Spring 2018

Men and women serving and leading as equals

This Is What a PREACHER LOOKS LIKE Saying yes to When being who God Standing with my leadership made you isn’t okay foremothers page 8 page 11 page 14 DEPARTMENTS CONTENTS 3 From the Editor Embodying What Can Be: What and Women Preachers Have in Common The Gift of Presumption Giving future generations a world where girls can do anything. 19 Reflect with Us 4 Stephanie Dyrness Lobdell Madonna without Halo 20 Ministry News Saying Yes Sometimes modeling gender equality means stepping out of your 21 Giving Opportunities 8 comfort zone. 22 President’s Message Emily Summach Representation Sparks Conversations My First Time: When Being Who God Made 23 Praise and Prayer You Isn’t Okay 11 A female pastor reflects on the first time her call was questioned because of her gender. EDITORIAL STAFF Heather Henderson Editor: Tim Krueger Never Bashful: Standing with My Foremothers Graphic Designer: Mary Quint Carrying on a tradition of women as preachers and teachers. Publisher/President: Mimi Haddad 14 Kimberly Majeski Hunger A poem of lament for women in the church. 16 Jax Cortez

Mutuality is published quarterly by CBE Advertising in Mutuality does not imply International, 122 W Franklin Ave, Suite organizational endorsement. Please 218; Minneapolis, MN 55404-2451. note that neither CBE International, nor the editor, nor the editorial team We welcome your comments, article is responsible or legally liable for any submissions, and advertisements. Contact content or any statements made by us by email at [email protected] any author, but the legal responsibility or by phone at (612) 872-6898. For is solely that author’s once an article writers’ guidelines and upcoming themes appears in Mutuality. and deadlines, visit cbe.today/mutuality. CBE grants permission for any All Scripture quotations, unless original article (not a reprint) to be otherwise indicated, are taken from photocopied for local use provided the 2011 revision of the Holy Bible, New no more than 1,000 copies are made, Mutuality vol. 25, no. 1, Spring 2018 International Version®, NIV®. Copyright they are distributed free, the author is © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, acknowledged, and CBE is recognized Cover design by Mary Quint Inc.™ Used by permission. All rights as the source. reserved worldwide. Mutuality (ISSN: 1533-2470) exists to make egalitarian theology accessible to the non-scholar and to explore its intersection with everyday life.

2 MUTUALITY | Spring 2018 website: cbeinternational.org From the Editor by Tim Krueger

Embodying What Can Be: What Star Trek and Women Preachers Have in Common

I grew up in a Star Trek family. I was so devoted to it that, enough to talk about our beliefs (though we should talk about to my eternal shame, I spent the entirety of fifth grade (and them). We need to live them out. a lot of hairspray) trying to make my hair look like Captain For churches, this means calling women as pastors. It Kirk’s. The world of Star Trek captivated me. The adventures, means inviting women to be elders and deacons. It means the ships, the aliens! It was only later that I learned about its creating church cultures where sexism isn’t tolerated and girls social impact. and women are encouraged to pursue their gifts. It means Airing in the 1960s, Star Trek: The Original Series imagined going the extra mile to serve and support female leaders a future where different races, nationalities, genders, and even who face social pressure and opposition that male pastors species served side by side on a peaceful quest of discovery. have never experienced. In a Christian culture that is often Characters included Russian and Asian men and an African- hostile toward women in leadership, it means taking risks in American woman, Lieutenant Uhura. obedience to God. Nichelle Nichols, who played Uhura, was one of the first Looking at our world today, you might forget that Star African-American women to play a TV role other than a Trek: The Original Series was a bust. The show was cancelled servant. After the show’s first season, she chose to leave TV after three years. Yet, fifty years later the franchise it spawned for the stage, but was convinced to stay by none other than is thriving; Star Trek movies, shows, games, books, and toys Martin Luther King, Jr., who told her “You cannot abdicate are everywhere. Star Trek is now considered one of the most your position. You are changing the minds of people across the influential franchises in TV history. Why? Because it showed us world, because for the first time, through you, we see ourselves a world that could be, even if it’s not here yet. It is a world where 1 and what can be.” we see the best of humanity. credited Nichols with inspiring her own For advocates for churches where women and men serve as career (and Star Trek fandom). At the age of nine, Goldberg equals, our work can feel like an uphill climb. We do well to turned on the TV, saw Nichols, and “ran through the house remember that ours, too, is a vision of the best of humanity and screaming: Come quick, come quick. There’s a black lady on TV the church. We can take heart in the knowledge that this vision 2 and she ain’t no maid.” is not ours, but God’s. So great was Nichols’ influence that NASA hired her to Women around the world live out this vision every day. They recruit women and minorities for its . are our heroes and our role models. Their lives and their stories Among her recruits were , the first woman in space, show us who we are and who we can be. They show us what and , the first African-American woman in space. the church can be, even if it has not yet arrived. In this issue of This is why representation matters. What we see on our Mutuality, we share a few of their stories. screens, in our books, and on our stages shapes our dreams. As The four feature articles are the winners of CBE’s 2017 Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “we see ourselves and what we writing contest. Each is the story of a woman who leads and 3 can be.” preaches. Pastor or not, these women are what the preachers in Just as it matters who we see on TV, it matters who stands our midst look like. There is pain and healing, risk and reward, behind our pulpits on Sundays. If the Bible teaches that grief and celebration. May they encourage and inspire you. women and men are both called to lead and preach (and it does), then our churches must reflect it. It matters that our In Christ, daughters and sons see women leading in our churches. It’s not Tim Krueger

1 “Nichelle Nichols,” Pioneers of Television, PBS, 2014, http://www.pbs.org/wnet/pioneers-of-television/pioneering-people/nichelle-nichols/; “Star Trek's Uhura Reflects On MLK Encounter,” NPR, Jan 17, 2011, https://www.npr.org/2011/01/17/132942461/Star-Treks-Uhura-Reflects- On-MLK-Encounter. 2 “Nichelle Nichols,” Pioneers of Television, PBS, 2014, http://www.pbs.org/wnet/pioneers-of-television/pioneering-people/nichelle-nichols/. 3 Kelly Knox, “Star Trek Week: How Nichelle Nichols Changed the Face of NASA” Wired, September 26, 2012, https://www.wired.com/2012/09/ nichelle-nichols/.

bookstore: cbebookstore.org MUTUALITY | “This is What a Preacher Looks Like” 3 The Gift of Presumption

Stephanie Dyrness Lobdell

A couple weeks ago, I sent my daughter off mind can imagine. And yet, under the din of our to kindergarten. The excitement radiated from declarations, our children are shaped by quiet her little body as she donned her first-day-of- assumptions, those underlying conventions, that school outfit: Wonder Woman T-shirt, pink indicate that some vocations are more suited for tutu, and jean jacket. She loaded up her Wonder men than women. Woman lunchbox, complete with detachable The church is not exempt. Young girls feeling cape and threw on her (you guessed it) Wonder the call to vocational ministry are more often Woman backpack. As per our family tradition, directed to children’s ministry or cross-cultural she climbed onto the stump in our front yard work than they are directed to the pulpit, regardless and proudly stated her name, age, and what of their gifts and graces. A national study found she wanted to be when she grew up (a police that only ten percent of Protestant congregations officer this year). It was precious in every in the US had female lead pastors.1 Research shows way, but especially poignant was her guileless that the numbers are headed in a positive direction, presumption that she can be and do anything. but we have a long way to go. As I watch my daughter mature and develop a In the meantime, Wonder Woman lunchbox or rather alarming perceptiveness, I wonder when she not, my daughter is going to notice a gap like that. will start to notice the vocational gender disparity It’s nothing new, this idea that gender should be around her, particularly in the church. Her wide- the defining factor in determining the expression eyed five-year-old self knows nothing of a world in of a person’s gifts and graces, abilities and potential which her gender has something to say about how contributions to society. To our shame, it wasn’t she can embody the gifts and graces given to her even a century ago that it was assumed women by God. Even as she watches her mom ascend the were incapable of managing the responsibility to platform each week to preach, when will she notice vote. Reasons varied from perceived biological that most of the other preachers in our tradition inferiority and emotional instability, to an assumed are men? Will that precious gift of presumption lack of desire among women to participate in be stripped from her hands by the incongruence national conversations. between her hopes and the reality she encounters? In the church, similar ideas have persisted, And will she even notice when it’s gone? such as the suggestion that men are more naturally The USA has always prided itself on being suited to leadership than women. To the biological the place where anyone can become anything. and psychological defenses of these positions, the With just the right combination of hard work church added the voice of Scripture, distorted and and talent, you can be and do anything your grotesque in its interpretations.

1. “Number of Female Senior Pastors in Protestant Churches Doubles in Past Decade,” Barna, September 14, 2009, https:// www.barna.com/research/number-of-female-senior-pastors-in-protestant-churches-doubles-in-past-decade/.

4 MUTUALITY | Spring 2018 website: cbeinternational.org But the voting rights situation changed. Through persistence, dedication, and sacrifice, women and men laid those inaccurate gender-based assumptions to rest. My female peers and I go to the polls each election, blissfully presumptuous, because we know that we belong there, contributing to society in that specific way. It does not even cross our minds that we wouldn’t have a place casting a ballot alongside our male counterparts. The generations who have gone before have blessed me with the gift of presumption. But in the church, that gift of presumption still eludes us, particularly concerning the pulpit. I am privileged to stand behind a pulpit most weeks, bringing the Word of God to the people of God. But I am an anomaly in many ways: a young mother, preaching to and shepherding an evangelical church in a traditionally conservative part of the country. It has not been simple or straightforward. I am the minority at every pastoral gathering, often the only female in the room at all. I have had my pregnancies described as “situations” that hindered my pastoral work. I have navigated the weirdness of trying to nurse a baby in between preaching back-to-back services, and hoped against hope I would make it back to the pulpit without a stained shirt. I have been assumed to be the “pastor’s wife” more times than I care to recount and have graciously (most of the time anyway) explained that yes, I am in fact the pastor, yes I am in fact an adult, and yes in fact, I will be the one performing the funeral service today. I grieve when I see my highly-gifted female clergy peers place their call to vocational ministry into hibernation because of the social pressure on moms to be the “default parent,” which is hard (sometimes impossible) to do while also pastoring a church. I grieve that not many churches find creative ways to make pastoring possible for busy moms. I grieve when women clergy continue to be excluded from mentoring opportunities because of a lack of imagination and possibility for cross-gender relationships among church leadership. I grieve because it is clear that we do not yet have that precious gift of presumption to place in the hands of our children. These days, the testimony of those suffragettes and the testimonies of their predecessors who confronted false narratives of gender-based exclusions call to me as I look with longing at the future generation, the ones carrying the Wonder Woman lunchboxes to school, with big God-dreams in their hearts and minds. I ache to place

bookstore: cbebookstore.org MUTUALITY | “This is What a Preacher Looks Like” 5 We persist. We keep preaching. We keep showing up to male- dominated meetings. We wisely and graciously insist on redirecting chauvinistic, small-minded comments. We debunk assumptions with our presence. We expose false narratives with our faithfulness.

in their tender hands the gift of sacrifices of those who have gone We persist together because we presumption, the unshakeable before us and given us the gifts have been given bountiful gifts assurance that if God should of presumption, the presumption and now, it is our turn to be the call them to the pulpit, they can to own property, to vote, to run givers. It is our turn to forge new answer, “yes!” without a second for public office, to participate in paths in the wilderness for our thought. high education, to wear pants for daughters and nieces, for every We are not there yet, but we mercy’s sake! little girl that sits in our pews. It endure, women clergy together And our brothers, those is our turn to do the hard work of with the champion men who who have taken up the cause enduring difficulty, of silencing have eyes to see how God is of egalitarianism in the church false narratives, and of showing up gifting both God’s daughters alongside us, have a unique role even when we are alone in order and sons. We persist. We keep to play. As they occupy places of to have the profound privilege preaching. We keep showing up power, having experienced the of placing in our children’s small to male-dominated meetings. We gift of presumption themselves, hands the gift of presumption, the wisely and graciously insist on they intentionally make space audacious belief that when God redirecting chauvinistic, small- at the table for their sisters. calls and they find themselves minded comments. We debunk They insist on hearing the endowed with the gifts and graces assumptions with our presence. voices of their female peers at from God, they can and must We expose false narratives with every level of leadership. They preach the Word. By the power our faithfulness. create opportunities for women of the Spirit and by our faithful Why? Not to further a self- clergy, especially in the pulpit, persistence, may it never cross righteous, self-serving agenda. by purposefully seeking out their minds that they could not Not to prove a point or stick it to female voices to bring the Word say yes, yes, a thousand times yes. the powers that be. No. We persist with power in their churches. out of obedience to a call and a Our clergy brothers join us in Stephanie Dyrness Lobdell is a Nazarene profound sense of responsibility persistence as they deliberately pastor, writer, wife, and to the next generation of would- make time for young women mommy. She serves as be preachers and pastors, little feeling the call, time to both co-lead pastor along girls who need to see someone hear their stories and time to with her husband as well as serving as the worship pastor at who looks like them behind the guide and support them on their Mountain Home Church of the Nazarene, pulpit. We stay when it’s hard journeys through mentoring and and blogs at www.stephanielobdell.com. out of our great gratitude for the advocating.

It is our turn to do the hard work of enduring difficulty, of silencing false narratives, and of showing up even when we are alone in order to have the profound privilege of placing in our children’s small hands the gift of presumption, the audacious belief that when God calls and they find themselves endowed with the gifts and graces from God, they can and must preach the Word.

6 MUTUALITY | Spring 2018 website: cbeinternational.org EXPOSING THE ROOTS OF VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN

ELAINE STORKEY

Acts of violence against women produce more deaths, disability, and mutilation than cancer, malaria, and traffic acci- dents combined. How and why has this violence become so prevalent?

Elaine Storkey offers a rigorously researched overview of this global pandemic, exploring how violence is structured into the very fabric of societ- ies and cultures around the world.

UNDERSTANDING AND

OVERCOMING VIOLENCE

AGAINST WOMEN

“Elaine Storkey has been a prophetic voice “Scars Across Humanity is crucial for every- for gender equality for over thirty years. . . . one who is passionate about the gospel, Addressing this all-encompassing, global crisis gender justice, and reconciliation within the is undoubtedly the most important, unfinished church and beyond.” business the emerging generation will face.” MIMI HADDAD, RONALD W. PIERCE, president, CBE International editor of Discovering Biblical Equality

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Mutuality ad, Scars Across Humanity, #13495.indd 1 1/30/18 9:43 AM Yes Emily Summach

In the quiet evening hours, once my littles are sound asleep, I find myself in the early stages of sermon writing. It’s the stage where I’m listening to others’ words on the same topic, browsing theological journals that come up when I search keywords, and bouncing ideas off of my husband. The truth of the matter is this: I don’t like to write sermons. I am, at best, an unlikely preacher in our small, Mennonite church. I languished through theology courses in college earning mostly high C’s. I feel easily overwhelmed researching Scripture and have no knowledge whatsoever of Greek or Hebrew. I’m constantly sending rough drafts to my pastor friends to ensure that my words from behind the oak pulpit aren’t inadvertently heretical. Why, then, do I sign up on the quarterly preaching rotation? I do it because I have a three-year-old daughter. In the pre-dawn hours of a shockingly beautiful late September day, I gave birth to our firstborn, a daughter. We named our nearly- seven-pound miracle Junia Grace. Her arrival changed me in every way that I expected. My body was pushed to its physical limits of sleep deprivation as I tried to satisfy my hungry nursling. I grew more emotionally tender with each passing day as I grappled with raising a human in world that could be so cruel, so lacking in compassion for its most vulnerable. Spiritually, I felt myself opening up to new possibilities as I finally understood the fierce, protective, and devoted love of a parent for their child. However, Junia’s existence also began

8 MUTUALITY | Spring 2018 website: cbeinternational.org I said yes because I needed my daughter to believe that the Holy Spirit that rained down on the women at Pentecost would rain down on her too. I needed her to know that the outcast woman at the well was the first person whom Jesus trusted with the news that he was the Messiah. I needed to her to know that Jesus chose to reveal his resurrection to the women first, charging them to go and tell their brothers. to change me in a way that I never as pastors. Our church is led by male be willing to preach while he was away expected: theologically. and female elders, and both sexes are the following month, I heard my voice I was first introduced to the encouraged to participate in all areas of saying, “Yes.” concept of biblical gender equality church life, including preaching. It was I said yes because I needed my and egalitarianism in my third year of a perfect fit for our growing family. daughter to believe that the Holy Spirit college in a gender studies course. The However, I soon noticed that only that rained down on the women at revelation that God did not prefer my men were preaching. The opportunity to Pentecost would rain down on her too. boyfriend to me was, in no uncertain preach was open to all and encouraged I needed her to know that the outcast terms, life-altering. I had been raised by our pastor, but only men seemed to woman at the well was the first person to believe that men were the head of volunteer. The reasons were as varied whom Jesus trusted with the news that the home and the leaders of the church. as the women in the congregation. he was the Messiah. I needed her to know A woman never stepped behind the Some devoted countless hours to other that Jesus chose to reveal his resurrection pulpit unless she was a missionary, ministries in the church and there to the women first, charging them to go home on furlough. And, of course, she simply wasn’t time to prepare sermons and tell their brothers. This good news “shared;” she did not preach. I joyfully as well. For others the very real fear of is given to every woman to proclaim— embraced this new ideology of equality. public speaking felt insurmountable. educated or not, “called” or not. It is When that boyfriend and I covenanted And for some who were raised as I was, mine to proclaim, and I hope and pray our lives together in marriage two I suspect, the weight of past beliefs that someday, Junia too, will proclaim years later, we agreed that our future regarding women’s roles kept them it with joy. children, female and male, would know from preaching. So here I sit in the quiet evening that they stood equal before God. As the Sundays passed, an hours, toiling at a task that does not Living in the light of this new uncomfortable feeling settled into come naturally, leaning heavily on the theology I believed that women can my spirit. I protested inside (I wasn’t help of others, and earnestly hoping and should lead churches, serve as “called!” I had no education! I was that someday my daughter and son pastors, and preach the gospel every disinterested in theology!); I simply will see true, equal representation Sunday. But me, personally? I had a get- wasn’t a preacher. But my blue-eyed of women and men—all the living out-of-jail-free card. I wasn’t called to girl, sitting next to me in the pew, had streams flowing through the church. be a pastor or to pursue ministry, and I yet to see a woman preach. What good, I will choose to say yes to that hope, had little formal theological education. I feared, would it do Junia to know that wherever it may lead me. My gifts lay elsewhere, I assured myself. she was equal, but only in theory? How I would serve in our church equally, but could she envision herself preaching Emily Summach is a freelance writer and stay-at-home not from behind a pulpit. if there were no women to spark her parent to Junia and Ezra. When we relocated to a new imagination? How could she be what She studied communications province eighteen months ago, we made she could not see? and theatre at Providence certain to choose a denomination and When our pastor approached me a University College. Her writing has also appeared in Geez Magazine. She resides a home church that affirmed women few weeks later and asked me if I would near Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. bookstore: cbebookstore.org MUTUALITY | “This is What a Preacher Looks Like” 9 CREATED FOR PARTNERSHIP August 3–4, 2018 | Helsinki, Finland

Join CBE International and RaTas (Christians for Equality) for an international conference, “Created for Partnership.”

Connect with Christians from around the globe, learn how to advocate for biblical gender equality in your own church, and be a catalyst for egalitarian momentum in Finland and beyond! Help unleash the full power of the gospel!

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Medad Birungi Kevin Giles Mimi Haddad Timo Lehikoinen

Workshop Speakers Medad Birungi, Jan Cedercreutz, Beth Elness-Hanson, Kevin Giles, Lynley Giles, Mimi Haddad, Heikki Hilvo, Matti Kankaanniemi, Riitta Keskimäki, Timo Lehikoinen, Anne Mikkola, Kimmo Pohjalainen, Maarit Pynnönen, Charles Read, Pia Rendic, Patti Ricotta Register today! cbe.today/finland2018 My First Time: When Being Who God Made You Isn’t Okay

Heather Henderson

“Heather has no business being in had made me to communicate the pulpit.” The words leaped out his truth. To be my authentic self at me from the computer screen, and talk to people about the God screaming at me from an email of the universe who created and not written to me, but about me, loves them. I am uniquely made, to two of my male colleagues. and I am a gifted communicator. First of all, we don’t God made me this way on purpose even have a pulpit. We’re a and gave me this desire and nondenominational church dependence that is just grafted that meets in a high school. We into my marrow. I must preach have a stage and an auditorium. and teach and lead. It’s how God His words though, reflected made me. his heart, his experience, and I didn’t grow up in the church a churched upbringing that led world, but I’m not naïve; I knew him to believe his email was there might be pushback to a helping our church. young woman preaching. I didn’t I entered ministry through realize it would hurt so much or a nontraditional route—from feel so personal. I felt stripped a master’s degree in education, naked, void of value, and broken. to volunteering in our youth I knew him, of course. We ministry, to being asked to join had served together, and I loved the youth staff, to ultimately being his family. Still do, though they asked to join the senior leadership are no longer at my church. of our church and serve alongside In an email to two of the men our lead pastor. It’s been an honor, with whom I work, this church a gift, a vocation so much greater member outlined the ways in than I ever could have dreamed or which, because of my gender, I planned for myself. was unfit and sinful in speaking When we talked about me God’s message to people. He was preaching, I was daunted. It’s a sure to note that it was nothing big job that carries pressure and against me, not personal, of responsibility. Yet, I knew God course. Just a matter of making

bookstore: cbebookstore.org MUTUALITY | “This is What a Preacher Looks Like” 11 sure the church doesn’t become teaches, I will carry this burden steeped in grave sin. and responsibility. I’m now much I saw the email because one of my better equipped and spiritually and colleagues wanted me to know about emotionally secure, having walked the conversation. Truthfully, I’m not this road for some years. As I’ve learned sure he should have shared it with me. However, I will never, ever, Or he should have warned me. But forget that first time. The first time more, read more, maybe he couldn’t know how much I saw words written about me, not it would just cut me to the heart. to me. The first time I was told I lived in Scripture I know my male colleagues have was wrong, sinful, and direct party experienced complainers, detractors, to the downfall of a church. The more, and grown whiners, and people who are sure first time this academic conversation they know better than what was about women in ministry became preached on Sunday. But I suppose painfully personal. to understand they don’t know—couldn’t know— And while his words hurt me what it’s like to read in an email deeply, I was most hurt because my own self, I how their very person, an essential of the catch-twenty-two that they element of how God made them, was represented. Why didn’t he just talk am certain that wrong, was sinful. to me? Why email my colleagues? I’ll never forget the words: Of course, talking to me about mutuality is God’s this would imply my equal standing “No business being in the pulpit.” to engage the conversation. Of course plan for man “Women shouldn’t be allowed to he couldn’t talk to me about this; pray if there are men available.” these decisions are the work of men. and woman. “This will bring the church nothing And so, we’ve never spoken about the but trouble.” email. We haven’t spoken at all. He I’m comfortable left the church, not able to be party “How can you allow her to do to such sinfulness. I was sad for his this?” family, who were well-loved, and sad engaging in “Women are ruled out as teachers that he hadn’t wanted to engage in or leaders over men.” conversation. An occasional “like” conversations Thankfully no one was around, on Facebook is all that remains of because this email was a sucker that relationship. about relevant punch. I went to a nearby office, I worked to a place of forgiveness curled up on a couch, and sobbed. My for him. He was speaking what he Scripture passages, heart hurt. My soul was injured. The had been taught was true by so many imago Dei in me had been trampled male church leaders. And while I and I understand on, doubted, deemed unworthy and wish he had engaged in conversation sinful. I was devastated. with me and with others, and been that, as a woman As women in ministry, most willing to take another look at of us have become used to emails, Scripture, I understand that will not who preaches and conversations, and questions like always be the case. this. I certainly have. As I’ve learned The memory of my “first time” teaches, I will carry more, read more, lived in Scripture reminds me that every time I preach, more, and grown to understand it will be the first time for someone— my own self, I am certain that the first time they’ve heard a woman this burden and mutuality is God’s plan for man and preach or teach in church. Every time woman. I’m comfortable engaging I preach, I bear what the director of responsibility. in conversations about relevant Harvard’s Center for African and Scripture passages, and I understand African American Research, Dr. that, as a woman who preaches and Henry Louis Gates Jr., calls, “the

12 MUTUALITY | Spring 2018 website: cbeinternational.org freight of being iconic.” What a perfect, husband is not in vocational ministry, scary phrase. I am. I am not greater or closer to God Being a woman in vocational ministry because of my work. Nor am I further is not easy. It is still far too rare. Being a from God because of my gender. woman who preaches requires grit and Understanding the gospel is both easy confidence in who God made me to be. and impossibly difficult. We are all loved. Church is It is one of the greatest honors of my life We are all enough. We all bear the image to speak to people about God’s love for of God within us. I pray that more people complicated them. I am truly humbled and in fact would know those truths, and that more baffled that I get to do this. women would be safe and confident and and messy. Jesus My eight-year-old daughter asked me empowered in the unique ways God has recently, “Mommy, why do people treat made them. Church is complicated and is not. And so girls differently?” I was surprised by the messy. Jesus is not. And so I return to him, question, and saddened. Already at age place my trust in him, find my identity in eight, she has picked up on this. We him. And I commit to continue serving in I return to him, chatted, and she noted, “Not very many his church, because it’s still a beautiful and girls get to preach, do they?” I agreed excellent plan. place my trust with her, but we talked about how that isn’t God’s plan. I pray that my three Heather Henderson is a in him, find my “barely makes the cut” children will grow up to love and serve millennial, striving to Jesus. And I pray that my daughters live a kingdom life in the identity in him. as well as my son will speak words of Washington, DC suburbs. inclusiveness, of unity, of mission, when She is a mom of three, wife of a brilliant IT guru, and associate pastor at a they speak of the church. No one is non-denominational church in Maryland. greater or lesser in God’s kingdom. My

bookstore: cbebookstore.org MUTUALITY | “This is What a Preacher Looks Like” 13 Never Bashful: Standing with My Foremothers

Kimberly Majeski

I was thirteen the first time I heard It was summer day in Tennessee, so hot and humid that we’d given up all hope of wearing the words, “women cannot be pantyhose. It was an ordinary morning in the preachers” spoken into thin air and educational wing where I had first been a toddler, then a primary, then a junior, before becoming inside the walls of that place where I a full-fledged member of the youth group. I was had always been loved, had always gathered with my friends at the far end of the felt safe. The words felt like a stone hall, just past the water fountain and the Warner Sallman painting of the blue-eyed Jesus. We sat thrown into the rudder of a ship, on folding chairs planted on carpet surrounded they caught me, caused me to heave by white walls filled with Bible verses and stars for those memorized. This was before there were forward and halt. special services for young people or special spaces I was raised up in love. I was reared in the for teens to hang out. This was before people faith tradition that also loved and fostered my wanted to create music for certain generations of parents and grandparents. I was born into a local Christian folk. This was back when you brought church where a founding pastor in the 1930s had your King James Bible with your name embossed been a woman. I was raised up under a sense of on the cover to class. welcome and inclusion, taught the distinctions of My teacher was a gentleman who had come our Wesleyan-Holiness heritage. from another denomination, and we loved him I was reared in a church where I was invited to and his family like our own. But that Sunday sing a solo at six years old, where I watched women morning when he said that women could “only be kneel and wash the feet of other women, hold one song leaders” I knew we were from different places. another up as they walked through the hardships His remarks were so shocking and so foreign. I was of life, spread a feast of pimento cheese and tuna sure he must’ve come from a far off land. I knew fish sandwiches and cherry pie to raise money for he didn’t know our stories; he didn’t know who missions, and gather over Maxwell House coffee we were. for the sacred hour of Tuesday morning prayer. At thirteen I had no inclination of ever It is funny now to consider I attended Sunday becoming a pastor, no interest church ministry or School in that same church more than a million clergy life, but it was the eighties, and of course, I times in my life, but the day I heard the words was a feminist. I was raised by a single mother who “women cannot be preachers”—the first time held down three jobs, was the Girl Scout director I heard gender-based restrictions, confines, for the city, and taught Wednesday night church. limitations, issued from within the kingdom—this She not only could—but loved to—camp in tents, is the day above all other days that stands out. could change her own tire, and was also always

14 MUTUALITY | Spring 2018 website: cbeinternational.org dressed to the nines. She wrapped me in the stories and the Magdalene, about Phoebe, Junia, Lydia, of Scripture and clothed me in shirts that read, and Prisca. I’d tell him about Epiphanius’ Indices “Anything boys can do girls can do better” and it Apostolorum and I’d show him some of my work. turns out I had taken it to heart. I’d ask him how his daughter was doing, and we’d Not at all bashful and less so as a newly-minted talk about how much we miss Mrs. Ricketts and teen, I challenged my weary teacher. I regaled her pimento cheese. for him the story of how the church in which we worshipped was founded, told him of Sister Ada I’d thank him for loving me through Cooper and her sisters who by the power of Christ our differences of interpretation and led and sustained the church after its founding on the outskirts of Nashville in the 1930s. I told my for helping to launch me into my teacher, my class, about how Sister Cooper had life’s work so that I had to reach deep been my father’s pastor, my grandmother’s friend— to find out who I was, for helping how Sister Cooper’s daughter Ms. Elizabeth was sitting out on the third pew behind the piano and me start from a place of knowing would be happy to fill him in. where I come from, for forcing me At forty-something, I am still not bashful, and I still make it home often to that church where I to put words to what I believed and was raised and where my aunts and cousins and for helping me tether myself to the nieces still worship. These days when I’m there I’m often in the pulpit, as now I am an ordained stories of my foremothers so that pastor, associate professor of biblical studies and when my own call to follow in their know deep and well the material of 1 Timothy and footsteps would come, I would know the Deutero-Paulines. I have read Ignatius in the Greek and have studied epigraphy and archaeology the way was open to me. and fragmentary evidence. If my Sunday School teacher were still alive Kimberly Majeski serves as associate and I could find him on Facebook, I’d invite him professor of biblical studies and Christian to Starbucks, buy him an almond milk macchiato ministries at Anderson University and is a and apologize for being such a brat. I’d then co-host for Viewpoint, a syndicated radio program for Christians Broadcasting Hope. engage him in biblical, historical, and theological Additionally, Kimberly is founder and CEO conversation regarding the centrality of women of Stripped Inc., a not-for-profit ministry empowering women leaders, pastors—preachers—in the spreading of in sex trade to walk out of fear and into love. strippedlove.org. the gospel and the growth of the early church. I’d tell him what I’d come to know about Mary bookstore: cbebookstore.org MUTUALITY | “This is What a Preacher Looks Like” 15 Hunger

Jax Cortez

I hungered for a voice meekly bow my head— Deborahs, Mary Magdalenes a whisper— not made to lead, Rahabs—erased I’m valued, I belong. mind too weak, forgotten, dismissed. Silence. emotional, unpredictable An ancient drought Dear preacher, barely a murmur or mumble you made sure I understood, We don’t belong, your home they say Tell me, dear preacher— not mine Spread the word, are we so easy to forget? never mine tell my sisters, Fodder for dreams, make it clear— obstacles of the faithful, You the Leader, their home, objects for men me the follower. not ours. to stumble over. Your home, not mine. You stand; I sit— No room at this inn Silence, woman. platform; bleachers. for us— Submit! Did you forget? smart Know your place, This is God’s house, strong eyes on the ground. not yours brave Forgive, scientists, commanders, let yourself be slapped Do I blaspheme? doctors around— Step business owners, engineers. on Pharisee toes? I will not. Call me Jezebel Wait outside, ladies— This is God’s house. condemn me to Hell invisible door, One Lord. glass ceiling, One King, Silence, woman. silent desert, dear preacher Hush now. no vacancy. and it’s not you.

16 MUTUALITY | Spring 2018 website: cbeinternational.org No value in our numbers, We’re weary of the silence But God will satisfy my nor worth to our advice? and the glass hunger, Your church is dwindling, whisper the words dear preacher, One day I’ve longed to hear— your pews have paid a price women will be free to speak, to preach. No more doors, Call me apostate, Men held accountable no more ceilings, burn me at the stake. for abuse no silent desert Do what you like, dear no hiding to cross preacher— among the faithful. Open table, But it will never be No judgement many seats— your house for the beaten, hurt, and you’re wanted, bruised— you belong. The hour is late, dear Jax Cortez is an indie author, preacher, Church, you left me blogger, and freelance writer. When she is not time to choose. Hungry publishing articles through The last will be first, I still don’t understand different media outlets or blogging, she is busy writing which one are you? Why? empowering short stories and thrilling novellas on Amazon (www.amazon.com/author/ Goodbye dear preacher. jaxcortez). She lives in San Antonio, TX with her husband, little one, dog, and cat. Can’t get enough Mutuality?

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bookstore: cbebookstore.org MUTUALITY | “This is What a Preacher Looks Like” 17 Moving Stories from Award-Winning Author RACHEL MARIE STONE

“I’ve been waiting for a book like this one for years, and no one could have written it more beautifully and wisely than Rachel Marie Stone. With the skill of a poet and the patience of a doula, Stone invites the reader to look straight into the face of fear and find in it the spark of hope.” —Rachel Held Evans

ivpress.com 18 MUTUALITY | Spring 2018 website: cbeinternational.org

Mutuality ad, Birthing Hope, #13415.indd 1 1/30/18 1:03 PM Reflect With Us by H. Edgar Hix Madonna without Halo

She holds his shoes in her hands. They are worn shoes, but the only clothes not stolen by Romans, priests, elders, and everyone else who always wanted a piece of him. But they cannot have her piece. The feet that wore these shoes were feet of her feet, blood of her blood, tears of her tears.

As yet, the halo has not been painted. As yet, she is still a Semitic woman with a dead Semitic son. And yet, the halo will shine no brighter than now, barely reflecting off bitter tears that will paint her halo brighter than any pale Dutch master ever will.

bookstore: cbebookstore.org MUTUALITY | “This is What a Preacher Looks Like” 19 Ministry News

Are You What a Preacher Looks Like?

CBE is pleased and honored to introduce the Alvera Mickelsen Memorial Scholarship, celebrating the legacy of Alvera Mickelsen, a CBE founder. Alvera was devoted to sharing biblical mutuality, freeing all to use their gifts and calling to advance the gospel. Given the challenges that women face in the church and academia, this scholarship was created to help them answer the call to ministry. Made possible through the generosity of Alvera’s family, CBE will award $5,000 annually to one woman in the US who is pursuing a graduate or post-graduate degree in a ministry- related field.

Would you or someone you know like to apply for the Alvera Mickelsen Memorial Scholarship? Visit cbe.today/ammsapply

20 MUTUALITY | Spring 2018 website: cbeinternational.org Giving Opportunities

Put More Women in the Pulpit

To extend the Alvera Mickelsen Memorial Scholarship to as many women as possible, CBE and Alvera’s family invite you to join us by contributing to the Alvera Mickelsen Memorial Scholarship fund. CBE’s goal is to award a second $5,000 annual scholarship funded by gifts from CBE supporters.

If you share Alvera’s commitment to empowering women in ministry, please make a generous gift. cbe.today/ammsfund

bookstore: cbebookstore.org MUTUALITY | “This is What a Preacher Looks Like” 21 President’s Message by Mimi Haddad

Representation Sparks Conversations

Earlier this month, I ran across a tweet from a female pastor.1 Prophetic leadership It read: Sparking conversation, and sometimes controversy, is a fact of Man noticing my collar: Are you a preacher? life for women leaders, and it can be exhausting. Because of this, Me: Yes the courage and civility women demonstrate in their prophetic Man: I don’t believe in women preachers leadership is all the more impressive. Refusing to apologize for our Me: I am literally standing right here so… calling and identity in Christ, we resist the narrative of patriarchy This exchange points to a reality that women leaders know too persistently and charitably, even among those who disagree with well: our very presence creates conversation because it challenges us. In the process, minds are changed. the single narrative that dominates many Christian circles— Ten years ago, I was one of several scholars working to leadership is the domain of men. Women leaders not only spark start a study group on gender at the Evangelical Theological conversation, but have the opportunity to model good leadership Society (ETS). Originally, we proposed a single, egalitarian and civil dialogue. Ultimately, we point the church to a clearer perspective. ETS leadership wisely pushed back, recommending vision of the cross and human identity. that our committee and the papers presented represent both egalitarian and complementarian views. We agreed, resulting in Sparking conversation (and controversy) rich conversations of learning and life-long friendships of deep As the president of CBE, I am invited regularly to speak on women’s trust. It has also strengthened us as proponents of our own view! leadership at schools, churches, non-profits, and more. One of my The kindness and respect learned and earned at ETS brings to most memorable sermons took place at an evangelical college. This mind a wise-beyond-years complementarian I met at Gordon- school had a long history of training women evangelists, and my Conwell Theological Seminary (GCTS). talk was on the senior theme for the year: “Women’s Equality is a Newly elected as president of GCTS’s student senate, Bruce Biblical Ideal.” I took the stage and began to speak. invited me to lunch as a senator representing women in ministry. Within minutes, the men from the football team became Assuring me of his support despite our differing views, Bruce visibly agitated. The faculty seated nearby responded with a firm took time to learn my story. And, he expressed gratitude for the “be polite” posture. From the pulpit, it seemed a showdown would kindness egalitarians demonstrate in their scholarship and as erupt in the middle of the auditorium. My message—even my colleagues. He wanted me to know that his heart was with us. presence—challenged the narrative these young men held. For Recently, Bruce and I shared a few laughs as he described his them, women’s equality diminished their masculine identity. journey to an egalitarian position! I am forever grateful for his Though they attended a school with a history of training women courage of character in engaging not only the scholarship and for leadership, they were unaware of their own history. The faculty leadership of those who differed from him, but also their stories. knew the history, but the message had failed to transform these In the end, he was won over by their unapologetic leadership students. There was no showdown, but I promise you there were (though not everyone will be)! many new and lively conversations. At another event, at an institution that once trained women Revealing Calvary’s power for evangelistic work, the chair of the Bible department—the Women leaders not only disrupt the single narrative of male- man who introduced me to the audience—bolted after I took the only leadership, they also reveal Cavalry’s power by aligning stage. At other events, students walked out as I celebrated the women’s identity not with Eve’s sins but with Christ’s victory women church-planters who worked beside Paul. Others have over sin. Whether through their words or by their mere boycotted my talks altogether. My presence, and the message I presence, women leaders proclaim that women and men brought, confronted them with an uncomfortable reality: their equally bear God’s image and are equally remade in the image own evangelical legacy had been pressed to the margins by a single of Christ. Christ’s emancipation of women allows the entire narrative culture of male-only leadership. human family to flourish.

1 Abby Norman. Twitter Post. February 2, 2018 4:13 p.m. https://twitter.com/abbynormansays/status/959550349148348416.

22 MUTUALITY | Spring 2018 website: cbeinternational.org Praise and Prayer

Praise Prayer • We’re thankful for the launch of the Alvera Mickelsen • Pray for the planning for our Finland conference, “Created Memorial Scholarship (read more on pp. 20–21)! for Partnership,” hosted in partnership with RaTas (CBE’s • Our marriage book, Mutual by Design, is finished and Finnish partner organization). Registration is now open! available for purchase at CBE Bookstore and on Amazon. Visit cbe.today/finland. • CBE is formalizing ministry partnerships with leaders • Pray for our new and existing international partnerships— in Cameroon, Uganda, and Zimbabwe. We’re excited to for good communication, fruitful relationships, powerful embark on several new projects with new and existing impact, and for the energy and capacity to keep up with our partners in Africa this year. many partnership opportunities around the world!

CBE INTERNATIONAL ONLINE RESOURCE LIBRARY CBE is proud to offer all of our digital resources for free online! Find Mission Statement every Mutuality article ever published, the full archive of CBE’s academic CBE International (CBE) exists to promote biblical justice and community journal, Priscilla Papers, hundreds of book reviews, and hundreds of video by educating Christians that the Bible calls women and men to share authority and audio recordings of lectures given by world-renowned scholars like equally in service and leadership in the home, church, and world. N.T. Wright, Gordon Fee, and more! Statement of Faith Find it all, for free, at cbeinternational.org! • We believe in one God, creator and sustainer of the universe, eternally existing as three persons in equal power and glory. • We believe in the full deity and the full humanity of Jesus Christ. ORGANIZATION MEMBERSHIP • We believe that eternal salvation and restored relationships are only possible through faith in Jesus Christ who died for us, rose from the dead, CBE memberships are available to churches and organizations, and include and is coming again. This salvation is offered to all people. copies of CBE publications, discounts to CBE conferences, discounted • We believe the Holy Spirit equips us for service and sanctifies us from sin. advertising and sponsorship opportunities with CBE, and more. • We believe the Bible is the inspired word of God, is reliable, and is the final authority for faith and practice. Visit cbe.today/orgmembers to learn more. • We believe that women and men are equally created in God’s image and given equal authority and stewardship of God’s creation. • We believe that men and women are equally responsible for and distorted by CBE SUBSCRIPTIONS sin, resulting in shattered relationships with God, self, and others. Print subscriptions to Mutuality and Priscilla Papers are available to Core Values libraries and inviduals. • Scripture is our authoritative guide for faith, life, and practice. • Patriarchy (male dominance) is not a biblical ideal but a result of sin. Visit cbe.today/subscriptions to learn more. • Patriarchy is an abuse of power, taking from females what God has given them: their dignity, and freedom, their leadership, and often their very lives. • While the Bible reflects patriarchal culture, the Bible does not teach GET CONNECTED WITH CBE patriarchy in human relationships. Connect with CBE online to learn more about us, enjoy the resources we • Christ’s redemptive work frees all people from patriarchy, calling women offer, and take part in our ministry. and men to share authority equally in service and leadership. • God’s design for relationships includes faithful marriage between a man and a woman, celibate singleness and mutual submission in Visit our website, cbeinternational.org, to find over a thousand Christian community. resources—articles, book reviews, and video and audio recordings. • The nrestrictedu use of women’s gifts is integral to the work of the Holy Spirit and essential for the advancement of the gospel in the world. Follow our blog, Arise (cbe.today/blog). • Followers of Christ are to oppose injustice and patriarchal teachings and practices that marginalize and abuse females and males. Follow us on Twitter @CBEInt (twitter.com/cbeint). To learn more about CBE’s values, history, and ministry, visit cbe.today/info. Find us on Facebook (facebook.com/cbeint). bookstore: cbebookstore.org MUTUALITY | “This is What a Preacher Looks Like” 23 CBE International Non-Profit Org. 122 West Franklin Ave, Suite 218 U.S. POSTAGE Minneapolis, MN 55404-2451 PAID Jefferson City, MO Forwarding Service Requested Permit No. 210

cbeBookstore providing quality resources on biblical gender equality Visit CBE Bookstore at cbe.today/bookstore.

Beyond the Stained Glass Ceiling Emboldened A Little Handbook for Preachers Made to Lead Christine A. Smith Tara Beth Leach Mary S. Hulst Nicole Massie Martin

This is My Story The Methodist Defense Threads of Wisdom Finding Their Voices Cleophus J. LaRue, editor of Women in Ministry Caroline A. Mendez D’Esta Love Paul W. Chilcote

Building a Church Full of Leaders Ordaining Women She: Five Keys to Unlock the Power Becoming His Story Jeanne Porter King B. T. Roberts of Women in Ministry Mary-Elsie Wolfe Karoline M. Lewis