Interview with Jenny McGill, author of Walk With Me

Meet my friend Jenny McGill (PhD, King’s College London), a pastor’s wife and university dean who loves to explore countries and cultures. She has a new book out that I endorsed—heartily!

Tell us a bit about the book and its intended audience.Written as a series of letters in a conversational tone, Walk with Me: Learning to Love and Follow Jesus is an interactive tool designed to help those in a spiritual mentoring relationship. It summarizes four areas in following Christ: the beliefs of a Christian, living like a Christian, habits of a Christian, and exploring the Bible. As a ministry leader and pastor's wife, I want to encourage and bolster women in their Christian faith, addressing some difficult subjects in a down-to-earth fashion. Walk with Me is a discipleship guide for all believers, no matter how long they have walked with Jesus.

Why a book on discipleship?Sadly, because I see few churches discipling their members in a systematic way. I was discipled through the Navigators and Cru, which are para-church ministries, but I believe it should ideally be emanating from the local church. Also, I wanted to give an overview of what discipleship entails. Many claim faith in Jesus; fewer are discipled. While not comprehensive, my book is a starting guide. Third, I wanted to write a simpler guide that is not too lofty in its descriptions to explain the essentials of our faith and translate it to everyday life.

How would you define discipleship?Discipleship refers a process of how we mature in Christ, how Christ is formed in us—in our thoughts, actions, and lives. Discipleship is a walking together for a period of time, discussing life’s challenges and God’s answers together, with accountability. Discipleship is not church attendance or Bible study or BFFing. Some folks who have gone to church their entire lives have never been discipled. Take me. I went to church for almost twenty years before I was actually discipled.

How did you come to arrange it as a series of letters?I was discipling a young woman, Annie, at the time and was struck with the thought of what would happen if we weren’t able to finish meeting. I decided to write her letters expressing the rest of what I would want her to know. After a year of writing, I realized I had a book and a unique Christmas gift for her.You can connect with Jenny at www.jennymcgill.com and @drjennymcgill 

Women with a Past?

Recently, I was a featured guest on the Journeywoman podcast. The topic was women in the Bible with a past. But in this case, they had a clean past but got labeled otherwise. Have a listen.

Biblical Womanhood: What Is a Woman?

What a woman is.

She is an image-bearer. It was the first day of a class I was teaching on the role of women in the home, church, and society. Driving in to the seminary where I teach, I thought through the material I planned to cover, and honestly I feared that some of what I’d prepared to say was too elementary for graduate-level students. Many of them were raised in church and have heard messages all their lives. Did they really need to hear again that Genesis 1:26–27 teaches that both male and female were made in the image of God? Nevertheless, I determined I’d better make sure.

So I repeated what I assumed they all knew. And sure enough, a woman present was thrilled when she heard my words! She was made in the image of God? And not only that—she did not have to marry to fully image God? Or have children to ultimately image God!? In the days that followed, she changed her focus to concentrate not on finding a husband but on equipping herself for ministry. Her church had warned her of the dangers of radical feminism but had never told her who she was.I have my students in a sexual ethics class look at curricula that churches have created to explore what it means to be a man or woman of God. And these astute students consistently observe that what most ascribe to manhood and womanhood should actually be ascribed to husbands and wives. The curriculum writers wrongly go to the marriage verses to define what it means to be a man or a woman, and in doing so, they send the erroneous message that humans do not become fully mature until or unless we marry.But Jesus was a mature person, right? As was John the Baptist. And Paul the apostle. And as were Mary, Martha, and Lazarus of Bethany. If marriage were a requirement to reach full maturity as a male or female, why would Paul ever counsel anyone to remain single (see 1 Cor. 7)?She is an ezer-warrior. In the next chapter of Genesis, we see something else about woman’s identity. The word God used to describe her is “helper,” but—sadly—people read that word and think of a Hamburger Helper or “mother’s little helper”—or some other person who is capable only of accomplishing menial tasks. And here’s the problem with that. The word is used elsewhere in the Old Testament to refer to nations to whom Israel turns for military assistance when under attack. And even more significantly, it is used in reference to God sixteen times. When we pray, “God, help me!” surely we don’t have a junior assistant in mind.In every use of “ezer” in the Old Testament, there is military language involved. God is his people’s helper, sword and shield, and deliverer. The ever-present rescuer from trouble. He is better than chariots and horses. He keeps watch like a guard over his people and with His strong arm he overthrows their enemies. That’s the kind of help Genesis describes. So based on the consistent use of this term in the Hebrew Bible, it only makes sense to conclude that God created the woman to be a strong ally—a warrior. Battle is not just for boys; women are called to put on our armor, too (see Ephesians 6). The description of Lady Wisdom personified as a woman in Proverbs 31 is full of battle words—like valor, strength, and prey. Woman is a co-regent and co-heir. Woman is a force to be reckoned with on the battlefield of life.

What Woman is Not

Sometimes we’ve misunderstood some scriptural references that refer to woman. So maybe it would also help if we clarified what woman is not.Woman is not made to be a baby factory. The original command to be fruitful and multiply was given to woman and man. And the purpose of multiplying was to fill the earth with worshipers. Children are important—sometimes the world diminishes the important job of parenting. But the danger is not only that we will devalue mothering and the home. There is also a danger that we will (1) assume all women must marry and (2) miss what women bring to the church and society. Consider these realities:

• Motherhood is not a woman’s highest calling—being conformed to Christ is.

• Every Christian woman, even one with kids, has a spiritual gift given to her to exercise for the benefit of the entire body of Christ, not just the nuclear family.

• Every woman is part of the call to glorify God in all she does, whether at home or at work, at church or at play. The woman in Proverbs 31 sold belts and bought real estate. She was operating in the marketplace.

• The woman in Proverbs 31 not only contributes to economics of her home, but she teaches kindness, stretches forth her hand to the needy.

A woman does not innately lean toward deceiving—or being deceived. All humans are sinners, but that does not mean that the ways in which our first parents transgressed serves as a prototype illustrating gendered actions for all men and women for all time. So all men are not bald-faced rebellers, and all women are not easily deceived. Genesis emphasized how crafty the serpent was precisely because he had a tough job deceiving the woman whom God made. What is significant about the man and woman in the story is that they both rebelled, not that each demonstrated precisely the approach all men or all women have to sin. Some women seduce, and so do some men. Being seduced by evil is a human thing, not a woman thing—as Paul mentions when warning the Corinthians (2 Cor 11:3). The Bible does not teach that because Eve was deceived, all women are more easily deceived than men. Nor does the Scripture teach that all women excel at seducing and deceiving (these ideas are contradictions, anyway—one cannot be a master of deception while also being easily duped).“Woman” is not synonymous with “submit.” All humans are made to live in submission to our creator God, as Christ submitted himself to the Father’s will. So in that sense, submission is a human word.Some people teach that because wives are told to submit to their husbands, ergo at a female’s core she is made for submission to a man—in a way that a man is not made to serve a woman. Where do they get this stuff? Why don’t the same people teach that at a man’s core he is made for sacrificial love in a way that a woman is not—since “love” (actually, not lead) is the corresponding verb given to husbands? Nor do such teachers read Paul’s observation that men in Ephesus needed to stop being angry (1 Tim. 2:8) and assume therefore that all men are innately angry while women are not.When Paul tells wives to submit, he makes clear that he wants them to do so with their ownhusbands, not all men, precisely because he is speaking in the context of a role she may take on (wife) and not something innate (woman). The Taliban teaches that all females must submit to all males, but the Old and New Testaments teach nothing of the sort. Submission is always choosing to serve another in the context of a relationship, not a quality that's innate in woman. Once again, as has happened with Genesis 1, we have tended to “extrapolate.” So we’ve taken Paul’s admonition to wives to submit and made that mean women were made for submission. That’s what we call a logical fallacy.Every women is not created ideally to have a quiet personality. We read in 1 Peter 3 about wives married to disobedient husbands in a world in which these wives cannot go to a woman’s shelter if they are abused. Peter advises such women to refrain from preaching the gospel using words, and instead he counsels them to lean into their silent witness. He speaks of having a gentle, quiet spirit that is so precious to God. But a quiet spirit is precious to God not because it is a female quality, but because it is a character quality—evidence that the soul is at rest. And Paul is certainly not idealizing a quiet personality. Rather, he is talking about a Spirit-directed character trait demonstrated in the face of injustice. To be an outgoing, extraverted woman is not to be un-womanly in God’s eyes; it is un-womanly only in the eyes of the misinformed.All these truths about what a woman is and is not have ramifications for how we talk about women, treat women, and create partnerships of men and women in the church, home, at work, in society:

• We must treat every person, male and female, with dignity because they bear God’s image and are precious to him.

• We must treat others as we would want to be treated—the second Great Commandment. In fact, we are told to treat them as if they were Christ: “I was hungry and you fed me…naked and you clothed me….”

• We must treat people with respect for their God-given dignity at every stage of life. The imago Dei is why so many Christians are pro-life—because every life, even unborn life, is made in the image of God. But sometimes we fail to see the ramifications of the imago Dei at other stages of life…how we handle domestic violence, homelessness, poverty, bullying, human trafficking, sexual abuse, euthanasia, and so much more.

• We must stop teaching stereotypes as if they are based in scripture. Jacob cooked stew. Jesus cooked fish. The male deacons—not the women’s ministry—served food to the Greek widows. Paul let himself be beat up in Philippi, and Jesus allowed himself to be stripped and spit on—great insults to manhood. Mary of Bethany sat in the traditional pose of a male seminary student as she studied Torah at Jesus’s feet—and Jesus told the woman who expected her to stay in the kitchen to back off. All these and more suggest that we must always rank following Christ and spiritual priorities higher that conforming to cultural gender norms—even if that culture is the Christian bubble.

• We must seek to create male/female partnerships instead of segregating everything. Some see involvement of women as a man-fail, but male-and-female partnerships are essential to “subduing the earth” and imago-Dei-ing together. Does your women’s ministry seek male input on the studies you choose? Do all the committees at your church have both men and women providing input? When you invite people to come to the front of the sanctuary for prayer, do you make sure you have both men and women ready to welcome them? (Imagine if a sexually abused woman fears men. Seeing a female to whom she can talk knocks down an unnecessary barrier.)In a world in which #MeToo and #ChurchToo remind us that brokenness has infiltrated every part of society including the church, the Bible’s truths are absolutely relevant. When God brought ishah (woman) to ish (man), he called their partnership “very good.” Let us show by our words and actions that we believe his words to be true.

Biblical Womanhood: Part 2

Several weeks ago, I wrote about biblical womanhood. Afterward a theologian posed some good questions for clarification. So I’m using that conversation as a Q/A here to help further explain what it means to be a woman as God designed her. His statements are bold; my explanations follow: 

You say of woman that, “She is an image-bearer,” but then argue that because “she” is an image-bearer the female bears that image completely in and of herself. The underlying assumption is that an individual human being, whether male or female, carries the whole divine image.  

Woman is indeed an image bearer, completely in and of herself. But that does not mean she expresses the full range of image-bearing. Our humanity is a good parallel example. Are women human? Fully and completely in and of themselves? Absolutely. But do they bear the full range of humanity? No. We need man and woman together to demonstrate the full range of humanity. Nevertheless, women are fully human without the presence of men. In the same way, women fully bear the image of God. They don’t need the presence of men in order to bear that image. Yet the full range of image-bearing requires men and women together. 

The two image-bearers complete the divine image together only in their mutuality, by animating their natures in a complementary way, which is most fully actualized in and through procreation (Gen. 1:26–27).  This interpretation is borne out in the blessing and mandate of verse 28, “God blessed them and God said to them, Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it…” It is literally by their extensive reach into the created world through procreation that this first couple subdues and has dominion over it. 

I agree about the first couple.

Yet later, when Noah emerged from his voyage with the animals, God does repeat the original imperative to be “fruitful and multiply” (9:1). In both the Garden and after the Flood, God give people instructions to fill the earth. It is worth noting, however, that both pronouncements come at critical junctures when those hearing God’s words are earth’s only human inhabitants. Back in the Garden, ish and issah had been charged with increasing from two to many. Following the flood, Noah, his wife, and six family members, face a similar task. If either our first parents or Noah and his family had failed to procreate, the entire human race could have vanished.     

Yet after the Flood, the commands to “multiply and rule” are never repeated. And while some consider “be fruitful and multiply” a timeless command to reproduce biologically, Jesus, John the Baptist, and Paul—to name a few—were unmarried. And as mentioned, the New Testament writers never repeat the mandate to biologically multiply. In fact, the New Testament “seems to turn from a Jewish perspective of marriage to valuing celibacy for the kingdom of God.” All talk of multiplying at the time of the earliest Christians turns to focus on multiplying disciples—reproducing spiritually to fill the earth with worshipers.  

It would be simplistic, though, to conclude that the Old Testament emphasizes physical reproduction, while the New Testament emphasizes spiritual reproduction. While biological families do receive emphasis in the Old Testament, the Hebrew portion of the Bible still provides hints that human flourishing goes beyond having children. Isaiah mentions that leaving an eternal legacy will be even better than children for believing eunuchs (56:4–5). So while the Old Testament speaks primarily about biological reproduction and family units, readers still find in its pages subtle references to a different kind of reproduction. Nevertheless, such references are infrequent before Jesus appears.    

With the coming of Christ, however, the emphasis overtly shifts from physical to spiritual reproduction. “Family” is introduced as a metaphor for the spiritual community. Calling non-relatives “brother” and “sister” develops as a new habit, as Jesus says that those who do his will are his mother and sister and brothers. Additionally, single people are more often included among those depicted as righteous in New Testament times. John the Baptist never marries. Nor does Jesus. Anna is a godly woman who never has children (Luke 2:36). And Jesus teaches about a subset of the unmarried saying, “For there are some . . . who became eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 19:12). Later, the Lord paints a picture of the future in which there will be no marriage nor being given in marriage (Matt. 22:30). This suggests celibacy foreshadows the eternal state in which there is no need to multiply (because there is no death?). 

If Paul was married—and many scholars believe he was widowed—he never mentions it. And his married co-workers, Aquila and Priscilla don’t appear to have had children. In the elder John’s writings, he uses family relationships—spiritual children, youth, and fathers—as metaphors for spiritual maturity (1 John 2). And as mentioned, in Ephesians 5, Paul reveals that an essential purpose in God’s joining of bride and groom is to provide an earthly picture of the heavenly union of Christ and the church. Whether married or single, then, fruitfulness in God’s people is bringing him glory on the earth—working to fill the earth with worshipers. 

This is the task and calling of male and female alike. 

Happy International Women's Day!

Forty-three years ago, the United Nations (UN) named 1975 as the International Women's Year. Two years later, the UN General Assembly invited member states to proclaim March 8 as the annual day for women's rights and world peace. My friends in Belarus send me Women’s Day greetings annually, and when I visited Peru, I saw costumes, posters, and a parade to mark the event.

• While some in the US observe International Women’s Day, it is much more popular in the southern and eastern hemispheres. In many places, men give their moms, wives, girlfriends, daughters, and female friends flowers and small gifts.
• In about 30 countries, including China, Cuba, Russia, Vietnam, and Zambia, International Women’s Day is an official holiday.
• In Bulgaria and Romania, it is observed as an equivalent of Mother's Day; children honor their mothers and grandmothers with presents. In places such as Bosnia, Brazil, and Russia, women receive flowers—sometimes even from employers. And schoolchildren bring gifts for female teachers.

America’s big celebration of womanhood honors mothers; the international day focuses on women of all ages and stages of life.

Abuse: Rise Up, Church!

Today I have a guest writer whose story you need to hear: 

<<I'm not even sure if the Hebrew is correct.But it doesn't matter.It means something to me.This is where girls would have scars from cutting themselves in attempts to escape the pain of abuse. But by the grace of God, and by His grace alone, my wrist doesn't have cuts. It says “Daughter of the King.”There have been a few accounts and testimonies of abuse circling around social media lately, including the Larry Nassar case and sexual assault on campus in my hometown. And I want to help raise awareness for the sake of many victims and survivors of abuse who are being driven out of our churches.My mom worked in the sex industry. I have seen, heard, and experienced just about every type of abuse. That kind of life was my norm. People who know me wouldn't be able to imagine my connection to abuse if I didn't talk about it, because my scars are invisible. It is a cycle that I was brought into and a cycle that my children are now fighting to escape from.Why am I talking about abuse? Because 1 in every 3 women have experienced it. Just a few years ago, that number was 1 in every 4. In the church, if 60% are women, that means the statistic applies to 20% of the congregation. Standing on the pulpit, scan the room, section off 1/5 of the audience. There. That's how many. Yet, we don't talk about abuse.(If it is difficult to grasp the concept, replace the word “abuse” with “bullying.”)This sin is one of those that fester in darkness because nobody talks about it. Nobody wants to talk about it. Certainly not the perpetrators. And not the victims, because it feels shameful. And the bystanders? Their tendency is to sweep the issue under the rug, because it is simply too uncomfortable of a conversation. Some days, it is easier to put a Band-Aid on a gaping hole and call it a day, while the wounds turn into infections; and before long, you'd have to sever the entire limb. The victims are the ones walking around limbless. And sometimes, the church is the one holding the saw.You may think for those in the church the incidence is a lot lower. Perhaps. However, abuse sees no socio-economic class, no race, no education level, no position or profession. It happens everywhere. Even at the seminary I attend. Even to the neighbors living next door or the people sitting next to us at church. The truth is, the more affluent a church is, the more likely it is to present a façade, and the easier it is to cover up abuse—or simply, minimize it.I have been conditioned to always assess situations and environments by how safe I feel before I step into them. And I thought church was supposed to be safe.You didn't get bloodied or bruised up, they'd say.Sometimes, I wish that the wounds were more visible. At least in that way, something can be done. But the pain gnaws at my bones. Cutting marks are just minor surface scratches compared with what agonizes inside abused victims, so that they feel and see that pain. No medicine can heal the invisible wounds.You must have done something to cause it, they'd say.They put me on trial as the instigator for my own abuse. I learned to blame myself. I learned to suppress my pain. I leaned to avoid and distrust people. It affects every. single. relationship I have, and every. single. relationship that I will ever have, even my relationship with my Heavenly Father.Forgive, turn the other cheek, and carry the cross, like Jesus did, they'd say.The “peacemakers” who said such things also became my oppressors. They kept me from speaking up and getting help. I shrunk until I was no more. They silenced my voice. Perhaps God wants me dead as well. Does He?Now I serve at a safe house for women who have gone through all sorts of abuse. As I spent time with them, I was reminded of the verses in Ecclesiastes 4:1-3:

So I again considered all the oppression that continually occurs on earth.

This is what I saw:

The oppressed were in tears, but no one was comforting them;

no one delivers them from the power of their oppressors.

So I considered those who are dead and gone

more fortunate than those who are still alive.

But better than both is the one who has not been born

and has not seen the evil things that are done on earth.

Then the passage ends with this (v. 12):

Although an assailant may overpower one person,

two can withstand him.

Moreover, a three-stranded cord is not quickly broken.

Yet, we stand alone, facing our silent nightmares, with nowhere to turn, nobody to run to. Where are the “three-stranded cords?”Coming to seminary had been the highlight of my life. Sitting there in chapel on preview day, as I scanned the room, I saw the future of ministry, of God's kingdom. I saw my comrades with whom I will be fighting, pushing back the perpetrating, oppressing evil. I saw leaders who can bring change into churches for people on the fringes of society.Brothers and sisters, rise up and defend the body. When one part of the body is hurt, let’s rise to protect and nurture it. The church depends on you to stand as a wall of defense against the onslaught.  The church depends on you to speak life, wisdom, and compassion into the broken. The church depends on you to raise up a generation of men and women, boys and girls, who won't tolerate abuse and being abused, a generation that will take actions to prevent it.What can you do?

• Educate yourself on the issue.

• Bring in trained organizations to educate the congregation.

• Learn the red flags.

What do you avoid?

• Secrecy and cover-ups for the perpetrator

• Being advisers and counselors without training on this issue

• Trying to restore relationships using standard practices

Let's face it. Untrained church leaders trying to handle these situations are like those would would try to repair an engine without understanding how it works.Genesis and The Family Place are Dallas agencies with trained staff and resources. They'd even send out advocates upon request to educate the public on the issue. Most cities have such organizations.The legal system fails to protect the abused. Many cases are unreported or dismissed. Victims are trapped in this never-ending cycle.Can we find true sanctuary with the church?* * *I was born in Taiwan, grew up in a boarding school in Singapore, and moved to Texas in middle school. My home life had always been very unstable. I was surrounded by all sorts of abuse imaginable. With no parental figures growing up, I started adulting before I was a teenager.In high school, I lost my identity. I did not want to be associated with the abusive family that I was born into. I did not want that blood to run in my body. I wanted to scrub myself clean. That was when a wise woman guided me to realize that I can have a new life in Christ.But my home life did not improve. In fact, I went from my abusive home into an abusive marriage; thus, the cycle continued. After two children, things got worse, and I found myself alone, hospitalized, facing a divorce and a shattered home. In my utter brokenness, God showed Himself to me, healed me, and began to put the broken pieces together. He began to shape my identity in Him.Journeying with Him brought many abused women into my sphere of influence. From speaking engagements to magazine articles to Bible studies at the safe houses, I was led to become an advocate for women and children who are victims of abuse.Currently, I am a student at Dallas Theological Seminary studying theology. I burn with a passion to use the story of God’s redemption through my life and experiences to inspire and empower other women through their situations, knowing that God gave us an identity, not as abused victims, but as Daughters of the King. —Michelle

How the Tamar Narrative Functions in the Judah and Joseph Narratives

I'm happy to have Carolyn Custis James as my guest today. In Vindicating the Vixens, she contributed the chapter on Tamar. In November she served on a panel of contributors who talked about narrative analysis at the national meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society in Providence, Rhode Island. Here are some quotes from her remarks: [In the Genesis narrative] just as the Joseph story reaches a fever pitch and readers are on the edge of their seats, instead of following Joseph into Egypt, the narrator follows Judah away from his family into Canaanite territory and into a salacious R-rated story involving prostitution with his daughter-in-law Tamar. From a literary perspective, the narrator’s choice seems counterproductive. From a pastoral perspective, this sordid story is problematic, unsuitable for a G audience, and devoid of any spiritual value. Pastors often skip it....Far from being a literary gaffe, the narrator’s decision to include this “enigmatic” episode is strategic;  Genesis 38 is actually the hinge that holds the Joseph story together. It bridges Jacob’s destructive favoritism and the searing father wound Judah suffers with the climactic meeting between Judah and Joseph in Egypt where warring brothers finally make peace.Here are a few suggestions for pastors to connect this ancient story with twenty-first century congregants:

• God’s love for the unloved and his power to rescue, redeem, and radically transform prodigals

  1. The power of wounds to destroy or make us.

  2. God calls his daughters to be bold agents for his purposes

  3. The self-sacrificing brand of masculinity the gospel produces and Judah ultimately embodies.

  4. In the current #MeToo epidemic, Tamar’s story gives pastors a call to courageously engage domestic abuse, human trafficking, sexual assault, and violence against women. This is a #MeToo chapter.

Listen to Carolyn talk about this story on KCBI radio.

Fathom Magazine interview w/ me about Vixens

This interview with me ran in the latest issue of Fathom Magazine.  Today we’re happy to have as our guest Dr. Sandra Glahn. Sandi earned her ThM at Dallas Theological Seminary (DTS) and her PhD at the University of Texas at Dallas (UTD) in Humanities–Aesthetic Studies. A professor in the Media Arts and Worship department at DTS, she teaches courses in writing, medieval art/spirituality, gender, and sexual ethics. She is the author of more than twenty books, including the Coffee Cup Bible Study series. But today we want to talk with her about her latest book Vindicating the Vixens: Revisiting the Sexualized, Vilified, Marginalized Women of the Bible (Kregel Academic), which just came out.

Tell us about Vindicating the Vixens.

Vindicating the Vixens has been on my heart and mind for more than a decade. As I studied history and cultural backgrounds at the doctoral level, I ended up revisiting some of our Western-influenced interpretations of the biblical text.For example, the woman Jesus met at the well in Samaria had five husbands, true enough (see John 4). But why do most people assume that means she was faithless and immoral? Women in her time and place did not divorce husbands five times. The man with the most recorded divorces had only three. If a woman did initiate legal proceedings, she had to do so through a male. Women could not simply walk into a court of law and speak on their own behalf. So, it’s unlikely that “the Samaritan woman” had divorced five husbands.Additionally, when we read that this woman’s current man was not her own, we assume she was living with some guy. Because that’s what it would mean in the West. But in her world, it is far more likely that she had to share a husband in a polygamous relationship in order to eat.Put these factors together, and you realize this person was probably not a beautiful young woman with loose morals. More likely, she was an older woman who had endured the death of a husband several times (war was the number one cause of death for men), been dumped a time or two, and consequently having to share a husband in order to survive. Additionally, the text says she was waiting for, looking with hope for, the Jewish Messiah (4:25).So we have, probably wrongly, assumed this woman was guilty of sexual promiscuity, and that Jesus was confronting her about her sin. More likely, Jesus was bringing up her greatest point of pain before revealing to her that he is the very Messiah for whom she has been waiting. For everyone else in Jesus’ world, the Lord seems to subtly veil who he is. But with this broken woman hanging on to hope, he comes right out with it.This woman is one of many whom the contributors to Vindicating the Vixens reconsider in light of what we know about cultural backgrounds, not only from new data but also from having more varied “eyes on the text.”

You’ve been known to talk about the importance of having varied eyes on the text. What do you mean by that?

Scholars from underrepresented groups looking at the Bible see what many of us in privileged positions have missed. They have brought to the text observations from a powerless perspective, which is the perspective of the typical person to whom Jesus ministers. (Like this great message from the perspective of those who are hearing impaired.) The body of Christ is made up of many parts that need each other to function as a healthy whole. But we’ve missed out on what some of those parts have to offer.In our book the contributors look afresh at Eve, Hagar, Sarah, Tamar, Rahab, Deborah, Ruth, Huldah, Bathsheba, Vashti, Mary Magdalene, The Samaritan Woman, Junia, and even the Virgin Mary—who gets marginalized by Protestants. And we look at them through the eyes of sixteen biblical scholars, each of whom hold a high view of scripture. And they all hold at least one advanced degree in Bible and theology. They are men and women; complementarian and egalitarian; American and Australian; black, white, Arab, and authors of books like Discipleship for Hispanic Introverts. Their varied backgrounds mean they bring insights in the text that the majority culture in North American has often missed—and exported. And as a result, the authors’ combined efforts provide a fresh look at the kindness of God and his heart for the vulnerable. (You can watch some of them talking about this book.)

What made you decide to do this project?

First, I believe men and women—not just husbands and wives—are supposed to partner in ministry. The church father Jerome had Paula partnering with him, though many think theologically trained women are a recent innovation. They are not. A greater emphasis on social history (as opposed to studying only troop movements, kings, and empires) has come from the academy due to women’s greater involvement in higher education in the past half-century. Trained social historians bring new ways of culling out data from the text—like what I just said about marriage practices in the Near East.But also, my deep friendship with some international students, especially those from Mexico, combined with travels to several continents told me we needed more than a Western perspective when doing observation, interpretation, and application.Additionally, part of my job used to involve serving as editor-in-chief of DTS Magazine for Dallas Theological Seminary, and I also teach theologically trained writers. So not only have I spotted some great writers, but I learned of projects people were doing that needed greater audiences. Sometimes the great writers were those doing this work.As a sampling, there was the student doing a thesis on Bathsheba (Sarah Bowler); a scholar who wrote a book on Arabs in the Bible that changed how I saw Hagar (Tony Maalouf); and a whole corpus of work on Bible stories that included women and men in need of vindication (Carolyn Custis James). For ten years or more I’ve been keeping a mental note of how these all fit together, and I could hardly wait to coordinate it.

What do you hope to accomplish?

Originally, I hoped only to help us read the Bible more accurately as we read about these women. But a happy result of the project was that the team of scholars went beyond simply exonerating those wrongly vilified or marginalized to explore what we have missed in the larger story by misunderstanding the smaller stories and how they fit into the whole. Now I see how the Tamar-posing-as-a-professional-sex-worker narrative fits into Joseph’s story in Genesis—which scholars have often assumed she merely interrupted. What emerged from all these micro-narratives was and is a clearer vision of God’s heart for the vulnerable in the meta-narrative.Before even writing, all of the authors agreed to donate profits to the International Justice Mission. So in a tangible way, we also hope our scholarship will lead to lives changed for the better for “the least of these.”

Read the chapter on Rahab by Eva Bleeker.

You can read an excerpt from Vindicating the Vixens about the context and cues from one of these heroines, Rahab.

In terms of ramifications for scholarship, I hope readers will see the absolute necessity of inviting to the table a more diverse group doing translation and interpretation than what we have typically had. I hope that we will never again see a translation of the Bible published that has only men or only women or only people from one “camp” looking at the text, but that we will instead celebrate our differences and seek diligently to include a variety of people due to our belief in God’s love for unity in difference.

Where can we find Vindicating the Vixens?

You can find the book at Amazon, Christianbook.com, and at the Dallas Seminary Book Center

#MeToo: Just Another Trend?

My post for October 24 on the Engage blog at bible.org:

A lot of people think it all started on October 5, 2017, when the New York Times first broke the story accusing Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein of sexual harassment. Actually, as far as I know, the real first “Me Too” movement started a decade ago by the African-American activist Tarana Burke. And ten years from now, we’ll probably still need one.But about the recent one… Ten days after the NYT story hit, actress Alyssa Milano tweeted, “If you’ve been sexually harassed or assaulted write ‘me too’ as a reply to this tweet.”Soon, the #MeToo hashtag took over social media. Twitter alone had more than 500,00 uses. But Facebook had 12 million. Twelve. Million.I almost didn’t put the following post on Facebook. But I mustered the courage to hit “return”:  "So many have been groped, objectified, threatened, stalked, or violated at some point. Me too. And by the time I was 17, five of my friends had been raped—that I knew about. I believe you. #metoo"I went on to explain: In middle school two boys would stand together and daily comment on their assessment of my private body parts; in high school one of my dates drove us (against my will) to a remote place and kissed and groped me repeatedly, tho I told him in no uncertain terms to stop it; a male nurse lifted my blankets to peek at my body after surgery—till a doc in the recovery room who saw it called him out; a wrangler tried to grope me (after groping the two other women with me) while helping us off our horses; a student would not stop sending me inappropriate emails and letters. Etc.I almost didn’t post this to my FB wall, because my experience is way tamer than that of most women. But ultimately I told myself that this is not the Suffering Olympics. Nobody is competing for the worst abuse.I also almost didn’t post it, because women should not have to. But we live in an unideal world.And I had another reason for hesitating. People would think I was looking for sympathy.In the end, I decided to post anyway, for one reason: to normalize speaking up. And to de-normalize the abuse.Some wrote to remind me that God is in control. Amen. I never doubted that. But that was not a reason to remain silent.Some wondered if my post was rooted in bitterness. It wasn’t. But even if it was, that’s not the point.My speaking out, knowing my motives would be misunderstood, like that of many participants, was done to normalize speaking up in a context in which sexual harassment and abuse has been the “normal” it-happens-all-the-time-so-why-fight-it thing.One person told me there was nothing to be ashamed of. And of course that’s true. But I was and am absolutely not ashamed. I did nothing wrong. But even if I was or I did, that’s not the point.Many do feel shame. And that is part of the point of #MeToo. These women often think they are the only ones. Or if they did speak up at the time, people asked what they were wearing when they were violated. Or “were you walking alone”? As if such details forced the hand of their perpetrators, making the women complicit.The more people realize how widespread the problem is, hopefully the more they will believe those who come forward. And hopefully, the more people who have kept secret the wrong done to them can read others calling it wrong, they will recognize that what happened to them is not supposed to be normal.    Some have sought to make #MeToo a liberal vs. conservative thing, pointing to the hypocrisy of Hollywood and liberals. And sure, there’s plenty of that. But Hollywood and liberal politicians have no corner on the market when it comes to hypocrisy. You know who I’m talking about, right?Plus, Bill O’Reilly and Roger Ailes and Woody Allen and Bill Cosby still walk freely. So we have a lot of work left to do.One commenter said girls have to be taught to say no and tell. And that’s true. But boys also have to be taught that they must take responsibility for their actions. And that they can.The Weinstein travesty and #MeToo raises all sorts of issues about legitimate fears of speaking up and the reasons for it. One big reason violated women remain silent is that they risk character defamation, even though what happened wasn’t their fault.Our theology tells us we are all sinners. But we are also responsible for our choices… If we objectify others, if we fund the porn market, if we “banter,” if touch people's private parts without their consent, if we abuse power for sex, if we rape, if we blame others for our sin.... Guys are not helpless. And to suggest they are unable to control themselves on elevators and in alleys is an insult to men.I once walked through a village where a handsome, young man had to bathe in public in a barrel outside his home (he was poor). What did I do? I looked away. And walked away. If I had touched that guy, it would have been fully my fault. Even though he was naked in public. Which is why we must stop asking females who were raped what they were wearing or where they were when it happened. As if that had one whit to do with responsibility for the crime.Those of us who can speak up (and not all can for myriad reasons) have as our goal the normalizing of speaking up vs. allowing people to think that the evil behavior—anything from catcalls to groping to rape to holding women as sex slaves—is normal.Naming what happened for many has been the first acknowledgment of what was done to them, and helped them realize they have no reason for shame. A lot of women did that for the first time because of #MeToo.Many, many women who have spoken up in the past have been ignored. (Of course abuse happens to men; but, fortunately, they are usually believed.) Women are still being slandered. If someone accuses a famous man (and men with fame have more power, so are more difficult to hold accountable), people assume the accusation is fabricated. Rarely it might be. But #MeToo helps us demonstrate how often such abuse happens, so people realize the odds that a woman is telling the truth when she speaks up.Some say the whole #MeToo thing is just another fad, another trend that will change nothing.What if it is? “All sin and are falling short of the glory of God.” That won’t change. We will always have evil with us. But while we live in a devils-filled world that threatens to undo us, we are called to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with our God. We are called to tell the truth in love. So we press on, often repeating and repeating what we’ve done and said before.The one thing we are not responsible for is the result.

My thoughts on history, Las Vegas, and Texas evangelical women

An organization for women called IF:Gathering, the brainchild of Jennie Allen, offers lots of resources, primarily for a Millennial audience. I've been filming some short commentary for their series on Church History with my colleague Glenn Kreider. And here's one that ran this week: AD2 W3D1 - The Crusades Commence from IF : Equip on Vimeo.

Also,  an article on how to minister in the wake of violence in Las Vegas and the string of natural disasters, ran on the Pastor Resources site as well as on KCBI radio's blog.Then I got quoted in what I thought was going to be an article about Texas evangelical women, but it ended up really focused on Jenn Hatmaker for Texas Monthly magazine.And KCBI-Dallas radio station interviewed me for an on-air audio segment about suffering in the wake of the Las Vegas tragedy. It aired October 3 and was edited for release in their Heartstrings podcast about suffering and God’s ways the next day:https://www.heartstrongfaith.com/heartstrong-faith-podcast-dr-sandra-glahn-suffering-dealing-with-the-vegas-shooting/I hope you'll find something here that ministers to you.

Rape Culture Series

Did you catch the series I ran on rape culture? If not, here are links to all the posts.

Part 1: Rape Culture 101

Part 2: Victim-Blaming and “Slut-Shaming”

Part 3: Saying “Yes” Isn’t Enough

Part 4: Consent vs. Non-Consent

Part 5: Rape Doesn’t Just Happen in Dark Alleys

Part 6: Popular Culture and Rape Culture

Part 7: Films and Rape Culture

Part 8: Books and Rape Culture

Part 9: Rape Culture and Language

Part 10: Rape Culture and Government

Part 11: Rape Culture and Our Schools

Part 12: Rape Culture and the Media

Part 13: Rape Culture: It’s Bigger Than We Think

Part 14: Rape: It’s a Weapon

Part 15: Rape Culture: A Sense of Entitlement

Part 16: Rape Culture: Almost Every Woman Has a Story

Part 17: Rape Culture: What Can We Do?

Part 18 of 18: Resources on Rape Culture

The True Beauty of Women

Whatever is true…think on these things.The Thai branch of a Japanese lingerie company, Wacoal, doesn’t feature scantily clad models in their ads. Instead, they tell true stories with life-affirming messages that everyone can watch and appreciate. The ads emphasize women’s true beauty. And the men in the stories are the kind of guys who appreciate goodness, and are not necessarily sexually involved with the women whom they admire and whose stories they tell. Check out the “My Beautiful Woman” ad campaign.

On Feminism and Evangelicalism

As part of my PhD research, I read Betty Friedan, heard Gloria Steinem in person, and spent a bunch of semesters exploring the history and teachings of feminism. And after I did so, I reached the conclusion that evangelicals in general need to pull back and regroup both in our representations of feminists and in our approach to reaching them.Just as there is not one "Christianity" but many Christianities (e.g., Orthodox, Catholic, Anglo-Catholic, Protestant, Lutheran, Armenian, Calvinist), there are many feminisms (liberal, radical, Marxist, socialist, lesbian, biblical, difference feminists [we are women—viva le difference! from men] and sameness feminists [we’re the same except for biology]), and more.Liberal feminists came out of the Equal Rights Movement. Betty Friedan was one of them. They are interested in equality, not to be confused with sameness. That is, they want the law to quit “seeing gender,” i.e., being biased against one sex or the other in terms of job opportunities, pay, child custody, and property ownership, for example. These feminists were never for unisex bathrooms, though I myself claimed they were in a scathing article I wrote against the ERA in college. I was wrong.Liberal feminism is concerned with attaining economic and political equality within the context of a capitalist society through reforming, improving, and changing existing systems. In Betty Friedan’s book, The Feminine Mystique, she gave voice to women wanting more for themselves than domestic tasks that had been stripped of much of their interesting work (which had long since been shipped off to factories) in such a society. Many Christians describe her as demeaning the vocation of homemaking, but that is not a fair representation. Friedan challenged the misogynistic presuppositions of Freudean psychoanalysis, arguing that women did not envy men’s penises, but rather their opportunities.[i]  A woman should not have to be a homemaker, she felt, if said woman doesn’t want to be one. And if she is one, she should not be told that her children are her entire identity.The number of books sold—three million in its first three years in print[ii]—demonstrated that Friedan had given voice to what many felt.The radical feminists, on the other hand, came out of the Peace Movement. They saw and see so much wrong with materialism/capitalism that they think we will never have equality under the law. Solution? Overhaul society. Radical feminism focuses on patriarchy as the main cause of women’s oppression and operates on the belief that the system is too deeply ingrained and corrupt to modify, so must be radically overthrown. So forget the liberals’ efforts to modify existing laws and work within the system. Radicals want to make noise, shake it up.That's why so many in this group are also big into environmentalism, sometimes Marxism, sometimes socialism, peace, and no nukes. A radical feminist professor of mine said to me, “There is much in Christianity that would oppose materialism too, right?”As the waters of second-wave feminism have receded, numerous puddles have remained, but every resulting feminism challenges some aspect of social, political, or economic structure.The different strains break down as follows:

• Liberal – Individual rather than collective. Seek reform, not revolution. Liberal feminists work within a capitalistic system, laboring to change laws to provide equal opportunities for males and females. A liberal feminist measures progress in the numbers of women and men occupying positions previously considered male-only or female-only. Liberal feminism is the most “mainstream” form of the many feminisms. While socialist feminists focus on collective change and empowerment, liberal feminists focus on individual change and empowerment. Liberal feminists tend to minimize gender differences, not necessarily from a belief that they don’t exist but from a belief that they shouldn’t matter legally.

• Radical – Collective rather than individual. Seeks revolution, not reform. Radical feminists believe the only way to achieve gender equality is to overhaul society. They see male domination of women as the most fundamental form of oppression, and they focus on understanding how men obtain and use power. Because radical feminism shares with socialist feminism the commitment to dramatic social change, radical feminism is often grouped with socialist feminism. Radical feminists view society as patriarchal and believe patriarchy must be transformed on all levels.

• Cultural – A subset of radical feminism is cultural feminism. Cultural feminists maximize gender differences. They tend to stress attributes associated with women's culture (e.g., caring, relationships, interdependence, community), insisting these attributes must be more valued. They reject what they consider unisex thinking in favor of affirming women’s essential femaleness. They tend to de-value virtues typically attributed to men such as domination, autonomy, authority, and independence.

• Socialist feminism – Collective rather than individual. Seek revolution, not reform. Whereas liberal feminists focus on empowering the individual, socialist feminists seek collective change and empowerment. Socialist feminists believe that capitalist societies have fundamental, built-in hierarchies, which result in inequalities. Thus, it's not enough for women individually to rise to powerful positions; instead power must be redistributed. True equality, they believe, will not be achieved without overhauls—especially economic overhauls.

• Marxist or materialist feminism – Collective rather than individual. Seek revolution, not reform. While generally opposed to Socialism, Marxist feminists have much in common with socialist feminists. Marxist feminism is based on Marxist views of labor reform. Like socialist feminists, they believe capitalism is the root of the problem, and power must be redistributed.

• Womanists – The mid-seventies saw the rise of womanism. Womanists emphasize women’s natural contribution to society (used by some in distinction to the term “feminism” and its association with white women). Womanists see race, class, and gender oppression as so interconnected that those who seek to overturn sex and class discrimination without addressing racism are themselves operating out of racism. And they tend to view arguments about whether moms can work as white, middle-class concerns.

Whatever the form, the vast majority of those seeking women’s equality are not man-haters. I heard Gloria Steinem say that one of her greatest frustrations is that she has been accused of being a man-hater, and she is most adamantly not, nor has she ever been. In fact, she said the saddest letters she receives are from male prison inmates empathizing with women who have been raped/oppressed, because they these men are finding themselves victimized behind bars, and they now identify with the suffering.See why I bristle when I hear evangelicals talk about “the feminists”?[i][i] Betty Friedan. The Feminine Mystique. (New York, NY: Dell Publishing Co., Inc., 1963.  See especially the chapter titled, “The Sexual Solipsism of Sigmund Freud.”[ii] Source: Ben Wattenberg, “The First Measured Century,” PBS.

The Table Podcast: Infertility & Pregnancy Loss

Dr. Julie Fuller and I talk with Dr. Darrell Bock about the marital, ethical, spiritual, and emotional challenges of infertility and pregnancy loss.

My Thoughts on Gender

We Talk Different is a podcast on culture, race, ethnicity, gender, politics, and theology. Recently my friend Jurrita and I were featured on the podcast talking about gender and faith and race. You can get the scoop at iTunes.

The "Chrisitanity and Gender" Edition - 3.14.17 - Part II The WTD team wraps up their conversation with Jur… 3/13/2017 Free View in iTunes 7

The "Christianity and Gender" Edition - 3.7.16 - Part I This week the WTD Team brings in the real intelle… 3/6/2017 Free View in iTunes

Vindicating the Vixens

On March 23 at DTS, I moderated a panel discussion with Dr. Glenn Kreider, Sarah Bowler, Sharifa Stevens, Dr. Timothy Ralston, and Karla Zazueta about women in the Bible whom we have either vilified or marginalized. Vindicating the Vixens (Kregel Academic, forthcoming) is the result of a diverse team of 16 male and female theologians who’ve partnered to take a second look at vilified and marginalized women in the Bible, and we got some of the contributors in Dallas together to talk about our findings. The church has often viewed women’s stories through sexist eyes, resulting in a range of distortions. In this panel discussion, three of us DTS profs and three graduates talk about the women we explored.Order Vindicating the Vixens.

Men and Women in Ministry Together

Recently some colleagues and I were featured on The Table podcast talking about men and women in ministry together. Let us know your thoughts. It's not about pushing women forward, it's about partnering forward.... 

Hear My Story on the ReStory Podcast Today

Thanks to my friend Mary DeMuth for hosting me on her ReStory podcast. Today I'm telling my story there. Check it out.

Protestants at 500 Years: The Best-Known Female Reformer

In this year, which marks the five-hundredth anniversary of the start of the Protestant Reformation, many are focusing on the male reformers. But Germany is also focused on some of the females.  Though quite influential, they are often forgotten. And we can learn much from their lives. I'm thinking of one in particular.Come back in time with me to about 1499 in what we know today as eastern Germany—then called Saxony. And picture a girl born to a noble family. When she turns five, her mother dies and her father sends her to a cloister.  There she receives a nun's education.When she is about 24, she and some of her friends—aware of the reform movement and dissatisfied with their lives in the monastery—seek to flee. Like so many others, they haven’t  taken vows of celibacy due to calling, but due to a parent’s decision (sometimes for reasons of economic and/or convenience)—something which Martin Luther condemns. So she gets in touch with Luther to beg his assistance. Escaping is a crime under canon law. As in, it has burn-in-hell consequences! But that’s what they want to do.At this time, Torgau is the political center. Torgau is a key site in Reformation history, even though you may have heard only of places like Wittenberg, Worms, or Augsburg. Torgau has a gorgeous town hall (still there today) and Hartenfels Castle, (also still standing in all its glory—including the bear pen with live bears), where the most powerful man in Saxony resides. This man has a fantastic university going in Wittenberg. And Luther is his star professor. So he wants to keep him alive. Thus, in this ruler Luther has a sponsor and political protector. All this to say, at the time when Luther receives the nun's letter, he has great connections in Torgau. So on Holy Saturday in April of 1523, Luther conspires with a city councilman and merchant of Torgau —who regularly delivers herring to the monastery—to help with the escape. And this merchant, as the story goes, tucks these virgins in among, or maybe even inside, fish barrels, and they all escape to Wittenberg.At first Luther asks their families to take them back. But they decline—probably in part because they fear the fires of hell. So it takes a while, but by the end of about two years, Luther has arranged homes, marriages, or employment for all except one of them: Katharina. Katie.At first she lodges in Wittenberg with the family of the city clerk, but later she resides in the home of Lucas Cranach the Elder and his wife, Barbara. Still known today for his great art, Cranach the Elder was a German Renaissance painter and printmaker in woodcut and engraving—and did I mention he is court painter to the Electors of Saxony? Think: Hartenfels Palace. (When I was there earlier this month , they showed me some wall décor by Cranach the Elder in the castle discovered only two months ago, now being restored.)Katharina is keeping great company, and she has the respect of those who know her. But she is also considered old for marriage, at age 26. But Cranach is impressed with her, and perhaps he puts in a good word. She has a number of suitors, but she says the only one she will marry is Martin Luther himself, who is 41.Luther says he doesn’t want to marry because he thinks he will be killed for his beliefs—maybe soon. And being on the verge of martyrdom makes it tough to be a groom. But his father loves the idea, and so it happens. Martin, the former priest, and Katharina, the former nun, tie the knot. And in marrying her, the brilliant professor now has one of the only educated wives, not to mention one of the only theologically trained wives, in the world.They take up residence near the university in Wittenberg in the former dorm of a now-emptied monastery (Augusteum), given as a wedding gift by his powerful political allies back in Torgau. And in Wittenberg, Katharina apparently excels at administration. She manages the former monastery’s holdings, breeds and sells cattle, and runs a boarding house for a steady stream of students who want her husband, the prof, to mentor them. She also brews good beer, as the water isn’t so safe to drink. And these are the days of massive disease, so Katharina also ministers to the sick. On any given night, she has about thirty people at her dinner table. Remember…no dishwashers, grocery stores, washing machines, microwaves, fast food…. And if you know anything about table talk, you know most alliances and good theological discussions happen around a table and after dinner with a fire going. Profs and students and reformers, Bible-readers, gather nightly for conversation.Luther calls her the "boss of Zulsdorf," after the name of the farm they own. He also calls her the "morning star of Wittenberg" for her habit of rising at 4 a.m. to take care of her various responsibilities (“she rises while it is still night…”). Perhaps most famously, he also sometimes calls her “Herr Käthe” (Mr. Katie/Lord Katie). (Today you can eat yummy Saxon delights at the “Herr Käthe” restaurant in Torgau.) Luther is known for saying, “Let the wife make the husband glad to come home, and let him make her sorry to see him leave.” By all accounts, Katie is just such a partner.Katie and Martin are the ultimate power couple for about two decades. In addition to raising four orphans and her nephew, Katie conceives seven children—one of whom she miscarries.   Of those who make it to birth, one dies at eight months and another at age thirteen. So the Luthers have their share of heartbreak. Martin writes to a dear friend, “I believe the report has reached you that my dearest daughter Magdalena has been reborn into Christ’s eternal kingdom. I and my wife should joyfully give thanks … yet the force of our natural love is so great that we are unable to do this without crying and grieving in our hearts, or even without experiencing death ourselves. The features, the words and the movements of the living and dying daughter remain deeply engraved in our hearts.”Before Luther dies at age 63, he tries to arrange his will so Katie will be his inheritor. Unheard of! He has a variety of health issues, and when he is off in Mansfeld helping some bickering princes find reconciliation, he overtaxes himself. He has a heart event there and dies. But because it is winter, at least his corpse can be returned to Wittenberg "without seeing too much corruption," and there the famous prof is buried.Without her husband’s salary and income from students studying with him, Katie struggles, even though she has land. Fortunately, her youngest child is eighteen years old, so Katie does not have as many mouths to feed as in previous years. But war and disease require her to flee Wittenberg several times.When Katie is 52, Wittenberg has an outbreak of the plague—imagine half the people around you dying—and her harvest has failed. So she flees to Torgau.But near the city gates, something goes wrong and she is thrown from her carriage. She sustains a head injury, but she survives for about three months. She is reported to have said on her deathbed, "I will stick to Christ as a burr to cloth.” And she dies still in Torgau. Visitors today can tour the house there where she took her last breath. And they can visit the Katherine von Bora grave stone in Torgau's St. Mary’s Church.

Spiritual Mothers: A Guest Post

Today I'm happy to feature Kat Armstrong here as a guest post-er. Kat is a former student and savvy business woman (Baby Bow Tie) who co-founded Polished Ministries, an outreach to young business women. When I read this post she wrote on her own blog, I asked if I could run it again here: 

My heart feels like it’s going to burst through my chest. I’ve tried working on other projects this weekend, projects I’m really excited about with looming deadlines, and yet I keep coming back to this keep-me-up-at-night message: We need all Christ-followers intentionally investing in younger generations now.Maybe it’s the Irish/Latino mix I’ve got in my blood, but I tend to get fired up about lots of things. But make no mistake, this is not your average Kat-plea to see again afresh the gospel of Christ, in general. This is urgent and specific.Although I am a young woman myself, I hope my voice will always be used to speak for the younger women under represented in our community of faith. The fire I feel in my belly for the young generations rises up and then brings me to my knees almost daily. All my chips are in. Everything I have I will pour out for their sake. Some would label me a “lifer” and that would be fair, but I’d prefer to see it as an inescapable result of being a Christ follower. I’ve seen the cross and it demands my life. Speaking for the voiceless is my calling. Yours, too.So it is on behalf of the Millennials, Gen X, and Gen Y women that I’m standing at the gate. And this is my petition: YOU’RE NEEDED. NOW. No matter your age, ethnicity, titles, losses, failures, hang-ups or deficiencies, you’re needed now.Your pastor, the podcasts you’re listening to, the online sermons, conference-junkie-highs, the book/blog skimming, they are influencing your spiritual life. No doubt and praise God. But I bet you can trace your greatest spiritual impact (besides someone in the Holy Trinity, because that’s a given) back to a person. Andy Stanley calls these “catalytic relationships.” It will be the same for the generations coming up behind us that are less engaged with religion and church than any other generation before them. We will win them with catalytic relationships. God will win them back by the power of the Holy Spirit through you.In the beginning it was Becky and Kari and Steph. And then it was Joan, Julie, Michele, Betty and Vickie. And now it’s Kay and Linda and Lisa. They are some of my spiritual mothers. Only one of those women scheduled regular meetings with me and followed a curriculum. (I love you, Kari.) So don’t for one second write off my petition for a lack of time or theological education. These soul-winners and disciple-makers mother me with their occasional and loving presence and kind words. Only now do I have Brennan’s Sacred Companions in view to process my own catalytic relationships. They changed everything for me. But now I see more clearly than ever before YOU’RE NEEDED NOW.Until my dying breath or until things change, you will hear me repeat:

• Women are the newest U.S. mission field.

• Women feel little to no emotional support from our churches.

• Most women are working, and most of our church's women's ministry efforts have not adapted to that change.

Daily I’m on the front lines with our Polished leaders caring for wounded souls, disillusioned and disconnected Christians, and women without faith. And we need backup support. YOU’RE NEEDED NOW.Their needs cannot and will not be met solely through Polished. The Church is the answer. And for my beloved demographic, our church mothers are the answer.You can no longer ignore the "nones" with exasperation or drown out their voices with a breakout session about reaching the youngers. You will have to actually listen to their voices while looking into their eyes, and then you will have to act with an outpouring of yourself into their lives. YOU’RE NEEDED NOW.My ears cannot and will not accept another excuse from the middles and olders about our lack and the generation gap. Our excuses have merit, but they cannot keep us from pouring out our lives for the sake of the gospel. The cross demands it, and love compels us. Or it should.

Pastors: Are you opening doors for our spiritual mothers? You must. Set them loose on the newest U.S mission field. We need an army that is accountable. You burden the needs of a diverse fellowship of believers (at least I hope you do) and your job is impossible. Let's invoke the Spirit of God to do the impossible through us and feed all the sheep with little pieces of broken bread.

Middles: Are you intentional at work, in your neighborhood, and with your friends to reach out and down into a younger generation? It’s full of risk and great reward. You’ll risk befriending your competition only to realize this lowering of self IS being a Christ-follower. There is no middle way, middles. Look up from your desk and zero in on the intern and ask them to lunch. Walk outside and knock on the door of the youngest woman on your block and ask her over for a cup of coffee. Leave the comfort of your peers and go sit with the youngest woman in the room, then point her to the cross and empty tomb.

Olders: Your time is now. We've never needed you more. Do you need an invitation?? Because that’s the sense I get. You’re waiting for an invitation and pitying some sense of lost relevance to the nones, Millennials, and youngers. While they are dying. And I mean the eternal damnation death of unbelief and the slow eroding death of a faith not planted. Your invitation came with your salvation. Share your love, your very lives with us and with them. Go and make disciples. The way an orphan cries out for a parent, the youngers are crying out for spiritual mothers. Reuse our Savior’s words: “I will not leave you as orphans.”Every generation of Christ followers insists their needs are the greatest while forgetting all of our needs are met richly in Christ. We cannot forget that the gospel points us to embrace the most vulnerable. Most of us refuse to see the unchurched, dechurched and overchurched as vulnerable. But what else do you call a child of God without spiritual parents?The margin for Team Armstrong is zero. We’re at max capacity over here, and I know you share the feeling. That is life for everyone. So let’s not disengage for fear of caring for the youngers will consume our lives. And I hope that fear is about time-margin and priorities, not about being actually consumed by God's calling because that is our goal. Right?To those reading who sense the Holy Spirit nudging you to step forward, maybe that means you take the first step and reach out to a younger woman and ask her to lunch. It’s just lunch. You don’t have to stay up all night writing your own theological thesis or Bible study curriculum to share your LIFE. They are going to spin out in fangirl emoticons that you reached out in the first place.Co-opting my time is the only way it will work in this season for our family. So every time I get a speaking gig, I ask if I can get paid less and get a free ticket for a younger woman or two to attend as my sidekicks. Or I pay for their tickets to attend myself. Either way, I get them in the car on the way to and from, and we get to experience something together. I almost never sit alone for anything unless I’ve tried calling and inviting youngers to join me.Interns used to be my co-opting strategy. I wouldn't attend anything for Baby Bow Tie or Polished without a younger by my side. All I have, everything I do, I am sharing with the youngers, because they need us, because it’s our mission. Sydney, McKenzie, Allison, and Sara occupy my thoughts almost daily because now their faces have replaced any fear I had about investing in the youngers.God’s strategy between the ascension and his return is to empower unique Christ followers with his Spirit to participate in his restoring of all things. So of course the way I am reaching youngers may not work for your unique life.I’d suggest you’ve got thinking to do to figure out what your unique participation will look like, but we don’t need more of your thoughts, we need you to act.