[Anglican Communion News Service] Anglican women from Fiji, Samoa, Tonga, the Solomon Islands and across Aotearoa New Zealand are gathering Nov. 2-5 for a three-day program of study, storytelling and song at Tatai Hono Marae and Holy Sepulchre Church, in Auckland, New Zealand. The occasion is the 2023 Anglican Women’s Studies Centre (AWSC) Hui (conference).  This will be the AWSC’s first province-wide in person gathering for theology and education in three years.

The AWSC hui focuses on women working together. This year’s theme is “Many hands lighten the work.”

AWSC Convenor the Rev. Bettina Maxwell said that while the AWSC team hasmet in Samoa and Christchurch this year, she’s glad to be meeting in person again with women from across the whole church. “So many things have happened since Covid,”  she said. “We are now building ourselves up again, getting to know the people we are connected with. This Auckland hui will deepen our relationships and support those who work with our wāhine (women) out in the community.”

The hui is designed to share the experiences and perspectives of women from across the country, and to build a sense of self recognition in all women that they called by God to participate in God’s work in the world. As well as registrations from across Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia, the hui is welcoming participants from the Anglican Church of Melanesia.

AWSC Administrator Ceridwyn Parr says that November’s hui also has a practical goal. “AWSC hui provides opportunities for women to advance, diversify and transform leadership within the Anglican Church,” she said.