Our identity as a faith-based organization is important to MCC personnel and to MCC's partners and must be reflected in the way that we approach all our work, including work to promote gender awareness and sensitivity. As MCC India staff say, "Our faith perspective helps MCC to recognize the spiritual needs of the people and the value base of the community in addition to the development needs and goals."

"Our faith perspective helps MCC to recognize the spiritual needs of the people and the value base of the community in addition to the development needs and goals." --India staff

We heard in different contexts during our trips that faith-based organizations need to develop and provide a theological foundation for the call to full partnership of men and women in the church and in society. MCC has embarked on this process by committing ourselves to looking at all overseas programs through the lens of gender, a commitment which is rooted in our faith. We affirm that all human beings are created in the divine image and that women and men are equally valued and loved by God. As children of God, we are all called to do God's work. Even when MCC works in inter-religious contexts that require some sensitivity, we can acknowledge and communicate this.

As Christians, we look to Jesus as our model and norm. In a recent MCC Peace Committee meeting, there was an acknowledgment that Mennonites need to dedicate more time and effort to articulating a theological understanding of gender based on Jesus' example of how to work with women and men. As we within MCC work to recover the stories of transformative relationships between men and women that have been lost or ignored in the dominant interpretations of the Bible, we will become more convincing of our commitment to gender with MCC personnel, partners, and friends, but also re-inspired to call for and work toward the full participation of women and men in the places we live and work. According to the MCC staff, partners, and friends we met in the course of this project, if we are to work at this with integrity our commitment to gender must also involve the willingness and commitment to look at ourselves and at MCC as an institution. Just as we have been able to communicate our theological commitment to peace in ways that are sensitive to other cultures, so too should this be possible in our commitment to work for more equitable relations between men and women.