Five years ago the Forum in the UK brought together a group of women in leadership positions in the church, and the resulting report with its recommendations, entitled ‘The Leading Question?’, was widely shared. We are considering if there has been any progress on the issues that the report highlighted and have developed a survey which we are hoping as many women who are, or have been, leaders in their churches will be able to complete.
The survey will inform a ‘Leading Question, five years on’, report that we plan to release on International Women’s Day, 8th March 2018. To complete the survey please follow this link https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/K8HVDM5 We would be very grateful if you can also share the survey with women you know who are leaders. We hope to get a wide response.
The mermaid image was chosen to illustrate our original report – The Leading Question? because, whilst the mythical female figure of the mermaid is often seen as threatening and dangerous, luring sailors to their death, this has not always been so. At Zennor parish church in West Cornwall, there is a late 15th century carving of a mermaid on one of the pew ends. The mermaid was seen as a symbol of Christ. Her two natures, half human and half fish, echoed Christ’s humanity and divinity. The mermaid can still be seen as a beautiful symbol of our faith – of who Christ is. She speaks of living with ambiguity and mystery, of the importance of taking risk and calling us all out of complacency.
The Ecumenical Forum of European Christian Women in the UK 