Wednesday 06 Jul
From the pioneering women of our past, to today.. we celebrate and champion women.
Women have been front and centre in our mission community’s rich faith story over 140 years and we are committed to doing all we can to ensure this continues.
It was exciting to write another chapter in this story at our recent Annual General Meeting with the election of our first female Chairperson, Rev Beth Jackson.
And in another first for Baptist Mission Australia, both our Chair and Deputy Chairperson roles are now filled by women, with the election of Surette Southwood as the deputy chair.
I look forward to serving alongside Beth and Surette, and our other Board members Trevor Harvey and Hany Messieh, as we pursue our compelling vision, as articulated in our Strategic Roadmap.
Aligned with the Roadmap, the Board is keen to foster the development of female leaders across the organisation.
We have also seen the appointment of new female team leaders in recent months, with the appointment of Melanie as co-Team Leader of our Malawi team and Kath as co-Team Leader of our Mozambique team.
I am very encouraged by all of these appointments and that 50% of our Leadership Team are women with Susan Campbell serving as Associate Executive Director and Caryn Chan serving as Director of Governance & Central Services.
As we foster the development of female leaders, we are also eager to proactively address areas of gender bias. This week we have distributed a "Say No To Gender Bias” survey, as we seek feedback from all women serving on our National Team, as intercultural team members and volunteers.
It’s vital that we listen to the voices of women across our organisation and have in place policies and practices that foster equity and nurture female leadership at all levels of our organisation.
I am keen that we let you – as a valued partner in ministry – know of these important developments. And we always welcome feedback from our supporters, recognising that without our partners we would not exist.
Please join me in congratulating Beth and Surette on their appointments and pray for our Board as it provides wise governance in a rapidly changing world and global mission landscape.
Thank you for your partnership with us in the good news of Jesus!
Grace and peace
Scott
PS: And here’s a story to encourage us all:
One of long-term partners, who has supported our WA intercultural team members for many years is now 97. This amazing partner and woman of faith recently decided to give three years’ worth of donations in advance, fearing that if she did not reach the century mark, she wanted to make sure intercultural team members didn’t miss out on her support. What an inspiring example!
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