Women are transforming Taiwan's church leadership, as Kenwyn Pierce found out.
It's a tough job, and she knows it. As the first woman associate general secretary of the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan, Susan Chuang faces a daily struggle to have the views of the denomination's women heard. The church and country have been dominated by men and a male approach to command for so long that it takes a long time to change.
Her desire to promote women in leadership started in 1987, when the women's committee of the PCT sent her to the UK to study mission at Selly Oak college. "My approach to the church's work changed. Before then I had no idea about social issues or human rights – I only thought about preaching the gospel. But I understood that Christians must get involved in political issues. I also thought about how I could involve women more in the church."
On leaving Selly Oak, Chuang vowed that in the near future she would do something for women in the Taiwanese church. Women made up half the membership of the church at that point, but few were in positions of leadership and she saw a need to encourage them in their ministry.
When she returned home she went back to a nursing school as a chaplain, and soon found herself absorbed in her work there. She was successful in her role: patients and staff were being converted to Jesus. Her earlier promises were put to one side.
But this did not last. "After three years, I felt I needed to go in a different direction. I prayed for a month before approaching the principal of the hospital to say that I was moving to the PCT women's desk. Only after things had settled down did I remember the vow I had made back in Selly Oak."
Chuang headed the women's desk for eight years, beginning a revolution in the way the denomination treats women. "During most of this time, we ran a ten-year project called Churches in Solidarity with Women. We concentrated our efforts on training our women: holding conferences, publishing a book sharing women's experiences, initiating some courses for women leaders.
They brought their agenda to the general assembly and promoted women's role in decision-making. In 1996, they established Aids Concern Sunday, appealing to presbyteries to get more involved in the fight against HIV/Aids.
The way the church viewed women changed a lot, provoking resistance from some quarters. "In the first years in particular, many male ministers were angered by what we were doing," she says. "They were upset, but we tried to show them that women in the churches are the hands and feet of the local ministers."
Year by year the women's desk progressed and men began to accept the new situation. The church spread its work on national issues, linking with secular women's groups in pushing women's rights in the national constitution.
A different approach
Now, as the PCT's associate general secretary, Chuang says she is concerned to develop a style of leadership natural for women. The women's committee, under the direction of the general assembly has taken responsibility for this, running training courses to equip a new generation of women leaders. The training team is made up of half men and half women to enhance women's leadership.
Chuang herself has to exercise leadership in a mixed-gender setting – a new challenge for her and for the church.
Men and women have very different approaches to leadership, she says. "Men are very clear in their position – they appreciate authority and command it. When women lead there tends to be more emphasis on working together: we use friendship as the basis for decision-making and leading; we share life experiences together and pray together."
Chuang finds women tend not to be so directive in leadership: "Women don't like other women to be dominant, and are unhappy with strong displays of authority. We also find it more difficult to release work and delegate."
Inevitably these different approaches cause problems when women take positions of leadership over men: "It is taking a very long time for us to adjust to each other. I am used to calling people to push the agenda, to ask if they need help, or finance. I speak individually to the people working on projects. But men are very independent. They may call me about general assembly issues, but usually they prefer to do things themselves."
Developing genuine women's leadership is a long-term project, Chuang admits. It's not easy, even for her, to see what form authentic women's leadership will take. But she remains sure that the benefits of fully-equipped women leaders in the church are too great to ignore.