All present?
Rev Dr Prince Dibeela was devastated when he found women unrepresented on one of the major decision-making committees of the church he heads. He told Beccy Beard about his vision of an "ubuntu" inclusive community.
Rev Dr Prince Dibeela
The candidates for ministry in the United Congregational Church of Southern Africa (UCCSA) are selected by a panel of 10 men. Committees have always been male dominant but there used to be at least one or two women. New general secretary Rev Dr Prince Dibeela was alarmed to find that even they are no longer there.
"I was really ashamed and disturbed," Dibeela says. "Our churches are very positive about the role of women but it's not demonstrated in the way we do things. I raised this with my colleagues, asking: 'Aren't we impoverished by the absence of our sisters?'
"These people say: 'Let us encourage our synods to find women as well.' But it is not good enough to expect the synods to send women as delegates for the training for ministry committee. As a committee we must deliberately ask women. The men are there already. My dream is of an inclusive church."
Raised by a single mother, for whom he had great respect, trained in theological college in gender issues and married to a gender activist, Dibeela is passionate about women's participation.
During the panel discussion at the CWM pre-Assembly in June he told delegates that he was committed to asking in church: "Who is not at the table who is expected to be there?"
He promised to recommend that "all God's children" - women included - must be represented in every major decision making committee in the UCCSA.
"The vision of God in Botswana is a vision of an inclusive community called 'ubuntu'," he said. "It's a vision of men, women, youth: all are at the table together. "I'm sponsoring a recommendation that in every major decision making committee in the church all God's children are represented."
Ubuntu resonates with the vision of the Bible. Dibeela quoted Acts when Peter refers to the text: "In the last days I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh" - sons and daughters, young and old men, slaves, men and women.