A consultation on gender, power and leadership, sponsored in part by the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, was held in Kenya over the summer. I was privileged to participate, along with 48 others from 17 countries, including seven students from St. Paul's United Theological College (the other co-sponsor) in Kenya.
It is anticipated that this will be a first step in the development of a global project to provide resources to WARC member churches; particularly, but certainly not exclusively, for those churches that are at various stages in the decision-making process concerning women's ordination.
The consultation began with case studies from Hungary, Taiwan, Zambia, Korea, Argentina and the United States in which participants spoke of their churches, their culture and themselves. Each identified in different, yet surprisingly similar ways, challenges to shared leadership. These stories were powerful reminders once again not only of the diversity of culture and race, but also of the different economic, social and ecclesial circumstances within the Reformed family.
In the closing session, participants committed themselves to pursue five aspects that all agreed were most prominently related to issues of gender, power and leadership: racial and ethnic identity; the use of the Bible and theology to discriminate against women's leadership; cultural identity; globalization; and leadership.
The second part of this visit took me to Eldoret, Kenya, where I was part of a small team that met with the leadership of the Reformed Church of East Africa (RCEA). The purpose of our visit was to follow up on RCEA women who had received scholarships awarded by WARC to advance women's ordination in the churches of the South. Since recent information on the RCEA women who had graduated and were ready for ordination was limited, the Theological Education Fund for Women in the South was reluctant to provide more scholarship money until it was clear that the church was proceeding, as indicated in letters of commitment, to ordain qualified women.
We were warmly greeted by the synod executive, presbytery moderators, clergy, women graduates and leaders in the women's organization. A paper was presented by one of the women graduates providing a helpful timeline of the history of the decision-making process. The discussions were cordial, and the team was encouraged by the fact that 22 women were now preparing for ordained ministry. A proposed timeline indicated that the RCEA anticipated having a favourable decision on women's ordination by the end of 2008.
We visited one of the churches nearby where we were welcomed by the minister, elders, women leaders and church members. Their response was uniformly positive to women in the pulpit. They informed us that women were preaching regularly in many congregations given the shortage of ordained ministers.
The team met separately with the women who had graduated from the Reformed Institute for Theological Training, many of whom had also graduated with theological degrees from St. Paul's or were presently students. We were impressed with their gifts, their sense of call and their patience. They remain committed to the process of ordination in spite of the obstacles and delays that are stalling their full participation in the ordained ministry of this church.
