Shining Bright, Living Loud, Standing Together
WATAC Conference 2025
More than 120 people — predominantly women of all ages from across Australia — gathered at Mary MacKillop Place, North Sydney, from 14–16 November for the national Women and the Australian Church (WATAC) Conference.
With the theme Shining Bright, Living Loud, Standing Together, the conference set the tone for a dynamic, hope-filled weekend designed to inspire and sustain women committed to a church that is inclusive, diverse and welcoming. Across three rich days, participants encountered a vibrant alternative to hierarchical and clerical models of church life and were invited to imagine what becomes possible when faith is lived in creative, collaborative community.
Inspiring voices, grounded wisdom
The conference featured two outstanding keynote speakers:
- Dr Julia Baird, award-winning journalist and bestselling author, widely respected for her writing on awe, grace, faith, gender and power.
- Cathy McGowan AO, former independent Member of Parliament for Indi (2013–2019), a pioneer of community-led politics, and a long-time member of WATAC.
Conference organiser Danielle Anne Lynch reflected on the depth of engagement across the weekend:
“We were thrilled that the conference theme resonated so deeply and that participants engaged so wholeheartedly with every aspect of the program.”
A church shaped by discipleship of equals
While WATAC’s roots are Catholic, its membership is ecumenical and its commitment broadly Christian. WATAC works alongside diverse churches and faith communities to model new ways of being church, grounded in a discipleship of equals. Through regular gatherings, reflections and written communications, WATAC nurtures and supports those seeking a more just, inclusive and participatory church.
Founded in 1984 as a national project of Catholic religious women and men, WATAC held its first national conference in 1987. After nearly folding in 2019, the organisation has experienced a strong resurgence. A significant part of this renewal has been the co-production of the widely respected Australian Women Preach podcast with The Grail, an ecumenical movement of women grounded in Christian faith.
As WATAC President Andrea Dean shared:
“We decided not to wait. We chose to host a conference that would nourish women, strengthen community, and chart WATAC’s direction for the future.”
Awe, courage and community-led change
On Saturday morning, Dr Julia Baird invited participants into reflections on awe and grace in everyday life, offering practical ways these might be cultivated within church communities. Known for her thoughtful contributions to public conversations on gender, faith, politics and domestic violence, Baird challenged attendees to shine bright and live loud, even in difficult and constrained contexts.
At the conference dinner, Cathy McGowan AO spoke compellingly about her decades of work amplifying rural voices, advancing gender equity, and advocating for Indigenous constitutional recognition and humane asylum seeker policy. Drawing on her experience in community-led politics, she offered insights and encouragement for those seeking faithful and effective change within the Australian church.
Honouring Country and creative expression
The conference was grounded in Indigenous wisdom and ritual through the presence of First Nations women — Canon Auntie Di Langham, Belinda Roberts, Brooke Prentis and Kelly Humphrey — who acknowledged Country and shared generously from their lived experience and faith.
Original music by Danielle Anne Lynch, Gen Bryant, Steph Jorna and Beth Doherty enriched the prayerful and communal spirit of the gathering, weaving creativity deeply into the conference experience.
Energised for what comes next
Participants left the conference energised, encouraged and challenged. As one attendee reflected:
“The speakers and workshop presenters were exceptional. They explored theology and perspectives that were new to me. I found the whole experience challenging, thought-provoking and inspiring.”
Danielle Anne Lynch expressed heartfelt thanks to the dedicated organising team, while Andrea Dean paid special tribute to Danielle’s vision, leadership and skill in bringing the conference to life.
Planning is already underway for the Patricia Horsley Memorial Lecture in 2026, to be held in another Australian city, along with early conversations about the next vibrant WATAC Conference.
Together, WATAC continues to shine bright, live loud and stand together — imagining and embodying a church renewed by justice, inclusion and shared leadership.
Beyond Simple Answers: Women in the Pauline Churches
When people talk about ministry and leadership in the churches Paul worked with, the discussion often becomes too simple. It is usually reduced to one question:
Did Paul allow women to minister?
This question expects a short answer: yes or no. But that approach misses the point. It forces a complex situation into neat boxes and ignores how early Christian communities really worked.
When we look more carefully at Paul’s letters, we see a much richer picture. The early Church was not tidy or uniform. Different communities faced different challenges, and Paul responded to real people in real situations.
Ministry and Leadership Are Not the Same
One important thing to understand is that ministry and leadership are not exactly the same.
In the New Testament, ministry means serving others. Paul believed that all Christians—men and women—were called to serve Christ and the community. He did not limit ministry to one gender.
Most debates are really about leadership, not ministry. The question is whether women led churches, not whether they served them.
Even then, many Bible passages used in this debate are not mainly about leadership roles. For example, passages in 1 Corinthians, Ephesians, and 1 Timothy deal with:
- behaviour in worship
- family relationships
- teaching and learning
- keeping peace and order
These texts respond to specific problems. They are not simple rule books. That is why quick answers do not work well.
Leadership in the First Churches
Leadership in the earliest churches took different forms. There was no single model.
Some leaders travelled from place to place to tell people about Jesus. These leaders included apostles and missionaries, like Paul himself. They helped start new churches and supported growing communities.
Other leaders stayed in one place. They looked after the daily life of the church. They taught, encouraged, and guided the community.
These roles often overlapped. A person could be a travelling leader at one time and a local leader at another. Leadership was flexible and shaped by the needs of the church.
Most recorded leaders were men, but Paul’s letters show clearly that some women were leaders as well.
Priscilla is often named with her husband Aquila. In many passages, her name comes first. This suggests that she played a leading role.
In the book of Acts, Priscilla helps teach Apollos, an educated teacher. This shows that she had knowledge, confidence, and authority. Priscilla and Aquila also hosted churches in their home, which made them important local leaders.
Phoebe was a respected leader in her church. Paul calls her a minister and also a patron, someone who supports others with her resources.
She likely carried Paul’s letter to the Romans. This was an important task. It meant she would have read the letter aloud and helped people understand it. Paul speaks very highly of her and trusts her role.
Junia is one of the most striking examples. Paul describes her as “well‑known among the apostles.” Strong evidence shows that Junia was a woman and that she was recognised as an apostle.
Later readers struggled with this idea and tried to explain it away. This shows how powerful assumptions can shape interpretation.
Other women—such as Lydia, Nympha, Chloe, Euodia, and Syntyche—also appear as hosts, co‑workers, and leaders. Paul says that Euodia and Syntyche worked hard alongside him in spreading the gospel.
All of this points to a mixed picture:
- Women took part in leadership and teaching
- At the same time, churches still reflected social rules about family and household order
The early Church held these things together, even when they were uncomfortable. It was not perfect or simple. It was learning as it grew.
Why This Still Matters
The early Church does not give us one clear answer for today. Instead, it reminds us to be careful and honest when we read Scripture.
Paul’s churches show us that leadership was diverse and shaped by mission, culture, and community needs. Women like Priscilla, Phoebe, and Junia were not side notes. They were central to the life of the Church.
Their stories remind us that Christian leadership has always been more complex—and more surprising—than we often expect.
***Based on the chapter “Apostles, Deacons, Patrons, Co-workers, and Heads of Household: Women Leaders in the Pauline Communities” by Paula Gooder in the 2013 book Biblical Interpretation and Method: Essays in Honour of John Barton, edited by Katharine J. Dell and Paul M. Joyce
Image: Theodora holds the chalice. Altar apse mosaic, Basilica of San Vitale, Ravenna.
Source: Wilpert, Malereien, pl. 110
Faith, Feminism and the Reimagining of Power in Australia and the Pacific
For Christian feminists, patriarchy is not simply a social problem “out there”. It is also a spiritual and theological challenge: a distortion of power that harms women, limits men, silences communities, and contradicts the Gospel’s call to dignity, justice, and abundant life.
In Australia and across the Pacific, this challenge has deep roots. Gender inequality has been shaped by Indigenous governance systems, colonial rule, Christian missions, capitalism, land dispossession, migration, militarisation, and contemporary development agendas. As a result, Christian feminist work cannot be limited to requests for women’s inclusion in existing structures. It must also involve a faithful reimagining of power itself.
This means asking difficult questions about leadership, culture, land, care, community, and what it means to follow Christ in societies marked by unequal power relationships.
Patriarchy Is a Theological Issue
Patriarchy influences who controls land, resources, bodies, labour, knowledge, and decision-making. These are not merely political questions. They are questions about justice, neighbour-love, human dignity, and the kind of community God calls us to become.
Christian feminists are concerned with:
- Land and resources: Who inherits, owns, manages, or speaks for land and sea?
- Bodies and safety: Who controls sexuality, reproduction, family roles, and protection from violence?
- Labour and care: Whose work is valued, rewarded, or made invisible?
- Knowledge and culture: Whose stories, languages, traditions, and authority are recognised?
- Leadership and voice: Who gets to make decisions in homes, churches, communities, and governments?
The encouraging news is that women across Australia and the Pacific are doing far more than seeking access to traditionally male spaces. They are helping to reshape leadership itself, making it more collaborative, relational, culturally grounded, and focused on care and justice.
Seven Ways Women Are Challenging Patriarchy
1. Leading in Politics, Governance and Public Life
Women are increasingly taking leadership roles in parliaments, community organisations, church councils, theological colleges, and local governance structures.
For Christian feminists, leadership is not about replicating systems of domination. Rather, it is about embodying leadership as service, wisdom, courage, accountability, and care.
Women’s leadership reflects a fuller vision of the Body of Christ, where gifts and callings are recognised regardless of gender.
It is worth remembering that Aotearoa New Zealand became the first self-governing nation in the world to grant women the right to vote in parliamentary elections. Christian women were among those who viewed suffrage as both a civic and moral cause.
2. Reading Culture and Scripture with Liberating Eyes
Gender equality is sometimes portrayed as being in conflict with faith or culture. Yet many women are working from within both cultural and Christian traditions to challenge harmful practices while preserving what is life-giving.
This work is particularly significant in Pacific nations where Christianity shapes community life and social values. Theology can either reinforce inequality or become a powerful resource for liberation.
Across the region, women theologians, church leaders, and community advocates are developing interpretations of Scripture that affirm the equal dignity of women and men while challenging teachings that have been used to justify exclusion or violence.
The result is theology that remains faithful while also being transformative.
3. Leading Climate Justice Movements
Climate change is one of the defining challenges facing the Pacific. Rising sea levels, extreme weather events, and environmental degradation affect food security, housing, health, migration, and the future of entire communities.
Women are not simply experiencing these impacts; they are leading responses to them.
From local adaptation projects to international advocacy, Pacific women are at the forefront of climate justice movements. They are organising communities, protecting ecosystems, caring for families, and speaking in global forums.
Christian feminism understands climate justice as an expression of creation care and neighbour-love. It rejects the stereotype of women as passive victims and instead recognises women as leaders, experts, organisers, and visionaries.
4. Building Economic Independence While Valuing Care
Economic empowerment is another way women challenge patriarchal structures.
Education, entrepreneurship, financial literacy, cooperatives, and access to paid work can transform the balance of power within households and communities.
Yet Christian feminism also offers an important critique of economic systems that value people solely according to productivity.
Caring for children, supporting elders, maintaining relationships, volunteering, and sustaining community life are forms of labour that often go unpaid and unrecognised. Christian feminists insist that this work matters. A just society honours care alongside economic achievement.
5. Speaking Truth About Violence
Women across Australia and the Pacific are challenging the silence surrounding domestic, family, and sexual violence.
Through survivor advocacy, legal reform, crisis services, prevention programs, educational initiatives, and community accountability processes, women are helping create safer communities.
Many are also drawing attention to the ways violence intersects with racism, colonisation, poverty, migration status, and other forms of disadvantage.
For people of faith, confronting violence is not optional. It is central to the Gospel’s call to protect the vulnerable and uphold the dignity of every human being.
6. Building Women’s Networks and Shared Knowledge
Patriarchy often thrives by isolating women and treating their experiences as private concerns.
Women’s networks challenge this isolation by creating spaces for solidarity, mentoring, research, advocacy, and collective learning.
Across Australia and the Pacific, women are building regional partnerships that share resources, develop leadership, support emerging voices, and strengthen movements for change.
These networks transform individual struggles into collective action and help ensure that women do not have to work for justice alone.
7. Challenging Colonial Patriarchy
In Australia and the Pacific, conversations about gender cannot be separated from histories of colonisation.
Many women’s movements recognise that patriarchy and colonialism have often operated together, shaping laws, institutions, economic systems, and ideas about authority.
As a result, some women are working not only for gender equality but also for Indigenous sovereignty, land rights, language revitalisation, cultural authority, and self-determination.
This is a powerful reminder that justice is about more than inclusion. Sometimes it requires questioning whether existing systems themselves are fair and life-giving.
Across parts of the Pacific where matrilineal traditions continue, women’s customary authority over land offers important alternatives to both colonial legal systems and patriarchal assumptions about ownership, inheritance, and community leadership.
Reimagining Power for a More Just Future
Women in Australia and the Pacific are breaking patriarchy in ways that go far beyond entering male-dominated institutions.
They are reshaping leadership, transforming theology, advancing climate justice, building economic alternatives, confronting violence, strengthening networks of solidarity, and challenging the legacy of colonial power.
Their work reminds us that gender justice cannot be separated from questions of culture, land, care, community, and self-determination.
For Christian feminists, this is ultimately a matter of faith. It is about participating in God’s ongoing work of justice and reconciliation, and helping to create communities where every person can flourish with dignity, freedom, and hope.
The reimagining of power is not simply about who holds authority. It is about creating relationships, institutions, and communities that reflect the justice, compassion, and mutuality at the heart of the Gospel.