Jane Day appointed as Centenary Enabler 

We are delighted to announce the appointment of the Revd Jane Day to the post of Centenary Enabler. She will have a home base with the Faith and Society Team but will work across all Specialist Teams, Associations, colleges and churches to encourage and equip women in exercising their God-given gifting and leadership.

 
This post was proposed by the Gender Justice Hub and the BME Women Ministers Network as a way of celebrating the centenary of women being ordained for Baptist ministry and recognised as pastors in charge of local churches. Throughout Baptist history there have been women who were called to minister and lead, yet in our centenary celebration we recognised that significant challenges still exist for present day Baptist women and we are lagging in equality within some of our practices and structures. Jane’s role is to research the issues and to offer targeted ways of overcoming them.
 
Jane has worked in trans-local ministry within the Yorkshire Baptist Association and with the Girls' Brigade, where she helped to devise the Esther Collective which offers a year of development and coaching for young women. Her most recent experience has been ministering in Germiston, South Africa where she continued her coaching and development work with multicultural groups of women.
 
She said, ‘I’m absolutely delighted to be appointed and am looking forward to starting in September.
 
‘I’m excited that Baptists have invested in this role and see it as a priority. I hope to make an impact in encouraging and coaching women, and exploring how we can overcome the issues that still exist.  
 
‘The initial priorities will be to build relationships and networks, and reacquaint myself with the Baptist family after being away in South Africa. A major priority will be to listen, and I’ll be making connections with each Association.’
 
The Revd Beth Allison-Glenny, who co-leads the Gender Justice Hub said, ‘I’m really glad we’ve appointed someone whose broad experience of ministry and our Baptist structures will enable more women in ministry to survive and thrive in their calls to local, regional and national leadership.’
 
In addition to our own centenary celebrations, the Baptist World Alliance has called for Baptists to intentionally “create equal space for women in all leadership roles” at churches, conventions and in the BWA. The call was part of a resolution affirming women in ministry which passed overwhelmingly during the BWA annual gathering in July.
 
Jane begins her work in September. Click here to contact Jane.