Assure My Future: The Journey of the Church of South India Girl Child Sunday
Shibi Peter As the Church of South India (CSI) marks twenty-five years since the launch of the Commitment to the Girl Child campaign and the observance of Girl Child Sunday in 2000, the occasion invites reflection on one of the most significant social interventions in the life of the Indian Church. What began as an initiative of the CSI Diaconal Ministry has grown into one of the most sustained, church-led campaigns for gender justice in South Asia. Over these twenty-five years, the CSI’s call has remained constant in affirming the blessedness of the girl child, created in the image of God. From the first Decade of the Girl Child to the renewed campaign Assure My Future (2014), the observance has evolved into a prophetic movement that transformed ecclesial consciousness and social witness across dioceses, influencing public policy and global ecumenical discourses on gender justice. It was amid alarming realities of female foeticide, infanticide, child sexual abuse, exploitative child...