Another view for September 15, 2005
By Nancy Elliott
I have perused the Herald for the weeks since the meeting of the Baptist World Alliance to read any word of the meeting of the BWA Women's Leadership Conference which preceded the Alliance and which I attended. Our tour group included Wanda Lee, executive director of WMU, SBC; Richmond-area women: Barbara Booth, Kay Congdon, Ruth Guill, Barbara Massey and Earlene Jessee, executive director of Virginia WMU; Becky McKinney, president of Virginia WMU; and other Virginia women active in missions.
The Baptist Women of Great Britain welcomed the 800 women who attended the conference, held at Ashton University in Birmingham, England. The theme for the conference was “Seeing with New Eyes,” from Ephesians 1:8: “I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened.”
Speakers from the six continental unions emphasized the need for Christian women around the world to see themselves through a new pair of glasses. The old lenses of culture and religion distort their sense of who they are and how they are valued by God. Dorothy Selebano, an educator from South Africa and one of the main speakers, said, “In Africa a woman is treated like a child, slave or piece of property. Our culture teaches us that a woman may not ask questions. She must do as she is told.”
In the church, a woman's identity has traditionally been viewed through the paradigm of the Fall, said Ksenija Magda of Croatia, a Langham scholar reading for a Ph.D. at London School of Theology. Scripture was used (or misused) to teach women's inferiority, she said. She encouraged women to read the Bible through a new paradigm-the paradigm of redemption.
Other continental unionspeakers were Atola Subong of India, Thelma Young of the United States, Amparo Medina of South America, Lois Mitchell of Canada and Clover Jarrett of Jamaica.
Focus group topics included “A Fresh Look at the Scriptures,” “Justice Perverted … Justice Pursued,” “Ministry to Women in Prostitution,” “Defusing the Power of Culture,” “Loving My Neighbor,” “Healthy Women,” “Children at Risk,” “HIV/AIDS,” “Poverty” and “Finding Balance in Your Life.”
Lauran Bethell, one of the focus group leaders and a former missionary to Thailand, was later presented with the BWA Human Rights Award. She helped establish the New Life Center in Thailand, a Christ-based ministry which addresses the exploitation of women and children.
In 1955 Joyce Wyatt, a young American missionary to Spain, attended the first BWA Women's Leadership Conference and also was present for this year's conference. In 1955 there were only about 20 Baptist women organizations that were well-enough established to participate in the newly-formed BWA Women's Department. Now there are 229 affiliated organizations.
The African women present expressed their elation by singing and dancing in the aisles when the first African woman, Dorothy Selabano, was elected president of the Women's Department for the next five years. Virginia WMU representatives, while not as exuberant in their response as the Africans, were pleased when Donna Groover from Virginia was elected recording secretary.
Nancy Elliott is a retired educator and member of Second Baptist Church in Richmond.