What does the ACWC do?

What is the work of the committee?

Within ACWC three work groups are organized every two years following General Assembly to include topics for monitoring, advocacy or new work that has come from members of ACWC.

Current work for each of the work groups is as follows:

Health and Human Sexuality
All issues related to mental, physical and spiritual well-being, i.e. healthcare for the uninsured, teen suicide, sexual orientation, full inclusion of people with disabilities, older women’s issues, sexual abuse and pregnancy issues.

Rural/Urban Issues
These issues include domestic violence, homelessness, trafficking, immigration, violence against women, abolition of for-profit prisons, globalization and economic justice, recognizing that women located in rural areas suffer in many of the same ways, but also with a different intensity in rural areas.

Status of Women/Language for God
The major consideration for this task group is to decide whether and how best to conduct a research project within the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) which will determine the status of women throughout the entire denomination. A complex project, plans include deacons, elders, clergy, lay, staff, and women elected or employed throughout the church entities and governing bodies.

Order the Advocacy Committee for Women's Concerns Brochure

Learn about the work and membership of the committee. To order, use the order button below or contact Presbyterian Distribution Services at (800) 524-2612. Include the title of the resource and its item number in your request.

Free
Item 7271003001

Helping the Church fulfill its commitment to inclusiveness at all levels
Women of Color Consultation Task Force

The Women of Color Consultation of October 2004 brought together 200 racial ethnic women of the PC(USA) from across the nation. These women produced a report with recommendations that expressed their concerns about the ways in which the PC(USA) has failed to give “full expression to the rich diversity within its membership” and has not provided the “means which [would] assure a greater inclusiveness” (Book of Order, G-4.0403) for women of color.

The Advocacy Committee for Racial Ethnic Concerns (ACREC) and the Advocacy Committee for Women’s Concerns (ACWC) came together to recommend that the 217th General Assembly  (2006) create a task force addressing the concerns raised at Women of Color Consultation.

The 217th General Assembly (2006) approved the Joint Resolution, creating the Women of Color Consultation Task Force.  The Task Force is called to implement mechanisms of accountability to help the Church fulfill its commitment to inclusiveness at all levels.

The task force met for the fifth and final time in January 2008.  Over the course of their previous four meetings, task force members reviewed the recommendations of the report and met with General Assembly Council staff and staff from the Office of the General Assembly to determine progress toward fulfilling the recommendations. During their January 2008 meeting, the task force completed the writing for their report, which will be presented to the 218th General Assembly in San Jose, California, in June 2008. Read the Task Force’s full report, “Hearing and Singing New Songs to God: Shunning Old Discords and Sharing New Harmonies.”

Learn more about the WoCC Task Force.

ACWC reports to the General Assembly

Reports and actions recommending policy directions are part of the important work of the committee and are more visible than some of its work. Issue reports approved by past General Assemblies are made available through the Office of Women's Advocacy in the Women's Ministries Program Area. These reports serve as a means of communicating with the larger church. Learn more.

General Assembly actions concerning women

217th General Assembly (2006)
The Advice and Counsel Team of the Advocacy Committee for Women’s Concerns came to the 217th General Assembly (2006) with 25 Advice and Counsel Memorandums (A&Cs), two resolutions and a self-study report. These documents provided advice to nine of the 14 committees. Learn about the actions taken by the 217th General Assembly that concern women.

216th General Assembly (2004)
Six members of the Advice and Counsel (A&C) group of the Advocacy Committee for Women's Concerns (ACWC), together with four topic experts, provided background and recommendations to commissioners in seven of the 14 committees of the 216th General Assembly (2004).
Learn about the actions taken by the 216th General Assembly that concern women.

215th General Assembly (2003)
Learn about the actions taken by the 215th General Assembly that concern women.

— Files marked with this icon can be downloaded in printable Adobe Acrobat format. This file requires the free Acrobat Reader. For best results, right-click the link (or click and hold for Macintosh), select "save target as" and save the document to your desktop for viewing and printing.