Bonnie L. Jensen

Bonnie Lou Jensen (born October 11, 1938) is an American minister, teacher, and the former director of the ELCA Global Mission.^[1]

Early life and education

Bonnie Lou Hagedorn was born in Royal, Iowa, and received degrees from Dana College and Wartburg Theological Seminary. She married American theologian Richard A. Jensen in 1957. Jensen moved to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to assist with the founding of the Mekane Yesus Seminary in 1962.

Career

Jensen served as executive director of the former American Lutheran Church Women (ALCW), Minneapolis, Minnesota from 1981 to 1987. From 1982 to 1987, Jensen and her husband, served as co-hosts of Reflections, a 30-minute Christian television series. From 1993 to 1995, Jensen served as director for planning and evaluation and program director for Papua New Guinea and the South Pacific for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

Jensen became the director the ELCA Global Mission in 1995. Under her leadership in mission education, the ELCA companion synod program grew its relationships between the ELCA's 65 synods and Lutheran churches overseas. The ELCA's 10,816 congregations are organized into synods across the United States and Caribbean. Under her leadership the ELCA Global Mission had a presence in 70 countries with 300 missionaries and volunteers, 47 division staff based, with annual expenditures of $29 million. Jensen retired in 2003. She has received honorary doctorates from Wartburg Theological Seminary and Dana College.^[2]

Personal life

In 1957, she married Richard A. Jensen. They had three children together, Doron, Dodi, and Derek.

References