Registration is now open for the “Women in Mission” conference sponsored by the Global Episcopal Mission Network (GEMN) online, May 12-14. Conference information is here, and the registration portal is here. Spanish interpretation will be available for all plenaries and for some of the workshops.
Four plenary speakers will highlight the work of women in mission:
- The Rev. Canon Hilda Kabia, dean of Msalato Theological College in Dodoma, Tanzania, will offer an African theological perspective on women’s work in mission and focus on the work of the Mothers Union in Anglican and ecumenical ministry in Africa.
- Ms. Elizabeth Boe, mission personnel officer in the Episcopal Church’s Office of Global Partnerships, will reflect on the work of women missionaries and facilitate a panel of current missionaries in diverse parts of the world.
- Dr. Dana Robert, professor of mission and world Christianity at Boston University School of Theology, will present an ecumenical overview of the history of women in world mission and identify current trends in women’s work globally.
- Ms. Lynnaia Main, the Episcopal Church’s representative to the United Nations, will speak on the church’s interaction with United Nations initiatives for women, especially through the annual meetings of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women.
Conference attendance is free and open to the public. Freewill donations are encouraged and can be made at registration. Zoom sessions will be held 1-4 p.m., Eastern U.S. Daylight Time on the Thursday, Friday and Saturday of the conference, May 12-14. The GEMN Annual Meeting will be held an hour earlier on Friday the 13th at 11:45 a.m.
Among the ten workshops planned:
- Ms. Elizabeth Ha, will present on the work of Five Talents, which since 1998 has been transforming lives through economic empowerment in 20 countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America, often through women’s savings groups and business ventures.
- Dr. Chiseche Mibenge, director of gender initiatives at Episcopal Relief and Development, will highlight ERD’s mission companionship with women in diverse parts of the world, especially through its priorities of women, children and climate change.
- The Rev. Dr. Helen Van Koevering will present on the work of the Mothers’ Union in southern Africa from the perspective of her 26 years of mission work in Mozambique.
- Mrs. Alice Garrick, executive director of the Women’s Development and Service Society in the Diocese of Raiwind in the Church of Pakistan, will present on efforts to liberate women from human trafficking in an environment of religious persecution.
- The Rev. Canon Heather Melton, staff officer for the United Thank Offering, will speak on the work of this historic mission outreach and will review its grants process. UTO was established in 1889 by the Women’s Auxiliary to the Board of Missions.
- The Community of the Transfiguration, a women’s monastic order based in Ohio, will present on their longstanding work in the Dominican Republic.
Other workshops are in process.
Short spotlights about particular mission initiatives will be screened from time to time during the conference to illustrate diverse ways in which people are participating in the richness of God’s mission. In addition, pre-recorded 60-second Mission Testimonies about women in mission are invited from participants. If interested in contributing a testimony, please write to gemn@gemn.org.
Founded in 1994, GEMN is a network of dioceses, mission organizations, congregations, seminaries and individuals whose purpose is to “to gather, inspire and equip people to participate in God’s mission with humility, inclusion and companionship.”