wfn.org | Lutheran Women Leaders Call for Equal Access to Leadership in

["Frank Imhoff" <Frank.Imhoff@elca.org>]

Lutheran Women Leaders Call for Equal Access to Leadership in the
Church
Significant Progress in Women's Ordination Worldwide, but Major
Challenges Remain 

GENEVA, 23 June 2005 (LWI) * In May 2000, Rev. Bekure B. Daba became
the first woman to be ordained as a pastor in the Ethiopian Evangelical
Church Mekane Yesus (EECMY). Two years later, she was elected president
of the Ghimbi Jorgo Synod in the west, becoming the EECMY's only woman
synod leader. But ordination came after a long wait*20 years*since her
graduation from Addis Ababa's Mekane Yesus Theological Seminary,
followed by various roles in the church. The over 4-million-member
church now counts six women among its 1,287 pastors, who serve in more
than 5,500 congregations. The challenges for women are many and factual,
Daba says, but she is optimistic that Ethiopian Lutherans will have more
women pastors and synod presidents in the future.

Daba recounted her experiences at the June 16-19 Lutheran World
Federation (LWF) "Conference of Women Bishops, Presidents and Leaders
with the Ministry of Oversight," attended by 14 women leaders from among
the LWF member churches. Other participants shared similar stories:
Bishops Christina Odenberg, leader of the Church of Sweden Lund Diocese
since 1997, and Caroline Krook, leader of the Stockholm Diocese since
1998, were ordained as pastors in the 1960s. In January 2005, Rev.
Khunansori Basumatary was elected bishop of the Bodo Evangelical
Lutheran Diocese of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Himalayan
States, in northeastern India. Prior to her 1998 ordination, she had
served the church in various capacities including working with
marginalized groups. 

Participants in the conference focused on the challenges women face in
their respective contexts as church leaders, and as women. But they also
highlighted the issues they confronted globally including social
injustices such as violence against women, and HIV/AIDS. 

In their official message from the conference, the church leaders
strongly affirmed the Lutheran church's theological understanding that
women and men were created in the image of God, and were both called to
diverse ministries. "The fullness of the gospel is most accurately
represented where both women and men are given access to leadership
roles," they said..

They cited significant "benchmarks" within their combined 13 years of
service as women bishops and presidents in the Lutheran church. These
include a growth in the number of women pursuing academic preparation
for ministry, serving as lay and ordained people in parishes, in
specialized service, and as bishops and presidents. Mentioned as equally
important was the presence of recent generations of church members,
which have always, and only, known full participation of women and men
in ministry. They stressed the significance of "the presence of 25
Lutheran women Bishops and Presidents around the world who bear witness
with their lives to God's amazing, compelling, and sustaining call to
ministry." Among the conference participants was Bishop Maria Jepsen of
Hamburg, North Elbian Evangelical Lutheran Church, in Germany, who in
1992 became the first Lutheran woman bishop ever.

But there are major challenges to women's full participation in
church leadership. The conference participants noted in their message
that some Lutheran churches still do not recognize women's call to
ordained ministry, and are yet to allow their ordination. Some women and
men do not value the particular nature of women's leadership gifts,
they observed, and some churches, while speaking of the full
participation of women and men, tolerated unequal compensation, and
limited access to all the levels of ministry.

The message also drew attention to violence against women as a major
concern in all the churches, with some churches still remaining "silent"
on the issue. They urged their associate bishops and presidents "to join
us in publicly speaking out against violence toward women." Much of the
discussion on this topic was sparked by a presentation on "life-giving
theologies and ethics," delivered by Rev. Dr Nyambura Njoroge, global
coordinator of the World Council of Churches Ecumenical Theological
Education program in the Mission and Ecumenical Formation Team. Speaking
from an African perspective, the Kenyan theologian said rape, for
example, was used as a weapon against women. "Africa begs for
life-giving theologies and ethics," she said, at the same time
acknowledging the problem as worldwide. "These stories are everywhere.
We have to speak out," Njoroge urged. 

Underscoring the conference's importance, in their recommendations
the women leaders requested that the LWF host another meeting for
further reflection on how to encourage ordination of women in places
where it was not happening; how to deal with issues confronting them in
their different contexts; and in order to learn about different
leadership styles. They also requested the LWF to encourage the
participation of women in inter-confessional dialogues so that the
current 40 percent quota for representation by women at all LWF events
would be reached. (794 words)

(Christine Hallenbeck, youth trainee in the LWF Office for
Communication Services, contributed to this article.)

(The LWF is a global communion of Christian churches in the Lutheran
tradition. Founded in 1947 in Lund, Sweden, the LWF currently has 138
member churches in 77 countries all over the world, with a total
membership of nearly 66 million. The LWF acts on behalf of its member
churches in areas of common interest such as ecumenical and inter-faith
relations, theology, humanitarian assistance, human rights,
communication, and the various aspects of mission and development work.
Its secretariat is located in Geneva, Switzerland.)

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