Our new book on the 100 years of the Church of Central Africa Presbyterian seems to enjoy a good reception so far. It has three sections: CCAP History, CCAP Women and CCAP Concerns.
The first and third sections are fairly predictable. At a centenary you have to take a look back across the history, take account of the state-of-play in the present and offer some sketch of the future prospects. Perhaps less expected is to have a section devoted to CCAP Women.
This is a case of “affirmative action.” Of course, the church is always a community of women and men, with the CCAP being no exception. The issue is that the existing literature is heavily biased towards the contribution of men, to the extent that you could be left wondering whether any worthwhile contribution has been made by women. On this question the book aims to dispel any doubts by giving a central place to the role of women in the life of the church.
A chapter by Gilbert Phiri delves back into history to trace the life trajectories of women teachers who served in Blantyre Mission schools in the middle decades of the twentieth century. These were women who made major contributions to both church and nation.
Chapters by Mwawi Chilongozi, Gertrude Kapuma, and Eunice M’biya and Gift Kayira examine the leadership offered by women within the life of the church itself. They highlight the work of the influential uniformed women’s organisations – a ubiquitous feature of Malawi life.
For much of the 100 years, women were excluded from most leadership roles in the church itself. This, however, has changed since the 1990s with ordination, first to the eldership and then to the ministry, being opened to women on the same basis as men. Pioneering women (including two of our authors) have transformed the gender situation by stepping up to the ministry of Word and Sacrament. While this has been a breakthrough in terms of gender justice in the church, the chapters highlight how senior positions continue to be male-dominated. Significant progress has been made on the journey towards gender equality, but we have yet to arrive.
Thinking Mission Blog 