Women meet in Indonesia ahead of the regional church leaders’ conference
Lutheran women from across the Asia region met on 3 October in the Indonesian city of Pematangsiantar to discuss ways of overcoming violence and promoting gender equality in their particular context.
The one-day meeting gave the women an opportunity to learn more about the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) gender justice policy, which its Council adopted unanimously in 2013 and which has already been translated into more than 20 languages.
This meeting took place ahead of the 2019 Asian church leaders’ conference, which gathers more than 200 pastors, lay church members and representatives of church-related organizations in Indonesia’s North Sumatra province. The conference runs from 2 to 8 October. Participants discussed the theme “Striving for peace in Asia through interreligious relations.”
Pastors and other church leaders need to carry out a power analysis in their own context. – Rev. Judith VanOsdol, director of the LWF program for gender justice and women’s empowerment
During the women’s meeting – before the start of the conference – the director of the LWF gender justice and women’s empowerment program, Rev. Judith VanOsdol, together with the Asia region Vice-President Desri Sumbayak, visited several sites of local women’s projects in Pematangsiantar. They underscored the need to talk with church leaders in order to strengthen the fight against violence and injustice from a theological and biblical perspective.
The director of the LWF gender justice and women’s empowerment program, Rev. Judith VanOsdol (on the left), with Desri Sumbayak, the LWF Asia region Vice-President (center), and Rev. Julinda Sipayung, coordinator of the crisis center for women of the Simalungun Protestant Christian Church (GKPS).
Speaking with women and men pastors at the crisis center, which receives survivors of rape and sexual harassment, as well as children who have endured violence and survivors of domestic violence, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America pastor VanOsdol reflected on the way in which Jesus lifted up and defended those who had the least power and influence in this society – among them women and children. “Pastors and other church leaders need to carry out a power analysis in their own church context” their own church’s context, and understand the ways in which Scripture has been used to justify oppression, violence and discrimination against women.
Noting that the LWF has been working on gender equality for decades, she (Rev. VanOsdol) emphasized that the fight against inequality “is not only a women’s problem”, but requires a coordinated effort from everyone – in order to overcome patriarchal prejudices and the formation of cultural stereotypes that begins in the early years of childhood. VanOsdol praised the work of the center, which is maintained by the (GKPS). Its coordinator is Rev. Julinda Sipayung, who carries out “holy, Spirit-filled work, restoring dignity to women who were told that they are worthless and whose voices were silenced.”
Rionga Silaban (on the right) is the head of the national women’s committee of the Christian Church of Indonesia (HKI), and Rev. Rama Yanti (second from the right) is the coordinator of the “Rumah Eco” (eco-house) project, supported by the LWF in Indonesia’s North Sumatra province.
The LWF representatives also met with the men and women who advocate for gender equality in the new “Rumah Eco” (eco-house) project, which is maintained by the Christian Church of Indonesia (HKI) with LWF support. In the attractive wooden building, a café and a gallery selling local handicrafts and traditional clothing were opened in June.
The project coordinator, Rev. Rama Yanti, explained that the center, which began as a sewing course for poor women, now provides training to pastors in gender equality, eco-theology and the basics of running a business. The center plans to become fully financially independent around the end of 2020, earning income from the sale of handicrafts.
Traditional handmade garments and other handicrafts are displayed at the “Rumah Eco” (eco-house) project, which is maintained by the Christian Church of Indonesia (HKI) and supported by the LWF in Indonesia’s North Sumatra province.
LWF Council member Ranjita Borgoary, who holds the position of women’s desk secretary in the United Evangelical Lutheran Churches in India (UELCI), spoke about how painful it was to try to introduce the gender justice policy developed by the LWF in her country. She said that at first some church leaders said: “This is a foreign policy – it is not for our church.” But “thanks be to God,” she added, through the patient work of prophetic men and women, “a dialogue has begun, and the UELCI, together with one other Indian church that also participates in the Lutheran World Federation (the India Evangelical Lutheran Church), has officially adopted its own gender equality policy document.”
Pematangsiantar, Indonesia/Geneva
01. 10. 2019.
Source: Lutheran World Information
Photo: LWF/P. Hitchen