You can’t attend any General Assembly without noticing the vast array of bowties worn by Presbyterian men. But today about 200 Presbyterians, women and men, are wearing hot pink bowties, as a statement of support for the #MeToo and #ChurchToo movements.

Since the hashtag #MeToo broke last October, Sara Dingman, executive of the Synod of Lincoln Trails, has been hosting #MeToo and #ChurchToo dialogues, workshops and retreats for women and men in the synod she serves. Every woman, everywoman, has a #MeToo story to share. Time’s up for the church to remain silent.

Dingman offered to bring 50 hot pink bowties to St. Louis for mid council colleagues to wear, to show their solidarity for women who have been harassed and abused in and beyond the church. News spread and she ended up ordering as many as she could find on Amazon and Ebay — about 200. “I only wish I could have found three times as many.”

Why pink? Millions of people rallied at women’s marches in the nation’s capital city before the president’s inauguration, and throughout the world – wearing pink hats in particular. “I wasn’t able to get to Washington for the march. These bowties today are one small way of connecting the church God loves with what breaks God’s heart in the world. We all have a role to play in creating the beloved kin-dom of God.”