Youth-focused Christianity may be sidelining the gifts of older women.
Sarah Bessey, guest writer
A few months ago, I asked
my blog readers to send me a story or two about how it feels to be a
woman in the church. I was working on my book, Jesus Feminist,
and in addition to academic and theological research, I wanted to carry
with me the everyday stories of women, too. I was more than a little
overwhelmed by the response: both the sheer number and the content.
Women filled my inbox with their stories – beautiful and horrible,
hurtful and empowering – about their experiences within the institutions
of Christianity.
As I expected, there were the personal stories about women feeling
marginalized in their churches because they are not married or because
they do not or cannot have children; stories about women who had men
turn their backs when they stood up to preach their first sermon;
stories about women who stayed in abusive marriages because of their
church teachings, and other deep sadness. I was also pleased to see so
many stories from women who found their true voice, vocation, community,
leadership gifting, and healing within church community.
But one theme emerged that I hadn't expected:
women in the middle of their lives who felt invisible and ignored by the church, the same way they feel invisible or ignored in our culture.
