The Mission of the Commission on the Status and Role of Women (COSROW) is to challenge The United Methodist Church at all levels to work for full and equal participation of women in the total life of the denomination, including ordination of women, equal access to policy-making and recognition that Jesus Christ calls men and women alike to salvation, liberation, discipleship and service in church and society.
We will have a three pronged focus of our work:
1) Educate – let members of our Annual Conference and Churches learn more about sexual inequality, its causes and the resources available to assist in change
2) Advocate – for clergy and lay women and girls who are impeded from full and equal participation in our congregations, Districts and Conference
3) Celebrate – what our women and girls have contributed to the life of the United Methodist Church in New England and the congregations where women and men are nurtured into ordained ministry, share mission and power to God's glory, and find ways to use expansive language for God and humanity joyously and seamlessly in worship and Christian education.
In our Conference, sexism and gender discrimination persists in our churches and among our clergy and our laity. Therefore, throughout 2020, the New England COSROW team complied stories of sexism perpetrated by male clergy against their female and gender non-conforming clergy colleagues.
Quotes from just some of these stories have been gathered together and read by some of our male clergy colleagues to produce a film demonstrating just some of what faces non-male clergy in this Conference.
This film will be the first contribution to what will become a training course COSROW is producing for Conference and church leadership that will be made available.
COSROW invites you to watch, reflect, engage, and share this video. And to take, and encourage your church, committee, and clergy, to take the training when it is launched. There is work yet to do!
Let us pursue God's justice with daring and courage.
Anti-Sexism Team
The Conference Anti-Sexism Team provides support, training, and resources to address/prevent sexism and gender-based discrimination. This is a first point of contact for clergy and laity seeking support.
The Commission on the Status and Role of Women (COSROW) is offering the following easy-to-apply-for grants. All grants focus on rest and renewal. All are welcome to apply.