Introduction: Emerging from Ministry Margins—Global and Ecumencial Women’s Voices by Anne Weirich

I have been engaged with the global Reformed community since 2004 when I attended a General Council meeting of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC) in Accra, Ghana.  The first several days of the Council were spent at the women’s pre-conference.  I was one of only a few women from North America at the meeting.  The focus was HIV/AIDS and justice in the economy and the earth.  One of our ecumenical sisters, Mercy Oduyoye, spoke and changed my life with these words.  “As I look out among you and see the faces of our sisters from the West, I want to say that, yes, you are accountable.  But, here in Africa, we know…. the rich, we will always have with us.”

Since that transformational and ecumenical moment, I have stayed connected to this global body and the friendships it has generated for me all over the world.  My life and faith have been conditioned and renewed by the stories of my sisters and brothers, some of whom struggle mightily for the freedom to thrive and worship.  When I compare the problems and issues of my own denomination to the work and witness of others in the global Christian community, they come up rather paltry.  When I compare the strength of my convictions to the strength of the convictions of my brothers and sisters in Christ, I come away humbled. Together, we strengthen each other.

Humility is a key ingredient in the work that those of us with bias and privilege need to do upon ourselves and the structures of oppression that exist in our own churches and the colonialism of our mission.  I am still stuck, like the man who can’t figure out how to get to the healing waters at the pool of Bethesda.  I still don’t hear Jesus’ question to him, “Do you want to be healed?” All I know is that I want to take up the mat of my bias and privilege and walk into the deep waters of truth and reconciliation to undo generations of haughty and deadly imposition.

My global family and others near me, I hope, will continue in their forbearance as I, as we, move forward.  My prayer is that this can be done without asking those oppressed to carry me and us again and again.

I am grateful for the chance to invite some of the women who have taught me a great deal about the grace of shared, ecumenical faith and work and Bible study and personal journey to write for ecclesio.com and take part in this conversation.

This week’s postings are inspired by the ecumenical work of what has been, since 2010, the World Communion of Reformed Churches (WCRC.) Two of the writers are new friends from the General Council meeting in Leipzig in July 2017.  Two other writers are friends from seminary – one from the United Church of Christ and one from the American Baptist Church.  I asked them all to write about women’s ministry, ordination and empowerment in their contexts.

One of the ways the women of the West and North America have been able to support our global ecumenical sisters is by working together on the globalization of women’s ordination in the Reformed family.

In 1989 at the Seoul meeting of WARC, the General Council began urging churches to consider and move forward on the ordination of women.  In 2004, the member churches of WARC in Accra confessed: “We reject any form of injustice which destroys right relations—gender, race, class, disability, or caste.”  During a 2009 survey done by WARC, the members who responded indicated that there were 42 churches who did not yet ordain women.  In 2010 at the Uniting General Council of the WARC and the Reformed Ecumenical Council to form the WCRC, there was a decision made to focus on the ordination of women.  In the following years, a group of women assembled from throughout the Communion prepared “A Declaration on Women’s Ordination.”

While a global group worked on the Declaration, The Women’s Pre-conference of the WCRC 2017 was the forum that generated an additional, even stronger “Message.”   Amidst the joy and celebration of being together in worship, prayer, music and dancing, the women of the pre-conference heard reports on the status of women in the world from presenters and from one another.  As the time together passed, a need arose among the women to put a stamp of urgency on the importance of the “Declaration of Faith.”  After much consultation and writing, the Declaration was accompanied by another important piece of work, “MESSAGE FROM THE WOMEN’S PRE–COUNCIL TO THE WCRC GENERAL COUNCIL: Living God—in a World of Violence—Renew and Transform Us.”

The words, “In a World of Violence” were added to the theme of the General Council to express the fact that “exclusion and violence in church and society… now impacts over 70% of women and girls globally (UNODC 2014 report on Human Trafficking). Infanticide – Female Genital Mutilation – Child Brides – Honor Killings – Intimate Partner Violence – Human Trafficking – Sexual Exploitation – Rape -Workplace Sexual Violence – Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women – HIV Sexual Violence to women and girls” are some of the painful instances of this violence and exclusion.

Debate on the floor was dominated by men’s voices.  The president finally called for a woman’s voice.  There was a bit of a wait, since the women’s voices were on paper, in black and white.  But, finally, slowly, a single woman walked to the microphone and in a loud voice rose strongly to call for a vote – as “the waiting was over and it was time to do this thing.”

And on Monday July 3, 2017 in Leipzig, the declaration was accepted by the WCRC.   The full document is linked here.

The vote was not unanimous.  But the vote was very positive, indicating that it was a moment of transformation showing us that the Holy Spirit is working to renew and transform us.

The “Message” was also adopted by the General Council. It provides time lines and specific tasks for member churches and the Executive Committee which will make this declaration of faith a reality in the lives of the members of WCRC.  It also named gender-based violence as sin.

Each church will now have to work out their way forward within their own contexts.  And I’m sure that the voices of all women, and the men who are allies, will help to make this baptismal covenant a reality in all member churches.  This is what ecumenical communions can accomplish!

The Rev. Anne Weirich joined the staff at College Drive Presbyterian Church in New Concord, OH in October of 2013. She has an MDiv. (’98) and certificate in Youth Ministry from Princeton Theological Seminary and a Certificate in Pastoral Counseling from Western Seminary in Holland MI. She is a native of Illinois and spent many years working in the business world in the Chicagoland area and Los Angeles. Prior to CDPC, Anne served in UCC and PCUSA churches in MA, CA, and MI.

 Anne serves on the Presbyterian Church (USA) General Assembly Committee for Ecumenical and Interfaith Relations. She also regularly leads pilgrims to the Holy Land.