Sunday, April 25, 2010

give men more respect

Give men more respect.


Respect them enough to think they can handle a woman in leadership. That they won't be thrown off by a female preacher.

That they aren't all hopelessly messy, in desperate need of a wife to domesticate them.

That men won't scared out of church if there are women there, even if they are leading some things.

That men can, and are, living into their callings and also encouraging women to pursue what God is calling them to do, not as sidekicks but as partners in bringing God's kingdom to all the earth (back to Gen. 1).

That men don't want women to downplay their (women's) strengths and intelligence.


I've heard the opposite of all these things, either in conversation or from a pulpit. Sometimes more times than I can remember throwing up.

It seems that many stereotypes and prototypes that have limited women's roles hurt men just as much.

I'm not saying what I'm not saying (i.e. I'm not implying that men and women don't need each other. Not defining men and women's roles... not even touching that).


Just sayin' --give men more credit.

3 comments:

  1. Yeah. I think we've talked about this before. The way to keep men in church is take make sure that women aren't in leadership -because that intimidates us or something.

    Also, there's the nonsense perception that men are only attracted to girls who appear to be "lesser" then them in most respects. I don't want to be married to someone who needs me as a guide. I want to be married to a peer.

    There are plenty of reasons of why men don't often go to church, but it is not of the reasons listed here.

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  2. Thanks, Stacia, I really appreciate this. I feel like the opposites of what you're talking about too often gets said today, and I don't think it needs to be.

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  3. thanks for the validation, guys, it's really good to hear. :)
    hopefully this didn't sound bitter, just emphatic.

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