Recently I had the privilege to sit in a
room with several (six to be exact) African American women who were graduates,
or soon to be, of three different Reformed seminaries. These women had been or were in Master of
Divinity programs. Needless to say, but
needful for you to know, they are smart, gifted, and love Jesus. I did not take a poll to see if each was committed
to complementarianism, but took it that most of them were. That they were Feminists, in a less liberal/radical
but yet determined fashion with a more respectful and kind demeanor, would I
think also be fair. For a fuller
self-disclosure I see a profound philosophical difference in a feminism of
Biblically informed justice rather than an imposed feminist ideology upon a
non-authoritative Bible, or a complete rejection of the Bible as the Word of
God.
I was delighted to be with them and honored
to be part of their conversation. I am also curious to see what God is going to
do with them and how the larger church will treat them. I earnestly hope that years from now they
will sit down somewhere and talk about how God led them, used them, and kept
them. They represent a tremendous
resource for the people of God and I certainly hope they will be treated as the
treasure they are.
I have fears for them as well. I am sure there are more women who are not
women of color who have also earned a Master of Divinity degree and have had,
or have, their own struggles. Black
women M.Divs are going to have even a harder challenge in a predominantly white
Reformed community. I have fears for
them, but I am not afraid of them, as I suspect some might be.
What do you do with a bold, gifted, and
theologically astute black woman? The short
answer is “nothing”, that is not our place, and might be intimidating to try. It is God’s place and my hope is that the
rest of us would open the doors so He can do as He wills, especially in
denominations that don’t accept women as pastors and preachers. This is where the fear of such women might be
a problem, to suspect they are attempting to change the rules, that if we let
them do anything in the church they will overthrow our view of the Eldership
and the standards for ordination. You can’t
be around these women long to realize that some of them have stronger verbal
and oratorical skills than many of our preachers. To fear them would be a real
failure of trust and faith in God, and a lack of respect for the humility in
these women.
Their education and giftedness are assets
for the church but like all the rest of God’s folk are only applicable
according to character and servanthood.
Education, intelligence, and giftedness become intimidating for us when
we only look at an individual on that basis.
Sometimes we meet people via introduction with all their credentials,
sometimes we know of folks according to their Curriculum Vitae. People known on that level are either
wonderfully impressive or scary, and we tend to put them in some kind of box
that limits our relationship. The experience and expertise we bring with us does
not qualify us for spiritual service. Spiritual
service rests on spirituality and godliness, and then the position is filled according
to qualification after that foundation is set, or should be.
As a former pastor and older leader in the
church I am concerned for them, and jealous to see them included and well used
for God’s glory. I hope for godly
husbands for them, even though it is not necessarily God’s plan for all of them
or none of them to be married. I do not necessarily
think they all need husbands to be happy or well used. Yet, I assume some of them may want that and
I hope men of God will see into their characters and personalities and pursue
them as God directs. Too many Christian
men have no courage in pursuing strong women when my experience tells me that
what one might see as strength on the outside does not preclude humility and
gentleness in relationship and in the home.
One of my concerns for all congregations is
the lack of imagination we have in religious vocational positions. We have “offices” that are entered via
ordination and thus reserved for men. We
seem a bit schizophrenic in determining what ministry can be done in and
through the church. Sometimes we
proclaim all the members should be doing ministry, and then we insist that only
“ministers” do ministry, and we get real sticky about titles. We have had Directors of Christian Education,
we have had Church Administrators, we have had Directors of Urban and Mercy
ministries, Directors of Music and Worship.
We have had Counselors, we have had Directors of Children’s Ministry, we
have had youth workers at various levels.
We have had Directors of Women’s Ministries, ESL, Special Needs, etc. All of these positions can be filled by
ordained pastors, and as far as I know all of them can be and have been held by
women who are not ordained.
When we send folks to the mission field the
possibilities seem even greater. Works
of mercy, medical, development, orphanages, schools, higher education and
ministries of all kinds have been done by women who come from denominations
that preclude them from the pulpit, but who have given them very powerful,
meaningful, and effective areas of ministry.
This is not an embarrassment, nor is it hypocritical, but it is
sometimes not celebrated and advertised as it should be. I would love to see a comprehensive list and
description of such religious vocational ministry, and I would love to see
women come together to encourage each other in these positions. I would also like to see more active
mentoring of women to pursue these positions rather than leaving it seemingly (I
am a Calvinist) to serendipitous chance, or the unavailability of a qualified
male.
This is a call to recruit these women into
ministry so that the church will be blessed and they will be fulfilled and will
fulfill their calling to serve Jesus.
No comments:
Post a Comment