girls just wanna have fun

A friend and fellow-blogger posted about our alma mater’s new “Minister’s & Wives Day”. So, after reading his post (you can catch it here) and getting all fired up, I decided to host a ranting session of my own.

Harding, which resides in the county seat of the largest meth-producing county in the nation (Urban legend or not, white county does produce a lot of meth), has decided to host a day for ministers. Well, I’m a minister, and I’m not married – and even if I were, can you imagine the look of horror DDB would have on his face if I showed up with a wife. Yeah, that would be a disaster like none other, and I’m gonna have to rule that entire scenario out with a “big fat negatory”.

Why can’t Harding join the rest of us and realize that God doesn’t give spiritual gifts based on gender, and that several women, myself included, have left institutions of higher learning within our fellowship and have gone on to actively pursue a life in full-time ministry.

At first, I was mad, not the upset kind of mad – but the hoppin’ mad that makes me want to go down there and physical hurt the Harding powers-that-be (or whoever is responsible for this fiasco). I was mad that they were alienating a group of women who, despite their lack of Y-chromosomes, have dedicated their lives to serving God. I was mad that they were alienating men who are single and in ministry, because they are single doesn’t make them any less qualified to minister the word.

Then it hit me… I shouldn’t be mad, I should want to cry. There are people out there who think like this, who are stuck in this mindset. I got out and realized that there are realms of thought outside of the Harding-approved theology that validate and welcome a questioning of the status quo. These people are responsible for the lives of students who are coming into their own faith and this isn’t theology I want them receiving. This runs deeper than a Minister’s day with a poorly chosen name. This is the core of their theology. With all of those upstanding men of God who are paid theologians, you would have thought that one of them would have said, “Hold up, is this the message we are really trying to send?” Either this is the theology they want to spread to their corner of “the brotherhood” (which is becoming more like Freed everyday) or they just are not thinking (which scared me more, seeing as how they claim to be an institution for higher learning).

I’m so glad that I have found a church that can look beyond marriage and gender, and an eldership who sees the importance of utilizing your spiritual gifts, and that the possession of those gifts isn’t directly linked to your reproductive system. But what do I do now? How do I help those women coming behind me see that it doesn’t have to be this way? How do I help places like Harding see that they are making women in ministry (and single men for that matter) feel like second-class members of God’s kingdom? Can I do anything at all, or am I destined to watch Harding alienate women and marginalize itself from the rest of the world?