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Why
Living Like Jesus Means Justice For Women
by Major Danielle
Strickland
Women’s role in church is often a hot topic for debate. But
Danielle Strickland argues that this isn’t just an academic
issue, it’s a question of justice.
The
Church is made up of people who follow Jesus.
They are supposed to represent God on the earth, which
is an amazing opportunity because what I know about God is
awesome.
This wasn’t always the case of course. I
used to think that God and his followers were small minded,
rule-based, hypocrites out to destroy everybody’s fun. But
then I had an encounter with Jesus and it changed everything.
I realised that God is love.
Not just a sappy ‘holds your hand and wipes
your tears’ sort of love but a ‘knocks ‘em out, takes it for
the team’ kind of liberating love that empowers people. The
kind of love that kicks at the darkness until it bleeds
daylight.
So, representing that kind of a God is an
awesome opportunity. The trouble is we often get it wrong. We
are so established in our own culture that we represent our
own interests and our own ideas instead of representing God.
It’s easy to do. How we value women in the church is a great
example of that.
The Bible kicks off with the incredible
story of creation. How we were made. This matters. It speaks
into our value as human beings. It speaks deeply into our
hearts about who we are, what makes us unique, and why we are
even here on this planet. It tells us of the nature of God who
created humanity in his image – ‘male and female he created
them’. God made women and men together as a representation of
himself on the earth. Then he gave them the job of taking care
of the earth together.
What’s so amazing about this grounding
story of our purpose and value is that when that story was
written women were not even considered people, let alone equal
to men. Second class through and through.
See, society has always told its own story
about our value and worth, but God tells a different story – a
true story – one that sets us free. Women were and are made
equal with men and all of us are made in God’s image. This is
the very first revelation of God in the Bible; that’s how
important this is.
So, the Church really needs to represent
God well in its modeling of women’s equality. But it often
fails to do this. Often, the Church models the exact opposite
by continuing to teach and encourage the inequality of women
through limited roles, narrow theology, and a lack of concern
about the treatment of those outside its own walls.
I’ve listened to some awful stories
recently about how women have been treated by people who say
they represent God. What a false representation; definitely
not what God intended.
When Jesus showed up on earth, people were
doing just that. When he arrived, he found a culture where
women were treated as property, had limited access to
education, had no leadership possibilities in the community,
and were often the receivers of abuse and exploitation at the
hands of ‘God’s people’. Jesus chose to confront this terrible
misrepresentation of God by living a different reality.
Jesus was a feminist. He treated women with
equality and honour in a culture that dismissed and abused
them. He called them to be disciples and leaders, givers and
evangelists, apostles and teachers and preachers – he healed,
empowered and involved women in his ‘Kingdom come’ strategy on
the earth. The Early Church was filled with women and they
tried to model God to the people around them. No one
had any special status, whatever their race, tribe,
background, wealth and gender. These were nonissues in their
new community, this community called Church.
So
what happened?
In a word – sin. Sin isn’t something
pleasurable that God doesn’t want you to do. It’s that deep
thing inside all of us that is broken. It’s the selfish,
greedy thing that wants to be better than others – to push
ourselves forward even at other people’s expense. Sin doesn’t
just play out in individual’s lives, but in society too. We
craft our cultures around our sin, and exclusion is one of
ways we see it. Around the world, women remain excluded from
education, resources, opportunities, freedom, and equality. In
the Church they are often excluded from leadership,
opportunities to use their gifts, influence or freedom.
The root of the inequality and exclusion
experienced by women in the Church is the same as in society
at large. Many, many women around the globe suffer terrible
abuses because of the deep inequality that runs through the
heart of all suffering in the world and sadly, many
women in the Church have to fight against the
inequality that limits their potential. Such injustice is sin.
And sin will always deeply misrepresent God.
How
do we spark change?
The best way I’ve discovered to change
things is this: live like Jesus. Live a life that is free from
having to prove yourself. Live a life that celebrates freedom
and empowers others. Live a life of beauty and healing and
hope. Live a life that loves no matter what the culture,
gender, background or reputation of the people you are with.
That, my friends, is the best way to
represent God on the earth. And what it looks like is equality
– for everyone. That’s good news for women. But it’s also good
news for anyone suffering from injustice. It’s the news that
the Church has been called to preach to the entire earth – the
good news of the gospel – that God is love and it’s a fierce,
wild love that will rid the earth of injustice and set the
captives free.
Let’s start living that way today.
Do you agree with Danielle? Carry on the
conversation with friends or in your youth group!
Want to read
more? Danielle suggests:
• Half The Sky
by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn
• The
Liberating Truth:
how Jesus empowers women
by Danielle Strickland
• Christians for Biblical Equality
cbeinternational.org
• Why Not Women?
by Loren Cunningham and David Hamilton
• The Blue Parakeet
by Scot McKnight
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