A recent article featured in Relevant Magazine reflects on a 2011 Barna study revealing that women are leaving the church today in greater numbers than men. This article has already generated a number of comments, many endeavoring to get into issues pertaining to Complementarian vs Egalitarian viewpoints, or even some criticizing that no one should ever leave the church due to feeling “under valued” or “under appreciated.” While there could be many reasons why more women than men are leaving the church these days I found the article particularly relevant in speaking to the expressed feelings of one’s giftedness not being valued as compared to a lack of personal appreciation. I found a paragraph near the end of the article particularly compelling in suggesting that church leaders and male pastors would do well to seek out some of the gifts and expertise from those women in their church that could be offering much to the church on this issue in particular. After all, who better to ask about why women are leaving the church than women?
To read the article, click here.
Are women leaving your church? Are you a woman contemplating leaving because your giftedness is poorly received or not accepted? We’d love to hear your thoughts in our comment section below.
Submitted by Jeff Ondrey
Commission Member
It’s great to see this blog. And I hope that it remains an active voice affirming the gifts of all–and lifting up the gifts of women. And while the article made some good points about the changing roles of women in society and church, its suggestion that churches hire women so that they could minister to other women, is not the solution. Churches should hire women so that they, like the men, can minister to all in the congregation.
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03.20.13 at 6:17 am