BIRMINGHAM, Ala., (ABP) — Baptist Women in Ministry passed a motion affirming the continued need for its organization despite concerns brought up last year that the group is outdated.
This year's theme, “Rooted in the Past, Grounded for the Future,” emphasized the call for women ministers to be mentors for those being called into the ministry. The ministry-support group met June 24, prior to the annual general assembly of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.
“The need is more than clear for some kind of organization for things like public advocacy and helping make the connections for women [in ministry],” Eileen Campbell-Reed, a member of the group's transition team, said.
The transition team was established last year at the annual meeting to determine, among other things, whether the group should continue in existence. The team reached its findings through surveys sent out to male and female clergy and laity asking the questions: What are three urgent needs of Baptist women ministers? What is one important thing BWIM has done for you? And what are the two most helpful things BWIM could do for you?
The initial results of the survey found the most important need among women ministers is to find places to follow their call and have a networking organization to aid their efforts.
“A top need is that women get jobs,” Campbell-Reed said. “And another high need is for mentors who have jobs.”
In response to the survey question of what are the most significant needs of Baptist women in ministry, Campbell-Reed read one answer that she said expressed the feelings of many of the respondents: “To reach a place where we don't need to be designated, that is, that women ministers would be so common in Baptist life that there wouldn't need to be a special designation. Churches need to hire women pastors, not just say they support women in ministry.”
Suzanah Raffield, coordinator for the Birmingham-based Global Women, also emphasized the need for mentors. She gave the sermon at the BWIM worship service and spoke of her experiences as she was mentored early in her career.
“It is our job to position others to see farther,” she said. “God has not given us the choice to remain silent,” she said. She told of her disappointment with certain groups that encourage women not to speak up. “What good is it to the kingdom of God when part of the body is encouraged to be silent?”
She also spoke of her difficulty remaining true to her self rather than adapting to her idea of what a minister should be. “One of the biggest lessons I learned [from being mentored] was that who I was as a woman was who I needed to be as a minister,” she said.
Other BWIM recommendations pertaining to the future of the group were also passed. These were: reframing the organizational structure from that of an institutional model to a networking model, reaffirming the existing board members until the transition team completes its findings in January 2005, and looking for new ways of distributing Folio, the group's publication, such as through e-mail and print.
The motions were passed by a consensus of the transition team and unanimously by the board. When called upon for a vote at the annual meeting, the members passed the motions by an overwhelming majority.
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