Sophia Network

Updated Privacy Policy

 

 

PRIVACY POLICY

CONTENTS

Introduction

How we collect personal information from you

what information we collect about you

how we might use your information

social media

basis of processing your data

how and where we store your information

security

where we store your personal information

when we share your personal information

cookies

your choices and telling us when things change

your information – your rights

changes to this policy

 

INTRODUCTION

Thank you for the support you give to the Sophia Network. Your support, prayers and engagement help us to work towards our vision of supporting men and women working together in leadership.

We have updated Sophia Network’s privacy policy to reflect new regulations and to explain how we collect, store and use your data securely. Sophia Network has always sought to follow best practice and treat each network member respectfully according to your expressed preferences.

Our Privacy Pledge

• We store your personal data securely.
• We ensure your data's security when dealing with banks and the postal service.
• We won't share your details with anyone else.
• We won't call you asking for donations.
• You can change your preferences or opt out from communications at any time.
• If you have any questions, comments or want to change your mailing or contact preferences, contact info@sophianetwork.org

About Sophia Network

Sophia Network celebrates and supports men and women working well together in leadership. We focus our energy in four areas: partnership, relationships, voice and training. We run training days, facilitate social media, raise awareness of gender issues, provide opportunities for women to network and advocate on behalf of those exploring gender issues in the Church. We are a charity registered in England and Wales (1128538) Our correspondence address is: Sophia Network 37 Hyde Abbey Road, Winchester, S023 7DA

For the purposes of this Policy, 'us', 'we' and 'our' refer to Sophia Network.

HOW WE COLLECT PERSONAL INFORMATION FROM YOU

Personal information is collected directly from you when you interact with Sophia Network. For example,

• Making a donation
• Sending or receiving an email
• Making an enquiry
• Visiting our website
• Applying for a role at Sophia Network
• Taking part in an event
• Volunteering for Sophia Network
• Signing up to a campaign or newsletter
• Where we have a face to face relationship with you

Information may be collected in person, through our websites, social media, or email or from something you've posted to us.

WHAT INFORMATION WE COLLECT ABOUT YOU

The information we hold will typically include some or all of the following:

• Your name
• Postal address
• Email address
• Phone number
• The activity that you have completed or the information you have requested

If you make a donation, we may collect:

• Bank details
• Credit card details
• Gift Aid Declaration details

If you interact with us online, we collect:

• non-personal data such as IP addresses
• details of pages visited
• details of files downloaded.

Website usage information is collected using cookies: see the section on Cookies below.

We may collect information from Companies House, the Charity Commission, and information published in articles, newspapers or social media.

Where you provide the information, we may collect personal data such as:

• your denomination or church
• your religious beliefs

If you participate in an event that we have organised, we may ask you to provide information to make sure we can manage the event safely and efficiently. We may also ask you for details of any accessibility needs you may have, so that we ensure our event is inclusive, in line with the provisions of the Equality Act 2010.

HOW WE MIGHT USE YOUR INFORMATION

We may use the personal data we collect to:

• Keep you up-to-date on news and the impact of Sophia Network's work
• Ask for financial and non-financial support, such as volunteering or prayer
• Process donations you give us
• Provide information or resources you have requested
• Provide a personalised service, such as personalised emails
• Keep records of your relationship with us eg, feedback you have given or complaints you have made
• Classify supporters by location, for example Scotland, Ireland or Wales
• Conduct market research to aid our understanding of our supporters and their views, so we can provide a better service.

SOCIAL MEDIA

Your settings or the privacy policies for social media and messaging services might give permission to access information from these sources. If we do access this data, for example to assess the effectiveness of our communications, we will not add this to your personal details that we hold. We advise you to check the privacy settings on your social media provider to ensure you are happy with the level of privacy you have chosen.

BASIS OF PROCESSING YOUR DATA

Consent

If you are a new network member, on or after 25 May 2018, we will process your personal data on the basis of the consent you provide us with. You are free to change your contact preferences at any time by contacting us by telephone, post or email, as shown in the section 'Your choices and telling us when things change' below.

Contract Performance

This means we will send you whatever you’ve asked for, eg a resource you’ve ordered – or write a letter to acknowledge a gift. This doesn’t affect your other communications preferences.

Legitimate Interest

• If you are an existing supporter, as at 25 May 2018, and have requested emails, we will continue to send emails to you. GDPR calls this legitimate interest.
• Where you have previously asked us not to contact you in this way, we will continue to respect your contact preferences.
• You can amend your preferences at any time by contacting us by via post or email as shown in the section 'Your choices and telling us when things change' below.
• We may also share details of the difference our work makes and update you on other ways you could support the network, for example using new resources, training events, research publications or raising funds.

HOW AND WHERE WE STORE YOUR INFORMATION

We will keep your personal information only for as long as we consider it necessary to carry out each activity.

We have a Data Retention Policy to implement this. We take account of legal obligations and accounting and tax considerations as well as considering what would be reasonable for the activity concerned. For example, we will retain details of donations to meet tax and accounting requirements.

If you have any questions about our Data Retention Policy, please contact us in writing at:

Data Protection Officer 
Sophia Network
37 Hyde Abbey Road
Winchester
S023 7DA
United Kingdom

Email: info@sophianetwork.org  

SECURITY

We ensure that we have appropriate technical controls in place to protect any personal data you provide. For example, we ensure that any online forms are encrypted and our network is protected and routinely monitored. Despite all our efforts, the internet cannot be guaranteed to be 100 per cent secure, and there is always a risk when you submit data. Nevertheless, we have done all we can to protect your data in full compliance with best practice.

We ensure that access to personal data is restricted only to those trustees and volunteers whose job roles require such access.

We may make limited use from time to time of trusted external companies to collect or process personal data on our behalf, such for the distribution of e-news. When we do so, we carry out checks on these companies, and to ensure they will handle personal data securely and safely.

Donations

We hold bank account details for the purpose of collecting direct debits in accordance with direct debit mandate rules.

 

WHERE WE STORE YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION

The data we process and store is within the European Economic Area (EEA). It may be that some of our suppliers use cloud-based storage; however, we take steps to make sure they provide an adequate level of protection in accordance with UK data protection law. We adopt the Information Commissioners approved measures and therefore ensure that personal data is held in compliance with European data protection regulations. We take all reasonable steps to ensure that your data is stored and processed securely in accordance with this policy. By submitting your personal data you agree to this transfer, storing and processing of your information.

WHEN WE SHARE YOUR INFORMATION

We do not share or swap your information with any other charities or organisations for the purposes of their marketing.

Legal Duty

We may need to pass on information if required by law or by a regulatory body. For example, a Gift Aid audit by the HMRC, or if asked for details by a law enforcement agency.

COOKIES

What are cookies?

We collect data using cookies. A cookie is a text file that is sent from our website as soon as you visit the site. It is stored on your computer's hard drive and helps us to identify your computer (not you) and collects information in an aggregate, anonymous way.

We collect cookies:

• To enable users to complete actions on our website without creating an account
• For account registration and logging in

How do we use cookies?

Cookies may be used to collect information about your visit to our website, such as:

• traffic data
• location data
• device information
• the date and time of your visit
• the pages that you visit

We may use this information to:

• customise the content on our website and help to understand visitors' current and future needs
• process any requests, applications or transactions you may make
• aid internal administration and analysis

You can find out more about cookies at Cookiepedia and at aboutcookies.org.uk

Managing Cookies

Most browsers allow you to turn off the cookie function. To do this you can look at the help function on your browser or visit aboutcookies.org.uk.

To experience the Sophia Network website to the full, we recommend that you leave cookies turned on. If you turn off cookies then you may not be able to enter parts of the site.

Third Party Cookies

Sophia Network works with a number of third party suppliers who set cookies on our website to enable them to provide us with services. These are mainly used for reporting purposes so we can improve the way we communicate.

We use websites such as YouTube and Vimeo to embed videos and you may be sent cookies from these websites. We do not control the setting of these cookies, so we suggest you check the third party website for more information about their cookies and how to manage them.

Sophia Network also uses third party suppliers such as Facebook, Google Analytics, and these providers may use cookies. They may also use tracking pixels, which are commonly found in advertising to track the effectiveness of adverts.

As some of these services may be based outside of the UK and the European Union, they may not fall under the jurisdiction of UK courts. If you are concerned about this you can change your cookie settings (see above) and can find more information about this here.

YOUR CHOICES AND TELLING US WHEN THINGS CHANGE

Preferences

You can change your preferences on which communications you receive from us by clicking on the link at the bottom of any email from us to you.

You can do so by:

Emailing us on: info@sophianetwork.org

Write to us at:

Sophia Network 

37 Hyde Abbey Road
Winchester
S023 7DA
United Kingdom

Updating your details

We want to communicate with you effectively. It's much easier if your details are up to date, so we really appreciate it if you let us know when your details change. You can do so in the same way as updating your preferences (above).

If we are unsure of the details you have entered on a form, or if you have changed address and given the Post Office permission to share this, we may use Post Office address search, postcode lists or other available sources to confirm data that you provide us with.

YOUR INFORMATION - YOUR RIGHTS

For any of the following areas, please contact the Data Protection Officer:

Data Protection Officer 
Sophia Network 
37 Hyde Abbey Road
Winchester
S023 7DA
United Kingdom

Telling us to stop processing

You have the right to ask us to stop using your personal information for marketing purposes or for any other purpose where there is no legal requirement for continued processing.

How to request a copy of the information that we hold about you, otherwise known as a Subject Access Request

You have the right to ask for a copy of all the information related to you that we hold.

How to ask us to amend or delete your information

If your information is out of date, or if there is no longer justification for us to hold it, you can ask for it to be updated, removed or blocked by contacting the Data Protection Officer in writing.

How to request your information

You can ask for a copy of any personal information that you have provided to us in the past. We will provide it in a clear and easy to follow format.

CHANGES TO THIS POLICY

This policy was last updated in May 2018. We may amend this policy from time to time to take account of changes to our processes or changes to data protection or other associated legislation. If we make any significant changes to this policy we will show this clearly on our website, and/or by contacting you directly.

Sophia Network Update – May 2018

Welcome to the May Sophia Network Update!

After launching our research, Minding the Gap, on March 11, International Women’s Day, we have been encouraged by the level of engagement it has received and the questions and stories it has provoked. We never take the privileged position we have advocating and journeying alongside women in ministry for granted.

We are excited to be working on the next stages of our response, and the board of trustees will be meeting in June to discuss our emerging strategy.

One of the key elements of the research was the manifesto and we are encouraged that many have already signed up to the values it promotes. If you would like to sign up send your name and church/denomination in an email to info@mindingthegapuk.com 

You can find the manifesto here, and a link to download the research here.

We continue to seek people to work with us on our e-news and blog, so if that might be you, do contact Dan at blog.sophianetwork@gmail.com

After the exertions of March, we have a scaled-back e-news, emphasising quality rather than quantity. This month we have just one excellent feature article from Tami Zacharias on ‘from doing to developing.’

Happy Reading!

Vicky Thompson (Chair) 

 

 

Dan Crouch (Trustee and Editor)

From doing to developing

From doing to developing

As I watched my team work diligently at organising the upcoming training conference for new recruits, I felt guilty. They were busy sorting out transportation, emailing attendees, and coordinating with the retreat centre. In comparison, I had little to do. I should be doing more, I thought. I don’t want to be lazy.

When reflecting on the situation, my perspective began to change. My team was putting together a quality event with little input from me, but this had not always been the case. I had developed and empowered them over time, so they were able to take on more and more responsibility on their own. Instead of feeling guilty, I could celebrate my success! It was even sweeter thinking about my upcoming transition out of team leadership in a few months. I knew they would continue to function well when I departed.

This situation is a good example of what I have been learning over the past few years: leadership often involves pulling back from the direct work yourself, so you can develop and empower others to do it. Many things get in the way of this happening. You may have been promoted to a leadership role because of job performance, and instead of developing others, you prefer to be hands-on yourself. You may not trust the team you work with, and so you micromanage.

For us as Christian leaders, we can have the added pressure of an incorrect view of servant leadership that pushes us to do the day-to-day tasks because we want to serve others, not acting as if something is beneath us as a leader. I believe that serving others well can mean you do the task, stack the chairs, or clean the kitchen, but more often it means you develop and empower others to succeed. Doing your job well as a leader is serving others.

Regardless of what gets in the way, we need to shift our leadership focus from doing to developing. This avoids dependency, and not only empowers others, but is a good succession plan for when you leave. Even Paul advised Timothy to pass on his teachings to “reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others” (1 Tim. 2:2). What are you waiting for?

Questions for Reflection

• How are you developing and empowering your team members? (if you’re not sure, perhaps you can get a mentor to ask them and give you the feedback anonymously)
• Who do you know that is good at developing others? How can you learn from them?
• Do you have a succession plan in place? If not, why not?

Tami lives in Canada and works in international leadership development and training for the Christian charity Operation Mobilisation.  She has studied youth leadership and adult education, and plans to finish an MEd. in Educational Leadership in 2020. She enjoys conversations about feminism and tea. You can find her blog here.

Sophia Network Update – March 2018

Well what a week it has been for the Sophia Network! Huge thanks to everyone who has contributed to our research. From those who participated in the original research questionnaire, to the focus group who met in January, to those who analysed the data and produced the report, to those who gathered in the House of Commons on Thursday and those who have downloaded the report and are sharing it far and wide on social media. We are a network and we aim to serve our members. We are grateful to you all for engaging and supporting us as we seek to do this and we hope and pray that the results of this research will shape the way we serve you in the coming years.

This months e-news is something of a bumper edition, with a wonderful array of articles for your engagement.

We introduce the Minding the Gap research in case you have not yet seen it.

We share our manifesto with you, and round up some of the media coverage of the launch of the research.

We share the highlights of the research in graphic form for those who find this easier to process information in this way.

Jody Stowell provides a perspective on the research findings as a woman in a leadership role.

Steve Holmes offers a theological perspective on the research.
Claire Rush shares an article with us that she has recently contributed to Youth and Children's Work Magazine called ‘Are you sexist and don’t know it?’

Tami Zacharias offers us some thoughts on the area of Trust in Leadership.

So, you might need to carve out half an hour of your time, grab a larger than usual cuppa, and maybe even some cake for a sugar boost, before you sit down and engage with all we have to share with you this month!

Happy Reading!

Vicky Thompson (Chair) 

 

 

Dan Crouch (Trustee and Editor)

Minding the Gap 2018

 

The Minding the Gap report, published by the Sophia Network, found that institutional sexism was also seen as the number one barrier for women in church leadership in the UK, identified as such by 53 per cent of respondents in the survey.

The report also highlighted a number of other barriers facing women in leadership in the Church, including a lack of female mentoring and leaders (46%); and a lack of theological understanding of women and men working in partnership for the gospel (42%).

The report surveyed more than 1,200 women about their experiences within church communities in order to paint a comprehensive picture of what it is like to be a woman in the Church in UK & Ireland.

Following the survey findings, which were launched in parliament on International Women’s Day (Thursday, 8 March), the Sophia Network is now encouraging churches to sign up to its ‘Minding the Gap Manifesto’ – eight commitments to making their congregations places of gender equality.*

Dr Claire Rush, vice president of Girls’ Brigade International and vice-chair of the Sophia Network, said: “The #metoo campaign shows that gender equality has still not been achieved, and it’s heartbreaking to see that the Church, which should be a liberating and hope-filled community, remains a place in which some women are experiencing sexism.

“Our hope and prayer is that leaders will take up the challenge posed by our research to make their churches spaces in which women can flourish by being released into their God-given giftings, becoming all that they have been created to be.”

The Sophia Network was started in 2007 and exists to empower and equip women in leadership, and to champion the full equality of women and men in the Church.

Rev Vicky Thompson, chair of the Sophia Network, said: “Many assumptions are made about women’s experiences within and relationship to the Church. But we are not aware of previous research that has tried to capture the range and breadth of women’s experiences – including the highs and the lows.

“Although we were disappointed that so many women have experienced sexism, we were heartened to see some positive results about women’s experiences of church – particularly the support they have received in their leadership journeys from male leaders.

“We hope this research will provide a useful tool to pave a way forward towards the full equality of men and women in the Church for the sake of the gospel. We are hoping the findings will also shape the future direction of Sophia.”

To download the Minding the Gap report, visit mindingthegapuk.com

Minding the Gap Manifesto

We would love to encourage church leaders' to sign up to the manifesto. If you do, please drop us an email at info@mindingthegapuk.com with your name and church/denomination.

Minding the Gap: A response - Jody Stowell

I was delighted to attend the launch of the Minding the Gap research from Sophia Network on International Women's Day. The research is significant because it gives some evidence to the reality of women's experience in church across the UK. I saw my own experience as a woman in the church, reflected in the stats and it was both hopeful and heartbreaking. It was good to see that a majority of women felt encouraged in their calling, although important to remember that there are a significant minority who are discouraged to follow God's call on their life. It isn't okay however, that a great majority of women have experienced sexism in the church environment. The important thing is that this research doesn't get lost in the good changes that have been made. It can be easy to become complacent. The reality is that unless we continue to be intentional about eradicating sexism and misogyny in the church today, at the very best we stay static, but more likely, the good advances we have made will reverse and we will go backwards. This research tells me that we must all Keep Going. 


 

Jody Stowell

Minding the Gap Research Statistics and Overview

Minding the Gap Media Coverage

The launch of our minding the gap research was shared by a variety of media organisations, you can see these at the links below.

Premier - https://www.premier.org.uk/News/UK/More-than-sixty-per-cent-of-women-experience-sexism-in-church

Church Times - https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2018/9-march/news/uk/churches-accused-of-institutional-sexism-on-international-women-s-day

Christian Today - https://www.christiantoday.com/article/two-thirds-of-women-experience-sexism-in-church/127080.htm

Keep the Faith - http://www.keepthefaith.co.uk/2018/03/08/two-thirds-of-women-have-experienced-sexism-in-church/

Chair of the Network, Vicky Thompson also conducted a number of radio interviews concerning the research.

Minding the Gap: A response - Steve Holmes

Speaking at an event in the House of Lords had not been on my bucket list—too unlikely to consider. But when friends from the Sophia Network invited me to do it, I added it, just to cross it off.

 

Sophia were launching the Minding the Gap research, the results of a survey that ran for a couple of months in summer 2017.  Over 1200 women offered their experiences of being a woman in the church in the UK today.

 

As we queued for security (it was the House of Lords...) someone asked me why I had come. I said some things about being concerned about gender issues and ministry. She asked ‘Why?’

 

The scanner beeped and we were separated, but I had a flashback in my head. Six, seven years ago, our living room in St Andrews, a friend, Ruth, senior pastor of a significant Baptist church, talking about being a part of our church, our local fellowship,  in her youth, sensing a call the ministry, being told that God does not call women. It was not so long ago; we have members who remember her.

 

I looked at my daughters, the eldest then 10 or 11, playing in the room. They didn’t notice what she said—grown up stuff—but they were growing into faith in that same church. In our congregation, things had changed; in too many others, not. I had always believed that the Bible teaches the God calls women and men indifferently; that day I pledged to get active about that belief.

 

The Minding the Gap research helps those of us who want to get active, by telling us things we might not have known. Let me highlight just three.

 

First, this matters. 1200+ responses is, surely, significant. There are women in our churches with stories they want to tell and with voices that need to be heard. We need to listen to those stories and to hear those voices, to find ways of making space so that they are no longer silenced. This research is the beginning of that, but there needs to be so much more.

 

Second, the stories are endlessly varied. There are women—praise God!—who have experienced support and affirmation and encouragement in their vocation to leadership. There are others who have not. Hateful and unloving words have been spoken and heard; hateful and unjust actions have been done and suffered.

 

More than that, these women’s stories point to the rich variety of the practice of ministry. If ordained but unpaid ministers are disproportionately female (they are...) then we should want to ask why; we should also want to ask whether it is possible to be appointed to a senior role from a non-stipendary ministry. Serving the church faithfully without payment should not, surely, be a barrier to becoming a bishop?

 

Third, these stories call us to look to our structures. Asked about the impediments to the full exercise of their ministry, most women named ‘institutional sexism’. If our institutions are broken, if our structures are sexist, solving our problems will require more than changing some men’s minds.

 

As Christians, I believe, we should hear language of institutions and structures in Biblical terms, as powers and principalities. Patriarchy is an evil spiritual reality, active and enveloping. Prayer and work will alike be required to overthrow it. We need to change things, to storm spiritual strongholds, to speak gospel truth deep into our cultural assumptions.

 

This sounds hard, but with prayer and faithful Biblical preaching and constant vigilance it can be done. Aged ten or eleven, my eldest daughter overheard Ruth tell of our church’s pulpit being closed to women. She turns seventeen next month. She has spoken twice from that once-closed pulpit already—by God’s good grace, principalities can be dethroned, and change can happen.




Steve Holmes is Principal of St Mary’s College and Head of School of Divinity at the University of St Andrews.

‘Are you sexist and don’t know it?’

Our vice-chair of trustees Claire Rush wrote on this topic for Premier Youth and Childrens Work Magazine. You can read the article here.

Reflective Leadership Corner

Three Small Words, and They’re Not ‘I Love You’

“She trusts us.” I paused as I read the comment from one of my team members in an anonymous evaluation of my leadership. Of course I was pleased, but I also wanted to know what I did specifically that would result in that conclusion. Since the evaluation was anonymous, and I couldn’t talk to the person who wrote the comment, I reflected on my actions instead.

I recalled telling my team at numerous points that I trusted them, but words alone would not elicit that statement. I kept thinking. I try to be a trustworthy person through honesty, consistency, and reliability. I do my work with excellence and admit my weaknesses. I cannot know for sure, but I think the deciding factor in the comment may have been something else.

With my team, I generally set boundaries and give training and mentoring, then let them move freely. I provide accountability through regular check-ins, but do not micromanage. I try to allow them to make as many decisions as possible, making myself available when they need help or an exception to the established structure. I have often left for work trips without being concerned about their tasks, knowing they will connect when they need to. Leading this way, at least in my context, has built trust.

Why spend so much time thinking about those three small words? Patrick Lencioni, in his book The 5 Dysfunctions of a Team, lists the absence of trust as the first and foundational dysfunction. Lack of trust ultimately leads to the breakdown of the team, and a lack of success. Trust is non-negotiable to good teamwork and reaching team goals.

It is part of our leadership responsibility to facilitate trust in a variety of relationships: us with our team, between team members, and with whoever we are serving. Building trust can look different for each person, which on the surface makes it difficult for leaders to work at it. It may include things from my example above, but it may be something else. In my experience, facilitating simple conversations around what establishes or breaks trust can help build it. Many people have not taken the time to understand how trust works for them, so they make blanket statements that trust is or is not present. Helping team members develop a vocabulary around trust helps grow the trust environment. It is hard work, but without trust, there is no team.

Questions for Reflection

• Where in your life do you experience trust?
• How is the trust in your team? How do you know?
• What do you do to build trust in your team?

 

Tami lives in Canada and works for the Christian charity Operation Mobilisation. She recently finished studies in Adult Education, and enjoys conversations about feminism and tea.

Sophia Network Update - February 2018

Today we celebrate 100 years since some women (over the age of 30, who owned property and/or were married) were granted the right to vote. It wouldn't be until 1928 that women were granted the vote on the equal basis to men. This achievement was the result of generations of campaigning. Although today they are recognised as heroes, these courageous women and men were ostracised, jailed, beaten and some even sacrificed their lives for their beliefs and convictions.

It’s also a great moment for the Christian faith; many of these campaigners like Isabella Tod, a Presbyterian woman from Ulster, were motivated by their Christian faith which taught them that women and men had equal worth and value in God’s eyes. Vice-Chair Dr Claire Rush shares more about how Isabella, often forgotten by history, has inspired her today. You can read more here.

We celebrate these courageous women today but also recognise that there is still a long way to go to complete the great work started by the Suffragists and Suffragettes. Together we persist...

I don’t know how January has felt for you, but for me it felt like a very long month! I am sure February will feel all too short, particularly since this month the trustees are excitedly preparing for the launch of the ‘Minding the Gap’ research which is coming up in March.

This month we have the following contributions for your enjoyment;

Dan Crouch continues our ‘The F Word’ series with a post considering if a man can be a feminist?

We are still looking for people to form a small group to work on the blog and e-news.

We round up some of the interesting links and posts from the last month in Did you see?

Why not join us at the Sophia Network and add your voice whether male or female, to cheer on women in the church in the U.K.

Happy Reading!

Vicky Thompson (Chair) 

 

 

Dan Crouch (Trustee and Editor)

 

Did you see?

Record-setting polar explorer, 16, hits back at men who say she belongs in the kitchen.

From a Female Pastor and Theologian

The Presidents Club

Must monsters always be male?

Ten ways men can open doors for women

 

Blog Editorial Team

We're still looking for people to form a team around our blog. Could you be the person?

Created in 2007 and now a UK registered charity, Sophia Network is passionate about championing the equality of women and men in ministry.

We believe that to best serve the network creatively collaboration in our communication is essential. We are looking to form a small team around our trustee responsible for the blog, and monthly e-news, Dan Crouch.

We would love to see a team of 3 or 4 form to work together, share thoughts and ideas, and develop our blog content and approach. This is key as our blog and monthly e-news are our main methods of communicating with network.

Our blog and e-news team would work in partnership with the board of trustees to:
- Create content and develop direction
- Establish a clear and effective brand
- Build contacts and utilise existing connections to encourage a breadth of contributions for the blog
- Commit to regular Skype/face-to-face conversations to plan and collaborate
- Contribute to the blog occasionally themselves

If you're interested, or have any further questions, please contact Dan Crouch on blog.sophianetwork@gmail.com

The 'F Word' - A male feminist?

When you are involved in an organisation like Sophia, one of the questions you regularly face, as a male, is ‘why are you a trustee of Sophia Network? Surely a man can’t be a feminist!’

The reasons for being involved in Sophia are numerous and have changed in the time I have been a trustee. When I was first approached, I was a youth worker desperate to see the young women I worked with given equal opportunity in the church I served. I was eager to identify role models and mentors for them, and acutely aware of how difficult it was for many to find affirmation, encouragement and acceptance in the church. Now, as I train for ordained ministry alongside some incredibly talented, gifted and called women (and men), I am aware that I myself can influence the way women are treated through my own ministry. Now as a parent I want to be able to change the world for my daughter, that she might be able to stand on the shoulders of those women who went before her, those women I was involved in encouraging, supporting and journeying alongside. The work of Sophia is so important in this.

As a male member of Sophia’s trustee board I have an equal but different role. For me it is mostly about getting out of the way, stepping aside, recognising that I often have a platform by virtue of my gender, but sometimes I have to relinquish that space. That is hard as the editor of the blog which is why I am eager to get some people alongside me to ensure the voices of women are at the very heart of Sophia. There are spaces and conversations where the voice of women need to be heard and the voice of men quietened. If Sophia is, with integrity, going to describe itself as an egalitarian network then it is important that the voice of men forms part of this. While women do not need men to present their cause and speak on their behalf, there are contexts where my own voice can be amplified in order to speak out and share a message of equality.

I am excited for the launch of the ‘Minding the Gap’ research findings next month, not just because they will shape the direction of Sophia in the future, but more significantly because of the fact that over 1000 women contributed to the research, their voices need to be heard, they need to be amplified, their stories are important and Sophia wishes to be part of sharing the story.

So, if I am asked ‘Can a man be a feminist?’ my response is yes he can be, I would describe myself as one, but what I am actually striving to do is bigger than this, it is to be a man who is prepared to step back from the frontline, wherever I may be, in order to create space for women to step in.

Dan Crouch is a trustee of Sophia and a student training for ordination.

Sophia Network Update January 2018

Happy New Year!

The trustees of the Sophia Network would like to take this opportunity to wish all members of the network the very best for 2018.

2018 is shaping up to be one of the best yet for Sophia with several plans for this year emerging, details of which will be provided in due course. We are very excited to be welcoming some of our members on January 17 for our ‘Mind the Gap’ research focus group and our AGM.

The time has arrived for the first monthly update of 2018, so settle down with a cuppa and maybe some left-over Christmas food and savour the delights on offer…

This month Tami Zacharias offers us some more pearls of wisdom in her reflective leadership corner thinking about Living on a Feeling? Leadership and Intuition.

Chair of Sophia Network Vicky Thompson starts a new series of posts on ‘The F Word’ for us.

We are still seeking members of the Network to form an editorial team for the blog and e-news updates.

Why not join us at the Sophia Network and add your voice whether male or female, to cheer on women in the church in the U.K.

Happy Reading!

Vicky Thompson (Chair) 

 

 

Dan Crouch (Trustee and Editor)

Blog Editorial Team

We're looking for people to form a team around our blog

Created in 2007 and now a UK registered charity, Sophia Network is passionate about championing the equality of women and men in ministry.

We believe that to best serve the network creatively collaboration in our communication is essential. We are looking to form a small team around our trustee responsible for the blog, and monthly e-news, Dan Crouch.

We would love to see a team of 3 or 4 form to work together, share thoughts and ideas, and develop our blog content and approach. This is key as our blog and monthly e-news are our main methods of communicating with network.

Our blog and e-news team would work in partnership with the board of trustees to:
- Create content and develop direction
- Establish a clear and effective brand
- Build contacts and utilise existing connections to encourage a breadth of contributions for the blog
- Commit to regular Skype/face-to-face conversations to plan and collaborate
- Contribute to the blog occasionally themselves

If you're interested, or have any further questions, please contact Dan Crouch on blog.sophianetwork@gmail.com 

 

The 'F Word'

The F Word...

It never ceases to both amaze and amuse me in equal measure, the response I receive whenever I mention the F word in Christian circles. The F word appears to cause a physical recoiling in many of the women I speak to and prompts a questioning grimace on the faces of men. While 2017 saw the world embrace the #metoo movement, listening to and taking seriously for the first time the sexism experienced by women, it remains for the church a skeleton better left in the closet. The F word is still treated by many as a dirty word which should not be uttered by good Christian people, the F word is a thing of the world not a thing of the Church. I am of course referring to the word feminism.

I grew up in a world which held and still holds a woman as the head of the church of England, the very first prime minister I remember was a woman, the school subjects I studied I did so alongside boys all of us given the same opportunities. As a teenager it didn’t ever occur to me that I was unable to do something or take part in something simply because I was born a female. Now I love the church of Jesus Christ and have spent my life serving in lots of different roles but I am sad to admit that my first experience of sexism occurred inside the Church not outside of it. At the age of 16 I was given my first sermon opportunity and warned that some people may “have issues” because I am female. Later in my twenties there were some who would have preferred to employ a man rather than a woman. I have encountered many instances of sexism throughout my years working and serving in the Church, I have also encountered many fabulous men and women who have encouraged me and sought to push me on based upon my call not my gender.

It is 2018 and I believe that it is time for the tide to turn, we must reclaim the word feminism for the church. We mustn’t be afraid to have the conversation and learn to push past the physical recoil and the grimaces. It is time for the Church to reflect the God who made both men and women in His image. Let's start a conversation that will unearth the experiences of women in the Church in the UK. Let's provoke the Church into rethinking what this means for children’s work and youth work. How it might effect outdated employment systems? How ministerial training might be changed? How is our reading and understanding of the Bible brought to life in understanding a God who is a feminist and advocate for women? What would our churches look like if women were invested in and released into leadership? How much more valued would our single women be if they are assigned value as a child of God rather than simply marriage material? The Sophia network intends to do just that through the minding the gap research that we carried out last year. We would love you to come and join us on the journey.



                                          Vicky Thompson is the current chair of Sophia Network.

Reflective Leadership Corner

I had a feeling. A sense. A hunch. I could not back it up with objective facts, but I knew. They were bringing in a new director for our ministry, and everything in me chorused with a resounding ‘no’. I knew it was not my decision, but I tried to talk to the search committee anyway. I even tried to pray against it. Still, he came. As I planned my escape, I got to know him better, and I realized I was wrong. He was a good fit for the ministry. So much for my feeling.

The feeling came again, but this time with one of my team members. I had a growing sense something was off and I needed to let her go, but once more I could not back it up objectively. I wrestled with it for months. Was I making a big deal out of nothing? The feeling just would not go away. Slowly, I heard reports of her work. I saw results. My feeling was proven with the facts. She needed to go.

In both stories, I was grappling with my intuition. According to dictionary.com, intuition is defined as “direct perception of truth, fact, etc., independent of any reasoning process.” It is a knowing, without really knowing how you know. A gut feeling. The question is, do you trust your intuition? And if so, how much?

Proverbs 2:2-6 tells us, “Tune your ears to wisdom, and concentrate on understanding. Cry out for insight, and ask for understanding. Search for them as you would for silver; seek them like hidden treasures. Then you will understand what it means to fear the LORD, and you will gain knowledge of God. For the LORD grants wisdom! From his mouth come knowledge and understanding.”

As Christian leaders, we face tough decisions on a regular basis. It is difficult to know the right way forward a lot of the time. Since we are flawed human beings, sometimes our intuition will be spot on, and other times it will not. We can be led astray. The point is not to ignore intuition or get rid of it, but to put it in its proper place. Following Proverbs’ advice, as we seek God’s wisdom fervently, our knowing and our feeling will become clearer.

Questions for Reflection

· How is intuition a part of your knowing?

· Where has your intuition been right? Where has it been wrong?

· How are you seeking God’s wisdom in your leadership?

 

Tami lives in Canada and works for the Christian charity Operation Mobilisation. She recently finished studies in Adult Education, and enjoys conversations about feminism and tea.