How often have women heard the phrase “If God called you…” in response to the complaints of discrimination against female church leadership and female ministers???
Those who spout this phrase would have us believe that IF God genuinely calls a woman to ministry and ministerial leadership, she would automatically escape the bitter and antagonistic rejections to her person and her call.
They say this also to challenge women to ‘prove’ God called them by show of some extraordinary manifestation. So today, I ask the question, “Do men experience that same kind of response and if not, why not?”
I will also attempt to answer that to say “No, men do not experience that kind of response because all men are automatically assumed, expected to be and accepted as leaders. It is women who experience the challenge that God needs to go the extra mile to prove to humanity (men and women) that He indeed calls women to leadership.”
Yet, I would also say that God has already gone to the necessary lengths to prove it.
He went to extraordinary lengths when He chose to bring His only begotten Son into the world without a man’s help, only a woman’s.
He went to extraordinary lengths when He chose a woman to bear the news of His resurrection, although there were ‘better’ qualified people – men.
He warned us of the extraordinary lengths He would go, to affirm women leaders (leading both men and women!) when He promised in Joel 2:28-29 and fulfilled it hence in Acts 2:17-18 to pour out His Spirit upon all humans. This was when He could have easily said “except women and girls!” But He didn’t.
He showed the extraordinary lengths He would go when He showed at creation that He would rather have both male and female ruling over His creation, not just male (Gen.1:26-2, 2:18-24).
He showed what extraordinary lengths He would go to when He promised to repair what the serpent and sin destroyed in Eden (Gen.3:15)…to show that He is not in favor of gender inequality…God went to extraordinary lengths to die on the Cross to fix gender inequality and racial inequality and social inequality, etc….How much more extraordinary do we want God to get to show that He calls and assigns men and women equally to leadership and prefers none over the other???
He that has ears to hear, let him hear.
Standing together for justice and equality at the intersection of race and gender 