The Rev. Canon Helen Van Koevering, a rector in the Diocese of Lexington, has been elected chair of the International Anglican Women’s Network (IAWN). Hera Clarke-Dancer of the Province of Aotearoa, New Zealand, and Polynesia, was elected deputy chair.
Van Koevering (D.Min.) is rector of St. Raphael’s Church in Lexington. She was a missionary in the Diocese of Niassa, Mozambique, from 1990 to 2015. She joined IAWN in 2019.
“I will be very keen to hear and raise up new voices and angles of view on the intergenerational and real experience of women globally,” Van Koevering said. “‘Women hold up half the sky,’ as I’ve known African women theologians to say. Listening for and learning from women’s faith, hope, resistance, and dignity as beloved of God is as vital today for the church and the world as ever.”
The IAWN serves as a global voice of Anglican women, links women from around the world, and is a network of the worldwide Anglican Communion. Its mission statement says: “We are a bold and prophetic voice for all women throughout the Anglican Communion working to uphold the God-given dignity of women and girls, to eradicate gender-based inequality and violence, and to promote just relationships among all people.”
The IAWN Steering Group Committee met in person for the first time in six years at the Anglican Communion Office in London earlier in June.
“It was so encouraging to host the IAWN Steering group recently at the Anglican Communion Office, sharing our stories together and the pain of working towards bringing gender equality and justice around the Anglican Communion, said Mandy Marshall, director of gender justice for the Anglican Communion Office and the Anglican Alliance.
“It is so important that the steering group reflects the diversity of the Anglican Communion, and this has been achieved with this new group. I look forward to working with and alongside them.”
