The Emerging Church: Men and Women In The Church

Comments on the Jollyblogger made think about the gender roles in church. He was talking about the marginalization men in the church. I think there is a tendency to marginalize either men or women. In the church that I grew up in, men were marginalized, women were the real power center of the church. In my current church, I see a problem that women are sometimes marginalized, not by design, but by insecurity. Since we do not allow women to teach men or serve as officers, women know that there are limits what they can do. Instead of recognizing that they can serve in almost any other fashion, they tend to be hesitant in doing many other things. I'm not sure how to solve the problem. Neither gender should feel marginalized, or should I say, be marginalized. If a church allows for women officers, men are often marginalized. The usual way that I see to keep women from being marginalized in an all male leadership church is to have a women's ministry which has a separate but not so equal status. This separate organization within the church serves as an outlet for women's leadership gifts. I'm not sure that is the answer in more modern churches since this is less palatable to younger women, they are used to leadership in the work place. Answers and suggestions to the question welcome.

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