World Day of Prayer: Affirming That Faith and Action Are Inseparable
LWF Women’s Networks Support Struggle for Gender Justice
The World Day of Prayer (WDP), marked globally in many countries on the first Friday of March is a day for women worldwide to affirm that prayer and action are inseparable and both have immeasurable influence.
For The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) it is an occasion to reflect on the issues that relate to women’s empowerment and leadership, and to gender justice in community and within the church, says Rev. Dr Elaine Neuenfeldt, executive secretary for Women in Church and Society (WICAS) at the LWF.
Neuenfeldt points out that the WDP movement of Christian women from many church traditions includes many women in the LWF member churches who are putting their faith into action for gender justice.
“I was a stranger and you welcomed me,” is the WDP theme for 2013. This theme is directly connected to LWF’s diaconal work with refugees and with internally displaced persons, and in advocacy against gender-based violence and for human rights, says Neuenfeldt. “It is also a theological affirmation of the Lutheran Communion’s commitment to be inclusive, embracing our differences as a gift that enriches our shared spiritual journey,” she adds.
WICAS is exploring further collaboration with WDP. During a recent visit to the LWF, WDP executive director Rosȃngela Oliveira pointed out that the spirituality expressed in the WDP enables “many women to open ourselves to women from countries we probably know nothing about or anybody, and let them talk to us. We pray for the other.”
Oliveira described the prayerful “listening to the other and learning” as important in empowering those struggling for justice in their communities and in educating women about the injustices suffered in their own lives.
Citing some examples, she said women from Madagascar had initiated workshops on human rights and the rites of widowhood, because they had learned from those in Malaysia about “the need to seek justice without fear or discouragement.” In Cameroon, seminars and training for women and youth about their rights are helping to build up advocacy on violence against women and child trafficking, and increase support for widows in prison.
For Neuenfeldt, these important initiatives inspired by WDP “help to build bridges that strengthen women’s networks and make visible women’s leadership in our churches and society.”
The WICAS secretary affirms LWF’s commitment to continue emboldening “women and men to work hand in hand in addressing systemic injustices and transform together realities of oppression into communities of a good life centered on just relations.”
Share your stories with WICAS: If you know actions, initiatives and projects from Lutheran churches in your country or region which are keeping the promise to end violence against women, please share this experience/story with us at lwfwicas [at] Lutheranworld [dot] org