EEWC-CFT GATHERING 2010

Invitation to Our Gathering
June 18-20, 2010
Celebrating Christian Feminism Today

We hope you will join us for the EEWC-CFT Gathering this summer in Fishers, Indiana (just north of Indianapolis). In the following pages, you'll find information about the plenary speakers, program schedule, fees and registration, and how to make hotel reservations.

But first, here are answers to some questions you may have.

1. Why are we calling this a "gathering" and not a conference?

A gathering is simply a coming together. When you hear the word, you may think of gathering around a campfire to laugh and sing and swap stories, or gathering with friends at someone's house for a meal together, or gathering family members for a birthday celebration or reunion. We want our biennial get-together this summer to reflect similar warmth.

In one sense, the 2010 Gathering is a kind of "no frills" mini-conference. We'll have a program and special speakers, all of whom are from our own membership this time; and in addition, we're featuring special interest groups on a variety of topics, some planned in advance and others forming on the spot after we meet together. One of our members calls this gathering a "loaves and fishes" event in which each of us will bring and share what we have, while trusting God to multiply it to the benefit of all.

In other words, we're trying something new this time!

Networking. One of our main purposes is to give Christian feminists from diverse places a chance to meet with each other, share ideas, engage in lively discussions, and just enjoy the sense of community we offer. Many Christian feminists have told us they feel isolated and alone. They don't feel understood by people in their churches who can't seem to believe they can be both Christian and feminist. And on the other hand, they may have met feminists with no religious interest who can't believe someone can be both feminist and Christian!

So if you're a Christian feminist who longs for connection, for community, for spiritual inspiration and intellectual stimulation, and for new or renewed friendships with likeminded women and men who care about the things you care about, we believe you'll find it in the EEWC-CFT family. In fact, you're likely to find that attending the Gathering gives you something you've been yearning for -- a sense of "coming home."

2. What do we mean by saying we'll be gathering to "celebrate Christian Feminism Today"?

We mean it in a threefold way: the concept, the organization, and the magazine.

The Concept. We want to nurture and celebrate Christian feminism as an idea and as a movement, promoting gender equality right now in today's church and world.

The Organization. Our organization is increasingly associated with the title of our magazine, Christian Feminism Today; and although our legal name continues to be the Evangelical & Ecumenical Women's Caucus (the name under which we are incorporated as a tax-exempt nonprofit organization), we're also called by our "nickname" or our "doing-business-as" name and are thus referred to as the Christian Feminism Today group, or more accurately EEWC-Christian Feminism Today. You've probably noticed that we have been increasingly using the abbreviation, EEWC-CFT.

Our Magazine. Our quarterly publication, Christian Feminism Today (formerly EEWC Update), brings to our members and subscribers both scholarly and popular articles about a range of topics of interest to all who embrace Christian feminism and its place in today's world.

And so we celebrate all three -- Christian feminism as a dynamic movement in our world; our organization as it brings together women and men who work together to promote gender equality in the church, the home, and society; and our magazine which, along with our website, gives voice to the organization as it informs, inspires, and invites us to respond to the challenges all around us.