An update from Tanya Lameta (Chair) and Robyn Bloomfield (Secretary) of Baptist Women for 2024.
At National Hui 2023, five new women were voted onto the Baptist Women’s board. They joined three current members of the board. As a result, Baptist Women New Zealand (BWNZ) is now a diverse group of women, representing four out of five of our Baptist Regional Associations. Because most of us were new to the board, we needed to take some time at the beginning of this year to think through what BWNZ does and what our purpose and goals are for the coming years. Each woman on the board brings their own passions and skills to the board. So, the work of BWNZ needs to reflect who we are and what we hope to see for women in the Baptist Churches of New Zealand.
We met together in person for a two-day retreat in April 2024. During this time, we came up with our new purpose: “To advocate for women to have full and equal opportunities in the Baptist Churches of New Zealand in order to bring gospel renewal to all people.” We also decided on some goals to work on towards this purpose, which fit into a few key areas. This led to our second statement: “We do this through communication, education, and pastoral care. To do these things well, we will strengthen our structure.”
Throughout the rest of the year, we met monthly via online meetings. At these meetings, we have been working on several things, enabling us to work towards our goals. In the area of communication, we have seen the need for BWNZ to be more visible and known. To help toward this, we decided to share at each of our local Regional Hui. We also post more regularly on our social media and promote local women’s events at churches. BWNZ also wants to create close working relationships with the Assembly Council, Regional Leaders, and our local churches. So, we have been meeting with some Baptist leaders and exploring how we can work more closely together.
In October 2024, Tanya Lameta (Chairperson) and Iunisi Katoa (Treasurer) traveled to Brisbane to join and meet with the other women presidents representing the Baptist Women of the Pacific. They come from Indonesia, Fiji, Vanuatu, Tonga, Papua New Guinea, and Tuvalu, to name a few places. Their time together included preparations for the Baptist World Alliance Women’s Summit in July 2025. As a board, one of our goals is to strengthen our relationship within our Baptist Pacific region. What better way to do this than by sending two of our very own Pasifika members?
In the future, we hope to hold more spaces for our Baptist women to gather for teaching, worship, prayer and fellowship. We want to create and support spaces encouraging women of all statuses and ages to connect. This way, we can build relationships and resources for our local churches and use them regionally to support our women.
“E au le ina’ilau a tama’ita’i” is a Samoan proverb that means women can achieve anything; they are strong, capable, powerful, and resilient.
This update is from the 2024 Annual Report of the Baptist Churches of New Zealand, which you can view here.
Photo: Baptist Women’s Board Retreat 2024
