Woman's Pulpit - - October-December 2010 No.4

Oct 13, 2026

Report of the International Association of Women Ministers covering an assembly held July 19 to 22 at Mount Carmel Spiritual Centre in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada. Highlights include an interactive discussion on responsibilities of the Church, priorities for the association’s future focusing on “Greening Our Faith,” and summaries of presentations and panel discussions. The issue outlines the board’s planning and the top priorities, including website expansion, regional groups, and outreach to women seminarians.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryLiterature

FormatPDF

Pages8

Reading Time12 min

AccessFree to download

Assembly Sets PrioritiesFor IAWM's Future

Top Six Priorities

# Woman's Pulpit OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF WOMEN MINISTERS # Assembly Considers Future,'Greening Faith’ come to mind as this report is viewedinclude:“What is my responsibility inregard to the difficulties we face?”and“What does or should the Church have tosay about them?What does the Bible say?What can Christians teach aboutresponding to the issues raised?”Assembly interactive discussion revolvedaround similar questions. Meeting in Assembly at Mount CarmelSpiritual Centre in Niagara Falls,Ontario,Canada July 19 to 22,members of theInternational Association of WomenMinisters: ● ranked eleven priorities for futuredevelopment of the association whichCo-Presidents Linda B.Brebner andMary K.Green drew from the repliesof IAWM members to this year'ssurvey and chose six to work on;discussed with eco-feminist JenniferJanzen-Ball of Toronto issues relatedto “Greening Our Faith;” Janzen-Ball offered some theological # Assembly Sets PrioritiesFor IAWM's Future heard a panel of Canadian women inministry discuss their varied servicesto church and faith,and learned about the ministry of a couplein the Philippine Islands from the Rev.Dr.Esther Fe B.Gusto and about theChurch in China from the Rev.Yanling Meng. In the second report on this page andpage 3 Co-President Brebner details theplanning of the Assembly for addressingsix of the eleven priorities and the personswho will assume responsibility for leadingeach effort. ## Top Six Priorities Following the Presidential Address onMonday evening,we passed outprioritization lists to all those present atthe Assembly,and the participants wereasked to rank the 11 priorities arisingfrom the surveys.They were to give themost points(11)to the priority they feltshould get the most attention from theboard in the future years and one(1)point to that priority they felt should getthe least attention.It was a difficult taskto choose among the eleven prioritieswhich all had support in the surveyresponses.Even Mary and I had troublechoosing,and you will be interested toknow that she and I prioritized in verydifferent ways.We shared our resultswith each other without discussing thembeforehand.The results were weightedbased on the total number of points givento each priority,and the results of the topsix(including the description given toeach on the prioritization sheets)are as Greening Our Faith Discussion of the main Assembly focus,which was interpreted and guided by theRev.Jennifer Janzen-Ball,is summed up(with apologies to Kermit the Frog)in thephrase,"It Isn't Easy Being Green,"whichwas the title of her second presentation. In May Janzen-Ball completed herdoctoral thesis on ministry that guides usin livingChristian, ecologicallysustainable lives,and how the church canhelp to offer this guidance. Issues facing our world are complex,shenoted,and who we are and where we liveaffects the way we see the complex issues. One helpful look at these issues iscontained in "The Story of Stuff,"whichwas viewed by the Assembly attendees anddiscussed and which can be found atwww.thestoryofstuff.com.Questions that October- December 2010 anthropologies that explore who we areand how we are related to God in terms ofthe way we live together and care for theearth and its resources. One approach suggested by ThomasBerry was an invitation to see the world asGod's body,an approach,she suggested,that can hold a link between eco-justiceand social justice."Is that body being (Continued on page 4) By IAWM Co-President Linda B.Brebner In my article in the last issue of The Woman's Pulpit(TWP),I promised to report onthe action of the board and assembly in relation to the responses to the survey whichmany of you filled out last spring.Mary and I included many of those responses in ourPresidential Address,which we delivered the first evening of the Assembly.The boardhad done some work on responses during its meeting on Sunday evening and during theday on Monday.

FAQs

Where and when was the IAWM assembly held?

It was held July 19 to 22 at Mount Carmel Spiritual Centre in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada.

What is the main focus described in the issue?

The main assembly focus is “Greening Our Faith,” guided by Rev. Jennifer Janzen-Ball.

How were the top priorities selected?

Participants were asked to rank 11 priorities from the surveys, giving 11 points to the priority needing the most attention and 1 point to the priority needing the least attention; the top six were then identified by weighted results.

Oct 13, 2026

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