URCSA's Gender Policy Adopted by the General Synod 2005

This article was posted on the 19^th January 2017 by former Moderator, Professor Mary-Anne Plaatjies van Huffel, on the ‎URCSA Facebook open group.

1. Preamble

At the first sitting of the General Synod in 1994, URCSA adopted the following general policy:

·      The Synod decided to honestly and critically test her total theology, practice and all the other facets of the church in order to identify every possible form of sexism. The Synod adopted the following guidelines:

1. 1.1. The dismantling of all partitions that still separate women and men within church communities;
2. 1.2. To listen afresh to the Biblical evidence regarding the status and association of men and women;
3. 1.3.  The recognition of women’s talents for the broader service and the consequent involvement of women in leadership positions and positions of authority at all levels;
4. 1.4.  The testing of the current oral and written use of language in the church’s liturgy, confessing and official documents and the truthful strife to use of language that:

1.4.1.   Confirms the underlying community of women and men;

1.4.2.   Reflects the experiences of both men and women;

1.4.3.   Describes God by using a variety of Biblical images in both male and female metaphors;

1.5.       To give men and women equal access to job opportunities and to ensure that women receive equal salaries and benefits. (URCSA 1994)

2. Vision Statement

·      We are a URCSA that acknowledges and embraces the equality of men and women as created by God, redeemed by Christ and gifted by the Holy Spirit. We will continue to reject any teaching and practice that perpetuate gender inequality.

3. Mission

·      URCSA develops biblically and theologically grounded gender practices and teachings which deal with gender justice and integrity.

4. Theological Basis

The competency of the church in reflecting on gender policy and practice must be biblically and theologically grounded as we seek to understand what God requires of us in God’s mission. We undertake this task in the conviction that the power of the Holy Spirit will guide us in guiding just and right relationships among individuals and groups as the foundation of koinonia (fellowship), as Jesus Christ intended.

We begin with the basic biblical affirmation that God created people in God’s image, male and female God created them (Genesis 1:27). At the same time, we recognise that we do not live in but after Eden, that we live in broken power relationships between women and men, where women are often undervalued and treated as inferior to men. We strive to understand God’s will in the face of unjust gender relations and broken human relationships in the church and society. Sexism is a structural sin, like racism and must be denounced and eliminated. Galatians 3:28 says: "there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female; for ye are all one in Christ Jesus."

5. Objectives

·      The objectives of the gender policy is:

5.1.    To change unjust structures and distorted symbol systems reflected in gender relations.

5.2.    To strive towards a complete mind shift regarding gender relations and work towards the creation of a new community of believers and a new society.

5.3.    To uproot all instruments e.g. (sexist language, discriminatory tradition, sexist interpretation of the Bible) within the church that perpetuate inequalities between men and women.

5.4.    To provide education on gender justice.

5.5.    To redress the negative effects of gender injustices.

5.6.    To monitor the effects of our policy by putting in place systems for reporting and accountability.

5.7.    To disseminate information and collaborate with partner churches on gender justice.

5.8.    To develop a database of women ministers and theologians.

5.9.    To ensure that women be represented in all decision-making structures of our church.

5.10. To develop and adopt an affirmative action strategy to address gender imbalances.

5.11. To prayerfully confess the sin of excluding women in the service of God, as such denying women their God-given right to participate as equals in the household of faith - depriving the church (of) an opportunity of being enriched by the contribution of women in serving God and the world.

5.12. To work towards a statement of faith concerning gender equity.

6. Programme of Action

·      The following programme of action must be undertaken:

6.1.    To create gender commissions of women and men at all levels of the
church that will spearhead the work on gender equity in the church.

6.2.    To appoint a coordinator for gender issues at Regional level.

6.3.    To ensure that women have at least 30% representation and strive for 40%
in all decision-making structures of the church i.e. church councils, presbyteries, Regional Synods, General Synod and all commissions.

6.4.    To highlight the month of October in the church calendar to focus on
gender awareness.

6.5.    To train women serving in church structures on church polity to enable
them to participate effectively.

6.6.    To include gender studies in the curriculum of theological training.

6.7.    To ensure the continuous theological training of ministers on gender justice issues.

6.8.    Reviewing and reforming the curriculum of the Sunday school, Catechism class, etc. to ensure equal access and participation of women/girls and men/boys.

6.9.    Providing guidelines for a smooth inclusion of women ministers in this
male dominated service. The process should involve women to ensure that
women’s concerns are addressed. For example, most of the times women are confronted with serious contradictions between tradition, culture and
Christianity.

6.10. To break the tradition of making theological training a condition for
serving on commissions and structures of the church.

6.11. Create a fund for training women ministers, developing scholarship and giving incentives when calling women ministers.