Men in leadership in the church – listen up! (unless of course you think that listening to a woman might be part of the problem…)
Do you find the anonymity and fatigue of the road too tempting? Do you feel like your wife has let herself go and succumbed to laziness? Do you think that having a female assistant (God forbid, co-leader?) is a temptation too far? Do you ever think about sticking closer to Jesus to avoid sin?
Then get yourself over to Mark Driscoll’s blog for his handy hints on men and women working together in church, in the wake of the Ted Haggard allegations…
[The BBC has the back story about Ted Haggard here.]
No but seriously…
You couldn’t make this up, and Ben’s comment about laughing/ crying goes for me too… How 19th century and sexist does this all sound? I’m utterly convinced that unless and until men and women can model working together in church as partners, equal in God’s service and with gifts to offer together – whilst NOT having it off together all the time - no-one is going to take us seriously.
I work closely with male freelancers, designers, artists, chief execs and programmers every day. I’m the female third of an emerging church leadership team. I’m friends with men, see them in the street, get served by them in bars and shops. My husband even lets me out the house unaccompanied... So why is church seen as being so different, such a hot bed of inappropriate sexual desire and activity?
Anyhow, I think that Mark Driscoll’s given me, Ben and Cris a lot to think about in advance of our Sanctus1 team meeting this week… like – do we now need a third party chaperone? ;-)
technorati tag: mark driscoll, sexism, church
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3 comments:
I'm a woman (I think you'll vouch for this) and work with church leaders who were at the last count this morning all male! I'm supposed to be their mission consultant - but mostly they don't understand this concept. But I had a first this monring! An immediate response to an email. The phone rang! Success. Later this week I start a consultancy with a church. I had sent the minister this prayer for him to have printed on bookmarks - so everyone could have one easily accessible to use on a daily basis. Response - 'Could we change this word parent to Father? I think we could get seriously side tracked otherwise!' Here's the prayer:
"We begin our time with you, Eternal God, Loving Parent, Caregiver,
Protector, Friend and Guide.
We do not know where this may lead us but know You are in the process.
Open our ears to hear Your voice through other voices we hear today.
Open our eyes to see opportunities for ministry as we travel together.
Open our minds to the endless possibilities in ourselves, our churches
and in others.
Open our lives to the exciting joy of Your presence in all that we do.
And, O God, in the final analysis remind us that it is not about us.
It is about You
who only asks for our best given in love.
In the name of Jesus, Amen.
What would you have said?
Interesting one... I suppose an answer like this is out of the question? "Parent is a noun, meaning one who begets, gives birth to, or nurtures and raises a child (a father or mother); an ancestor; a progenitor; a guardian; a protector. I think God is my parent - don't you?" ;-)
But I'm interested in what you did say... (!) BTW I love the prayer.
Totally agree. I responded 'you will know your congregation better than me. What I haven't said is how I'm thinking of introducing the evening!
I think I'll draw attention to the fact that we have talked of this being a Kairos moment in the life of the church. You either take these opportunities or you miss them. Since we are approaching Advent I thought I'd ask them what they'd be thinking about if they were pregnant? Menetion that I like the way Australians always say 'we are pregnant' rather than 'I'm pregnant'. That God longs to see something new coming to birth in their community but it also occurs to me that God never rapes! Won't force them into anything. Maybe my colleague will decide it would have been simpler just to stick with 'loving parent'! thinking about these things only makes me more radical! And our encounter is still two days away!
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