European CWM churches discuss the community of women and men in mission. By Francis Brienen.
"What are you worth?" was the key question and theme of the consultation on the community of women and men in mission in the Netherlands earlier this year. Over 25 representatives from the European member churches of CWM met to discuss how men and women are valued in God's eyes, in their own eyes and how their contributions are valued in the home and the family, the Church and in society.
The consultation was held in response to a survey done in CWM a few years ago which tried to identify the barriers to women's participation in Church and society. The aim of the consultation was to identify any issues that affected the contribution of women or men in Church and society and to bring these to the European churches for discussion and action.
The consultation allowed the participants to look at various areas of life, Church and society and to raise their awareness of some of the practices, attitudes and factors that put obstacles in the way of individuals responding to God's call and becoming part of the Church and its mission. The delegates explored a range of inclusion/exclusion situations between our churches. It was recognised that issues to do with women and men (the purpose of the consultation) are connected with much wider issues of inclusion, exclusion and discrimination and in some such questions (eg sexuality, domestic violence and abuse) some churches are far from united.
The consultation found that many of the issues raised had been raised before but that there was a need to continue to bring them to the forefront of thinking and planning so that solutions can be found, attitudes altered and a move forward can be made towards creating a community in mission where all are welcome.
It was noted that the gospel is inclusive but our cultures tend to be exclusive. We tend towards monochrome congregations where the entire congregation is drawn from a similar race or viewpoint or culture. In principle all are welcome, but in practice this is only when:
The consultation was only able to pose the questions and open the debate, as well as provide some guidance for churches as they seek their way through. It noted that it is not enough for churches not to exclude people, but to actively include people.
The highlight of the consultation was a visit to the Paulus Church in Rotterdam. The Paulus Church provides a place of refuge for homeless people, refugees and drug addicts. It takes an inclusive and non-interventionist stance, offering an open house to displaced people and even providing a room where drug users can inject. It embraces those who are removed from or have removed themselves from society, in the process upsetting and alienating some traditional Christians.
The overloaded programme did not sufficiently allow the group to work out all the ideas and action plans that had been suggested during the consultation. At the end of the consultation a statement was produced for the churches and denominational groups to decide how they would report back to their churches.
The statement read: