Women, Church, and What Could Be

Soon afterward he went on through cities and villages, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God. And the twelve were with him, ² and also some women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, ³ and Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod’s household manager, and Susanna, and many others, who provided for them out of their means. – Luke 8:1-3 ESV

A few months back I was able to speak at a small youth conference. While the message was largely forgettable, the conference was refreshingly unique. With a decade of ministry experience, this was the first time I saw women given unrestrained leadership. The band was lead by a young but spiritually aware woman while one of the three main stage speakers was a successful entrepreneur and businesswoman.

So why is this such a revelation?

There are a few reasons. Go across the country and visit your pick of student ministries, and as assuredly as you will find stupid games and copious amounts of Mountain Dew, there will by more female students than male. Chalk it up to quicker maturity or generally greater interest in spiritual things, but this is typically the case. Yet, even though a majority of participants in weekly programing as well as conference attendees are female, the leadership is dominantly male and opportunity for women in ministry is limited. Of course women can learn from men (and vice versa), but it is crucial for young women especially to see what success looks like in both the spiritual and the cultural realm.

Some of the biggest conferences I attended for youth had limited if any a female voice. On many occasions the gender was relegated to an established speaker’s wife. There is surely no shortage of passionate and brilliant women who are capable of communicating spiritual truth, but unfortunately they go years without much opportunity. Of course some of this is because of patriarchal system who hold sinful beliefs of gender equality. There is no denying that the hatred out there is still very much present within church walls. But in many cases, these limitations start with lack of intention in pushing against the status quo and poor Biblical, historical, and contextual understanding.

Those in leadership must go out of their way to give voice to the marginalized as Jesus did throughout His ministry. This starts by understanding the role of women in the early Church. For example, the first person to read the letter of Paul to the Romans to the intended audience was a woman named Phoebe. She was a leader in the early Church and was hand-picked to deliver what would become, outside of the Gospels, the basis for our theology. During Christ’s ministry, the funders were largely women as we see in the start of Luke. These verses are all over the Gospels. Jesus had a way of lifting women to a higher bar of leadership in a revolutionary way.

It has been encouraging to see a generation rising that look for equality for the marginalized.