Wider horizons for Baptists

Press, 10 November 1983, Page 16

Wider horizons for Baptists

About 250 Baptist women met together recently to focus on “Women on the Move” in church and community.

The meeting, which was part of the Baptist Church General Assembly being held in Christchurch, took place at the Oxford Terrace Baptist Church. It is seen as particularly timely, with the election of Mrs Vivien Boyd, the first woman to become a vicepresident of the church. Speakers were two women ministers — the Rev. Anna Norrish, minister at the Northcote Baptist Church, and the Rev. Ngaire Brader, from the Epsom Baptist Church — and the Rev. Harold Tidwell, a lecturer at the Baptist College. Ms Brader discussed scriptural doctrine relating to women. She felt that the Church had generally not recognised the radical message of the gospels, and that

the position of women in the Church had deteriorated after an initial brief period of equality. “Women’s world is one of relationships and intuition, while men act from principles and facts. I think we can question whether the latter are always virtues,” said Ms Norrish.

She spoke at length on the need for an integration of male and female virtues and qualities in the ministry. She urged male ministers to see that women church members’ talents are not just confined to doing the flowers and making the tea. “I grieve when I hear sexist language from the pulpit,” she said. “It is so important that we make it clear that men and women both have a place in the Lord’s Kingdom, and for this reason we must use language that includes both.”