In 1988 the World Council of Churches launched the Ecumenical Decade of the Churches in Solidarity with Women as a ten-year programme offered to the churches. It was to provide a time for the churches to look at their structures, their teachings and practices with a commitment to the full participation of women. It was an opportunity for the churches to reflect on the lives of women in society and to stand in courageous solidarity with all women. Ecumenical Team Visits or "Living Letters" were sent to the churches around the world at the mid-Decade point to affirm the achievements made and to challenge the churches to move forward in their commitments to women. The story the "living letters" brought back described with great enthusiasm the solidarity among women and the love and commitment of women to the churches. But it also pointed to the unfinished agenda - the many unresolved questions and concerns of women. This document records some of those challenges and calls on the churches for their continued solidarity beyond 1998.
...and in that dry land, endless as a desert, we rediscovered a source, pouring out fresh water. Gathered around the water we danced with joy; no more forgotten, invisible, suffocated, but blossoming and creating. Opening gates, raising our voices. Moving walls, building on ruins. And many more came from within the shadows. We celebrated our survival. We welcomed each other into visibility. But the water does not meet us only in the depth of the source; water is running down our cheeks. Tears caused by a violent hand. Silent tears. Tears caused by unjust systems and practices. Memories and experiences - all that has happened and all that still goes on... breaks out into anger. All this can no longer be! There has to be change! Therefore we speak again...
The Ecumenical Decade of the Churches in Solidarity with Women is grounded in the biblical truth of the common blessing of women and men in creation (Gen.1:27) and the common responsibility they share for nurturing and serving the church and the world. Our theologies are shaped by biblical words, historical traditions of the Church, our sacramental experiences and through the power of the Holy Spirit. In all of these, we affirm that equality between women and men is at the core. Throughout the scriptures, in spite of the very patriarchal times, women’s witness was strong, and through acts of faith and daring assertions, women broadened the mission and ministry of Jesus! The Bible records inspiring examples of women’s spirituality - and God blessed them! The first baptismal liturgies faithfully kept this vision when they affirmed that "There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male or female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus" (Gal 3:28).
Christian history has marginalised or has, on occasion, even ignored this central teaching. So the affirmation of "the discipleship of equals" is regretfully still largely unrealised. In fact the Bible has been used to legitimise the marginalisation and exclusion of women from many spheres. The Decade has offered us a fresh opportunity to become a community of women and men. We long for a church where women are empowered to minister and serve as well as to live violence-free lives, unrestricted by traditional, often culturally imposed, gender role expectations and assumptions.
Today, we are called to recognise and welcome women and men as full partners on the journey towards a just world order where no one will be excluded. The Decade has provided an opportunity for women and men of faith - the Churches - to be in solidarity with all women in church and society, to overcome the years of oppression that millions of the women in our world daily experience. The church is called to conversion so as to stand in active solidarity with all women. This calls for a sometimes radical reordering of aspects of the life of the church, rooted in a reinterpretation and reconstruction of those practices and teachings that discriminate against women.
As we move beyond the Ecumenical Decade and into the 21st century, we bring to the churches the following challenges, which have been identified by women, for action:
Recognising the context of growing globalisation of economies and the concurrent liberalisation of markets, individualisation and cuts in social services/welfare, and the fact that women (and children too) are the most directly affected by these trends, we call on the churches and the ecumenical movement to:
speak out clearly about these trends which exclude whole nations and peoples;
demand a cancellation of internal and external debts of the poorest nations, as part of the Jubilee challenge, and to take steps to ensure that the resources so saved are used to improve the quality of life of the poor, especially women and children;
work for changes in laws that exclude women from property and other rights;
promote demilitarisation and challenge the links between militarisation, the arms trade and global economic institutions; establish specific programmes/desks in all churches for economic issues; include intentionally gender perspectives in analysis and study;
in order to prepare women for leadership, establish more scholarships for them;
ensure equal salaries for women and men in church institutions and structures;
break the link between the exploitation of the earth and economic growth, and share the responsibility for the care of the earth and all of creation.
Participation of all its members is an ethical imperative for the church. To this end we call on the churches to:
provide more theological training opportunities for women;
include in theological education/courses the theological voices and contributions of women and other socially excluded groups;
look again at the liturgical life and ministry of the church in order to incorporate the experiences and spiritual gifts of women;
develop gender policies for all churches and organisations;
provide gender sensitivity training for all male and female clergy and leaders of the churches and church-run institutions, at all levels of administration of the churches and ecumenical organisations;
encourage women to take on leadership roles and support them so that they can offer new understandings of power and ways of using it;
provide support structures for women clergy and other women working in the churches;
strengthen young women’s networks and organisations and develop instruments to incorporate the contributions of young women;
ensure equal participation of women and other excluded groups in all levels of the life of the church with specially set quotas, where necessary;
reinstate the ancient tradition of ordination of women to the diaconate.
Recognising that new forms of racism and ethnic tensions are emerging in all parts of the world, and that racism and xenophobia have links with economic exploitation, cultural justifications and exclusion of millions in our world, we call on the churches and the ecumenical movement to:
strengthen where present, and initiate where non-existent, programmes that tackle racism and xenophobia, including within them a strong educational component;
develop a new inclusive vocabulary and a new analysis of racism and xenophobia, taking into account that it exists even within the life of the churches, and that sometimes the language of liturgy and theology and the images and symbols we use in the churches reinforce racial prejudices;
develop new ways of celebrating the diversity and differences among us as God’s gift to the world and develop educational instruments to strengthen this vision;
provide a strong voice of solidarity with Indigenous peoples all over the world and support the women of Indigenous communities in their struggles for dignity, sovereignity and land rights;
strengthen and support the SISTERS (Sisters in Struggle to Eliminate Racism and Sexism) network at the regional and national level and involve all church women’s networks in doing this.
Recognising the increasing violence in our societies and particularly the violence against women, we call on the churches to denounce the various forms of violence, culturally sanctioned or not, against women inside and outside the church. We call on the church to declare that violence against women is a sin. We urge them to take the side of the victim instead of protecting the agressor, and to offer pastoral counselling that targets a concrete improvement in the survivor’s life situation instead of simply preaching patience, silence and submission. To this end we call on the churches to:
deconstruct the often used theological explanations and justifications of violence;
reconstruct a new theological response to be strongly affirmed by church leaders and preachers;
provide a caring and safe atmosphere for women to be able to speak out fearlessly about the violence they experience;
provide the space and atmosphere for open discussions on human sexuality and affirm the right of women to make responsible sexual choices;
find ways to expose cases of clergy sexual abuse and abuse by other congregational members, and use appropriate administrative decision making processes which include the active presence of women, to deal with the perpetrators and survivors of violence;
develop pastoral care for victims and congregations where clergy sexual abuse takes place;
develop disciplinary as well as pastoral responses to abusers;
focus education in congregations on male violence and male sexuality and encourage the formation of men’s groups to discuss these issues;
recognise violence against women as human rights violations and affirm the new definitions of human rights that women bring, based on their experiences of violence in their own contexts;
denounce the rape of women and girls in any circumstances including the use of rape as a weapon of war and to challenge governments to ensure the safety of women and children in times of war and conflict (as per the Geneva Conventions).
We call on the churches and the ecumenical movement, particularly the World Council of Churches, to set in place implementing and monitoring instruments and programmes to ensure that the above concerns and recommendations are fulfilled.
... and the source is still there, refreshing water, confirming our being, recognising and welcoming. The water, it keeps flowing, opening new paths, cleansing, healing, connecting, nourishing the roots of our dreams ...it never runs dry.
