BAPTIST CHURCH OF MIZORAM

WOMEN'S MINISTRY

                                                                                                      
It is a great honour for me to write the history of Women’s Ministry. However it is a little embarrassing for I would not be able to present fully the tremendous efforts rendered by the mizo Baptist women in the Lord’s service in this concise article. As we proceed, we will look at the position of women in the mizo society before the coming of Christianity to Mizoram and then move on to see how the lives of women are transformed when Christianity was brought to them.

I. Position of Women in the Mizo society before the advent of Christianity:  In the olden days, women were very much looked down upon by the mizo society. They were regarded as half human, just above the animals. Whenever a girl child is born, they blessed her to get a mithun for a bride prize when she marries. Since women have no status in the society, no man should have any likeness of a woman. If there is any likeness of a woman in a man, they would call him ‘Coward’ and would tell him to wear woman’s dress.

Even in the family, a woman has no status or authority. They were not to mingle with other people. The only time they can associated themselves with friends were on their way to the village waterhole when they go together to fetch water for their household use. For this there is a saying,” The wisdom of woman does not reach beyond the waterhole”, disparaging whatever wisdom a woman may have. A woman also does not have any religion. They are supposed to follow whatever religion their husband may follow. For this, it is said,” Women and crabs have no religion”. It is also the custom of the mizo society not to take the words of women seriously, saying, and “Women’s word is no word just as a crab meat is no meat”. The mizo women have no right to speak out on any matter.

However they bear great responsibilities in the household. They would get up early in the morning, bringing water from the village stream, they would husked the rice and cook food for the family. They worked from dawn to dusk. Even at night, a woman would work on her loom and prepare food for their domesticated animals, such as pigs. They hardly have any time for leisure.

II.   Position of Women During the Advent of Christianity:  The position of women during the advent of Christianity was not much better. They were given no respect in the society. The position of widows was much worse. Whenever a new land is selected for cultivation, widows were the last to choose a land for their yearly cultivation. Even in marriages, girls would hardly be given the freedom to choose their life long partner. Parents married off their daughters without the consent of the girls. Many a girls were married off with tears in their eyes.

When the missionaries came to us, there were some women among the first converts who were resolute and bold in their endeavour. Noteworthy among them were – Pawngi, Hlunziki and Challianbuki. Before 1907, no women attended school. In that year, Rev.J.H.Lorrain (Pu Buanga) opened a school for girls and a few girls were enrolled in it. However these girls were ridiculed by the people, saying,” Shameless girls, they would never find a suitor”. So, they were despised and maltreated in the society. Hence only a few of them dare to attend the school. In 1919, Miss E.M.Chapman (Pi Zirtiri) and Miss M.Clark (Pi Zolawmi) joined the first missionaries at Serkawn. They reopened a school for girls. Since there were lady teachers, the enrollment was much higher than before. Thus it paved the way for the emancipation of women in the mizo society.

III. The Beginning and Growth of Women’s Ministry: When Miss E.M.Chapman (Pi Zirtiri) and Miss M.Clark (Pi Zolawmi) reopened a school for girls, it hastened the emancipation of women in the society. It also opened a new opportunity for women to get involved in the Lord’s ministry.

    Name                 Village           Date of appointment / Tenure
1. Dokungi               Aithur              1 April, 1920 –
2. Lalthlauvi             Serkawn         1 April 1921 – 1925
3. Lalchani                Khawhri        1 January 1922 – 1928
4. Chalchhingi          Keltan            12 October 1922 – 1931

Apart from the above mentioned evangelists, Thangzingpuii worked in her village as an evangelist bearing her own expenses. The presbytery meeting of 1931 confirmed her as a full time evangelist. She was asked to assist the pastor who was in charge of the pastorate under which her village falls. She was given Rs 5 per month as salary. The presbytery also framed guidelines that the women evangelists have to follow. These guidelines are given below:

1) To assist women in child birth.
2) To minister to the sick.
3) To learn the Scripture so as to teach other.
4) They would be assigned an area for their ministry, however they were also allowed to preach outside their area.
5) They should spend at least 70 days in a year for evangelistic tours.

With the above guidelines, the women evangelists zealously engaged themselves in the ministry. From the records, the women evangelists were employed till 1931.

2. Women in Presbytery meeting: The Women evangelists worked earnestly. Their ministry was growing year by year.  In 1938, Girls’ Auxiliary was introduced and in 1947 mothers’/women’s’ Fellowship was founded.  During this time, when the ministry of women   was growing rapidly, they felt   the need to acquaint themselves with the larger ministries of the church.  For this,   at the Presbytery meeting at   Pukpui Village   as on 10-15 March 1948, they submitted a letter beseeching the presbytery to allow them to send a representative to the meeting. The Presbytery consented their request. They then sent Pi Chhumi as their representative at the meeting.  Because of this, from 1949 women were represented in the Presbytery and in the Pastorate Council Meetings However, the elders of the Local Churches were assigned to carefully select women who would be in the meetings.

3. Women Church Elders: For along time, no woman is   elected as church elder. But on 9-14 March 1949, a presbytery meeting at Lunglawn deliberated about electing women as church elders. The meeting resolved that ‘In regards to the election of church elders, there should be no discrimination on the basis of sex. If there are among women who are able and admirable, let them be elected and those who are elected should be allowed to attend the presbytery meeting.  It was Pi Chhunmawii of Zotlang who was elected as a Church elder for the first time among the women. She was elected in 1952.  We still have been electing women as church elders.  Till today the BCM had ordained 17 women as Church elders. Among them four had been promoted to Glory.  The following are the names of women, who were elected as Church elders:-

4.Women Theologian :  The  first women who  had  taken  a degree course theological training  were  C. Remmawii  of Chawnhu  village  and M. Zangeni  of Thingsai  village.  Before them no women in the history of the Mizo Baptist Church   had any theological training at a degree level.  These two ladies completed their B.Th course in 1975.  They took up ministries under the Church. However, one of them left the Church for family reasons. As time passed, now we have about 20 women who had theological training. The following are the names of our women theologians.

Most of them who had finished their Theological Courses are working in the Church. They are earnest in their ministry and are very much commendable in their efforts. Although   the ministry of the Church is very much enriched  by the  ministry rendered  by these women theologians, the BCM  is not yet ready to ordain Women in the ministry. This may be another important challenge that the BCM has to realize.

IV.  Women’s’  Ministry  as  a Fellowship: So far,  the ministry  rendered  by women  were  mainly  on the  basis  of  personal involvement in which  only a few  able  persons  were  involved. Let us now trace the history of Women’s’ Ministry as  a fellowship organization.

1.  Girls Auxiliary (G.A.):  With the advancement in the Mizo society, a new   opportunity for ministry was opened up. Women in the church felt the need to share the responsibility of the ministry as a group. Therefore, on 2nd May 1938 “Girls’ Auxiliary” was founded under the guidance of Miss E.M. Chapman. Membership was opened for girls aged between 14-30 years. Those who were over 30 years of age were also admitted if they were still single and willing to join it.  There were Junior members also in which girls aged between 5-14 years were admitted.
            The first Office Bearers   of the G.A. were:-
            President       :           Nl Thenvungi
            Secretary       :           Nl Laltinthangi
            Treasurer       :           Nl Nuchhungi

            The Motto of the Girls’  Auxiliary is  “I am  ready  to do whatever  the Lord  has  asked me to do”  As  they  organised    themselves  as  a fellowship,  They Started   a fellowship meeting  where  preaching, Bible reading  and prayers are  the main items.

            Activities of the Girls’ Auxiliary: 

They worked tirelessly for the welfare of the society. Whenever there is sickness in a family or if the family need help, they are always at hand to help them, such as by helping them in fetching firewood from the forests, husking the rice for the family in need, etc.

2.  Mothers` Fellowship (Nu Pawl): While the young women organised themselves as fellowship, and were doing commendable ministries, a number of married women felt awkward as they were left alone without any meaningful ministries. Therefore, in 1947, the lady missionaries encouraged them to form Mother’s Fellowship. All the mothers in the villages were members in it. They have their separate meetings. In some pastorates, they also convened a convention. However, apart from the convention at the pastorate level, this fellowship did not have activities at the national level. They zealously campaigned for the collection of a handful of rice and Christian home.

3.  Baptist Women’s Fellowship (Baptist Kohhran Hmeichhe Pawl):   The two women’s fellowships were functioning separately for quite sometimes and serve the church well. However, the General Assembly of the BCM felt that it was inconvenient for the church to have two separate women’s organisations. So, the two fellowships were merged together on 20 March 1965, under a new name called the Baptist Women’s Fellowship (Baptist Kohhran Hmeichhe Pawl). In this fellowship, membership is opened to all women irrespective of their marital status. The first office bearers of the women’s Fellowship at the Assembly or National level were:

             From 1967, the Assembly of the BCM sponsored a full time Secretary for the Women’s Fellowship. The post of full time Secretary was first held by Miss B.Nongheli of Zohnuai. she held the post from April 1967 to 1968 and again from September 1970 to March 1971.The first full time Secretary with a theological degree was Miss C. Remmawii of Chawnhu, who held the post from April 1976 to April 1988.Till today, the post have been held by women with theological degree.

          For this fellowship, rules and regulations were framed. The fellowship has a unit in every local church. In 1976, there were 186 units and 6010 members under the fellowship. In 2002, there are about 370 units with a membership of more than 20,000.The main objective of the Baptist Women’s Fellowship is to seek the extension of the Kingdom of God in the world, and to that end, it serves the church, society and the family. Its motto is “I am ready to do whatever the Lord has asked me to do”. All the units have a fortnightly meeting in which they have Bible study, sharing and discussion for spiritual renewal.

.         The Women’s Fellowship has it’s convention at the Pastorate level every year. At the National or Assembly level, the convention is held once in two years. However, a council meeting, where they deliberate the ministration of the fellowship is held every year. In its` first year, the fellowship was given a target of Rs 5,000/-, but in the year 2002 it has increased to Rs 400,000/- Apart from this, each unit has to contribute a certain amount at the local and pastorate level. The fellowship had made great progress in a very short time.

      ACTIVITIES OF THE WOMEN`S FELLOWSHIP

In these ways, women in the Church have been answering their ministerial calling in the church, in the family and in the society. Moreover, the fellowship also took active part in the North East India Christian Council Women’s Fellowship, Assam Baptist Women’s Union and in the Baptist World Alliance Women’s Department. It has been sending delegates in various conferences and programmes of these organisations.

In 1988, the Mizoram Baptist Women’s Fellowship celebrated its Golden Jubilee. The celebration was held all over the state. A book was published in commemoration of the jubilee. Thanksgiving service was also held in every unit.

As we conclude, the position of women in the mizo society before the coming of the missionaries was deplorable. The transformation of women was tremendous when the Good News was brought to us. We thank the Lord for giving us the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

“We thank Thee Lord, for you have given us the Gospel,
We thank Thee Lord, Halleluiah Amen.”