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Posed by Priscilla Chen
As a woman leader, I really want to bless the ministry but sometimes I’m afraid I am squelching male leadership as a result of my involvement. Recently, I was overseeing a male leader, about 4 years younger than me. I noticed that he was kind of hesitant, and I wondered whether it was because of his age, whether he felt like he couldn’t say certain things in front of me, or something else. I’m curious to see whether he feels freer to step up in leadership while I’m on sabbatical.
There is a dearth of male leadership in the churches in Asia – our ratio of women to men congregants used to be 3 to 1, and now we’re 2 to 1. So we’ve become more balanced, but we’re still mostly women. While I know numbers is only one way of counting male involvement, sometimes I wonder whether men would feel more welcome if women didn’t give talks at all and if we made more of an effort to put men up front as leaders. What do you all think?
Priscilla Chen is a missionary to college students in Asia, currently on sabbatical after seven years in ministry. She is Chinese American, born and raised in New Jersey, with a BA in Music from Cornell University.
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Really interesting question! I’ve also wondered this too.
I think I tend to try to gravitate towards areas where there is a need where I can use my gifts and at the same time won’t quash male leadership also. E.g. female discipleship or give talks at womens events, though this can be hard to find.
Looking forward to hear responses from the experienced women who may have thought this through much more than I have.
I love this question, because it reminds me that it’s not really about empowering women over men, or men over women. On the contrary, it’s about balance — representing the under-represented, and giving voice to the voiceless. While women may be under-represented in church leadership in the US, that’s clearly not the case with churches in Asia!
I don’t know if I have many personal examples to draw from as to how I, as a leader, empowered men, but I have learned some about the power dynamics involved when empowering a marginalized group. “The Wolf Shall Dwell with the Lamb”, by Eric Law, is a thin, easy-to-read book, but pivotal for me in understanding how to make room for and give voice to those who are/feel silenced. It definitely applies to empowering Asian Americans in a white majority culture, women in a male-dominated culture, and I believe it would apply in your case as well — empowering men in a women-dominated environment.
I wrote a short article on how the power dynamic principles in Eric Law’s book applied to Asian Americans in an immigrant church. It’s called “The Delicate Balance of Power,” found on page 23 in the first issue of INHERITANCE magazine: http://inheritancemag.com/issues/issue-1/
Obviously, the principles will have to be re-contextualized for your setting, but hopefully it’ll give you the basic idea!
I would be interested in hearing thoughts from the male perspective.
Me too! Unfortunately, women leaders in the US are few, and thus, men who have been empowered by women leaders are hard to find. (Perhaps we’d have a better chance of finding men empowered by women leaders in Asia… but perhaps they might not be able to respond in English:) In any case, I’m asking around to see if there are men who feel they can respond to this question — feel free to ask around yourself as well! I’m sure we could all benefit from their input:)
i think the times i have empowered men are times when i can ask good questions about how they are emotionally processing hard events in their lives (ie disappointments health issues etc) women have that unique sensitivity that sense when something isnt right. we can be ezers to the men in our lives by challenging them to a deeper level of personal emotional health. in doing so we also empower them to lead in more authentic christlike ways.
I LOVE this question! My current contexts may not be the “purest” to use because of the additional power dynamic inherent in the professor-student relationship, but I’ll offer a thought or two anyway.
I empower men students by encouraging them to explore their various identities (gender, race/ethnicity, class, education, ability, etc.) and consider how these may inform their ministry or other activities. I also empower men by trying to “free” them from norms/standards/paradigms that allow them to see the world only through men’s perspectives.
An example: our church recently went through a sermon series on unsung heroes of the Bible. I challenged our pastoral staff to consider highlighting some of the women characters; they took up the challenge in grand style! ALL the characters they highlighted (and preached about!) were women. Not only this, they preached in such a way that emphasized ALL hearers (not just the women in the congregation) should learn from these women examples.
Though no one preached on this, I often wonder, “What might have Sarah felt upon her husband and son’s return from the trip to sacrifice the son?” Encouraging men in ministry to consider these alternate angles hopefully frees them to consider God, the church, and ministry in more whole ways.
Hi all,
I really appreciate this thread. As a male, I want to say first that my wife and I believe in both male and female leadership both within the household and the church (what some understand as an egalitarian instead of either a complementarian or hierarchical view). It’s also important to note that we view this not necessarily on account of living in the U.S. and its influence of liberal/progressive culture as some might argue we’ve succumbed to, but rather, on account of our theological convictions growing out of Genesis 1, Paul’s writings, the early church’s leaders (e.g., Junia, Priscilla) and Jesus’ own view of women.
Upon this premise, I find this conversation of empowering men by women interesting for several reasons, two I share here. First, I believe the body of Christ is most faithful when we have various voices contributing to the work of the kingdom (or kin-dom). Space must be made at the table by those who are in power for those marginalized and voiceless (as Joy mentions) to understand God and God’s work more fully. For me, this means that I must humble myself to listen to both my sisters and brothers speak truth into my own and the body’s life.
Second, though some men and women may hold this conviction along with me, I find that at a practical and emotional level, because we, the Asian community in the U.S. have not been exposed to many models of Asian American women leaders, when one does come along, there is usually an emotional hurdle to overcome when we might see a women preacher/teacher that may not exhibit the most “feminine” qualities. Case in point, when I first watched and listened to my wife preach when we were dating, I, who was an advocate of women preachers, had a really hard time connecting with her style, which was patterned largely after Korean-American male preaching. In some sense, should I have been so surprised? After all, there weren’t too many female AA preachers to begin with that she herself could pattern. Needless to say, that was a moment when my cognitive beliefs and my emotions came into dissonance.
As a man who studies and works with other men regularly in various ministries, here are some practical steps that both men and women can perhaps consider to “empower men” as the original question asks:
1) I have found that men need to be validated in their personhood. Many of the 2nd generation Korean-American men I have interviewed and worked with, at the end of the day, need to be seen in spite of the “tough guy” image many of them portray. This means providing a listening and fully present posture to their struggles while also keeping firm (as a woman) in your own personhood. It also means that we have to find ways to “actualize” men into adulthood and responsibility-taking. We need to create rituals that help men heal and become whole human beings.
2) We have to help men continue to self-process and become aware of not only themselves, but of others and of systemic structures. We need to understand that Asian men in North America are seen in distinct ways compared to other racial men and even Asian American women.
3) Men, we need to be fine understanding our identities in relation to others (cooperative) and not in competition or rivalry to others, especially other men. The posturing that goes on in order to position ourselves in relation to other men (the “Alpha dog” test in a room full of other guys) needs to give way to appreciating other person’s strengths. Posturing often gives way to isolation and alienation.
Hope this helps and thanks for the invitation to speak.
Cat & Debbie — thanks for offering two very different ways of thinking about empowerment. It not only affirms and reminds me of what I have to contribute as a woman, but also demonstrates how empowerment can happen in more ways than one and on many levels, from emotional affirmation and growth to bringing a woman’s perspective into Scripture reading and interpretation.
Mark — thanks for being the first male (although hopefully not the only one:) to comment on this question, and for the thoroughness of your response. It’s new for me to reflect on what men need to be empowered (I’m usually so focused on the plight of the Asian American woman leader), and it helps to hear it from a male perspective. If you know of any other men who might have insights to offer on this subject, please feel free to invite them to comment as well! Thanks again:)
Hi, I guess I’ll be the second male to respond. Thanks for the opportunity to reflect upon this question.
I don’t think I could have answered this question a decade ago. My seminary education up to that point had been to deem “female leaders” as an oxymoron: Women were, “according to the Bible,” to be submissive and silent in the church thus could not be leaders. But a paradigm shift occurred through the first course I took at Fuller Seminary. In a practical theology seminar with the late professor Ray Anderson, my views on the role of women in ministry were dramatically changed. For our case study exercises, Dr. Anderson admonished us to always consider the words of Christ in light of the works of Christ (and vice versa). Thus, it was not simply a matter of being “faithful to the text” which could get distorted into traditionalism. Rather, there is also a need to be sensitive to the work of the Spirit in issues such as women in church leadership roles. Soon after this realization, my eyes were opened to seeing how God has been using female leaders throughout history, including the Bible.
I have been serving as associate director for ISAAC-SoCal Region under Rev. Dr. Young Lee Hertig for several months. In this role, I have felt empowered by observing firsthand Young’s leadership abilities. She has many skills I need to learn. At the same time, Young is gifted with talents that I do not possess. Both cases are empowering because they remind me that power is not be dependent on gender. Rather empowerment ultimately comes from God. Acknowledging this reality would help women and men in ministry. Female leaders can empower the men they lead by sharing in their God-given authority. And male leaders need to remember that power is not an exclusive right. “The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised.” (Job 1:21b)
hey y’all,
thanks so much for your thoughtful responses to this question! i’ve actually been thinking about it for several years now and i wish i could have brought it up sooner. for far too long i’ve been only thinking about it as a potential “battle of the sexes” or a biblical submission issue, but after reading all of your different perspectives, i’m beginning to realize that there are many different angles on this issue and lots of potential ways of addressing it. thank you for sharing from your experiences and enriching my thoughts as a result. in addition, my sincere thanks to joy for being such a catalyst in this process.