Prof. Ezra Chitando, World Council of Churches (WCC) Ecumenical HIV and AIDS Initiatives and Advocacy regional coordinator for Southern Africa, presented on behalf of WCC deputy general secretary Prof. Dr Isabel Apawo Phiri, a paper on “Women’s Transformative Leadership and Africa’s Holistic Development: The Role of the Churches” during an international conference on leadership transformation and innovation in Africa.
Walk around the streets of New York City and you may notice that there is one dominant color on the fashion palette: black. In this place, one of the world’s fashion capitals, residents want to show they are edgy, hip, and trendy.
“Dawn will never come if the heralds of dawn keep silence,” said an anonymous 19th century woman on the relationship between women and the church. That quotation has greatly inspired the International Association of Women Ministers, which is celebrating 103 years of existence this year.
Karlsruhe, a city built over 300 hundred years ago without walls, open to friends and guests —at a time where other cities still hid behind their fortifications —welcomed people from all over the world to four pre-assemblies that are bringing forward powerful calls to the 11th Assembly of the World Council of Churches (WCC).
A Christian vision of a Just Community of Women and Men was approached from many geographical and church perspectives at a pre-assembly plenary session on the morning of Monday 29 August. The pre-assembly is being held 29-30 August in advance of the 11th Assembly of the World Council of Churches (WCC) in Karlsruhe, Germany.
At the World Council of Churches 11th Assembly in Karlsruhe Germany, Jackcilia Salathiel Ebere will be carrying the voices of women from South Sudan who are crying for peace and justice.
Four World Council of Churches (WCC) pre-assemblies are about to convene, drawing hundreds of people eager to, in a safe space, share their honest reflections and life challenges. The pre-assemblies include Indigenous Peoples, Ecumenical Youth Gathering, Ecumenical Disability Advocates Network, and Just Community of Women and Men.
Rev. Dr Lydia Mwaniki believes her call from God to serve actually began when she was in her mother’s womb. “When my mother was four months pregnant and was splitting firewood, she said to God, ‘if you send me a baby boy, he will serve in your house."
In a joint message on gender-based violence, sexual abuse, and faith communities, 26 World Council of Churches (WCC) Thursdays in Black ambassadors lament that the scourge of sexual and gender-based violence continues unabated—and call on faith communities to prevent such violence in their own spaces.
As Brazilian artist Janine Marja Schneider pieces together the “Waterfall of Solidarity and Resistance” tapestry, she brings mixed emotions to her endeavors. On one hand, she’s inspired to bring the stories of women from around the world to life on the colorful blocks that cascade downward like liquid. On the other hand, with every stitch, she more deeply absorbs what brings these women together: it’s what they’ve survived.
Rev. Edna Navaya, is moderator of the Presbyterian-Blantyre Synod, Church of Central Africa, Malawi. She was among African women church leaders who gathered in May for an inaugural “Ecumenical Women’s Initiative for Leadership and Learning.” Below, she reflects on the path to becoming ordained, as well as the importance of gathering women leaders together to exchange ideas and share experiences.
There are 181 blocks—and every single one tells a story. Arranged in colorful strips that flow like liquid, they will gently move when people pass by them at the World Council of Churches (WCC) 11th Assembly in Karlsruhe.
Prof. Dr Sarojini Nadar is director of the Desmond Tutu Centre for Religion and Social Justice, University of Western Cape, South Africa. Below, she reflects on outcomes from the inaugural “Ecumenical Women’s Initiative for Leadership and Learning” held in May.
Mathilda Johnson is world vice president of the World Federation of Methodist and Uniting Church Women. She also serves as lay president for the Methodist Church in The Gambia. Below, she reflects on her childhood, her top women’s issues, and her hope for her sisters in Africa.
Right Rev. Dr Emily Onyango, assistant bishop, Anglican Diocese of Bondo, Kenya, was ordained in 1987—the second woman priest ordained in all of east Africa—and appointed as assistant bishop in 2021. She also serves as a lecturer for St Paul’s University. Below, she reflects on her path to becoming a church leader, the resistance she encountered, and her message to young people today.
The World Council of Churches (WCC) central committee, in a public statement, called upon WCC member churches and ecumenical partners “to condemn or reiterate their condemnation of sexual and gender-based violence and of any form of violence against women, children and vulnerable people; to declare such rejection of the equal dignity of all people and such violence a sin; and to implement guidelines for the prevention of sexual exploitation, abuse and harassment.”
Almost 70 women—members of World Council of Churches (WCC) central committee and staff—met together on 16 June for an hour of sharing, networking, and marking “Thursdays in Black,” the growing global campaign for a world free from rape and violence.
The World Council of Churches (WCC) is mourning the death of Sarah Newland Martin, known for her lifetime of advocacy for persons with disabilities, for her leadership with the YMCA and Jamaica Baptist Union, and her ecumenical bridge-building.
At an online roundtable hosted by the All Africa Conference of Churches, male “champions for gender justice” shared their ideas and insights during their yearlong service as men who are helping to prevent gender-based violence.