The council, as guest editor Dr Mutale Mulenga Kaunda writes in the editorial, was a gathering of male bishops, but women's influence, though indirect and largely inaudible in historical records, was nonetheless significant. “While women were not formal participants, and their contributions remain undocumented at the Nicaea council, it is important to acknowledge that they were present in early Christian communities as vital supporters, educators, and patrons,” writes Kaunda, a research tutor at the Oxford Centre for Mission Studies and a research associate at the Research Institute for Theology and Religion, University of South Africa. However, “if this was the case, it means that men then appropriated, without acknowledgement, the ideas of women.” The issue is a contribution to the WCC’s Sixth World Conference on Faith and Order to take place at Wadi El Natrun in Egypt in October 2025 and which will mark the Nicaea anniversary. Articles in the issue explore the presence of women at the council, understood not only as physical proximity but as the expansive influence, relational engagement, and enduring memory of a person or group of persons. “This issue of IRM further explores the historical exclusion of women from significant theological events and the historical legacies of ecclesiological exclusion of women,” writes Kaunda. “This has implications for the various ways in which women continue to be excluded from religious doctrines and leadership roles.” The initiative for this thematic issue came from IRM editor, Rev. Dr Peter Cruchley, the director of the WCC Commission on World Mission and Evangelism, and Rev. Nicole Ashwood, WCC programme executive for a Just Community of Women and Men. Kaunda, active in the Ecumenical Network of Global Actors for Gender Justice, and who participated at the WCC 11th assembly in Karlsruhe in 2022 with the Just Community of Women and Men in an advisory capacity, was then asked to serve as guest editor. Dr Andrej Jeftić, director of the WCC Commission on Faith and Order, took part in the review of abstracts and selection of articles. Kaunda said: “While women's perspectives maybe have inspired some of the discussions at Nicaea, women cannot and should not continue to be heard through men who do not often acknowledge that the ideas they are sharing are from women. “We hope this issue will contribute to making women's presence and voice fully included in conversations about equality and equity.” Ashwood said: “One of the joys of this project was the intentional cross-disciplined focus that fostered inclusivity in spaces of academic rigour that often feels often feels exclusive to males.” She added: “Including women’s perspectives through this volume affirms the WCC’s commitment toward our visible unity in the Just Community of Women and Men.” International Review of Mission is published twice a year for the WCC by Wiley. More information about Nicaea 2025 and the Sixth World Conference on Faith and Order Read Mutale Mulenga Kaunda ‘s Guest Editorial Table of Contents Information about subscriptions | 
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