There is a leader shortage in the church. At conferences and cluster meetings I have heard numerous encouragements for us to pray at 10:02 a.m., (inspired by Luke 10:2) that God will send workers into the harvest.
I think God has answered this prayer even before we prayed it (Thank you God!). God has given the MB church 100% more workers than it already has! All we have to do is encourage women to be leaders in the harvest!
Right now the MB church in Canada is divided on women in church leadership. Most MB churches are holding the status quo of church history, that God does not give women leadership gifts for the church. They disqualify women ontologically, citing specific Bible passages. They call it complementarianism; women and men are given different roles by God. Men are to be the leaders in the church, for all time, period.
There are other MB churches that value the gifts God gives women for church leadership, taking seriously Galatians 3:28, that in Christ there is neither male nor female. When they see the church discriminating against women as leaders, they call it sexism.
Conference leaders have a difficult road to walk. They want to accommodate and affirm women leaders. I had conference leaders attend my installation here at Lendrum, and they have been supportive of my ministry, and I have always appreciated their prayers for me.
Yet they don’t want to alienate that portion of the conference that is against women in leadership. The fallout from this tricky situation is that “Women in leadership” is never on the agenda at conferences. They haven’t hired a female conference minister, because some congregations could not accept that. I assume we have no female seminary professors for the same reason (all full-time and part-time faculty at the MB seminary are male http://www.mbseminary.ca/mbbsteam).
I know that conference leaders would like more women to be on boards, yet I hear it’s hard to find women to serve.
At the last provincial conference I was at, a new young board member shared how his gifts were nurtured when Willie Reimer took him out for coffee numerous times, encouraged his faith, and helped him see himself as a leader. I think that’s terrific, that’s how leaders are formed!
Of course it would be inappropriate for any of our male conference ministers/male seminary professors to be taking young women out for coffee and nurturing them one-on-one as our young men are being nurtured. And the vast majority of MB churches have no female ministers to nurture the young women.
So we have a situation where young women rarely see women leaders (even at seminary), and they aren’t mentored one-on-one, and the topic is never mentioned by conference leaders.
I think the MB church is turning off the hose to half the garden and then asking themselves, “Why aren’t these plants thriving, we want to use them!” Leaders don’t spring up from nowhere. They need to be nurtured, and that is not happening. You don’t need a degree in rocket science to see that there will be no increase in women leaders in the MB church unless there is a miracle.
And so that’s why I’m calling all prayer warriors. Since the 10:02 prayer is already answered, I invite everyone to pray at 3:28 p.m. instead (taking my cue from Galatians 3:28). I am praying for God to show the MB church that the Holy Spirit doesn’t differentiate between women and men. I am praying that God will find a way for us to nurture female leaders as well as male leaders for the church. Will you join me?
Love, Carol Penner, Lendrum MB Church, Edmonton