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Recently I spent some time looking over the WM website http://www.pcusa.org/women/, which includes around 20 different pages.  I found that, from what can be seen on their website, WM represents only some of the women of the PC(USA), those committed to "progressive" and possibly radical feminist theology.  The emphasis on the WM website is toward social justice issues, with little attention to Christian growth and almost none to evangelism.  In fact, in all the different pages of the website, Jesus is barely mentioned.  Except on the pages of the National Network of Presbyterian College Women http://www.pcusa.org/nnpcw/index.htm, where he is mentioned a number of times, and on the pages of Presbyterian Women http://www.pcusa.org/pw/index.htm, where he is mentioned six times, I only found three mentions of Jesus on the entire WM website, and one of those is merely within a quotation from the Bible. 

There is a lot missing from this website that I would like to see.  But before I discuss that, I'd just like to say a word about the website's perspective (and indeed that of WM in general).  The slogan of WM is "On Behalf of Women!"  Whenever I see that, it bothers me, and I want to say, "It's not about us!"  God does not call us to work on behalf of ourselves.  He does not even necessarily call us to work on behalf of others who are like us (in this case, other women.)  What he does call us to do is to serve him, in whatever way it pleases him to call us.  What we are to do is obey him in our particular circumstances.  If it happens to be that he calls some of us to work on behalf of women, that is good.  But not every woman will be called to that.  The Women's Ministries of the PC(USA) needs to have a wider focus in order to accommodate the gifts and ministries of all its women.  Moreover, when we first seek our own benefit, our self-centered outlook on life distracts us from God's will.  But when we first seek God's will, then a side effect will be our own benefit (Matthew 6:33). 

Now, to the specifics.  The WM website contents include information about the following events or groups: "Celebrate the Gifts of Women Sunday"; "Tending the Flame: Women Called to Lead" (which includes various celebrations of anniversaries of women's ordination milestones); the Office of Women's Advocacy; the Advocacy Committee for Women's Concerns; miscellaneous consultations/training events geared toward social justice; a mission program for women called the Ghana Project; Threads of Justice, which includes information about social justice issues; recommended books; a bibliography of writings by feminist theologians; Racial Ethnic Young Women Together; the National Network of Presbyterian College Women; and Presbyterian Women. 

There are some topics that WM have covered well.  Obviously, they are doing a lot with social justice and with advocacy for women.  They are also adept at representing the "progressive" theological point of view.  The bibliography of feminist theologians exclusively represents this perspective. 

However, WM has failed to represent a large segment of the women whose mission dollars contribute to their program.  Those of us who are orthodox in belief are completely unrepresented in the PC(USA)'s Women's Ministries.  WM are not even living up to their narrow slogan, "On Behalf of Women!", because they are not ministering on behalf of orthodox women. 

Furthermore, there are problems with some of the items that actually are on the website.  Here are some examples: 

• On the Theology page http://www.pcusa.org/women/education/theology.htm#spirituality they offer the booklet "Toward A Liberating Faith: A Primer on Feminist Theology."  I have read this booklet, and it goes beyond the bounds of Reformed Christian theology.  For instance, it redefines sin, saying that, for women, sin is defined by our experience, not by the Bible, and is more likely to be such things as underdevelopment of ourselves than it is to be things like pride or arrogance, which are deemed mostly only sins for men.
• Judy Wrought, former associate for Women's Ministries, recommends http://www.pcusa.org/women/resources/book-list.htm Sue Monk Kidd's book, The Dance of the Dissident Daughter, "which chronicles her discovery and embrace of the feminine God."
• Part of the PW bias-free guidelines http://www.pcusa.org/pw/resources/bias-free-guidelines.htm states, "Do not assume that...Christianity offers something better than other religions."
• WM's "selective bibliography of women's theologies" 
• http://www.pcusa.org/women/education/contributions.htm includes works such as these:
• Bond, Susan L. Trouble with Jesus: Women, Christology, and Preaching. St. Louis: Chalice Press, 1999.  (WM says, "Bond's work is an exploration of the homiletical implications of new christologies that have come out of feminist theology."  In other words, this book explores theologies about who Christ is and what he did that are different from orthodox Reformed theology.)
• Brock, Rita Nakashima and Rebecca Parker. Proverbs of Ashes: Violence, Redemptive Suffering, and the Search for What Saves Us. Boston: Beacon Press, 2001.  (WM says, "A theological study of suffering and its role in the Christian faith. The book challenges theological doctrines on Jesus' atonement as unhealthy and destructive to the Christian community, particularly to women."

• How to relate to non-Christian women in the workplace, neighborhood, or family in such a way that they are attracted to Christ (especially since there are constraints in the workplace on Christian witness)
• How to raise Christian children; how to deal with child-raising problems (including in adolescence) in a Christian way; how to help children (including teenage and adult children) deal with a society that is hostile to Christianity
• How to have a Christian marriage; how to deal with problems in marriages/relationships in a Christian way
• How to balance family life, work, church work, friendship, time for self
• Bible studies that are NOT exclusively centered around women (women are capable of thinking about things other than just women!) and that are theologically orthodox instead of exclusively "progressive"
• A uniform theological stance that reflects the Bible and the confessions of the PC(USA)
• A bibliography/resource list for Christian parenting (at all stages), marriage/relationships, Christian witness (especially in a hostile society)
• An inclusive theological bibliography reflecting the diversity of female theologians in the PC(USA), such as Marianne Meye Thompson http://www.fuller.edu/provost/faculty/dbsearch/final_record.asp?id=85, Leanne Van Dyk http://www.westernsem.org/people/faculty/vandyk.html, or Elizabeth Achtemeier

• Discipleship and spiritual growth from an orthodox point of view 
• Missions that provide evangelism as well as relief and justice 
• Conferences and/or workshops on evangelizing and reaching out to other women or on being a Christian woman in the workplace 
• Conferences and/or workshops on Christian parenting and marriage 
• A college group focused on orthodox Christian theology and Reformed discipleship 
• Only one (if any) women's advocacy group; instead, a women's office focused on evangelism, outreach, missions, and spiritual growth 

With the addition of resources and programs such as those suggested above, the Women's Ministries of the PC(USA) would no longer be excluding a large segment of the women of the denomination.  We know they value inclusion.  Let us ask them to include us.