| Have you been going to the
same church for years and haven’t said a single
thing? When it comes time for sharing do you get up? Is this because only men are getting up and you don’t feel like you have the right to have your say because you’re a woman? Don’t worry; many Christian churches have the same problem. Some churches have rules which won’t let women get up to speak or be leaders. Some others have a kind of unspoken rule where only men are entitled to have their say and become leaders. If you like equality in your church; please read on. I interviewed Merrilyn Newnham, the pastor of the
Christian Life Church Burpengary. She is currently
writing a book about equality in the church. When asked what
she thought equality was defined as, Merrilyn answered,
"Where everyone is seen as equal regardless of sex,
class, age, wealth and race." She said,
"Feminism is different from equality. Equality is
about acting as equals, where as feminism tends to want
more for women. It rose out of |
inequality, when women began
to rebel against social and legal injustices. There should
be equality because God created everyone as equals to
begin with and that’s how we should stay. Today’s Christian church doesn’t have 100% equality. The reason is that some people interpret different passages of the Bible to mean that women can’t hold positions of leadership. Yet that same Bible tells the stories of women such as Deborah, Ruth and Mary, all women of leadership and power. They ran things just as well as men, if not better. How could people interpret this to mean anything different? The men in control of churches put the minister on a pedestal, making him to be of higher position than the people, particularly women. Yet we are all the same in God’s sight and we should all be the same in each other’s sight." So next time you think of someone as being higher or even lower position than you, think of how God sees them and try to think of them in that same way. We’re all equal and just as many women are spoken to from God, so shy shouldn’t they be able to get up in front of their church and have their say? By Chelsea |