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:

Advocacy Policies and Violence Against Women
Issues related to domestic violence, women in the military (including weapons of war, rape, etc.), child safety, family leave and sexual harassment. This work group is also engaged with God’s Work in Women’s Hands, the pay equity report and recommendations submitted jointly by ACWC and the Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy (ACSWP) and approved by General Assembly.

Health, Sexuality and Faith    
Issues related to sexual ethics, sexual addiction, pornography and messaging/advertising. This work group is concerned with the availability, affordability, quality and extent of health care services available to women and children – especially reproductive health care. They are currently focused on the need to update the information in the church surrounding pornography, particularly in relation to internet technology.

Thea-ologies
Issues surrounding education, equal access, women doing theology, opportunities for dialogue and ritual/liturgical resources for women. This work group is engaged in following up on General Assembly Mission Council referrals regarding the Trinity Report and the e-hymnal and is working on making worship and liturgical resources for women more readily available.

Also connected to ACWC’s work are:

ACWC-ACREC Joint Working Group
The General Assembly adopted the report and recommendations from the Women of Color Consultation Task Force, Hearing and Singing New Songs to God. ACWC and the Advocacy Committee for Racial Ethnic Concerns (ACREC), in consultation with Presbyterian Women and the National Cross Caucus, collaborated on the project. The ACWC-ACREC Joint Working Group continues to review this work and looks forward to implementing and monitoring the report’s suggested actions.

Status of Women Design Team
As a result of General Assembly Resolution 09-12, this task force compiled in part of members from ACWC and ACREC, will design a mechanism for the study of the status of women in the church in order to report back to the 2010 General Assembly.

Of related interest to the work of this group is Presbyterian Panel, “Women in the Church” (November 2007), a panel survey sponsored by Presbyterian Women and the Women’s Advocacy ministry of the General Assembly Mission Council.

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 Mission 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.

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.

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