I'm a Woman, and God loves me!

I've just spent time at two different conferences. I've been so blessed by both. The first was the "Purpose Driven Youth Ministry" conference, which was held in Box Hill, and which I loved. The second was the "National Youth Ministry Convention"(NYMC), which was on the Gold Coast (I know, tough life huh?!) which was also brilliant. I will write more about those conferences over the coming weeks, however, today I want to focus on something that has started to REALLY get on my nerves.

That is being a woman in ministry.

Now before you guys stop reading and think "here goes another feminist rant", I need to say, that I am absolutely not a Feminist. I am a woman. I am created in God's image. And God loves me BECAUSE of my sex, not IN SPITE of it. Which is why the way the church has been heading has got me so riled up and frustrated.

I need to say at the outset, that I have some pretty amazing men in my life - men who impart such wisdom and knowledge, and who treat me with the utmomst respect and love, and most importantly - men who believe in me even more than I believe in myself. So this is NOT a "Men suck" blog.

Having said that, whilst I was at the NYMC, I had the chance to sit down with some amazing women and hear their heart for God. I also got to spend some time with one of the girls who founded "anya" (a group probably most active in the UK and Sydney - encouraging women and girls to realize they are highly favoured by God and encouraging them to step forward in ministry), a woman who inspires me and whom I hold quite dear, Claire. As we sat down to lunch, with our friend Richard, we inevitably got to talking about ministry, preaching, and the conference. Both of us talked about how at all these conferences, there are "token" female preachers - and that usually, they are a lot older than the girls/women attending and that they are seldom given a topic of any real depth - often left to talk about "womens issues" or "children". Not that I have a problem with either of those topics - they are both REALLY important topics to me. I love empowering girls (as does Claire) and working with children is an absolute gift - but it frustrates me that at a conference with at least 20 speakers, they only invited two female speakers. That's just outrageous!

And yet it's the same in the church everywhere. You only get invited to speak at an event as a woman if you have a bit of a "name" in the Christian world, and yet, there is no way to get that name for yourself unless (a) you've done something they can't find a man that can speak about or (b) you are held in high regard by a man, who then pushes you forward. And yet there are brilliant women out there who can preach amazingly. Like Cath McKinney, Shirley Osborn, Deb Hirsch, Ann Van Leerdam, and many more.

In the Salvo world, it's even worse... I can't name ONE female preacher who gets invited to speak anywhere who is not an officer. Not one. And the really sad part about that is - it goes directly against what William & Catherine Booth, the founders of the Salvation Army held as important - equality of men and women in God's eyes. Women are worth more than being the worship leaders, womens speakers and kids workers. William & Catherine saw that, I just don't understand where we went wrong.

We got to talking about how the worst part about this is that when people hear you complain about this - they assume you just want to speak - like it's our way of pushing ourselves forward and making it about us. It's not. But the sad thing is, that because girls aren't given a chance when they are younger, they shy away when they are asked, so someone has to stand up and say "This has to change", and if it's not girls like Claire and I who will it be? It's not about me - or Claire - or the anya girls in the UK - it's about what is right. Girls are loved by God. Women were dearly loved by Jesus. In fact, when Jesus revealed himself to women - it was to women first - both at the well and at the tomb. Jesus knew women had something unique about them, and a unique way to spread the gospel, so He used them whenever and whereever He could.

So Claire and I have decided we're going to seek out someone to pour into us within The Salvation Army. Someone who will encourage our preaching and teaching skills. Not so that we can make a name for ourselves, but so that we can impart that to the girls in our sphere of influence - so that there won't be another generation of women overlooked for their gifts and their messages. We've pledged to each other - that we will find the girls, and push them forward so that their gifts are used - and so that they might be able to do the same for girls in the next generation. We're going to be proactive. And if that means that people think I'm pushing myself on them - then that might just be what has to happen - Catherine Booth probably had the same things said about her, as did Mary Magdalene no doubt.

So watch out - us girls are on the rise - because we are women, and God loves us!