"The Church" - A Self-Help Group For Women?
Captain Sensible writes: Has the church now become a self-help group for women? I write this on the back of hearing about two new courses for women run by churches in my local area. Plus I have also heard recently from someone who goes to a large church in London, saying that they seem to focus all their energies on major conferences for women.
What I am hearing from the local leaders is that "God has put these things on the hearts of the women that want to do them".
But I wonder, is that really the case?
Hasn't God also put a brain in our heads and shouldn't the leaders, at least, be using those brains to see that we really need something for the men, not yet more (self-indulgent?) stuff for the women?
These women's courses and women's prayer groups, mean that the single women have something to distract them so they don't make a nuisance of themselves by being discontent about being single, and the married women can just indulge themselves in lots of girlie support networks and glorified book clubs.
Women are supposed to be helpers and encouragers to men. Can't the church leaders motivate the married women especially to help and encourage their husbands to start some men's ministries, and put their energies into facilitating that?
I really think that we must reconsider the value of all these burgeoning women's ministries. In the UK at least, we are at a crisis point with regard to the lack of men. Is running around in groups of women really what we need from the church at the moment? Is it even -- now here's a thought! -- Biblical? Shouldn't these women, first and foremost, be showing their love for their husbands by helping them to reach the lost?
On a slightly different note, I was also discouraged to hear that one of the regular, pan-church ministries that actually does reach out to men in their 20s and 30s, had to be cancelled last week due to lack of volunteers. And on the same circular email that encouraged prayer for more volunteers, there was also a prayer request for a new "Purpose-Driven Life" course that was starting up.
Hmm, was I wrong to think there was something rather farcical about that?
That Christians are happy to sit around discussing purposeful living, but are apparently unwilling to get out there on the street and actually start putting it into action?
We really need to step up our game. In the UK, we have a situation where only around 6.7% of the population regularly goes to church. The official line is that the male/female ratio is 40/60, although it is now being suggested that is probably nearer 30/70. And how much of that "70% female" is made up of elderly ladies I wonder?
We're hardly talking about an "it ain't broke, so don't fix it" situation!
Rather, what I am seeing now is "It is broke, but we're going to pretend that it isn't, so there's really nothing to fix and oh, by the way, you're not allowed to feel angry about any of this."
Blind leading the blind, anyone?
What I am hearing from the local leaders is that "God has put these things on the hearts of the women that want to do them".
But I wonder, is that really the case?
Hasn't God also put a brain in our heads and shouldn't the leaders, at least, be using those brains to see that we really need something for the men, not yet more (self-indulgent?) stuff for the women?
These women's courses and women's prayer groups, mean that the single women have something to distract them so they don't make a nuisance of themselves by being discontent about being single, and the married women can just indulge themselves in lots of girlie support networks and glorified book clubs.
Women are supposed to be helpers and encouragers to men. Can't the church leaders motivate the married women especially to help and encourage their husbands to start some men's ministries, and put their energies into facilitating that?
I really think that we must reconsider the value of all these burgeoning women's ministries. In the UK at least, we are at a crisis point with regard to the lack of men. Is running around in groups of women really what we need from the church at the moment? Is it even -- now here's a thought! -- Biblical? Shouldn't these women, first and foremost, be showing their love for their husbands by helping them to reach the lost?
On a slightly different note, I was also discouraged to hear that one of the regular, pan-church ministries that actually does reach out to men in their 20s and 30s, had to be cancelled last week due to lack of volunteers. And on the same circular email that encouraged prayer for more volunteers, there was also a prayer request for a new "Purpose-Driven Life" course that was starting up.
Hmm, was I wrong to think there was something rather farcical about that?
That Christians are happy to sit around discussing purposeful living, but are apparently unwilling to get out there on the street and actually start putting it into action?
We really need to step up our game. In the UK, we have a situation where only around 6.7% of the population regularly goes to church. The official line is that the male/female ratio is 40/60, although it is now being suggested that is probably nearer 30/70. And how much of that "70% female" is made up of elderly ladies I wonder?
We're hardly talking about an "it ain't broke, so don't fix it" situation!
Rather, what I am seeing now is "It is broke, but we're going to pretend that it isn't, so there's really nothing to fix and oh, by the way, you're not allowed to feel angry about any of this."
Blind leading the blind, anyone?
posted by Captain Sensible at 8:17 PM
5 Comments:
Perhaps the reason why there are so many 'women's' ministries is that there are more women in the church??
Should the church be castigated for catering to the majority?
In a word: Yes.
But actually, the church isn't even doing that properly, as it is not catering for the most urgent need of the single women: Helping them find godly husbands.
It's kind of like how women do almost everything in groups, even going to the lav in pairs. We've just expanded that for the church. Now we get to sit around powdering our noses and painting our toenails while talking about God, and somehow that's supposed to make all the problems go away.
The church has never been about catering to the majority. The church has been about living lives of holiness, and raising godly families, and seeking the lost, and salting the earth -- salt being primarily a flavoring agent, as well as a preservative. We're here to make the world better, to bring the reality of Christ into the world, and Paul in every one of his epistles went after the problems in the church that stood in the way of that mission with force and passion.
Sticking our fingers in our ears isn't getting the job done. We're ignoring the elephant in the room. And let me tell you, I love elephants, but they have a very strong odor. You can't really ignore them for very long without looking like an idiot. Someone's got to take hold of the elephant and train it and make it useful. Otherwise we're just lying to ourselves and allowing our potential to remain only that: potential.
It's time to get kinetic.
Captain:
Ruth Graham is quite an example for many Christian women to follow. She apparently had dreams of being a missionary to China, but decided to support her husband and his missionary call by looking after the children they brought into the world.
I tend to agree with you that there are too many "programs" in churches, and generally too many "women's programs" and "women led programs." The problem here is a misinterpretation of Titus, wherein older women are told they can teach younger women to be better wives and mother. All that passage enables is the giving of practical advice for homemaking and developing a good culture for the family to thrive. This is a far cry for any warrant for "women's ministries." If you think about Acts where they were considering what to do with the widows, after listing the criteria for which one could be considered a "welfare widow," it was asked that seven MEN be appointed to oversee the task. My point is simply that men are the ones who are supposed to be doing "women's ministry," so that they can remain sensitive to needs and helplessness of many women.
Just a FYI thought.
Debbie Maken
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