The Baptist Union has been ordaining women to ministry for something like 80 years, yet whilst late-comer Christian traditions have reached parity on ordinations of men and women, female Baptist ministers remain a minority in a tradition where many churches oppose our existence.  It is a sad fact that there is a need for 'places' where those of us who have survived the perils of the path to ministry, and the ongoing thorns and thistles of doing/being what God has called us to, can gather not to whinge, not to huddle in some kind of holy-coven, but to share, celebrate, commiserate, affirm and encourage each other.  I wish such fora were not needed, but they are.

There was much that was great about the day - some inspiring stories of work individuals are doing, some honest sharing of struggles and heartbreak, some laughter, and some calorie-free chocolate biscuits.  OK I made up the last bit, but it was overall a good day.  Particularly good was to have the two men ministers who are part of our Regional Team with us, two men who are good advocates for justice in ministerial recognition and whose support and encouragement have been, and are, valued by many of us.

Less good was the sense that the Union is struggling to address this issue, that it is not seen as having the same priority as some other issues.  I think if these other issues were world hunger or people trafficking or supporting those on the margins of our own societies, I'd be sympathetic, but they aren't.  Many more eloquent speakers have spoken on this topic and many/most women of my generation are reluctantly drawn into the idea that this is an issue, because in 'the real world' it wasn't - for the most part we aren't rabid feminists (or not rabid anyway ;0) )and just long to be affirmed in the work to which God has called us.  To be fair, I think the Union does recognise that it is the women ministers, students and single blokes who get the toughest churches, and that among these are some of the finest ministers we have.  What is harder is to challenge a culture that sees small, elderly, HMF, inner city, rural, mutli-ethnic, deprived area (etc) churches as the ones that either are what you do on the way to something better (for which read bigger, more prosperous, nicer area) or because you can't get anything better in the first place.  This is an insult to churches and ministers alike.  I wonder what God thinks, looking at the Church and seeing its divisions not by theology or tradition but by 'successful' 'unsuccessful' demarcation, knowing that those in the tougher contexts are often those God has gifted especially?

Travelling home with a friend, I asked her if she felt 'affirmed and celebrated' the title of the day.  She said, and I would concur, that she felt affirmed and encouraged, but was less sure about the celebration aspect.  Perhaps it is semantics, and perhaps it needs more church-wide acknowledgement recognition of the ongoing role of women in God's work - from Shiphrah and Puah, Deborah, Rahab, Ruth, Hannah, Mary, Elizabeth, Johanna, Eunice and Lois to Mary Jones, Lottie Moon, Catherine Branwell Booth, Mother Theresa, Miss Rennant, Miss Timmis and so on.  Oh, and if there are any of these names you don't know, I rest my case!

Overall, a good day, worth repeating, but needs care to keep its focus Godwards and its approach reflexive as time goes by.