1. Intellectual Endeavor (Rom 12:1-2)
2. Moral Courage (Mark 7:6-8)
3. Humility (Philippians 2:1-7)

We then moved into group discussions where we looked at the following 4 themes: Alleviating Poverty, Education, Healthcare and Countering Violence with Peace.

Under each theme we discussed:
1. God’s presence in ‘best practice’
2. God’s call on us as individuals and as the church
3. A vision for how women can have a voice and a choice

Best practices:
• Micro credit
• Monitoring is very important
• Training (must be practical)
• Bureau to help – employers & workers
• Benefit bank
• Creating community – can’t just be all about money, people need to be valued

God’s call:
• To facilitate, to be instruments of change (Nigeria)
• To spread money throughout diocese (Ghana)
• Resource Database (Ghana)
• Anglicare – sanitation in water (New Zealand)
• Church should offer more practical solutions instead of only preaching to people Nigeria)
• Become part of the community (New Zealand)
• Education is key to development & peace (Burundi)
• American Episcopal Church – Church of the poor
• Church of love (Burundi)
• North American Church morally bankrupt

Vision:
To create a participatory & enabling environment, and to invite ourselves into relationship with one another.

Best practices:
• Best practices lead to an ability to identify who we are and how to use our gifts, to link training and education to practical work to the reality of our lives.

• We noted that education is more readily accessible where there is economic advantage and that the church must accept responsibility to those who do not have such access.

God’s call:
Individually:
• Action
• Outreach
• Challenge
• Responsibility
• Empowerment of others
• Encouragement
• Making a difference

As a church:
• The above themes should all apply to the church because WE  are the church, but there are many  barriers to women’s participation

Vision:

Best practices:
Themes that came through:
• Education – of clergy, of government officials, of women themselves, of men. Education is importance to change the perception of violence against women from being just the concern of women to being an issue affecting the whole of society.  Education is also important to break down the taboos that keep such things ‘private’. (Examples: training government officials in Puerto Rico about positive and negative teachings/attitudes of churches to Domestic violence; mainstreaming discussions and teaching about violence into theological education in Kenya; clergy training packs about violence and the experience of women, in UK; young men in college raising awareness of violence against women with their fellow male students)

• Strength of networking and working as a group (examples: Women’s lobby group in Liberia that held face to face talks with the military leaders, Women of Peace group in Solomon Is. engaging with the militants & ecumenical women providing counseling – both groups reporting back to the National Council of Churches)

• Proving safe places/spaces or links to such places for women (examples: Puerto Rico – network of trained clergy who are able to give women an alternative Christian perspective on domestic violence that the conservative view that is widely held; inclusion in UK training course of awareness of patriarchy and suggestions of posting notices for helplines/shelters etc on Church bulletin boards)

• Setting an example within the church  (examples: in US is strong church law and practice now to deal with abusive behavior by clergy)

God’s call:
• Develop gender awareness workshops in all dioceses, (Japan)

• Work on raising awareness and spreading programs/knowledge from the national level down to the grassroots, especially in the rural communities (Philippines)

• A lot of work to do with women clergy – they tend to step back and take on the identity of ‘clergy’ rather than ‘women’ when it comes to women’s issues (Philippines)

• Role of church is to build peoples spirituality because this will lead to a change in behavior (Egypt)

• To name and counter violence in all its forms (even where we currently perhaps don’t recognize it eg stress, competitiveness, violence against creation etc) (US)

• Use and spread the Quakers’ alternatives to violence program in my community (US)

• Encourage & develop women’s role in peacemaking (US)

• As a psychotherapists feels called to address the root causes that lead to physical violence  (US)

• Work to get more women into decision-making roles (US)

Vision:
Glory to God whose power working in us can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine.  Through God’s power working in us, as a network of women in solidarity with each other, we say no to violence in every form and dedicate ourselves to educate and transform both church and society to communities of peace.  [draft version?]

[no notes received]