Arise and Shine!

The Revd Jenny Pathmarajah, minister at Castle Street Methodist Church, Cambridge, and a member of Methodist Women in Britain, shares this report from the 15th World Assembly of the World Federation of Methodist and Uniting Church Women, that held in New Zealand. 

There is something extraordinary about arriving at an event and finding the world waiting to greet you. At the World Assembly, different languages, cultures, clothes, music, traditions and ways of worshipping are not barriers to overcome, but gifts to enjoy. Everyone comes ready to share something of themselves, to discover something about others and, above all, to learn from one another.

Women from across Britain and Ireland travelled to Auckland, Aotearoa in New Zealand, to join nearly 700 others from across the globe for the 15th World Assembly of the World Federation of Methodist and Uniting Church Women.

Together they gathered around the theme:

“Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risenrises upon you.”
(Isaiah 60:1)

An inspiring group of speakers explored what it means for women to recognise their God-given light and have the courage to let it shine. They included the Revd Charissa Suli, President of the Uniting Church in Australia; the Revd Tara Tuautari, President of the Methodist Church of New Zealand; Bishop Pumla Nzimande, Presiding Bishop of the Methodist Church of Southern Africa (MCSA); and myself, Britain and Ireland’s own the Revd Jenny Pathmarajah.

Again and again, the Assembly returned to a powerful image.  Light does not ask permission to shine.  Neither does it choose which parts of the darkness it is prepared to illuminate. It simply shines.

For the women gathered in Auckland, “Arise and Shine” became much more than an uplifting slogan. It was a challenge to recognise the light God has already placed within each of us and to have the courage to allow it to be seen.

There was also an important reminder that one woman shining does not diminish another. Quite the opposite. When women encourage, support and amplify one another, the light becomes brighter.

Nearly 700 women shining together can illuminate an extraordinary amount of darkness.

That image became particularly powerful as the Assembly explored colonialism and decolonisation. Across the world, communities have experienced invasion and dominating powers which suppressed languages, traditions and indigenous cultures. In some places the Church was itself entangled with colonial power, leaving a complicated legacy which Christians today have a responsibility to acknowledge.

I led the keynote Bible study and invited the Assembly to look again at one of the Bible’s most notorious women: Delilah.

For centuries, Delilah has been portrayed as the manipulative temptress who brought about the downfall of the mighty Samson. But what happens when the story is read through a different lens? What happens when women are encouraged to ask questions of Samson as well as Delilah?

If the Church is to speak into this darkness, it must offer a different vision: relationships based not upon domination, entitlement or power over another person, but upon dignity, equality, mutuality and love.

One of the greatest joys of the Assembly was worship. Each of the Federation’s nine World Areas was given an opportunity to lead, bringing something of its own spirituality, culture and traditions to the whole gathering. There is something deeply moving about standing amongst hundreds of women, singing words you may not completely understand, and nevertheless knowing exactly what is being expressed.

Behind all the celebration of a World Assembly lies serious work. The World Federation of Methodist and Uniting Church Women is a global movement committed to putting Christian faith into action. The Federation has Special Consultative Status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council and has a long history of advocating for women and girls within the international community, working with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

Across the Federation’s nine World Areas, women are addressing poverty, hunger, access to education, gender inequality, violence against women and girls, climate change, health, peace and justice.

This is where the Federation has such extraordinary potential: women of faith, rooted in local communities, connected together across continents and determined to make a difference and hearing the reports of the real work and life changing action taking place around the world was inspiring.

Perhaps the greatest gift of the Assembly was simply being surrounded by so many extraordinary women: women of faith and courage, women with remarkable stories, women working for justice in circumstances very different from our own, and women willing both to teach and to learn. Across differences of nationality, language, culture and generation, there was a wonderful sense of discovering how much we have to offer one another and how deeply we belong to one another as part of this worldwide family.

Forty women have now returned to Britain and Ireland carrying some of those stories, friendships and experiences with them. But “Arise and Shine” was never intended to remain in Auckland. The real test of a World Assembly begins when everyone goes home and asks what difference those few extraordinary days will make in their own churches and communities.

The call is to carry that light home: to challenge injustice, to speak into uncomfortable places, to amplify voices which are not being heard, to learn from people whose experiences are different from our own, and to recognise and celebrate the gifts of women of every age and culture. Above all, it is to remember that nobody needs to make their light smaller so that somebody else can shine. When we encourage one another to shine, the whole world becomes a little brighter.


The World Mission Fund of the Methodist Church in Britain was used to support women from around the world to attend the WFMUCW conference – you can support this, and other similar work financially here.