Let me share two convictions I have about church.

1. I am convinced that the Bible teaches that churches should be led a team of elders of suitably qualified men.
2. I am convinced we need more women leaders in the church.

Now I often face the challenge that those two are either in contradiction or that I don’t really believe the second one or that the leadership I’m talking of would be so limited as to not to really count as leadership at all.

I understand that the debate about the role of women in the church can be a heated one but I believe that there are more constructive ways of engaging with each other even if there is disagreement. There are some bridges we can build if we are willing. That’s one of the reasons I welcome the arrival of a new blog Passing the salt shaker: A conversation on Christianity, the church & gender which looks like a good place to listen in on a discussion (comments are probably wisely closed) from across the spectrum of views and try to find places where bridges can be built.

If you don’t share my first conviction, I hope you would still be willing to support the second.

So I agree with Andrew Wilson when he writes that churches who share my first conviction need to,

Actively encourage women into every area of responsibility and ministry (other than church eldership). We need to read Romans 16, with its women as patrons, deacons, life-risking fellow missionaries and so on, and then ask ourselves whether the mix of men and women would look the same if Paul wrote to our church. If it wouldn’t, then we (the elders and leadership teams) probably need to work harder at releasing and encouraging women.

This is something, let’s be honest about it, that churches which share my first conviction are often not very good at it. Sometimes, they’re downright shocking at it. What to do?

I think Jenny Baker makes a good point here when she writes about the ways we can develop young women in leadership,

One of the things I said was that in many ways this is all about developing leaders, full stop. When it comes to female leadership, there’s an interesting paradox at work. On the one hand it can actually be unhelpful to think of female leaders as existing in a different category to male leaders. As far as possible, I think that young women and men need to learn about leadership alongside each other so that they learn to relate to each other well and respect each other’s contribution.

So unless there is a good reason to train in a single-sex group (and there may sometimes be good reasons for that), don’t. We should be working just as hard to recruit men to the children’s team as we do recruiting women to the sound desk; women to the evangelist’s training as men to the pastoral team and so on.

Secondly, do a better job of listening. I think Krish Kandiah is an excellent example of a leader who is willing to listen and engage across the church spectrum and so wisely when he was asked to speak about women in leadership, asked women for their advice. Whatever your convictions, genuinely listening to your people and not dismissing out of hand what they say is so important. It’s an area where I still have much to learn.

Lastly some encouraging stories. It both struck me a) how different this conversation would have been had it been men and a male audience but also b) how we should celebrate these modern day heroes of the faith who are taking on the challenge of reaching the nations, planting churches and making disciples for the glory of Christ.

Photo by Search Engine People Blog