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Women,Mission and Power: The Women's Missionary Association of the Presbyterian Church of England, 1878-1972.
[Thesis]. Manchester, UK: The University of Manchester; 2016.
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Abstract
In this thesis I argue that the received understanding of the work of the Women’s Missionary Association of the Presbyterian Church of England is flawed in that it does not acknowledge the agency of women themselves in creating and directing the path of the Association and its work of mission. Using archive material from the Presbyterian Church of England, and the Women’s Missionary Association itself, I show that as the context in which they were operating changed, the Women’s Missionary Association responded to that shifting context, and that changes in their relationship to the national Church affected the work that they sought to do among the congregations. I uncover a hitherto hidden story and to relate it to the context of the United Reformed Church which stands in the tradition of Presbyterians, Congregationalists and Churches of Christ. I demonstrate how the Story of the Women’s Missionary Association interacts with changing paradigms of mission. Further, I discuss the role of power relationships between the Women’s Missionary Association and the Presbyterian Church of England and the changing role and powerfulness/powerlessness of women in the Presbyterian Church and its successor the United Reformed Church. I show how seeming powerlessness can confer power and how being invited to the seat of power can restrict agency for the women of the Church. Finally, I look at the implications for the contemporary United Reformed Church.
Layman's Abstract
In this thesis I argue that the received understanding of the work of the Women’s Missionary Association of the Presbyterian Church of England is flawed in that it does not acknowledge the agency of women themselves in creating and directing the path of the Association and its work of mission. Using archive material from the Presbyterian Church of England, and the Women’s Missionary Association itself, I show that as the context in which they were operating changed, the Women’s Missionary Association responded to that shifting context, and that changes in their relationship to the national Church affected the work that they sought to do among the congregations. I uncover a hitherto hidden story and to relate it to the context of the United Reformed Church which stands in the tradition of Presbyterians, Congregationalists and Churches of Christ. I demonstrate how the Story of the Women’s Missionary Association interacts with changing paradigms of mission. Further, I discuss the role of power relationships between the Women’s Missionary Association and the Presbyterian Church of England and the changing role and powerfulness/powerlessness of women in the Presbyterian Church and its successor the United Reformed Church. I show how seeming powerlessness can confer power and how being invited to the seat of power can restrict agency for the women of the Church. Finally, I look at the implications for the contemporary United Reformed Church.