This controversial post is about the f word…no, not that one. Today I’m writing about a word that’s been used heavily in the media in recent years, and has become an ongoing national conversation, but one that is still considered a dirty or taboo word in the church. I’m talking about feminism.
Most Christians, both men and women, will do just about anything to change the subject when this word comes up. Some will even roll their eyes or make a dismissive remark because it’s widely assumed that you can’t love and live your life for Jesus and associate yourself with feminism, right?
(The purpose of this post is not to debate theology. You can take any scripture out of context and it will say whatever you would like for it to say. I am well aware that many people reading this will disagree or may even be triggered. My messages are always open. That’s all I have to say about that!)
Before we go any deeper, if I may, I’d like to clear up some confusion. Feminism is not man-hating. It is not tied to a political party. Feminism is the advocacy of women’s rights. It’s a theory of equality. The true feminist movement (key word: true) asserts that regardless of gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, economic/social status, any factor you could possibly name, no life on this earth is more valuable than any other. We are all equal.
Understanding this definition over opinions you may have previously held, it’s no leap to point out that Jesus himself was a feminist. Jesus of prostitutes. Jesus of widows. Jesus who sought out the least of these and preached a radical message that the kingdom of God is not solely for the religious elite, but rather the sinners. At a period in time when women were their husband or father’s property, Jesus who treated women as equals, Jesus who saw women for their brains and hearts rather than for their bodies or sins.
Before the World Race, I loved to shove this “f word” into any conversation I could. I loved to challenge the beliefs of others and make my opinions known. Yes, I can be opinionated. Those who know me well are probably thinking that’s an understatement. Those who don’t know me well may not believe me. This side of me comes from a place of passion. I’m so passionate about being an advocate for women because it has never made sense to me how we can be in 2019 and the world still looks at women as bodies, as objects, or as “lesser.” While our world and more specifically our American society has made leaps and bounds over the years in representation for women, in starting a conversation centered around feminism, in ever so slowly working to close that wage gap (keep the fight, ladies), the church has not.
Where I grew up, women have a place in the church. Women make amazing and wonderful directors of children’s ministry, administrative assistants, worship leaders, youth group leaders, preschool teachers, Sunday school teachers, and small group leaders. But women are not ministers. Women do not preach. Women are not church elders or deacons. Women do not even pass the offering or communion plates. Women have a place in the church. Or, I should say women have their place in the church.
But what happens when God calls a woman?
I have struggled for so much of my life with identifying and believing my role in the kingdom. The Lord placed huge, overwhelming passions and visions in me for my life from a very young age. But as I grew up and saw the distinctly supportive roles women play in the American church, I doubted. I questioned. I told myself these dreams in my heart are not from the Lord because He can’t and won’t use a woman like me to impact the kingdom. My church leadership and mentors would quietly scoff and speak dismissively of female pastors or ministers in other churches around the nation.
But what happens when God calls a woman?
What happened when God called me?
When I was in high school, I went on my first mission trip, my first time out of the US, to Jamaica to serve for a week. I later interned for this same organization in the summer of 2017. In Jamaica, church is widely seen as only for older women and young children. On a large scale, there aren’t a lot of men who go to church, let alone serve in any kind of leadership in the church. So, women are pastors. Women preach. Women pray and prophesy and worship and lead. If there is a role to be filled, God will call any heart that is willing.
Let me say it louder for those in the back: God. Calls. Women.
Before launching on the World Race, my squadmate and dear friend Hannah Busch and I were chosen to be the Beauty For Ashes coordinators for our squad. This basically meant that we were the women’s ministry coordinators for our squad. We received training directly from AIM and then taught the rest of our squad the tools and skills to minister to women across cultures on the Race. When it came time for Hannah and I to train the rest of our squad in month two in Honduras, all of these insecurities came to light I didn’t even know existed in me. I felt inadequate. As passionate as I am about women’s ministry and empowering other women, I felt like there’s no way this could really be what the Lord is asking of me of all people. This was not a supporting role, this was a leading role.
This insecurity only grew when the Lord and my squad leadership then asked me to step into an even more elevated leadership role and become a team leader. I lead a team of five other women, of which I’m the youngest. I’m not writing this to bring attention to myself. I’m writing this to bring attention to what the Lord is doing. He called a woman. He’s using a woman.
Here on the mission field I’m a part of the church body of P Squad. We have no denominational affiliation. We are simply the Church. We do not operate under religion or rules, but rather relationship with the Father.
We have a squad mentor, the leading pastor of our Church, who casts vision for where we are, where we are going, and empowers us for the journey through the Holy Spirit. Madie Goodwin: a woman.
We have three squad leaders, much like our Church elders or deacons, who lead from within the squad or congregation, walking alongside us and leading into where the Lord desires us next. Rashad Cohen, Kaitlin Church, and Kyndal Broome: two women.
We have five team leaders, discipling and encouraging our individual teams from within. Aundraya Wynne, Brooklynn Graybill, Marissa Morales, Hannah Busch, and myself: five women.
I still probably overuse this “f word” on the Race. My passion and calling to be an advocate for women has only grown in the last six months. But it doesn’t come from a place of anger or hurt anymore. The Lord has shown me that His heart for women is the same as mine, and I’m called to walk as Jesus walked, to love as Jesus loved. That means I’m called to love and empower women in the same way He did. In the same way He has for me.
Yeah. I’m a feminist. And I’m proud to call myself one.
