"God in Christ gives up culture for us, so that culture is seen in functional terms, at the service of the gospel, and not in absolute terms," says Rev Professor James Haire, currently national president of the Uniting Church of Australia. This principle "must be applied to gender issues in all cultures".

Haire was one of the speakers at a WARC workshop on gender awareness and leadership development which was held in Brisbane, Australia, in November. Talking about gender in different cultural situations was a central element in the workshop.

Exploring our experiences within our specific cultural contexts as we hear the word of God challenges the churches to re-read the gospel message and to re-examine the role of women. According to Haire, "the gospel must live in each culture. However, it stands over against culture and will always be engaged in a double-wrestle with the culture." The struggle is keenly contested and the outcome can never be predicted in advance.

In the islands of the Pacific, women are placed socially within the private sphere of the home. Their function is to nurture children, husbands and extended families. This domestic role translates into their role within the church, where they are excluded from areas of ministry that are seen as a male preserve. In some cases, they are not allowed to enter the pulpit. Some churches now allow women access to theological study, but they expect women to study separately from men. Women who have been trained theologically do not find it easy to be accepted as pastors.

Culture is a powerful force. In many cases, it is used to defend and preserve traditional male and female roles. Often, it is an excuse for not taking action. We need to ask: when does faith endorse our culture, and when does it challenge it? We need discernment, to value the good aspects of our culture and to recognize the need to change aspects that are bad.

Jenny Tymms brought to the role of workshop facilitator her skills in strategic planning and organizational development, which helped participants to analyse gender relations within the church and the wider society and to envision the future of their churches in their different cultural contexts.

Participants in the workshop, the fourth to be organized by WARC since the 23rd general council, were drawn from member churches in the Pacific. They came - women and men - from Australia, Hawaii, Kirbati, the Marshall Islands, New Caledonia, Aotearoa New Zealand, Niue, Samoa, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu. Anita Monro of the Uniting Church of Australia, which hosted the workshop, made an excellent job of the local arrangements.

Anita and I shared in leading Bible study. We discussed some of the problems that come with picturing God in traditional, male, ruling-class roles which typically justify the subordination of women and their exclusion from social or church leadership. The Bible calls us to go beyond such stereotyped pictures of God to a more inclusive understanding. This expanded horizon should also lead us beyond stereotyped male and female social roles to the fuller realization of the human potential of both women and men.

Our perspective is based on the principle of gender equality and has justice as its goal. The aim is renewal of gender relations in the search for the inclusive community initiated and intended by Jesus Christ. Participants went away from the workshop with the hope that their churches could open dialogue on including women as full partners in God's mission.

Patricia Sheerattan-Bisnauth, department of partnership of women and men