Karen Hinz is solo pastor of Mission Covenant Church in Ishpeming, Michigan. She loves to travel when time and money allow. Raising teenagers is her current joy and challenge!

I know this column is a place for serious discussion of issues facing women in ministry. And I’m usually pretty serious, but sometimes, we’ve just got to laugh. So today, don’t take life too seriously. Allow yourself a chuckle. It’s good for the body and the soul.

When I was a child, the church kitchen was run by Mrs. Bance, who had white hair, and Mrs. Bice, who had slightly blue white hair. Noisy kids were not welcome. Many years later, when I started as a solo pastor, I wondered what my relationship to the church kitchen ought to be. This was not covered in seminary. Was I welcome in the kitchen? Banned? Expected to share the load the same as the other women in the church? When “fellowship hosting sheets” came around, was I supposed to sign up?

The church kitchen is usually the domain of a few specific women, but also a place of expectations for all church women. In many churches today, males of any sort – and particularly male pastors – are not still not allowed near these stainless steel temples. Or at least not expected to take their turns. In fact, in these places, kitchen ladies will come to church any time of day to make coffee for the pastor, or for any gathering the pastor may be hosting. So I found myself puzzled as to what to do. For two years, I purposely did not learn how to operate the church coffeepots, because it seemed like trying to take over the kitchen ladies’ turf. But this also raised the familiar question: does a clergy woman need to act like a man to be respected as pastor? It’s a Catch-22. The last couple of years, I have been making coffee when needed. And no one seems to mind. Continue Reading »

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Mandi Cherico is a second year M.Div student at North Park Theological Seminary in Chicago, IL. Raised in the Twin Cities, her interests include feminism, word-care, aesthetics, and Beyonce.

“Are there really that many hurting women in the Church?”

I was a freshman at a Christian college when I heard one of my professors pose this question to our class. Yes, I replied, women were still second-class citizens in many congregations, yet he was unconvinced. According to him, the women in his church seemed happy and fulfilled. We’ve come a long way. Women have the right to vote and work outside the home, why make an issue out of nothing?

I wish I could tell you that I attended college in an era of widespread, Mad Men-type sexism but, alas, I graduated in the early 2000s. I’ve reflected on his disbelief since then, still saddened by his ignorance. His question taught me something valuable, though. For some among us, the struggles of women in the 21st century are a non-issue. It is the opinion of some, even (especially?) in the Church, that discussions on gender equality are simply not needed today.

I agree that it’s good to recognize women’s progress. Three waves of feminists spanning two centuries have done hard and necessary work both inside and outside the Church to create a more equal playing field for women and men. There are far more women in the workforce this decade than ever before. For every one man who graduated from college in the U.S. in 2009, three women earned their diplomas as well. Women are running companies and running for president. So why, some may ask, are we still writing blogs about gender equality? Continue Reading »

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Corrie Gustafson is an ordained Covenant pastor and the Pacific Southwest liaison for Advocates for Covenant Clergy Women (ACCW). She currently serves as the Pastor to Women at Peninsula Bible Church in Palo Alto, California. She blogs regularly at http://pastorwithapurse.com

Last month I attended the Pacific Southwest Conference annual meeting and there I hosted a gathering for clergy women. 15 women showed up, among them chaplains, staff pastors, senior pastors, bivocational ministers, non-profit leaders, and conference staff. We had a time of open sharing framed by this question: where do you see the ink of the Holy Spirit in your ministry?

I’ve attended many such gatherings over the years, and now hosted a handful. I’ve learned that camaraderie among women clergy is a critical force in sustaining our ministry in the church and the world. It’s incredibly encouraging to both testify to and bear witness to God’s work through women with such diverse calls and gifts.

Despite the many inspiring stories, there’s always a sobering element to our meetings. I’ve never been to a gathering of Covenant clergy women that was unburdened by a story, or stories, of pain. Like the story of a staff pastor who resigned because she was bullied by her senior pastor. Or the testimony of a pastor who serves her church faithfully and her efforts are bearing rich fruit, but she is paid significantly less than her male colleagues of the same experience and education level. Or a pastor who bravely took a call to lead a struggling church (a call declined by several male candidates) and the slow climb to congregational health is blamed on her perceived “lack of experience.” Continue Reading »

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Rev. Mary Putera is an Ordained ECC pastor serving as the interim pastor at Sunset Covenant Church in Beaverton Oregon.  Mary also serves nationally and globally in peace building and community resiliency efforts.

In the past two years I have lost 4 clergy colleagues from the ECC Covenant Ministerium, not to death; but to death of hope.  Loss of Hope that the ONE who befriends us is actually powerful enough to form us into deeply respectful, mutually honoring, diverse and embracing, loving mission friends.  History, because it is systemically entrenched, seems to have a mighty hold on us believers.

I am heartbroken by these losses.  These are women and men of God who truly have been befriended by God and separated from our ECC church community.  These pastors are all called by God, affirmed by our community, and became dismembered from us.  Is it because history forms us more strongly than Hope?  I wonder.  For me there is not blame, just lament, lament that where we are is not where we could be.  Lament that it is possible, that where we are headed is not where God would have us be going for the sake of, with God, giving birth to the Kingdom community here on earth. Continue Reading »

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Catherine Gilliard is co-senior pastor of New Life Covenant Church in Atlanta, Georgia. She received her MDiv from North Park Theological Seminary and is a DMin candidate of the Association of Chicago Theological Schools (ACTS) with an expected graduation date of May 2015.

I remember how hard it was for me the first year that I didn’t find myself in the store in front of the Hallmark cards display reading through the poetic verses written on Mother’s Day cards. I remember reading card after card until I found the one that expressed my thanks to my mother for the sacrifices she made for me. I could never have imagined the depth of these feelings the first time I stood, in this aisle, before these cards, knowing that I would never need to buy another one, ever. That was in 2008. If I had known the card I purchased in May of that year would be my last, I would have wanted it to be about the ways my Mom’s faith has influenced mine.

This year, I have walked with many of my friends and colleagues who have joined me in this circle of remembering our Mom. I started once again to think about how God used my Mom to strengthen my faith as a guide and model for me of how to be a witness and a vessel of God’s mercy and grace.

I thank my Mom for the ways in which she modeled her dependence upon the Holy Spirit. As a young child, I never knew the details of the problems she faced but I always knew Mom was going through something when I heard her singing “His Eye Is On The Sparrow” from the kitchen. And now in my times of personal crisis I find myself singing these words in the kitchen and finding new hope in God’s promises. Continue Reading »

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Jo Ann Deasy is an ordained Covenant pastor currently serving as the director of institutional initiatives and student research at the Association of Theological Schools in Pittsburgh, PA.

As most of you already know, I am very committed to biblical gender equality. I am an ordained pastor in the Evangelical Covenant Church, was the senior pastor of a church, wrote a dissertation on how churches form identity in young women, and consider myself a pretty serious feminist. In the last 9 months, though, all of that has been put to the test. What has challenged all of my beliefs and made me question my own commitments? Church shopping… Yes, church shopping.

Last July I moved to Moon, Pennsylvania, a city just west of Pittsburgh, a city with no Covenant churches. Yes, there are Covenant churches in Pittsburgh, but with a toddler the 45 minute Sunday morning commute into Declan’s naptime (as well as the minimum 60 minute weekday evening commute) just isn’t possible. I’d really like to find something that is closer to home, something we can eventually be involved in during the week as well as on Sundays. So, I began church shopping.

I have met some lovely people. Heard some decent sermons. Enjoyed some great worship. Of course, I’ve also been ignored, struggled with a squirming toddler through a service with no childcare, heard some terrible music, and been shocked by how quickly you can realize you don’t fit theologically with a congregation. Mostly, though, I’ve been challenged to figure out what my non-negotiables are. I’ve been challenged to think of church through the eyes of my son. I’ve had to decide what is most important to me as I consider what I want my son to understand about God and about women pastors.

Do I choose a congregation that has great worship, a strong children’s ministry, but does not believe in women in ministry? Is a church with a woman pastor enough? Even if they have no children’s programs? What if they say they are supportive of women, but always use male language for human beings? No gender neutral language of any kind. What if they use gender neutral language for human beings but never for God? What if they do use gender inclusive language, support women pastors, but don’t affirm scripture the same way that I do? Or what if I just don’t like the worship? What if I don’t feel like I am getting anything out of the sermons even though they are preached by a woman pastor with a theology that I agree with? Continue Reading »

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Jon Lemmond is Pastor for Congregational Life at Montecito Covenant Church, Santa Barbara, CA and an adjunct professor at Westmont College. Jon received a M.Div. from Fuller Theological Seminary and a Ph.D. in early modern European history from the University of California, Santa Barbara. His research focused on the issue of domestic abuse during the Protestant Reformation. He is married to Marianne Robins, a full-professor at Westmont College, and they parent four children: Jeremie, Emma, Jordan, and Lea.

My daughter wasn’t surprised when I told her that I would be one of the bloggers for the Commission on Biblical Gender Equality. But, I was surprised at her response as we wound our way through Golden Gate Park in San Francisco one brisk morning: “That’s great, Dad,” she said. “But don’t try to liberate me.” What followed was a delightfully humbling conversation as my daughter carefully reminded me of what it means to be man participating in a conversation about women and gender. So the following remarks are my brief, initial thoughts as a response to her questions and insights. Specifically, what role should men play in such a discussion about gender, equality and empowerment?

1. Our first priority should be to listen.
That listening should be a priority is not always easy, particularly for many of us who want change quickly. I suspect that many of my male counterparts (myself included) feel like we clearly understand the problem of female (dis)empowerment and simply need to address it. Armed with our critical exegesis and theology, our well intentioned desires to see our congregations change, we often forget that we might have something to learn from our sisters for whom this is more than simply an intellectual or even vocational struggle. Our well intentioned privilege, in other words, can mask our own assumptions about strategies for change or our female colleagues’ experience amidst the struggle. Or even worse, our well-intentioned critique and activism might become disempowering. Do my female colleagues really need me to liberate them? I don’t think so and my daughter’s words remind me that I should be uncomfortable enough to want to ask and listen more. Jesus has something to say about this, “Then pay attention to how you listen; for to those who have, more will be given; and from those who do not have, even what they seem to have will be taken away.” (Luke 8:18). We must pay careful attention to our female colleagues and how we listen to them. When we do so we are more apt to come along side, or maybe even fade into a supportive role, as they seek to speak for themselves. In the end, isn’t that the point? Continue Reading »

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Catherine Gilliard is co-senior pastor of New Life Covenant Church in Atlanta, Georgia. She received her MDiv from North Park Theological Seminary and is a DMin candidate of the Association of Chicago Theological Schools (ACTS) with an expected graduation date of May 2015.

The forty day period between the Resurrection and the Ascension of Jesus is often
overlooked. On the church calendar it is called the season of Easter. Many of us
celebrate Easter on one day of the calendar, but it is a season of joyful testimony for
God’s people. For forty days we proclaim that we too are witnesses to the risen Lord.
We have discovered in each of our ministries the evil that happens between Hosanna
and Hallelujah and on during this season of Easter we share the testimony because we
are those witnesses that proclaim, “Jesus Is Alive!”

Life in the 21st century has become complex. Each day we awaken to the mourning unfolding in community after community when we learn that another woman loses a son, another wife a husband, another child a father, another sister a brother, we have a powerful testimony to share. We pastor churches that are often reluctant to speak about the tension present in the daily realities for many who sit in our pews. What can we share with those who are waiting to hear how the gospel really matters in their day to day existence? Continue Reading »

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