We begin with the basic biblical affirmation: "So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them" (Gen 1.27). At the same time, we recognize that we do not live in but after Eden, that we live in broken relationships between women and men, where women are undervalued and treated as inferior to men.

Over the years, scholars have helped us to understand that, besides sex roles which are biologically determined, there are gender roles that are socially, historically and culturally constructed, but are taken to be properly masculine and feminine. Whereas sex roles are God-given, gender roles as human constructions can be changed. As Christians, we strive to understand God's will in the face of unjust gender relations and broken human relationships in the home, in the church and in society. Sexism is a structural sin, like racism, and must be denounced and eliminated.

We have chosen the gender approach, where women, men and youth together seek to understand gender discrimination and to build gender justice. The aim is to develop leaders and facilitators who can model ministry in patterns that foster the renewal and transformation of structures in church and society. The whole process is biblically and theologically grounded as we seek to understand what God requires of us in God's mission. We undertake this task in the conviction that the power of the Holy Spirit will guide us in building just and right relationships among individuals and groups as the foundation of koinonia, as Jesus Christ intended.

The 22nd general council (Seoul, Korea, 1989) emphasized "community" or "partnership" of women and men when it agreed to appoint a full-time member of staff to address the injustice experienced by women in church and society. As this suggests, the council's concern was not just for women, but for both women and men, for the church as a whole.

In 1992, the programme to affirm, challenge and transform (Pact) was created to promote the full partnership of women and men in church and society. From 1994 to 1997, it organized a series of regional consultations on partnership in God's mission. For the reports of these consultations, click here.

The 23rd general council agreed to create a department of partnership of women and men. This department provides a platform for dialogue and action. The department will encourage churches to engage in a lifelong process of transformation into partnership with God, one another and the earth.

The 22nd and 23rd general councils identified some key areas in developing the process of affirming our God-given humanity and gifts, challenging the unjust relationships, and transforming gender relations and structures through the gift of the Holy Spirit. The list is by no means exhaustive and churches are encouraged to identify the issues that affect them most in their own context, especially where other kinds of discrimination, like racism, tribalism and classism, create unjust human relationships.

The task requires commitment and faithfulness to God our Creator as we strive, women, men and youth together, to break the chains of unjust relationships in the assurance that "there is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all are one in Christ Jesus" (Gal 3.28).