it breaks my heart

I am a chronic over-empathizer. For example, sometimes I feel sadness because of someone else's pain more intensely than for myself! In ministry, this can be exhausting! I'm not called to bear someone else's emotional burden -- that's not what it means to "carry each other's burdens."

Anyway, that being said, recent conversations with several young women about the pain they have experienced because they are women seeking to be in ministry have (a) made me incredibly sad, and (b) made me incredibly angry.

One woman sought to use her musical and teaching gifts in the church she had been attending. She was told, "Well, you can babysit the children on Sunday mornings." What a waste! Not that children don't need good teaching and good music too, but to assume that this woman is called to minister to children just because there is nowhere else she is "eligible" to serve runs contrary to God's purposes in equipping each of us with gifts for ministry.

Another woman had an extremely negative experience within the first couple of months of attending seminary. A professor spent an entire class period ranting about the issue of women in ministry, setting up straw-man arguments to show how Evil Feminism had attacked the "gospel truth" of complementarianism. (Note: I was not in this particular class, so this is second-hand information. However, I had this professor for a similar class and am familiar with the way he handles the issue). This professor may not have intended it, but he effectively undermined this young woman's confidence in her own calling before the Lord. Plus, he modeled a particular method of engaging with theological debates that is neither objective nor, in my opinion, Christ-like -- and he did this in a class filled with young men (and several women) who are preparing to be pastors!

The pain from these type of experiences runs deep, and talking with these young women absolutely breaks my heart. It astounds me that people such as the men in leadership at the first young woman's church and the professor in my second story just plain don't see that the implications of their attitudes undermine the ministry of the church.

I'm still working through how to articulate what I sense and what I see about how these type of attitudes can infect the church. It's a very subtle infection, because those in leadership view their attitudes as being Biblical Truth -- so anyone who disagrees is seen as attacking Scripture rather than challenging a particular interpretation. For now, all I can do is think, and lament, and encourage young women like the two I mentioned, and give thanks that God has placed me in a church that values my gifts and my calling to ministry, and do my best to serve God with confidence in Him, and pray for God to continue to establish His kingdom in His church.

what not to wear, ministry edition

I've never been known as a fashion guru. I spent my first year in seminary stumbling into Greek exegesis at 7:25 a.m., usually wearing jeans or sweatpants and a sweatshirt. I didn't start wearing makeup on a regular basis until probably my third year in seminary (well, at least no one can argue that I went to seminary for my M-R-S degree!). As my friends will attest, as I've made efforts to "dress it up" a bit, I've often wished I could be on the show "What Not to Wear" - you know, the one where the slightly obnoxious but amusing co-hosts pick some poor, unsuspecting fashion disaster and transform him or her into fashion plate... with the help of thousands and thousands of dollars.

What in the world does a fashion-driven TV show have to do with ministry? I asked myself that very question this morning, when I read an article published by Gifted for Leadership dealing with what female ministers should and should not wear. The author writes that when she was in seminary, she was discussing a gifted female classmate with some of her male peers, and one of the men remarked,

"Sally is phenomenal, but when she preaches few men will be thinking about God. If you know what I mean."

The author responded, "So, you saying she’s too pretty to preach?"

WHOA! This is certainly not something we discussed in seminary. In fact, I don't know that I've ever thought about this extra hurdle women may have to overcome when they preach. The author of this article raises a good question: "in a consumer-driven, sexually-charged culture, how should a woman in leadership decide what to wear?"

I've never been someone who blames women for every impure thought that runs through a man's head; nevertheless, this is a question that those of us who are women in leadership should take seriously. I don't have all the answers, but a few preliminary thoughts:

• I don't think that dressing frumpishly is the answer. For some people, this will be as much of a barrier to hearing God's Word as it would be if we dressed like fashion plates!
• Modesty is key. That should be obvious. It's just not that hard to dress modestly and fashionably.
• We need more conversations between those of us who are in ministry and the men and women with whom we serve, as well as with members in the congregation, about this issue.
• Men need to be challenged to work on their own sexual purity, even as women need to be considerate with what we wear.
• Both women and men who are in leadership must take care that the clothes they wear not speak more loudly to the congregation than the Word of the Lord.

I suspect conversations like these will be ongoing as more women enter ministry and are engaged in public preaching. I encourage you to read "What Not to Wear" for yourselves and enter into the conversation with your own thoughts. May we never be dismissed as too pretty to preach or too frumpy to follow!

Image found here.

Ever wondered why the "women in ministry" issue is such a big deal for so many Christians?

Well I sure have. The Issue seems to pop out out of nowhere sometimes, but it always rises up with vehemence and strong opinion. I'm the first to admit that it's a hot button issue for me -- it strikes too close to home for my responses to be anything less than passionate when The Issue comes up -- and I have to be really careful that to season my passion carefully with love, compassion, and respect for those who disagree with me.

How did the interrelated Issues of women in ministry, the ordination of women, and male headship become such a big deal for the American church? While I'm sure that some might reply, "because defending biblical truth [in my experience, this usually means a complementarian perspective of some sort] is of the utmost importance!", I just don't think it's quite that simple. Why THIS battle with this amount of energy?

Scot McKnight has some thought-provoking thoughts on this subject. Rather than me summarizing his excellent blog post, read the whole thing here. And if you have the time, click on the category "Women in Ministry" and check out some of his other postings on The Issue. You won't be sorry you did.

Side note: Scot McKnight's blog, Jesus Creed, is well worth exploring for its intriguing discussions and interesting posts, even if you couldn't care less about The Issue mentioned in this post.