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CWM - News
Report
on CWMM Conference – April, 21-27, 2001, Goa – No.7
27.04.01
Morning Worship on the 27th
by the Africa region.
The
morning service started off Steve playing teacher and teaching the delegates the
African songs for the service. There
was also a small skit where it was shown that a man has two sons.
They get sent out to the world after attending the gender justice
conference. The bishop son says
that he cannot go as he is very busy man and that he has no time for all these
kind of things, while the other son is more than ready to go.
After the Bishop goes back to his region he realises that he has said no
to a big task. The Bishop son
repents and asks forgiveness of God. He
recruits two women to go to the Synod and also appoints one woman as the
treasurer. All this while the other
son goes back, files away all the papers, and looks forward to another meeting
somewhere else. So which of the two
sons did make a difference and obey God? And
in which one of them do we see ourselves? The
service was made lively by singing of songs in English and African language.
At the end of the service everyone danced their way back to the main
conference area.
“Faith has to be shattered in order to
be built”, says Dr. Musa.
We
have all lost track of what we are to do at some point.
We all as a church retrace our steps back to the time when Jesus handed
over his work or mission to us.
Musa
said that as this was the last day of the conference on Women and Men in mission
we answer to Christ for his question of,” Who do you say that I am?”.
So we all answer to Christ and say, “Jesus you are the Christ, who
empowers and sends Women and Men to go out into the world and preach the
liberating gospel of Christ.” There is no doubt that we know what we are to do but the
ethics of this gospel of Christ will demand a complete revolution of the very
cultures, laws, beliefs, and structures that we stand on in our churches,
families and societies. It is
written in the Bible that women “must” be silent in church. But Musa says that Christ the liberator has set us free, his
spirit of fire lights all of us and gives us both women and men the “power
to speak”.
“For
Freedom Christ has set us free. Stand
firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.
Go and Prophesy” this is how Dr. Musa concluded her final
keynote address on 27th morning at Goa.
It is the work; it is the action of us, which would speak.
When we go back what kind of action are we going to initiate?.
Team Visits
Francis
presented a detailed paper based on all the reports that were given by the group
discussions. The paper was divided
into parts like, purpose of the team visit, benefits, preparation visit by the
leader of the team, overall theme title, length of the visits, whom to meet,
preparation, pattern, size and composition of the team, leadership of the team,
how the team will be constructed and the preparation time for the programme.
Team Visits.
Team
visit was the topic for conversation,
This
required a lot of consultation.
Everyone spoke and gave
their suggestions,
Cause
they had done their observations.
Observations
in their own regions and countries,
Which
are prevalent since centuries.
Suggestions
flew every where,
And
the panel of four at the front did their best to show they care.
Almost
everyone spoke on the occasion,
And
there was no need for a translation.
Everyone
was in solidarity with each other,
And
with CWM wanted to go further.
Further
in strengthening our bonds and relations,
That
is why we are here at this particular consultation.
Preparation
time, no. of the group, duration of the stay,
Who
will be the leader, how many churches to visit and what will we say?
All
these questions flew around the room,
And
out of all this the final recommendations did bloom.
At
last it was agreed that team visits are a very good idea,
And
we assure you that Francis and Philip from CWM will guide Ya! By Shona Thangavel.
Recommendations
from the consultation:-
Philip was
the chairperson for this session. At
the end of this session Francis and Philip gave the vote of thanks.
01.
Funding for Gender justice. (Recommended
that each region
considers how to take CWM
agenda forward.)
02.
Adequate staffing for CWMM
03.
Campaign on Globalisation, capitalism, and its impact on women around the world.
04.
HIV-AIDS/violence/conflict resolution; in all aspects gender element to
be considered.
05. In CWM’s theological work there
should be a focus on gender issues and produce bible studies etc. should be
produced.
06.
Materials to be produced for training in awareness raising.
07.
CWM executive committee to be trained in gender issues.
08.
Training of trainings and resource materials.
Publication of the materials from Goa.
09.
Net working with other agencies and ecumenical organisations to be
enhanced.
10.
Education for men in gender issues. Scholarships to be made available for
women to do first degrees.
Evening
worship service.
The evening worship
service was a mixture of all the worship services we had for the duration of the
conference. Verna reminded us of
what we had said in our first devotion, and she asked if we would say it again
today. We all pondered over how we
have been changed in this last 7 days. We
are going to go out into our places as God’s children.
We go out into the world also as CWMM’s children to see and do what we
can according to the situations in our places to see that no injustice is done
to our brothers and sisters. We go out from Goa as messengers of gender justice.
On the table a lot of small boxes and packages were kept which symbolised
the bricks and stones which will come in our way when we go to carry out the
task, as we are getting commissioned by each other to go out in the world and do
our part.
After the communion Verna helped everyone
commission each other in pairs. Each
of the delegates had a stole and they had to put it on for each other. While putting on the stole for each other the person who was
putting on the stole had to say,” I commission you to be Christ’s Instrument
in God’s Mission among men and women”.
The person who was receiving the stole had to say,” Send me today,
Lord.” It was a very emotional
affair as every one was sad, as it was the last day.
But the whole group was also excited to go out and put their new
knowledge to use. There was also a
common prayer said and it went like this:-
Leader:
Who do you say that I am?
Participants: You
are the Christ who liberates me to liberate others.
Leader:
Who do you say that I am?
Participants: You
are Christ who heals me that I may heal others.
Leader:
Who do you say that I am?
Participants: You
are the Christ who empowers me than I may empower others.
Leader:
Who do you say that I am?
Participants: You
are the Christ who needs me to be your hands, eyes, ears and your feet.
Send
Me Today Lord In Jesus’ Name.
THE
FINALE: - The Beach Party
At
the end of the worship service Francis gave a very good news to every one that
there will be a beach party. This
statement of her brought out a cheer from the crowd.
Then Francis continued to say that “and the soft drinks including the
beer will be free” there was a huge loud cheer.
The beach party was a different experience altogether. There was a live band and the sound of the waves and the view
made the atmosphere very pleasant.
Soon everyone could be seen enjoying
the moment. After the dinner there
was some dancing and the whole group got a very big surprise when the Governer
Sir from American Samoa, Mr. Tauese Sunia got up and went near the band. Only
when he took the mike in hand that the all of the delegates trouped to the dance
floor and started to cheer him. Then
for the next twenty minutes Respected Mr. Tauese Sunia lent his wonderful voice
and made the party a perfect one.
Please Accept our Heart felt gratitude……..
For the love and concern you all have
shown us. We specially want to
thank Francis for allowing us this opportunity to participate in this
conference. We would also like to
thank each and every delegate for encouraging us in our work.
Thank you once again. Shona
and Thangavel.
Here are some
pictures from the beach party:-
