The Church Needs the Influence of Women

God created male and female, on purpose. Men and women are different, on purpose, designed to be different, to reveal different aspects and characteristics of God. We need to understand the differences, honor and appreciate what each brings to our society, and especially, to the church.

We need both men and women to be fully free, fully functioning in our churches. Just as a family needs both a mother and a father to really provide all that the children need, so the church needs both men and women to function in a whole and healthy way.  Children can grow up to be healthy well-adjusted individuals when raised by a single parent, but we all agree that the best environment for a child is both parents in the home, fully involved in the child’s life. Mothers and fathers interact with their children in different ways. Mothers cuddle their babies; dads throw them in the air. Mothers nurture children, talk with them, teach them how to relate to other people. Fathers teach their children to take risks, to seek adventure, to be independent.  Of course, these are broad generalizations, but they are common traits.

The Church has been like a single Father family. The church leadership has always been dominated by men, so the focus has been very male oriented.  Men and women are gifted in unique ways, and both should be welcomed into important roles in our churches. Speaking again in broad generalizations, women tend to be more relational, more sensitive to the needs of others, more intuitional, quicker to “sense” when something is wrong that is not readily apparent. Women tend to be better listeners, and better communicators. Aren’t these characteristics that are desperately needed in our churches?   Bringing women into leadership areas of our churches could produce churches that are more balanced, healthier, better able to care for the people.