The Call Of A Woman In Christianity

Sunrise in the countryside in southern Ontario.

A few weeks ago, as I writing one of my last papers for my History Of Christianity class, I scanned my bibliography and came to the gut-wrenching realization that my entire bibliography consisted of male authors. There was only one exception, and the book was a book co-written between a male and female author. 

I started to get this sinking feeling that there was so little space for me to exist in Christianity. Although the church that I worked at happened to value female pastors and female leadership, there were still more males in director and leadership roles. 

For almost three weeks, I felt a spiritual heaviness as I become aware of the hill I’d have to climb as a female in Christianity was exponentially steeper than the one my male counterparts might. North America is littered with churches that have an all-white male pastoral team. Though I do not feel called to be a pastor, I was getting the sickening feeling that I would have to face battles that men never would. 

My very existence as a woman in Christianity was jeopardized before I had even begun.

Before I even attempted to lead, the Christian world was already given me messages that I shouldn’t. For centuries, men (and some women) have used certain passages to convince women that they didn’t belong, that they should stay quiet and follow orders. 

The Changing Times

The old rule is that only men could be pastors, deacons and elders. However, the old rule is changing…

And I am alive at a time when the rule is changing, and the Internet is creating unimagined opportunities for women to find community, and to exist. Women have long been relegated to the sidelines, yet the history of Christianity is also full of women who stood up, who leaned in and who lead, regardless of whether they had a formal title or none. St. Teresa of Avila. Corrie Ten Boom. Amy Carmichael. Florence Nightingale.

The feeling of being squashed by Christianity was so intense that I had to bring it up to a few of my mentors and professors, and they started to point me in upwards.

The seminary I study at just announced in May that this was the 4th consecutive year where there were more female students enrolled than males, and they had the highest percentage of female students ever, at 58%. The seminary also just hired a female professor of homiletics, which is the art of preaching, a task that some Christians believe only men should do. My mom was also one of the first women to be ordained in her denomination when they started allowing women to be ordained just a handful of years ago (after she was a pastor for 17+ years).

Change takes time, I told myself.

But, the world is changing. It’s happening, just slowly. 

I wanted to know more. What does Christianity really have to say about women in the world? What is God’s heart for women?  When we’re just cherry-picking specific verses and turning them into rules, what does the Bible really reveal?

What Christianity Really Says About Women

“PATRIARCHY IS NOT God’s dream for humanity. I’ll say that again, louder, and I’ll stand up beside our small bonfire and shout it out loud. I’ll scare the starfish and the powerful alike: patriarchy is not God’s dream for humanity. It never was; it never will be.”

—Sarah Bessey

“After years of reading the Gospels and the full canon of Scripture, here is, very simply, what I learned about Jesus and the ladies: he loves us. He loves us. On our own terms. He treats us as equals to the men around him; he listens; he does not belittle; he honors us; he challenges us; he teaches us; he includes us—calls us all beloved. Gloriously, this flies in the face of the cultural expectations of his time—and even our own time.”

—Sarah Bessey

These words from Sarah Bessey’s book “Jesus Feminist” strike at a truth that resonates to my core. Her words carry weight, a weight that I know I can have too. These words come from someone who has spent more years wading through the Christian waters as a woman than I have.

However, as I study the Bible and Christianity only own path right now, I am coming to the same conclusions.  They are not just Sarah Bessey’s conclusions, or the conclusions of countless other female Christian authors, they are also my conclusions. 

Finding My Space

Slowly but surely, a quiet confidence is building in me, as I realize that I am called to the sacred task of being a bright, shining woman who exists, talks, writes, thrives. I will do so within Christianity, but also outside of it. My domain is not limited to whatever spaces open up for me in the church. My domain is whether God puts me and wherever (s)he opens doors. 

It saddens me to think that there are still countless churches out there who demean women, who treat them as second-class citizens, but I realize now that my role is not to try to fight them. My role is to exist, as loudly, wildly, gently, honestly, boldly and colourfully as God made me. My very existence will keep the doors open for all women, young and old, to find their great destiny in God, just as women like Sarah Bessey are doing for me. 

I will be part of the echo-chamber for messages like this:  

“The people of God have a unique and beautiful message for the women of the world: You are fearfully and wonderfully made. Your Abba delights in you. You are equal. You are lovely. You are called; you are chosen; you are beloved. You are gifted. You belong. You have worth and value. You matter.

Friend, we can leave this bonfire tonight, and together, we can post a few signs and arrows of direction to the Kingdom: This Way to Narnia.

Women—sisters, daughters, mothers, wives, friends—the Kingdom has come. God is your home. You will find rest for your weary soul. There is healing and forgiveness here. There is justice for the wrong done to you. There is dignity and honor.”

— Sarah Bessey, Jesus Feminist

As I let this message from God sink into the foundations of my spirit, I’ve come to trust that God will open the doors and direct my footsteps as I live out my life.  The new job that has come my way (which I’ll tell you more about when things are ironed out) has been another unmistakable omen from heaven: I’m watching over you. I’ve got you.

I have seen glimpses of a world where women are valued, and cherished, powerful in all their glory, shaping their worlds with gentleness and goodness, beauty and bravery…

and I know that I was born to be a part of this world.  

Infinite Love,
Anita