Releasing & Supporting Women In Leadership, Part 3: Take Action
This is the final blog of a three-part series in which I’m focusing on the challenge in the Church of the lack of women in leadership roles - the fact that all too often we are a Church missing out on the gifts of capable and anointed women and thereby not declaring the fullness of God. If we are going to change this I believe we need to make a significant cultural shift across the Church by listening to women, by changing what we talk about, and by taking action. I’ll be honest: many women are tired of hearing people who SAY that they are for women in leadership but don’t actually DO much about it. Here are five ways in which leaders can take action to change the culture when it comes to women in leadership:
1. Intentionally include women
If we are going to be intentional about women having the opportunity to exercise leadership giftings and respond to God’s call to ministry, we need to ensure women are on leadership teams and platforms. This requires an honest evaluation of eldership teams, leadership teams, planning teams, conference line-ups, and preaching rotas. The women and girls who rarely see themselves represented don’t always know that these roles are open to them. There are a number of conferences I see where the majority of the speakers are men but because there is one woman featured, or one session that is led by women, organisers deem it diverse enough. As the first woman on my church’s eldership in its 91 year history I am absolutely passionate that I won’t be the only one. Let’s not settle for merely having one woman in a team or line-up, especially when women make up over 50% of most church congregations. If we genuinely believe that women can and should be in leadership roles, then we have to be intentional about ensuring women are invested in and have a place at the table.
2. Tackle your unconscious bias
Leaders - how are you identifying women with a leadership gifting? I’ve heard some people say the problem is that women don’t put themselves forward (although those who do put themselves forward usually get criticised for that too!); however as a lot of leaders are currently men, and if they tend to look for potential leaders that look like them, women’s leadership will never be developed. A number of men would say that they are open to women leading but whether deliberately or subconsciously, they are only identifying, mentoring and investing in other men. It’s hard for women’s leadership giftings to be developed if some people’s bias doesn’t even recognise them.
3. Don’t pigeonhole women
One of the challenges that can face a woman who senses a call to leadership is the presumption that she must want to minister in a specific role to only some of the church congregation. Women, like men, are diverse in their passions, interests and skills. We don’t automatically assume men want to lead in men’s ministry but not lead across the church, so we shouldn’t be doing the same to women. I believe that God calls women and men to equality in all aspects of life in the Church and in the home. I believe God calls people to roles based on character and gifting, not on gender. This means that roles shouldn’t be prohibited to women and that a woman must be free to minister to the whole church, or in whichever specific role she feels called. Women and men both need female leaders, as well as male leaders.
4. Stop prioritising the views of those who are against women
Historically the views of those who are against women in ministry have been prioritised, slowing the progress that needs to be made to bring true equality. Women have heard “wait”, “not yet” and “no” too many times. If the Church is going to experience and demonstrate all God has for us we can’t afford to go at the pace of those who are anti-women in leadership – we must act to change things. Whether women should lead or not isn’t merely a matter of preference, it is a matter of justice. When the views of those who are against women in leadership are prioritised, gifted and called women are excluded from ministry and leadership. While we passively wait for the possibility of a few people changing their mind about women, we end up missing out on the gifts of women and risk losing them from the Church altogether.
5. Be consistent with who you meet with
A significant barrier to developing female leaders in the Church has been a rule on meetings, often referred to as the “Billy Graham rule”. This rule has been adopted across many areas of the Church and means that male leaders refuse to meet with a woman alone, regardless of the location or of the individual. When male leaders, who still occupy the majority of leadership roles across the Church, will meet in offices or coffee shops with the men on their team but not the women this restricts women’s access to vital input, mentoring and leadership development. The problem with this rule is that it paints women as being either a temptation or a threat of accusation. It assumes women are a risk and that women and men need to be divided to ensure proper behaviour. As Danielle Strickland says in her excellent book ‘Better Together’, “The Billy Graham Rule was established to protect men, not to protect women. And that’s more to the point. Protecting male leaders meant isolating and vilifying women. I don’t think anyone intended that. It’s just what happens when you create systems based on the idea that women are the “enemy” or the “temptress” or the thing from which you need to protect yourself”.
When leaders behave inappropriately it’s not merely because they’ve had the opportunity, it’s a matter of the heart – the reality is that there are leaders who have fallen who have followed this rule as well as those who haven’t. As leaders I believe we can follow Jesus in His approach of meeting with, talking to and honouring the opposite gender - therefore meeting with members of the opposite sex (or same sex, for those people that might have struggled with same-sex attraction) in a manner which reflects Christ. This means that male leaders can exercise wisdom in their interactions; be consistent with who they will meet with (i.e. if you will meet male leaders or team members, also meet with female leaders or team members, or don’t meet with either alone); and view women as image-bearers and sisters in Christ.
For years women have been held back or excluded from leadership roles; merely saying we think they can and should lead is not enough to change the current situation. If we truly want to ensure that both women and men are supported and released into their leadership callings we can’t just talk about this – we must take action.
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Catherine De Souza, 7th October 2020
