Assessing Women's Leadership in the Presbyterian Church in Rwanda :

This paper assesses the challenges and opportunities for woman leadership within the Presbyterian Church in Rwanda, specifically in governance roles. Drawing upon a document analysis and survey, the study examines the barriers faced by women leaders within the presbyterian church in attaining to le...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Jonas Musengimana
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Network for African Congregational Theology 2025-05-01
Series:African Theological Journal for Church and Society
Subjects:
Online Access:https://atjcs.netact.org.za/index.php/netact/article/view/227
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1850036958506516480
author Jonas Musengimana
author_facet Jonas Musengimana
author_sort Jonas Musengimana
collection DOAJ
description This paper assesses the challenges and opportunities for woman leadership within the Presbyterian Church in Rwanda, specifically in governance roles. Drawing upon a document analysis and survey, the study examines the barriers faced by women leaders within the presbyterian church in attaining to leadership positions and the opportunities available for their advancement. It discusses two positions about the correct roles for females in church leadership and rejects the complementarian position, which believes that women should not be allowed to participate in leadership positions initially reserved for males. This study supports the egalitarian position, which asserts that men and women should share equally in church leadership. Though presbyterian women face various challenges, like the low number of women with theological degrees and their cultural context, they are now in different church leadership positions. The Presbyterian Church in Rwanda has a good number of opportunities available to women, including access to theological training, eldership, and deaconship. This study shows that empowering women within the church not only benefits the individual women themselves but also enriches the entire faith community and contributes to the church’s mission of serving the broader society. The study recommends that the Presbyterian Church in Rwanda should continue to expand access to theological education for women by offering scholarship support for their studies, implementing policies and practices that promote gender equality within its governance, and creating opportunities for women leaders to collaborate and network with one another, as well as with women leaders from other denominations and organisations.
format Article
id doaj-art-41d46394f64841f08efc7ae0faf63d48
institution DOAJ
issn 2708-7557
2708-7565
language English
publishDate 2025-05-01
publisher Network for African Congregational Theology
record_format Article
series African Theological Journal for Church and Society
spelling doaj-art-41d46394f64841f08efc7ae0faf63d482025-08-20T02:57:00ZengNetwork for African Congregational TheologyAfrican Theological Journal for Church and Society2708-75572708-75652025-05-0161Assessing Women's Leadership in the Presbyterian Church in Rwanda :Jonas Musengimana0St. Paul's University, Limuru, Kenya This paper assesses the challenges and opportunities for woman leadership within the Presbyterian Church in Rwanda, specifically in governance roles. Drawing upon a document analysis and survey, the study examines the barriers faced by women leaders within the presbyterian church in attaining to leadership positions and the opportunities available for their advancement. It discusses two positions about the correct roles for females in church leadership and rejects the complementarian position, which believes that women should not be allowed to participate in leadership positions initially reserved for males. This study supports the egalitarian position, which asserts that men and women should share equally in church leadership. Though presbyterian women face various challenges, like the low number of women with theological degrees and their cultural context, they are now in different church leadership positions. The Presbyterian Church in Rwanda has a good number of opportunities available to women, including access to theological training, eldership, and deaconship. This study shows that empowering women within the church not only benefits the individual women themselves but also enriches the entire faith community and contributes to the church’s mission of serving the broader society. The study recommends that the Presbyterian Church in Rwanda should continue to expand access to theological education for women by offering scholarship support for their studies, implementing policies and practices that promote gender equality within its governance, and creating opportunities for women leaders to collaborate and network with one another, as well as with women leaders from other denominations and organisations. https://atjcs.netact.org.za/index.php/netact/article/view/227WomenLeadershipChurchPresbyterianRwanda
spellingShingle Jonas Musengimana
Assessing Women's Leadership in the Presbyterian Church in Rwanda :
African Theological Journal for Church and Society
Women
Leadership
Church
Presbyterian
Rwanda
title Assessing Women's Leadership in the Presbyterian Church in Rwanda :
title_full Assessing Women's Leadership in the Presbyterian Church in Rwanda :
title_fullStr Assessing Women's Leadership in the Presbyterian Church in Rwanda :
title_full_unstemmed Assessing Women's Leadership in the Presbyterian Church in Rwanda :
title_short Assessing Women's Leadership in the Presbyterian Church in Rwanda :
title_sort assessing women s leadership in the presbyterian church in rwanda
topic Women
Leadership
Church
Presbyterian
Rwanda
url https://atjcs.netact.org.za/index.php/netact/article/view/227
work_keys_str_mv AT jonasmusengimana assessingwomensleadershipinthepresbyterianchurchinrwanda