October 27, 2004
women and the future of the church
I have been teaching a class on preaching in the postmodern. It has been a huge success, as I re-worked an existing seminary course with an in-service training option.
The class has totaled 26 participants. 8 of the students are training for ministry, while 18 are in ministry, most pastors, grappling with communication in our changing world.
Of the 18 in ministry, only 3 are women. Of the 8 training for ministry, 5 are women.
Is this hope? Or is this a reality check; that for women a huge gulf exists between dreaming and training and between the reality of ministry?
Posted by steve at October 27, 2004 10:51 PM | TrackBackI think it depends what denom you are talking about :)
Posted by: rochelle at October 28, 2004 04:22 PMI think it depends what denom you are talking about :)
Posted by: rochelle at October 28, 2004 04:22 PMrochelle,
the class was probably the most diverse denominational setting i have taught in. the (mainly male) ministers included anglican, methodist, lutheran, brethren, pentecostal. the (mainly female) students would tend to be pentecostal. So I am not sure how accurate a denominational analysis would be.
As a Methodist - it looks to me like most of the incoming ministers are female here in UK.
Posted by: Alison at October 29, 2004 10:56 AMI certainly think that a lot of women are entering training, and in some areas, ministry, however I am not convinced that there are many places for women in leadership, particularly in evangelical / charismatic churches. I am well prepared to believe that this is a result of the people in the congregations rather than church leadership as such...
Posted by: rochelle at October 31, 2004 03:21 PMi think lots of the women leaders end up as associates -- children's ministers, music ministers, assistant ministers, etc.
no data, just an assumption. i think people can accept that better right now.
Posted by: tammy at November 1, 2004 12:37 PM
