Spring 2018
Men and women serving and leading as equals
This is What a PREACHER LOOKS LIKE Saying yes to leadership page 8
When being who God made you isn’t okay page 11
Standing with my foremothers page 14
CONTENTS 4 8 11 14 16
The Gift of Presumption
Giving future generations a world where girls can do anything. Stephanie Dyrness Lobdell
D E PA R T M E N T S 3 From the Editor Embodying What Can Be: What Star Trek and Women Preachers Have in Common
19 Reflect with Us Madonna without Halo
20 Ministry News
Saying Yes
Sometimes modeling gender equality means stepping out of your comfort zone. Emily Summach
My First Time: When Being Who God Made You Isn’t Okay
A female pastor reflects on the first time her call was questioned because of her gender. Heather Henderson
Never Bashful: Standing with My Foremothers Carrying on a tradition of women as preachers and teachers. Kimberly Majeski
21 Giving Opportunities 22 President’s Message Representation Sparks Conversations
23 Praise and Prayer
ED ITO R IAL STAF F Editor: Tim Krueger Graphic Designer: Mary Quint Publisher/President: Mimi Haddad
Hunger
A poem of lament for women in the church. Jax Cortez
Mutuality is published quarterly by CBE International, 122 W Franklin Ave, Suite 218; Minneapolis, MN 55404-2451. We welcome your comments, article submissions, and advertisements. Contact us by email at cbe@cbeinternational.org or by phone at (612) 872-6898. For writers’ guidelines and upcoming themes and deadlines, visit cbe.today/mutuality. All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the 2011 revision of the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Advertising in Mutuality does not imply organizational endorsement. Please note that neither CBE International, nor the editor, nor the editorial team is responsible or legally liable for any content or any statements made by any author, but the legal responsibility is solely that author’s once an article appears in Mutuality. CBE grants permission for any original article (not a reprint) to be photocopied for local use provided no more than 1,000 copies are made, they are distributed free, the author is acknowledged, and CBE is recognized as the source.
Mutuality vol. 25, no. 1, Spring 2018 Cover design by Mary Quint Mutuality (ISSN: 1533-2470) exists to make egalitarian theology accessible to the non-scholar and to explore its intersection with everyday life.
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From the Editor
by Tim Krueger
Embodying What Can Be: What Star Trek and Women Preachers Have in Common I grew up in a Star Trek family. I was so devoted to it that, to my eternal shame, I spent the entirety of fifth grade (and way too much hairspray) trying to make my hair look like Captain Kirk’s. The world of Star Trek captivated me. The adventures, the ships, the aliens! It was only later that I learned about its social impact. Airing in the 1960s, Star Trek: The Original Series imagined a future where different races, nationalities, genders, and even species served side by side on a peaceful quest of discovery. Characters included Russian and Asian men and an AfricanAmerican woman, Lieutenant Uhura. Nichelle Nichols, who played Uhura, was one of the first African-American women to play a TV role other than a servant. After the show’s first season, she chose to leave TV for the stage, but was convinced to stay by none other than Martin Luther King, Jr., who told her “You cannot abdicate your position. You are changing the minds of people across the world, because for the first time, through you, we see ourselves 1 and what can be.” Whoopi Goldberg credited Nichols with inspiring her own career (and Star Trek fandom). At the age of nine, Goldberg turned on the TV, saw Nichols, and “ran through the house screaming: Come quick, come quick. There’s a black lady on TV 2 and she ain’t no maid.” So great was Nichols’ influence that NASA hired her to recruit women and minorities for its space shuttle program. Among her recruits were Sally Ride, the first woman in space, and Mae Jemison, the first African-American woman in space. This is why representation matters. What we see on our screens, in our books, and on our stages shapes our dreams. As Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “we see ourselves and what we 3 can be.” Just as it matters who we see on TV, it matters who stands behind our pulpits on Sundays. If the Bible teaches that women and men are both called to lead and preach (and it does), then our churches must reflect it. It matters that our daughters and sons see women leading in our churches. It’s not
enough to talk about our beliefs (though we should talk about them). We need to live them out. For churches, this means calling women as pastors. It means inviting women to be elders and deacons. It means creating church cultures where sexism isn’t tolerated and girls and women are encouraged to pursue their gifts. It means going the extra mile to serve and support female leaders who face social pressure and opposition that male pastors have never experienced. In a Christian culture that is often hostile toward women in leadership, it means taking risks in obedience to God. Looking at our world today, you might forget that Star Trek: The Original Series was a bust. The show was cancelled after three years. Yet, fifty years later the franchise it spawned is thriving; Star Trek movies, shows, games, books, and toys are everywhere. Star Trek is now considered one of the most influential franchises in TV history. Why? Because it showed us a world that could be, even if it’s not here yet. It is a world where we see the best of humanity. For advocates for churches where women and men serve as equals, our work can feel like an uphill climb. We do well to remember that ours, too, is a vision of the best of humanity and the church. We can take heart in the knowledge that this vision is not ours, but God’s. Women around the world live out this vision every day. They are our heroes and our role models. Their lives and their stories show us who we are and who we can be. They show us what the church can be, even if it has not yet arrived. In this issue of Mutuality, we share a few of their stories. The four feature articles are the winners of CBE’s 2017 writing contest. Each is the story of a woman who leads and preaches. Pastor or not, these women are what the preachers in our midst look like. There is pain and healing, risk and reward, grief and celebration. May they encourage and inspire you. In Christ, Tim Krueger
1 “Nichelle Nichols,” Pioneers of Television, PBS, 2014, http://www.pbs.org/wnet/pioneers-of-television/pioneering-people/nichelle-nichols/; “Star Trek's Uhura Reflects On MLK Encounter,” NPR, Jan 17, 2011, https://www.npr.org/2011/01/17/132942461/Star-Treks-Uhura-ReflectsOn-MLK-Encounter. 2 “Nichelle Nichols,” Pioneers of Television, PBS, 2014, http://www.pbs.org/wnet/pioneers-of-television/pioneering-people/nichelle-nichols/. 3 Kelly Knox, “Star Trek Week: How Nichelle Nichols Changed the Face of NASA” Wired, September 26, 2012, https://www.wired.com/2012/09/ nichelle-nichols/.
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M U T U A L I T Y | “This is What a Preacher Looks Like” 3
The Gift of Presumption Stephanie Dyrness Lobdell A couple weeks ago, I sent my daughter off to kindergarten. The excitement radiated from her little body as she donned her first-day-ofschool outfit: Wonder Woman T-shirt, pink tutu, and jean jacket. She loaded up her Wonder Woman lunchbox, complete with detachable cape and threw on her (you guessed it) Wonder Woman backpack. As per our family tradition, she climbed onto the stump in our front yard and proudly stated her name, age, and what she wanted to be when she grew up (a police officer this year). It was precious in every way, but especially poignant was her guileless presumption that she can be and do anything. As I watch my daughter mature and develop a rather alarming perceptiveness, I wonder when she will start to notice the vocational gender disparity around her, particularly in the church. Her wideeyed five-year-old self knows nothing of a world in which her gender has something to say about how she can embody the gifts and graces given to her by God. Even as she watches her mom ascend the platform each week to preach, when will she notice that most of the other preachers in our tradition are men? Will that precious gift of presumption be stripped from her hands by the incongruence between her hopes and the reality she encounters? And will she even notice when it’s gone? The USA has always prided itself on being the place where anyone can become anything. With just the right combination of hard work and talent, you can be and do anything your
mind can imagine. And yet, under the din of our declarations, our children are shaped by quiet assumptions, those underlying conventions, that indicate that some vocations are more suited for men than women. The church is not exempt. Young girls feeling the call to vocational ministry are more often directed to children’s ministry or cross-cultural work than they are directed to the pulpit, regardless of their gifts and graces. A national study found that only ten percent of Protestant congregations in the US had female lead pastors.1 Research shows that the numbers are headed in a positive direction, but we have a long way to go. In the meantime, Wonder Woman lunchbox or not, my daughter is going to notice a gap like that. It’s nothing new, this idea that gender should be the defining factor in determining the expression of a person’s gifts and graces, abilities and potential contributions to society. To our shame, it wasn’t even a century ago that it was assumed women were incapable of managing the responsibility to vote. Reasons varied from perceived biological inferiority and emotional instability, to an assumed lack of desire among women to participate in national conversations. In the church, similar ideas have persisted, such as the suggestion that men are more naturally suited to leadership than women. To the biological and psychological defenses of these positions, the church added the voice of Scripture, distorted and grotesque in its interpretations.
1. “Number of Female Senior Pastors in Protestant Churches Doubles in Past Decade,” Barna, September 14, 2009, https:// www.barna.com/research/number-of-female-senior-pastors-in-protestant-churches-doubles-in-past-decade/.
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But the voting rights situation changed. Through persistence, dedication, and sacrifice, women and men laid those inaccurate gender-based assumptions to rest. My female peers and I go to the polls each election, blissfully presumptuous, because we know that we belong there, contributing to society in that specific way. It does not even cross our minds that we wouldn’t have a place casting a ballot alongside our male counterparts. The generations who have gone before have blessed me with the gift of presumption. But in the church, that gift of presumption still eludes us, particularly concerning the pulpit. I am privileged to stand behind a pulpit most weeks, bringing the Word of God to the people of God. But I am an anomaly in many ways: a young mother, preaching to and shepherding an evangelical church in a traditionally conservative part of the country. It has not been simple or straightforward. I am the minority at every pastoral gathering, often the only female in the room at all. I have had my pregnancies described as “situations” that hindered my pastoral work. I have navigated the weirdness of trying to nurse a baby in between preaching back-to-back services, and hoped against hope I would make it back to the pulpit without a stained shirt. I have been assumed to be the “pastor’s wife” more times than I care to recount and have graciously (most of the time anyway) explained that yes, I am in fact the pastor, yes I am in fact an adult, and yes in fact, I will be the one performing the funeral service today. I grieve when I see my highly-gifted female clergy peers place their call to vocational ministry into hibernation because of the social pressure on moms to be the “default parent,” which is hard (sometimes impossible) to do while also pastoring a church. I grieve that not many churches find creative ways to make pastoring possible for busy moms. I grieve when women clergy continue to be excluded from mentoring opportunities because of a lack of imagination and possibility for cross-gender relationships among church leadership. I grieve because it is clear that we do not yet have that precious gift of presumption to place in the hands of our children. These days, the testimony of those suffragettes and the testimonies of their predecessors who confronted false narratives of gender-based exclusions call to me as I look with longing at the future generation, the ones carrying the Wonder Woman lunchboxes to school, with big God-dreams in their hearts and minds. I ache to place
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M U T U A L I T Y | “This is What a Preacher Looks Like” 5
We persist. We keep preaching. We keep showing up to maledominated meetings. We wisely and graciously insist on redirecting chauvinistic, small-minded comments. We debunk assumptions with our presence. We expose false narratives with our faithfulness. in their tender hands the gift of presumption, the unshakeable assurance that if God should call them to the pulpit, they can answer, “yes!” without a second thought. We are not there yet, but we endure, women clergy together with the champion men who have eyes to see how God is gifting both God’s daughters and sons. We persist. We keep preaching. We keep showing up to male-dominated meetings. We wisely and graciously insist on redirecting chauvinistic, smallminded comments. We debunk assumptions with our presence. We expose false narratives with our faithfulness. Why? Not to further a selfrighteous, self-serving agenda. Not to prove a point or stick it to the powers that be. No. We persist out of obedience to a call and a profound sense of responsibility to the next generation of wouldbe preachers and pastors, little girls who need to see someone who looks like them behind the pulpit. We stay when it’s hard out of our great gratitude for the
sacrifices of those who have gone before us and given us the gifts of presumption, the presumption to own property, to vote, to run for public office, to participate in high education, to wear pants for mercy’s sake! And our brothers, those who have taken up the cause of egalitarianism in the church alongside us, have a unique role to play. As they occupy places of power, having experienced the gift of presumption themselves, they intentionally make space at the table for their sisters. They insist on hearing the voices of their female peers at every level of leadership. They create opportunities for women clergy, especially in the pulpit, by purposefully seeking out female voices to bring the Word with power in their churches. Our clergy brothers join us in persistence as they deliberately make time for young women feeling the call, time to both hear their stories and time to guide and support them on their journeys through mentoring and advocating.
We persist together because we have been given bountiful gifts and now, it is our turn to be the givers. It is our turn to forge new paths in the wilderness for our daughters and nieces, for every little girl that sits in our pews. It is our turn to do the hard work of enduring difficulty, of silencing false narratives, and of showing up even when we are alone in order to have the profound privilege of placing in our children’s small hands the gift of presumption, the audacious belief that when God calls and they find themselves endowed with the gifts and graces from God, they can and must preach the Word. By the power of the Spirit and by our faithful persistence, may it never cross their minds that they could not say yes, yes, a thousand times yes. Stephanie Dyrness Lobdell is a Nazarene pastor, writer, wife, and mommy. She serves as co-lead pastor along with her husband as well as serving as the worship pastor at Mountain Home Church of the Nazarene, and blogs at www.stephanielobdell.com.
It is our turn to do the hard work of enduring difficulty, of silencing false narratives, and of showing up even when we are alone in order to have the profound privilege of placing in our children’s small hands the gift of presumption, the audacious belief that when God calls and they find themselves endowed with the gifts and graces from God, they can and must preach the Word. 6 M U T U A L I T Y | Spring 2018
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E X P O S I N G T H E R O OT S O F
VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN ELAINE STORKEY Acts of violence against women produce more deaths, disability, and mutilation than cancer, malaria, and traffic accidents combined. How and why has this violence become so prevalent? Elaine
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“Scars Across Humanity is crucial for everyone who is passionate about the gospel, gender justice, and reconciliation within the church and beyond.” MIMI HADDAD, president, CBE International
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M U T U A L I T Y | “This is What a Preacher Looks Like” 7
Yes Emily Summach In the quiet evening hours, once my littles are sound asleep, I find myself in the early stages of sermon writing. It’s the stage where I’m listening to others’ words on the same topic, browsing theological journals that come up when I search keywords, and bouncing ideas off of my husband. The truth of the matter is this: I don’t like to write sermons. I am, at best, an unlikely preacher in our small, Mennonite church. I languished through theology courses in college earning mostly high C’s. I feel easily overwhelmed researching Scripture and have no knowledge whatsoever of Greek or Hebrew. I’m constantly sending rough drafts to my pastor friends to ensure that my words from behind the oak pulpit aren’t inadvertently heretical. Why, then, do I sign up on the quarterly preaching rotation? I do it because I have a three-year-old daughter. In the pre-dawn hours of a shockingly beautiful late September day, I gave birth to our firstborn, a daughter. We named our nearlyseven-pound miracle Junia Grace. Her arrival changed me in every way that I expected. My body was pushed to its physical limits of sleep deprivation as I tried to satisfy my hungry nursling. I grew more emotionally tender with each passing day as I grappled with raising a human in world that could be so cruel, so lacking in compassion for its most vulnerable. Spiritually, I felt myself opening up to new possibilities as I finally understood the fierce, protective, and devoted love of a parent for their child. However, Junia’s existence also began
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I said yes because I needed my daughter to believe that the Holy Spirit that rained down on the women at Pentecost would rain down on her too. I needed her to know that the outcast woman at the well was the first person whom Jesus trusted with the news that he was the Messiah. I needed to her to know that Jesus chose to reveal his resurrection to the women first, charging them to go and tell their brothers. to change me in a way that I never expected: theologically. I was first introduced to the concept of biblical gender equality and egalitarianism in my third year of college in a gender studies course. The revelation that God did not prefer my boyfriend to me was, in no uncertain terms, life-altering. I had been raised to believe that men were the head of the home and the leaders of the church. A woman never stepped behind the pulpit unless she was a missionary, home on furlough. And, of course, she “shared;” she did not preach. I joyfully embraced this new ideology of equality. When that boyfriend and I covenanted our lives together in marriage two years later, we agreed that our future children, female and male, would know that they stood equal before God. Living in the light of this new theology I believed that women can and should lead churches, serve as pastors, and preach the gospel every Sunday. But me, personally? I had a getout-of-jail-free card. I wasn’t called to be a pastor or to pursue ministry, and I had little formal theological education. My gifts lay elsewhere, I assured myself. I would serve in our church equally, but not from behind a pulpit. When we relocated to a new province eighteen months ago, we made certain to choose a denomination and a home church that affirmed women
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as pastors. Our church is led by male and female elders, and both sexes are encouraged to participate in all areas of church life, including preaching. It was a perfect fit for our growing family. However, I soon noticed that only men were preaching. The opportunity to preach was open to all and encouraged by our pastor, but only men seemed to volunteer. The reasons were as varied as the women in the congregation. Some devoted countless hours to other ministries in the church and there simply wasn’t time to prepare sermons as well. For others the very real fear of public speaking felt insurmountable. And for some who were raised as I was, I suspect, the weight of past beliefs regarding women’s roles kept them from preaching. As the Sundays passed, an uncomfortable feeling settled into my spirit. I protested inside (I wasn’t “called!” I had no education! I was disinterested in theology!); I simply wasn’t a preacher. But my blue-eyed girl, sitting next to me in the pew, had yet to see a woman preach. What good, I feared, would it do Junia to know that she was equal, but only in theory? How could she envision herself preaching if there were no women to spark her imagination? How could she be what she could not see? When our pastor approached me a few weeks later and asked me if I would
be willing to preach while he was away the following month, I heard my voice saying, “Yes.” I said yes because I needed my daughter to believe that the Holy Spirit that rained down on the women at Pentecost would rain down on her too. I needed her to know that the outcast woman at the well was the first person whom Jesus trusted with the news that he was the Messiah. I needed her to know that Jesus chose to reveal his resurrection to the women first, charging them to go and tell their brothers. This good news is given to every woman to proclaim— educated or not, “called” or not. It is mine to proclaim, and I hope and pray that someday, Junia too, will proclaim it with joy. So here I sit in the quiet evening hours, toiling at a task that does not come naturally, leaning heavily on the help of others, and earnestly hoping that someday my daughter and son will see true, equal representation of women and men—all the living streams flowing through the church. I will choose to say yes to that hope, wherever it may lead me. Emily Summach is a freelance writer and stay-at-home parent to Junia and Ezra. She studied communications and theatre at Providence University College. Her writing has also appeared in Geez Magazine. She resides near Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada.
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My First Time: When Being Who God Made You Isn’t Okay Heather Henderson
“Heather has no business being in the pulpit.” The words leaped out at me from the computer screen, screaming at me from an email not written to me, but about me, to two of my male colleagues. First of all, we don’t even have a pulpit. We’re a nondenominational church that meets in a high school. We have a stage and an auditorium. His words though, ref lected his heart, his experience, and a churched upbringing that led him to believe his email was helping our church. I entered ministry through a nontraditional route—from a master’s degree in education, to volunteering in our youth ministry, to being asked to join the youth staff, to ultimately being asked to join the senior leadership of our church and serve alongside our lead pastor. It’s been an honor, a gift, a vocation so much greater than I ever could have dreamed or planned for myself. When we talked about me preaching, I was daunted. It’s a big job that carries pressure and responsibility. Yet, I knew God
had made me to communicate his truth. To be my authentic self and talk to people about the God of the universe who created and loves them. I am uniquely made, and I am a gifted communicator. God made me this way on purpose and gave me this desire and dependence that is just grafted into my marrow. I must preach and teach and lead. It’s how God made me. I didn’t grow up in the church world, but I’m not naïve; I knew there might be pushback to a young woman preaching. I didn’t realize it would hurt so much or feel so personal. I felt stripped naked, void of value, and broken. I knew him, of course. We had served together, and I loved his family. Still do, though they are no longer at my church. In an email to two of the men with whom I work, this church member outlined the ways in which, because of my gender, I was unfit and sinful in speaking God’s message to people. He was sure to note that it was nothing against me, not personal, of course. Just a matter of making
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M U T U A L I T Y | “This is What a Preacher Looks Like” 11
sure the church doesn’t become steeped in grave sin. I saw the email because one of my colleagues wanted me to know about the conversation. Truthfully, I’m not sure he should have shared it with me. Or he should have warned me. But maybe he couldn’t know how much it would just cut me to the heart. I know my male colleagues have experienced complainers, detractors, whiners, and people who are sure they know better than what was preached on Sunday. But I suppose they don’t know—couldn’t know— what it’s like to read in an email how their very person, an essential element of how God made them, was wrong, was sinful. I’ll never forget the words: “No business being in the pulpit.” “Women shouldn’t be allowed to pray if there are men available.” “This will bring the church nothing but trouble.” “How can you allow her to do this?” “Women are ruled out as teachers or leaders over men.” Thankfully no one was around, because this email was a sucker punch. I went to a nearby office, curled up on a couch, and sobbed. My heart hurt. My soul was injured. The imago Dei in me had been trampled on, doubted, deemed unworthy and sinful. I was devastated. As women in ministry, most of us have become used to emails, conversations, and questions like this. I certainly have. As I’ve learned more, read more, lived in Scripture more, and grown to understand my own self, I am certain that mutuality is God’s plan for man and woman. I’m comfortable engaging in conversations about relevant Scripture, and I understand that, as a woman who preaches and
teaches, I will carry this burden and responsibility. I’m now much better equipped and spiritually and emotionally secure, having walked this road for some years. However, I will never, ever, forget that first time. The first time I saw words written about me, not to me. The first time I was told I was wrong, sinful, and direct party to the downfall of a church. The first time this academic conversation about women in ministry became painfully personal. And while his words hurt me deeply, I was most hurt because of the catch-twenty-two that they represented. Why didn’t he just talk to me? Why email my colleagues? Of course, talking to me about this would imply my equal standing to engage the conversation. Of course he couldn’t talk to me about this; these decisions are the work of men. And so, we’ve never spoken about the email. We haven’t spoken at all. He left the church, not able to be party to such sinfulness. I was sad for his family, who were well-loved, and sad that he hadn’t wanted to engage in conversation. An occasional “like” on Facebook is all that remains of that relationship. I worked to a place of forgiveness for him. He was speaking what he had been taught was true by so many male church leaders. And while I wish he had engaged in conversation with me and with others, and been willing to take another look at Scripture, I understand that will not always be the case. The memory of my “first time” reminds me that every time I preach, it will be the first time for someone— the first time they’ve heard a woman preach or teach in church. Every time I preach, I bear what the director of Harvard’s Center for African and African American Research, Dr. Henry Louis Gates Jr., calls, “the
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As I’ve learned more, read more, lived in Scripture more, and grown to understand my own self, I am certain that mutuality is God’s plan for man and woman. I’m comfortable engaging in conversations about relevant Scripture, and I understand that, as a woman who preaches and teaches, I will carry this burden and responsibility.
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freight of being iconic.” What a perfect, scary phrase. Being a woman in vocational ministry is not easy. It is still far too rare. Being a woman who preaches requires grit and confidence in who God made me to be. It is one of the greatest honors of my life to speak to people about God’s love for them. I am truly humbled and in fact baffled that I get to do this. My eight-year-old daughter asked me recently, “Mommy, why do people treat girls differently?” I was surprised by the question, and saddened. Already at age eight, she has picked up on this. We chatted, and she noted, “Not very many girls get to preach, do they?” I agreed with her, but we talked about how that isn’t God’s plan. I pray that my three children will grow up to love and serve Jesus. And I pray that my daughters as well as my son will speak words of inclusiveness, of unity, of mission, when they speak of the church. No one is greater or lesser in God’s kingdom. My
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husband is not in vocational ministry, I am. I am not greater or closer to God because of my work. Nor am I further from God because of my gender. Understanding the gospel is both easy and impossibly difficult. We are all loved. We are all enough. We all bear the image of God within us. I pray that more people would know those truths, and that more women would be safe and confident and empowered in the unique ways God has made them. Church is complicated and messy. Jesus is not. And so I return to him, place my trust in him, find my identity in him. And I commit to continue serving in his church, because it’s still a beautiful and excellent plan. Heather Henderson is a “barely makes the cut” millennial, striving to live a kingdom life in the Washington, DC suburbs. She is a mom of three, wife of a brilliant IT guru, and associate pastor at a non-denominational church in Maryland.
Church is complicated and messy. Jesus is not. And so I return to him, place my trust in him, find my identity in him.
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Never Bashful: Standing with My Foremothers Kimberly Majeski
I was thirteen the first time I heard the words, “women cannot be preachers” spoken into thin air and inside the walls of that place where I had always been loved, had always felt safe. The words felt like a stone thrown into the rudder of a ship, they caught me, caused me to heave forward and halt. I was raised up in love. I was reared in the faith tradition that also loved and fostered my parents and grandparents. I was born into a local church where a founding pastor in the 1930s had been a woman. I was raised up under a sense of welcome and inclusion, taught the distinctions of our Wesleyan-Holiness heritage. I was reared in a church where I was invited to sing a solo at six years old, where I watched women kneel and wash the feet of other women, hold one another up as they walked through the hardships of life, spread a feast of pimento cheese and tuna fish sandwiches and cherry pie to raise money for missions, and gather over Maxwell House coffee for the sacred hour of Tuesday morning prayer. It is funny now to consider I attended Sunday School in that same church more than a million times in my life, but the day I heard the words “women cannot be preachers”—the first time I heard gender-based restrictions, confines, limitations, issued from within the kingdom—this is the day above all other days that stands out.
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It was summer day in Tennessee, so hot and humid that we’d given up all hope of wearing pantyhose. It was an ordinary morning in the educational wing where I had first been a toddler, then a primary, then a junior, before becoming a full-fledged member of the youth group. I was gathered with my friends at the far end of the hall, just past the water fountain and the Warner Sallman painting of the blue-eyed Jesus. We sat on folding chairs planted on carpet surrounded by white walls filled with Bible verses and stars for those memorized. This was before there were special services for young people or special spaces for teens to hang out. This was before people wanted to create music for certain generations of Christian folk. This was back when you brought your King James Bible with your name embossed on the cover to class. My teacher was a gentleman who had come from another denomination, and we loved him and his family like our own. But that Sunday morning when he said that women could “only be song leaders” I knew we were from different places. His remarks were so shocking and so foreign. I was sure he must’ve come from a far off land. I knew he didn’t know our stories; he didn’t know who we were. At thirteen I had no inclination of ever becoming a pastor, no interest church ministry or clergy life, but it was the eighties, and of course, I was a feminist. I was raised by a single mother who held down three jobs, was the Girl Scout director for the city, and taught Wednesday night church. She not only could—but loved to—camp in tents, could change her own tire, and was also always
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dressed to the nines. She wrapped me in the stories of Scripture and clothed me in shirts that read, “Anything boys can do girls can do better” and it turns out I had taken it to heart. Not at all bashful and less so as a newly-minted teen, I challenged my weary teacher. I regaled for him the story of how the church in which we worshipped was founded, told him of Sister Ada Cooper and her sisters who by the power of Christ led and sustained the church after its founding on the outskirts of Nashville in the 1930s. I told my teacher, my class, about how Sister Cooper had been my father’s pastor, my grandmother’s friend— how Sister Cooper’s daughter Ms. Elizabeth was sitting out on the third pew behind the piano and would be happy to fill him in. At forty-something, I am still not bashful, and I still make it home often to that church where I was raised and where my aunts and cousins and nieces still worship. These days when I’m there I’m often in the pulpit, as now I am an ordained pastor, associate professor of biblical studies and know deep and well the material of 1 Timothy and the Deutero-Paulines. I have read Ignatius in the Greek and have studied epigraphy and archaeology and fragmentary evidence. If my Sunday School teacher were still alive and I could find him on Facebook, I’d invite him to Starbucks, buy him an almond milk macchiato and apologize for being such a brat. I’d then engage him in biblical, historical, and theological conversation regarding the centrality of women leaders, pastors—preachers—in the spreading of the gospel and the growth of the early church. I’d tell him what I’d come to know about Mary
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and the Magdalene, about Phoebe, Junia, Lydia, and Prisca. I’d tell him about Epiphanius’ Indices Apostolorum and I’d show him some of my work. I’d ask him how his daughter was doing, and we’d talk about how much we miss Mrs. Ricketts and her pimento cheese.
I’d thank him for loving me through our differences of interpretation and for helping to launch me into my life’s work so that I had to reach deep to find out who I was, for helping me start from a place of knowing where I come from, for forcing me to put words to what I believed and for helping me tether myself to the stories of my foremothers so that when my own call to follow in their footsteps would come, I would know the way was open to me. Kimberly Majeski serves as associate professor of biblical studies and Christian ministries at Anderson University and is a co-host for Viewpoint, a syndicated radio program for Christians Broadcasting Hope. Additionally, Kimberly is founder and CEO of Stripped Inc., a not for profit ministry empowering women in sex trade to walk out of fear and into love. strippedlove.org.
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Hunger Jax Cortez
I hungered for a voice a whisper— I’m valued, I belong. Silence. Dear preacher, you made sure I understood, your home not mine never mine You the Leader, me the follower. Your home, not mine. You stand; I sit— platform; bleachers. Did you forget? This is God’s house, not yours Do I blaspheme? Step on Pharisee toes? Call me Jezebel condemn me to Hell Silence, woman. Hush now.
meekly bow my head— not made to lead, mind too weak, emotional, unpredictable We don’t belong, they say Spread the word, tell my sisters, make it clear— their home, not ours. No room at this inn for us— smart strong brave scientists, commanders, doctors business owners, engineers. Wait outside, ladies— invisible door, glass ceiling, silent desert, no vacancy.
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Deborahs, Mary Magdalenes Rahabs—erased forgotten, dismissed. An ancient drought barely a murmur or mumble Tell me, dear preacher— are we so easy to forget? Fodder for dreams, obstacles of the faithful, objects for men to stumble over. Silence, woman. Submit! Know your place, eyes on the ground. Forgive, let yourself be slapped around— I will not. This is God’s house. One Lord. One King, dear preacher and it’s not you.
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No value in our numbers, nor worth to our advice? Your church is dwindling, dear preacher, your pews have paid a price Call me apostate, burn me at the stake. Do what you like, dear preacher— But it will never be your house The hour is late, dear preacher, time to choose. The last will be first, which one are you? Goodbye dear preacher.
We’re weary of the silence and the glass One day women will be free to speak, to preach. Men held accountable for abuse no hiding among the faithful. No judgement for the beaten, hurt, and bruised— Church, you left me Hungry I still don’t understand Why?
But God will satisfy my hunger, whisper the words I’ve longed to hear— No more doors, no more ceilings, no silent desert to cross Open table, many seats— you’re wanted, you belong. Jax Cortez is an indie author, blogger, and freelance writer. When she is not publishing articles through different media outlets or blogging, she is busy writing empowering short stories and thrilling novellas on Amazon (www.amazon.com/author/ jaxcortez). She lives in San Antonio, TX with her husband, little one, dog, and cat.
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M U T U A L I T Y | “This is What a Preacher Looks Like” 17
Moving Stories from Award-Winning Author
R AC H E L M A R I E S TO N E “I’ve been waiting for a book like this one for years, and no one could have written it more beautifully and wisely than Rachel Marie Stone. With the skill of a poet and the patience of a doula, Stone invites the reader to look straight into the face of fear and find in it the spark of hope.” —Rachel Held Evans
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Reflect With Us
by H. Edgar Hix
Madonna without Halo She holds his shoes in her hands. They are worn shoes, but the only clothes not stolen by Romans, priests, elders, and everyone else who always wanted a piece of him. But they cannot have her piece. The feet that wore these shoes were feet of her feet, blood of her blood, tears of her tears. As yet, the halo has not been painted. As yet, she is still a Semitic woman with a dead Semitic son. And yet, the halo will shine no brighter than now, barely reflecting off bitter tears that will paint her halo brighter than any pale Dutch master ever will.
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M U T U A L I T Y | “This is What a Preacher Looks Like” 19
Ministry News
Are You What a Preacher Looks Like? CBE is pleased and honored to introduce the Alvera Mickelsen Memorial Scholarship, celebrating the legacy of Alvera Mickelsen, a CBE founder. Alvera was devoted to sharing biblical mutuality, freeing all to use their gifts and calling to advance the gospel. Given the challenges that women face in the church and academia, this scholarship was created to help them answer the call to ministry. Made possible through the generosity of Alvera’s family, CBE will award $5,000 annually to one woman in the US who is pursuing a graduate or post-graduate degree in a ministryrelated field.
Would you or someone you know like to apply for the Alvera Mickelsen Memorial Scholarship?
Visit cbe.today/ammsapply
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Giving Opportunities
Put More Women in the Pulpit To extend the Alvera Mickelsen Memorial Scholarship to as many women as possible, CBE and Alvera’s family invite you to join us by contributing to the Alvera Mickelsen Memorial Scholarship fund. CBE’s goal is to award a second $5,000 annual scholarship funded by gifts from CBE supporters.
If you share Alvera’s commitment to empowering women in ministry, please make a generous gift.
cbe.today/ammsfund
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M U T U A L I T Y | “This is What a Preacher Looks Like” 21
President’s Message
by Mimi Haddad
Representation Sparks Conversations Earlier this month, I ran across a tweet from a female pastor. It read: Man noticing my collar: Are you a preacher? Me: Yes Man: I don’t believe in women preachers Me: I am literally standing right here so… This exchange points to a reality that women leaders know too well: our very presence creates conversation because it challenges the single narrative that dominates many Christian circles— leadership is the domain of men. Women leaders not only spark conversation, but have the opportunity to model good leadership and civil dialogue. Ultimately, we point the church to a clearer vision of the cross and human identity.
Sparking conversation (and controversy) As the president of CBE, I am invited regularly to speak on women’s leadership at schools, churches, non-profits, and more. One of my most memorable sermons took place at an evangelical college. This school had a long history of training women evangelists, and my talk was on the senior theme for the year: “Women’s Equality is a Biblical Ideal.” I took the stage and began to speak. Within minutes, the men from the football team became visibly agitated. The faculty seated nearby responded with a firm “be polite” posture. From the pulpit, it seemed a showdown would erupt in the middle of the auditorium. My message—even my presence—challenged the narrative these young men held. For them, women’s equality diminished their masculine identity. Though they attended a school with a history of training women for leadership, they were unaware of their own history. The faculty knew the history, but the message had failed to transform these students. There was no showdown, but I promise you there were many new and lively conversations. At another event, at an institution that once trained women for evangelistic work, the chair of the Bible department—the man who introduced me to the audience—bolted after I took the stage. At other events, students walked out as I celebrated the women church-planters who worked beside Paul. Others have boycotted my talks altogether. My presence, and the message I brought, confronted them with an uncomfortable reality: their own evangelical legacy had been pressed to the margins by a single narrative culture of male-only leadership.
Prophetic leadership Sparking conversation, and sometimes controversy, is a fact of life for women leaders, and it can be exhausting. Because of this, the courage and civility women demonstrate in their prophetic leadership is all the more impressive. Refusing to apologize for our calling and identity in Christ, we resist the narrative of patriarchy persistently and charitably, even among those who disagree with us. In the process, minds are changed. Ten years ago, I was one of several scholars working to start a study group on gender at the Evangelical Theological Society (ETS). Originally, we proposed a single, egalitarian perspective. ETS leadership wisely pushed back, recommending that our committee and the papers presented represent both egalitarian and complementarian views. We agreed, resulting in rich conversations of learning and life-long friendships of deep trust. It has also strengthened us as proponents of our own view! The kindness and respect learned and earned at ETS brings to mind a wise-beyond-years complementarian I met at GordonConwell Theological Seminary (GCTS). Newly elected as president of GCTS’s student senate, Bruce invited me to lunch as a senator representing women in ministry. Assuring me of his support despite our differing views, Bruce took time to learn my story. And, he expressed gratitude for the kindness egalitarians demonstrate in their scholarship and as colleagues. He wanted me to know that his heart was with us. Recently, Bruce and I shared a few laughs as he described his journey to an egalitarian position! I am forever grateful for his courage of character in engaging not only the scholarship and leadership of those who differed from him, but also their stories. In the end, he was won over by their unapologetic leadership (though not everyone will be)!
Revealing Calvary’s power Women leaders not only disrupt the single narrative of maleonly leadership, they also reveal Cavalry’s power by aligning women’s identity not with Eve’s sins but with Christ’s victory over sin. Whether through their words or by their mere presence, women leaders proclaim that women and men equally bear God’s image and are equally remade in the image of Christ. Christ’s emancipation of women allows the entire human family to flourish.
1 Abby Norman. Twitter Post. February 2, 2018 4:13 p.m. https://twitter.com/abbynormansays/status/959550349148348416.
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Praise and Prayer
Praise
Prayer
• We’re thankful for the launch of the Alvera Mickelsen Memorial Scholarship (read more on pp. 20–12)! • Our marriage book, Mutual by Design, is finished and available for purchase at CBE Bookstore and on Amazon. • CBE is formalizing ministry partnerships with leaders in Cameroon, Uganda, and Zimbabwe. We’re excited to embark on several new projects with new and existing partners in Africa this year.
• Pray for the planning for our Finland conference, “Created for Partnership,” hosted in partnership with RaTas (CBE’s Finnish partner organization). Registration is now open! Visit cbe.today/finland. • Pray for our new and existing international partnerships— for good communication, fruitful relationships, powerful impact, and for the energy and capacity to keep up with our many partnership opportunities around the world!
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• We believe in one God, creator and sustainer of the universe, eternally existing as three persons in equal power and glory. • We believe in the full deity and the full humanity of Jesus Christ. • We believe that eternal salvation and restored relationships are only possible through faith in Jesus Christ who died for us, rose from the dead, and is coming again. This salvation is offered to all people. • We believe the Holy Spirit equips us for service and sanctifies us from sin. • We believe the Bible is the inspired word of God, is reliable, and is the final authority for faith and practice. • We believe that women and men are equally created in God’s image and given equal authority and stewardship of God’s creation. • We believe that men and women are equally responsible for and distorted by sin, resulting in shattered relationships with God, self, and others.
• Scripture is our authoritative guide for faith, life, and practice. • Patriarchy (male dominance) is not a biblical ideal but a result of sin. • Patriarchy is an abuse of power, taking from females what God has given them: their dignity, and freedom, their leadership, and often their very lives. • While the Bible reflects patriarchal culture, the Bible does not teach patriarchy in human relationships. • Christ’s redemptive work frees all people from patriarchy, calling women and men to share authority equally in service and leadership. • God’s design for relationships includes faithful marriage between a man and a woman, celibate singleness and mutual submission in Christian community. • The unrestricted use of women’s gifts is integral to the work of the Holy Spirit and essential for the advancement of the gospel in the world. • Followers of Christ are to oppose injustice and patriarchal teachings and practices that marginalize and abuse females and males.
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Beyond the Stained Glass Ceiling Christine A. Smith
Emboldened Tara Beth Leach
A Little Handbook for Preachers Mary S. Hulst
Made to Lead Nicole Massie Martin
This is My Story Cleophus J. LaRue, editor
The Methodist Defense of Women in Ministry Paul W. Chilcote
Threads of Wisdom Caroline A. Mendez
Finding Their Voices D’Esta Love
Building a Church Full of Leaders Jeanne Porter King
Ordaining Women B. T. Roberts
She: Five Keys to Unlock the Power of Women in Ministry Karoline M. Lewis
Becoming His Story Mary-Elsie Wolfe