Project Violet undertook research on women’s experience of Baptist ministry. Led by Baptist minister Jane Day and fellow co-leader Helen Cameron, the findings were released in May 2024 and included 57 requests for change. Samantha Bowring reports on some of the developments relating to ministry and leadership development. 

 

 

Allyship – Making room for others to flourish 

Whether we are a church minister or church member, we are all called to encourage those who are otherwise unseen or undervalued. Think about the last church meeting you attended. Who spoke most? Whose ideas were listened to? Whose contributions were overlooked?  

Or what about the last time someone sensed God might be calling them into leadership. Who encouraged them? Who noticed their gifts? Who helped them take the next step? Who was their ally?  

Allyship is the intentional practice of standing alongside others so that they are seen, heard, encouraged, and able to flourish. In the life of the Church, it means noticing whose gifts are being recognised, whose voices are shaping our common life, and who may need encouragement, advocacy, or space to respond freely to God’s call. 

Although the language of allyship can sound unfamiliar, even confrontational, it describes something deeply Christian: standing with one another, making room for others to flourish, and using whatever influence we have so that people are valued and encouraged. Think of Elizabeth affirming and encouraging Mary in Luke 1, Naomi walking alongside Ruth and helping her see the future God had for her, or Priscilla and Aquila investing in Apollos and helping him grow in his ministry. 

Whether we are a church minister or church member, we are all called to be allies of those who are otherwise unseen or undervalued.  

As new leaders emerge within our churches, we want every person to feel empowered to explore their God-given potential. Yet opportunities are not always experienced equally. Some people find their contribution, voice, gifts, and even their presence overlooked or diminished, simply because of who they are. This can happen in our churches, for example when the moderator of a church meeting notices only the raised hands of men and calls on them alone to speak. It can also happen in our structures, for example how Black and Brown ministers could feel discouraged from applying for translocal roles because they see the vast majority of people already in these roles are white.      

The Church flourishes when people are enabled to serve, and it is diminished when someone with gifts and potential remains on the sidelines because they lack confidence, feel unwelcome, or have been dismissed too quickly. Allyship helps us resist that loss by creating the conditions in which more people can belong, contribute, lead, and grow. It starts with noticing when a person is overlooked or excluded and then finding ways to enable their voice or contribution to be heard.  

Project Violet, which explored the experiences of women in Baptist ministry in the UK, highlighted the need for male ministers to act as allies to women in ministry, and for White ministers to be allies to Black and Brown ministers. Many have already made formal commitments to this. As we seek to embed the findings of Project Violet, the challenge is to help the whole Church,  all ministers and members, understand what allyship means and how it can be practised. 

So over the coming months, we will share resources that explore allyship and the Christian principles that underpin it. These will invite churches to ask simple but searching questions: 

• Who is taking part? 
• Who is absent? 
• Whose voice is not 
• being heard? 
• What gifts might we be overlooking? 

Every person is made in the image of God and entrusted with gifts that can enrich the Church. When someone is excluded, overlooked, or unable to participate fully, we lose something of what God intends us to be together. Allyship begins with noticing and grows through listening, encouragement, advocacy, and action. When people are able to bring their whole selves, contribute their gifts, and respond confidently to God’s call, the whole body of Christ is strengthened.  

Is there someone for whom you are being called to be an ally? 

Together we can build churches where everyone has the opportunity to belong, contribute, lead, and flourish. 

 

Moving beyond anecdotes… 

Why we are improving our data to move towards a more faithful account of people’s realities - helping our ministers  and churches to flourish. 

Just leadership’ is a phrase we have started to use in the Ministries Team. Firstly, it describes our desire that ministers and leaders across Baptists Together embody justice in their own practice and advocate for it in their churches and communities.  

It also points to the need for justice among ministers and leaders themselves, that each person should have equitable opportunities to pursue God’s call on their life.   

Just leadership begins with the Church’s calling to reflect God’s justice, wisdom, and mercy in its everyday life. To be truly just, it must be grounded in truth about people’s experiences and attentive to whether opportunity, support, and recognition are shared fairly across the body of Christ.  

A key challenge is testing what we think we know. For example, we may assume that women ministers are less likely to lead larger churches, or more likely to move into chaplaincy, but without reliable information we cannot know whether these patterns are real, how significant they are, or what lies behind them. Similar questions arise around ethnicity, age at entry into ministry, and training pathways. Without this understanding, injustice can remain hidden, sustained by assumption rather than brought into faithful discernment. 

Project Violet called for better monitoring of data about ministers. The Ministries Team is responding by reviewing what we collect and keep, and how it can help ministers and churches to flourish. This will give us a clearer picture of how leadership can better reflect the diversity of Baptist life and the fullness of God’s glory. 

Over the coming months, the Ministries Team will contact ministers to request some information. We are beginning by recording ethnicity for each minister and will then progress to periodic anonymised surveys to understand other factors that may affect the ability to progress in God’s calling, including caring responsibilities, disability, illness, and remuneration. This will help us identify patterns such as the gender pay gap, understand whether church leadership reflects the diversity of society, and make better strategic decisions where needed. The information will be used to see the wider picture, not to focus on individual records. 

This is more than an administrative task. It helps us see more clearly. It enables Baptists Together to recognise where inequalities may exist, name them honestly, and respond wisely where change is needed. It will also help us understand whether factors such as sex or ethnicity shape the forms of ministry people enter and the opportunities available to them. This matters because just leadership requires accountability, humility, and a commitment to receiving and nurturing the gifts of all God’s people.  

Some experiences, such as health, disability, or caring responsibilities, are complex and may change over time. They cannot always be captured in fixed records, so regular surveys and ongoing listening will be essential. Such listening is part of our Christian witness as we attend to one another and seek the flourishing of all. 

By building this fuller picture over time, we can move beyond anecdotes towards a more faithful account of people’s realities. Evidence is not an end in itself, but a tool for discernment, helping shape leadership that is more just and reflects the whole body of Christ. 

 

Magnify You – Intentional leadership for women in ministry 

Magnify You is an intentional leadership programme for women in ministry, created to encourage, coach, and equip accredited women ministers to flourish in regional and national leadership roles.  

It was originally launched by Jane Day and Beth Powney in March 2020 with 15 women, supported by the Central, Eastern, and London Baptist Associations. Research into that first cohort showed just how much of an impact the programme had. It helped build confidence, and several participants went on to pursue, and step into new national or regional ministry roles they had not previously imagined for themselves. 

Building on that early success, Magnify You was relaunched in late 2024 across the regional associations, with regional ministers Lisa Kerry, Claire Blatchford, and Mary Moody helping to lead the way. The renewed programme continues to champion women in leadership and create space for their gifts, calling, and confidence to grow. 

The second cohort is nearing the end of their programme and spent a day at Baptist House in Didcot in July. 

They were asked, ‘How has Magnify You challenged or impacted your leadership so far?’ These were some of their responses: 

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Samantha Bowring is the Project Violet Outcome  Coordinator and is based in the Ministries Team.   The focus of her two-year role, which began in June 2025,  is on the policies and practices of the Specialist Teams,  and to coordinate and inform people about good practice across Baptists Together.  For more on Project Violet visit projectviolet.org.uk

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