Fatima Bass Thomas:


Contemporary reformer


By Alix Matzke N


ine-year-old Fatima Bass Tomas had a dream. As the oldest of eight children born to peasant farmers in


Gambia, she knew her likely future would consist of getting married, doing domes- tic work and raising children. But even at the age of 9, she dreamed of something more—the opportunity to go to school. “Going to school was seen as a successful route to a brighter future for


everyone,” Bass Tomas said. “School helped me be who I am today to serve my country, church and community, both locally and globally.” Two years later, aſter overcoming family challenges, she had her chance. Aſter completing primary school, Bass Tomas went on to teacher


training college and was placed at a school a few hours from her village. It was there that she met her husband, Samuel Tomas, a pastor and fellow Anglican in a country of 95 percent Muslims. Motivated to serve Christ, both leſt their teaching jobs in 2000 to establish the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Te Gambia. Today the growing church has 2,500 members making up five parishes


(regions) and nine congregations. Bass Tomas serves as the sole pastor, while her husband is the church’s bishop. Trough their leadership, the couple has influenced the outreach priori-


ties of the Gambian church, which is committed to helping give children, girls in particular, access to primary schooling. Bass Tomas, the bishop and other leaders believe in the equality of men and women, an idea that might seem radical to others in their country. As the church grows, women will have an opportunity to be ordained,


and “if a woman is not qualified to take a position [within the church], all efforts will be made to educate and help that woman become qualified,” Tomas said. Last April, Bass Tomas joined others from around the world at the


“Lutheran Women at the Crossroads of the Reformation” seminar hosted by the ELCA’s International Women Leaders program. Aſter returning from Wittenberg, Germany,


she convened 54 women, six from each of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Te Gambia’s nine congregations, for a weeklong gathering during which she shared what she had learned from the seminar. “I pray the Holy Spirit


can touch the women of our church to be active like the women of the Reformation,” she said. 


18 www.thelutheran.org


Fatima Bass Thomas is sole pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in The Gambia. The church is committed to helping give children, girls in particular, access to primary schooling.


daughters, but to him they don’t count.


Strong women from the past How can learning about the Refor- mation make a difference? It’s useful to consider not only the impact of the Reformation on women’s lives but also the impact of women on the Reformation. Reflecting on these past leaders can help us draw infor- mation and inspiration for our lives today. (See page 14.) We can’t pretend that Luther


shared our views about the equality of men and women. His writings show some ambivalence. In his commentaries on Genesis, for exam- ple, Luther sometimes describes the subordination of women to men as part of God’s created order. At other times he identifies subordination as the result of sin. Nevertheless, for his time Luther


was remarkably progressive. While he married for practical reasons, he came to love and respect his wife, Katharina, very much. Also known as Katie, she was one of the nuns Luther had helped escape from their convent aſter they wrote to him ask-


The ELCA’s International Women Leaders seminars, titled “Women at the Crossroads of the Reformation,” were funded by gifts to Always Being Made New: The Campaign for The ELCA. Forty-six women from the ELCA’s companion churches have participated. Learn more at www.elca.org/campaign.


Author bio: Matzke is marketing communications manager for Always Being Made New: The Campaign for the ELCA.


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