Overcoming Obstacles to Women in Ministry - part 2
Today we continue with the article I wrote for Charisma magazine titled “Overcoming the Obstacles to Women in Ministry.” Last week I shared two obstacles with you: The issue of submission and the idea that “women can be deceived.” If you did not read last week’s blog entry, I encourage you to do that first before continuing on with today’s entry of obstacles # 3 and # 4 that I faced as a woman minister and a Mother of Nations.
# 3 The fear of man. One day in the early 1970’s the Lord instructed me to call a citywide revival prayer meeting. This had never been done in my city, and I had no previous experience from which to draw. Innocently I phoned local ministry leaders to come to my home to pray on a Friday night. They came, but one man in the group immediately challenged my right to direct the meeting. Since God never said I had to be in charge, I was not threatened. But when he suggested that only the men lead each night, I was quite disheartened.
Suddenly I found myself as a spokes-woman for all the females. Why couldn’t we lead? What was wrong with a woman overseeing the prayer times? My simple obedience to do what God had asked brought me face to face with the gender issue in ministry. Eventually the prayer times were divided among all present. Did God honor those prayer meetings? I don’t know, but I did learn that responding to God’s call and getting it done are not the same. I had no idea there would be controversy about a female leading a prayer meeting.
I also learned that revival cannot come to a community when leaders have their own agendas. As God worked on our hearts those days and nights, we prayed that walls would fall. We did not experience revival then, but we did learn that revival could not come without unity – men and women alike.
# 4 The church’s system of titles and positions. At one point I found myself in a supportive position of pastoring under male leadership. This man was kind and very good to me in many ways. However, he said he could not call me “assistant pastor” due to my gender. Instead he would call me a “pastoral assistant.” I did not understand the difference, but he felt the distinction was necessary.
Years later I was still in the same conflict. Someone wanted to appoint me to a specific office of leadership but was struggling with my title. A decision was made to set me in the position with another man and call us “co-directors.” We were the only co-directors in our fellowship in the nation, but evidently the leadership felt safer about this arrangement since I was a female.
The leaders in both these situations had no problem with my ministry calling, but both told me other people did. Supposedly these semantics games were the best ways to deal with church politics. Interestingly, when my co-director resigned his position, the leadership kept me as the only female director in the fellowship. God has a way of working things out on our behalf if we will trust Him.
Similarly, as I started attending pastors’ conferences, I discovered the terminology used was “pastor and wife.” While the women were sent to fashion shows and luncheons, the men were trained, equipped and fed the meat of the Word. I am not against fashion shows, but I went to those conferences to learn, grow and mature as a minister.
I needed help, someone to encourage my gifting and give correction if needed. I tried one conference after another looking for ministry support. Finally I realized the help was not out there at that time for women ministers, so I developed Women’s International Ministers’ Network (WIMN), a vehicle to train women for ministry.
Dr. Sharon Predovich
(Next week I will be talking about obstacles # 5 and # 6. Can you relate to any of these obstacles I have shared so far? I am sure you can if you are pursuing your God-given call. There will always be challenges but I encourage you to keep passionately serving the Lord as a Mother of Nations!)
