Sunday, October 5



Gender and the emerging church
The lack of women in the emerging church has been a discussion here, at living room and at Rachel's blog. I have spent the weekend pondering this issue, in between putting sick kids to bed. Having now done the ironing, let me add my two cents worth. (I post it rather than reply in the comments, below, because it is rather along post).

It is a fact that women are under-represented in the emerging church. So who to blame?

The SEXist church. An easy target, nameless, big enough to hit, and with a history of exclusion. However, I always thought the point of the emerging church was to move beyond the church as it exists in modernity. In fact, most of the best emerging churches I know owe very little loyalty to the established church. It is courageous individuals who have started something alone, independent of a modern mother church gifting life and finance. (In fact, Steves first law of entreprenurialism says that the further you are away from the institution, the more likely you are to be postmodernly sustainable and effective in mission.) As Robert Webber says, start your own. So the modern mother church cant be blocking women from ministry if we’re all starting up.

What about the culture? After all, that is who the emerging church is trying to reach. That mass of postmoderns - spiritual, consumptive, tolerant, diverse. Hmmm. Would they ignore someones gifts because she was a woman? The words, the acts, the visuals of eternal life denied in postmodern culture because of gender. I doubt it.

So who else to blame? The Sexist ooze moderators. Spencer Burke and Jordon Cooper, who have so much spare time, they plot ways to exclude women on this blog? I doubt it, and they are welcome to clarify the issue.

What about the deeper issue, the emerging church linked with white, middle-class technology. Boys with their wi-fi and flash! Boys attracting boys with their lastest piece of technology? Perhaps. I would love to know of the gender ratio of web-designers and video animators in the culture. Can anyone tell me?

Let me finish with a conversation. A number of emerging church leaders in New Zealand gathered in August to discuss Pete Wards Liquid Church.
>>"Does Liquid Church further the male zone because it prizes entrepreneurs and they are often male�, asked a female EC pastor.
>> “Does Liquid Church exclude men because the future is a relational, networked, and men are often more task focused�, asked a male EC pastor.
>> “I have found a rare degree of acceptance in this forum, and far greater opportunities on the edge of the church anyhow�, replied a young female leader.

And this is my point. Anyone can start a blog. Anyone can plant a church. Emerging church is all about the new, about living in the culture, about stepping into the tomorrow. It is opportunity.

If there is a gender imbalance, perhaps the best people to fix it are those who feel excluded, stepping up to offer the words of eternal life.

Enough. I must go and feed my children.

posted by STeve | 5:16 PM | |