CHRISTIAN WITNESS AND WOMEN'S ISSUES

Abstract

The title given to me for this article presupposes a missiological orientation when looking at in South African society. It is from this point that I will embark (with much unease, as I will explain later) to review lost place in the church and its (participation in) in the broader South African society. I come from a Dutch Reformed Church (DRC) background, my father being a white missionary in the Dutch Reformed Church in Africa. The missionaries from my childhood, both women and men, impressed me equally with their commitment and their selfless love. I also remember that it was the black spirituality and service that, to a large extent, carried the Dutch Reformed Church in Africa -- to say nothing of the fact that the women and children filled up the churches on Sundays, while the men scarcely filled the men's and the church council's benches. It was only later that I began to ask myself: Why do the women in the church work and pray so much, but are not to be seen in the church council or in the pulpit? Why, if the of the Dutch Reformed Church was carried to a great extent by women supporters and missionaries, were they not allowed to serve on the commissions (sendingkommissies)? Was the fact that women could not become ordained ministers sufficient reason to exclude them? Why was even the vrouesendingbond (Women's Missionary Union) considered to be an aid to the DRC's mission, rather than a full partner in the church's (see Cronje 1984:9-103). Moreover, why is it that the men of the general synod's Algemene Sendingkommissie (General Mission Commission) could formulate a mission in 1935, which to a large extent laid the foundation for the policy of apartheid in church and society -- a policy that was futher developed and even biblically justified in following documents of the DRC? (Van Schalkwyk 1990:58, 78-80). These questions can be summarized by two basic questions: is the reason for the subdued silence of women in church and missions? and: does this convey of the church and its participation in These two questions uncover the contradiction -- in terms of discussing from a missiological starting point -- that women have been subdued all throgh the history of the Christian church's activity and reflection. Therefore my unease with the given title. This contradiction should be rectified, in order that women may reclaim their rightful place in the church's participation in the missio Dei. Therefore the first women's issue to be addressed in this article should be the critical uncovering of the silencing of women in the church's participation in mission, the reasons for this silencing, and the consequences of it for the church's participation in mission. Second, my concern is not only women's participation, or simply women's in Christian witness. It is rather the re-thinking and re-doing, from the perspective of feminist liberation theology, of our missiology and our missiological theology insofar as the total theological agenda is set by the missio Dei (Bosch 1991:494). Third, specific urgent themes and issues (broader than simply women's issues) in our South African contexts should be addressed from this feminist liberation theological perspective. In such a limited space it is impossible to cover these thoroughly. I may even leave out certain important altogether. My intention is to contribute in an introductory manner only to what should be a deep-searching investigation. Why the silence of women? What does it convey of the church's participation in mission? At the root of the problem is the patriarchal system according to which women, children and workers are subordinate to the male-dominated leadership structures of families, tribes and society: Patriarchy therefore has profound implications for personal, societal and religious experiences. …