvania Youth Ministries. When Scott and Suzette returned to Busby as co-pastors at White River Cheyenne Mennonite Church in November 2022, she was licensed toward ordination.
Written by Susan Janzen, conference minister for Ministerial Leadership, Central Plains Mennonite Conference. This article was originally published in the December issue of CPMC’s Scattered Seeds newsletter and is republished here with permission.
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