Church of God of Prophecy - Interview with Joyce Fletcher

Interview with Joyce Fletcher
the new National Women's Director

Tell us about yourself and how you came to take up the position of National Women’s Director?

I grew up in church and was baptised when I was 15. It was around then I started to take my Christianity more seriously. I became very involved in ministry and have worked in every conceivable church role – with the exception of Men’s Ministry of course!.

Evangelism and outreach has been close to my heart since an early age, and I spent some time working in the regional evangelism team on mission trips within the UK. It was through this period and becoming a lay minister that I met my husband who has now been a pastor for around 12 years. I have four beautiful children.

My most recent area of church ministry was as part of the Regional 4 Family Ministry team during which time I was asked to become National Women’s Ministry Director. Somewhat daunted by the prospect, this all faded once I took the decision to take up the challenge.

How do you think your role will be shaped by your personal experience?

I have a strong belief that where God places you in the secular world and personal experiences are all tied in with your positioning for personal ministry. My journeys both professionally and within the church to date have allowed me to develop a wide range of experiences and skills that are transferable for this and other roles. It has been a challenge to balance everything, but sometimes we need to be pushed out of our comfort zone. I’m also a strong believer in creativity and innovation – if you do what you’ve always done, you’ll only get the same result.

What are your main areas of focus for 2010?

I am in the process of consulting and finalising the Strategic Aims and Objectives underpinning the work of Women Ministry for the UK. These are:

To create the environment within the COGOP UK where women will flourish, have spiritual impact be empowered to lead, serve and transform the lives of others around them
For women to transform the landscape of our churches, and communities
To mentor and nurture and our younger women, identifying and developing talent and future leaders
To deliver a holistic (body, mind, spirit, soul) approach to the ministry of women across the UK
To be relevant and address the real issues faced by women in society
To deliver the women’s ministry agenda within the context of the National COGOP strategy
To form relevant partnerships with other faith based organisations and organisations that help to deliver the National Women Ministry strategic aims
To engage the wider political, social and economic agenda as it impacts on women within the UK and ensure that the voice of ‘women of faith is heard.’
To engage with and introduce a ‘Health Ministry’ sub stream within Women ministry that will work in partnership with the wider COGOP ministry strands, RAFFA Health and Social Care work streams.
To create a modernised personalised approach to missions that ensures relevance to every woman within the UK with the motto ‘EVERYONE WINS ONE’ and to ensure engagement with the wider European and international missions agenda.

I have several areas of focus this year, but my main objectives will be to:

Organise an intercessory prayer team, helping us to deal with spiritual warfare and recognising the challenges we face
Deliver a Women’s Retreat Conference, targeting women of all ages, to be held on 28 -May 2010
Establish joint partnerships with international missions
Embracing a health ministry that extends to working with health partners and causes. This would dovetail into the work of RAFFA which already has a strong health agenda
Undertake a review of the development needs of WM regional workers
Host one regional workers conference – Team building – away day
Find ways of recognising women in leadership
Establish an income generation ‘think-tank’ that enables us to be financially self sustaining
Develop a strategic approach to delivering the National Women Ministry work streams. (Ref: National Women Ministry Strategic aim doc. *Feb 2010)

What are the major challenges you envisage and how do you think you will overcome them?

I think my greatest challenges will be in creating new ways of working. ‘Creativity and innovation’ can be viewed as a move from the traditional norms and not always relished by all. Whilst I see change as a good thing, I aim not to be different just for the sake of it.

This is about working with my team, other National workers, regional leads, local leads, pastors and Regional overseers across the UK and connecting with the very real issues that are faced by women, men, children, youth, seniors, families, in the local churches as well as wider society. We cannot achieve this by working in silos, we must work together. Another challenge will be to drive an external focus and not just concentrate on our internal issues and routine practices.

“Women form 70% of church congregations…that means we are 70% of the solution”

Although your role is a national one, what international relationships do you intend to forge and in what ways will this benefit your work on home ground?

Any overseas relationships will fit in with the international vision outlined by Cathy Payne, who is the International Women’s Director for Church of God., It is important that we have a outward focus and have a worldview of the needs of women, families and communities across Europe and beyond. I wish to work closely with all ministry streams to support international missions; in particular mobilising women in supporting this work.

Additionally, I would hope to promote more involvement and strengthen international links, such as; through the Women’s World Day of Prayer initiative and working with international missions in through RAFFA and the National Evangelism department workstreams. There is also the World Mission Drive, which takes place in March and October of each year. Women’s ministry has been at the forefront of this for years, and it is important that this continues. It’s important for us to revitalise, re-energise and re-connect our women.

Women are often the backbone of church congregations, but are not always seen in leadership. Why do you think that is and is there anything you will be doing to improve this?

Depending on how you see things, there are different attitudes to the role of women in leadership within church congregations. However, numerically women make up a significant part of church congregations and as you say are often the backbones of church congregations

We have; however, come a long way over the years and now see many more women in leadership positions now than we ever did. However, it is not time to be complacent and we need to ensure that the voice of women is heard and their contributions embraced and recognised at every level.

We need to see women leaders across all areas of church life, including ministering to women but not limited to this. We need to value, and utilise the skills of women across the full spectrum. When they enter the church, it’s “Sister X” and we often do not see women in their whole context. Many of these women are doing fantastic things; have professional skills that we never get to know about and more importantly ‘utilise’. As for me, I will be taking it upon myself to get out and see each individual landscape to understand the dynamics of each locality and region, rather than looking for an overarching solution

I see that working in Mental Health has played a part in your professional career. What role do you think churches can play to improve or eliminate the stigma of mental health, particularly among women?

Churches have a significant role to play in improving and reducing the stigma associated with mental health. It is a crucial area for the churches in engage in, and by doing so; will help external agencies to understand the value of spirituality in mental health. There is a great deal of educational work needed within churches to shape people’s thinking and understanding of mental illness in supporting members of our congregations and wider community more sensitively and appropriately.

Churches are in a good place to offer support and advice to communities of which they represent, particularly in relation to the research based issues relating to BME communities and mental health needs. Churches also need to know what support is available within the statutory sector and how to signpost individuals and families to where they can receive help. We also have a role in providing services based on the range of skills and experiences we have within our churches.

What else would you like to say to our readers regarding your work or forthcoming events?

My parting message would be: don’t wait to be asked, take the initiative and get involved! They say that women form 70% of church congregations. In my eyes, that means we are 70% of the solution. By getting involved in the women’s ministry agenda, and gaining the support of other women (and indeed men) we are going to move mountains!

To contribute to the Women’s Ministry, you can contact Joyce Fletcher on:

Joycejfletcher@aol.com