Sophia Network Consultation 2009

Thriving in Ministry

How can organisations and churches be places where both men and women thrive in ministry?

OVERVIEW OF THE DAY

This report gives a brief summary of each of the sessions. Handouts and more details are available from our website:

SETTING THE SCENE – JENNY BAKER

Although it’s over 80 years since women were first given equal voting rights to men, there’s still a long way to go before there’s equality of opportunity for men and women in our society. Some areas of life are still very male dominated – sport, the arts, business and politics. A complex blend of gender expectations, networking relationships, sex discrimination and different opportunities combine to still create barriers for women in many areas of life. And men face inequalities of their own, for example in health where they are more likely to both get cancer and die from cancer.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission have highlighted five areas where there is persistent inequality between men and women:

  • income
  • supporting modern families
  • access to public services
  • tackling violence and
  • sharing power.

The Gender Equality Duty now requires all public bodies to be proactive in addressing the different needs of men and women, recognising that equality of opportunity doesn’t necessarily come from men and women being treated identically.

How does this relate to churches and Christian organisations? Do Christians believe in the equality of men and women? Clearly there are different theological perspectives on the roles of men and women, but all would agree that men and women are both made in the image of God and are equal in God’s sight. We need to be clear about how our theological perspective is communicated in our churches and organisations.

DISCUSSION GROUPS

What blocks equality of opportunity for women and men in the church and Christian organizations? Which of the EHRC areas are relevant to churches and Christian organizations?

current gender imbalance

  • lack of role models
  • invisibility of capable women – tend to be little known
  • stereotypes – fear of emasculation/diversity
  • mentoring – fewer women available to mentor other women; men reluctant or unsure how to mentor women – need more courage.
  • the importance given to informal networks that women are often excluded from – perpetuates all or predominantly male leadership

structural

  • structure of churches – things have always been done this way – convention and culture
  • segregated ministries for men and women – is this really necessary and helpful?
  • women asked to speak on ‘women’s issues’
  • not naming roles eg manager
  • confusion – what makes leadership? Women may be leading but it’s not recognised or named as such.
  • power dynamics – women joining men
  • volunteer culture – more women expected to be non-stipendary
  • married couples in ministry – female priests are less likely to be expected to move
  • organisational restrictions
  • lack of knowledge of equal opportunities within organisations and churches
  • only certain skills are valued

advocacy

  • who will stand up for women theologically? People need to be equipped to do this.

theological

  • theology and version of the Bible used
  • understanding of headship and priesthood

women’s self confidence

  • self imposed constraints on our own imagination and leadership – need for others to enable women
  • lack of self-confidence
  • feeling a ‘token woman’

family issues

  • guilt related to parenting – going away to conferences etc
  • roles and responsibilities within families
  • balancing career demands and parenting
  • organisations being open to equal sharing of parental responsibilities
  • men expecting equal parenting of themselves
  • lack of church’s teaching on the active role of fathers
  • need to encourage women to re-establish identity after bringing up children

cultural

  • social background/identity
  • lack of opportunities in the workplace feed into the church
  • fear of emasculation

WORKING COLLABORATIVELY – SALLY NASH

Collaborative ministry recognises and acknowledges that there are a diversity of gifts and vocations within the body of Christ which need to be identified and nurtured so that all can play their part. It believes that reflecting the nature of God and Christ’s example requires interdependence and a willingness to work together to overcome barriers and conflict. Collaborative ministry shares a commitment to a common purpose, vision and mission and takes seriously shared decision making and a devolution of power and authority.

Skills needed for collaborative ministry include:

  • good communication skills
  • conciliation and reconciliation skills
  • group work skills
  • enabling people to celebrate what they have achieved
  • enabling reviews that shape what gets done in the future
  • non-defensive perspective on theology and beliefs.

Collaborative workers need to have good self-awareness and to be able to recognise and minimise Groupthink.

Skills for Collaborative Ministry by Paul Nash, Jo Pimlott and Sally Nash, SPCK

TEARFUND’S EXPERIENCE – MANDY MARSHALL AND ANDREW MCCRACKEN

The UN conference on Women in Beijing in 1995 was a catalyst for gender mainstreaming within Tearfund – ‘Governments and other actors should promote an active and visible policy of mainstreaming a gender perspective in all policies and programmes so that before decisions are taken, an analysis is made of the effects of women and men respectively.’ Since then, Tearfund has gradually incorporated an awareness of gender into all its work, both overseas and in the UK. There are some very useful lessons to be learned from their experience, relevant to churches and Christian organisations.

Recently Tearfund have published a case study into Gender, HIV and AIDS and the role of the church in Africa. They found that unhealthy relationships between men and women in the churches were exacerbating the spread of HIV. They worked with their partners Zimbabwe and Burkina Faso through marriage seminars, gender workshops, biblical teaching and so on. As a result they saw significant changes in behaviour and relationships within the churches.

This year, Tearfund has undertaken a gender audit, a review of all their work from a gender perspective. The audit looked at six areas:

  • Tearfund’s vision, direction and priorities
  • how their ‘restored relationships’ priority impacts on programme – internal culture, partners and disasters response
  • international standards on gender implemented in programme and operations
  • staff level of understanding and knowledge on gender and development
  • policies, [procedures, systems and practices
  • sex-disaggregated data in information management systems

The audit was conducted through a variety of methods – one-to-one interviews, focus group discussions, an online survey, a review of policies, systems and documentation and team self-audits. Again, their experience is very valuable for others who want to address issues of gender within their churches and organisations.

WHAT CAN BE DONE?

We listed actions that could be taken by the Sophia Network, churches and organisations. We will consider how we can take these forward as a network, but encourage others to do the same.

  • Gender audit. Could Sophia produce a gender audit in a format that can be used by a church or organisation?
  • Could Sophia please do some stuff on raising boys confidence?
  • A book on generic leadership written by women. Could Sophia write one or bethe catalyst for this?
  • Could Sophia suggest or produce a charter on gender issues for churches / organisations to sign up to? An equality checklist for everything the church plans?
  • Are there things we could ask members to research for us?
  • Note that women don’t put themselves forward for things – we need to find ways of helping them do so.
  • Can we have some theological reflection in an easy to read format please?
  • Could Sophia do something to draw people together to create conversation, safe space, somewhere to challenge default positions?
  • On the issue of diversity is Sophia doing enough to represent women from different ethnic backgrounds?
  • Sophia publicity needs to be not so Christian or need to have an alternative version available.
  • Could Sophia suggest or produce a resource to help churches and organisations raise the gender issue without it being threatening? To include what questions need to be asked / addressed, and suggestions of the process to as to how it can be worked through.
  • How can we encourage the church to speak up on violence?
  • Celebrate diversity and difference – create spaces for difference to flourish
  • Is there a place for positive discrimination?
  • Materials for use with teenagers on gender – we need to start young.
  • Encouraging men in children’s ministry
  • Good chairing skills enables everyone to contribute because they value the input. Managers need to celebrate diversity.
  • People need to understand the issue, not just know about it.
  • Both men and women need supportive relationships that help them develop and learn from failure. Mentoring relationships are key to helping people develop their gifts and skills.
  • We need to be prepared to challenge inequality when we see it.

Summary by Jenny Baker, Sophia Network

22 July 2009

Contact details:

Sophia Network, 77 St Pauls Close, Ealing, W5 3JX

020 8567 6926

0788 7590 6498