Lee Grady Opens the Door for Women
As the father of four daughters, J. Lee Grady realized early on that "God put all those girls in my life because he has a special message he wanted me to give," he says.
Grady, an ordained pastor and Charisma magazine's editor for 11 years, addresses questions of women in Christian leadership and ministry at conferences around the world; his new organization, the Mordecai Project, confronts the abuse of women, and his books address Ten Lies the Church Tells Women (Creation House, 2000), 25 Tough Questions About Women and the Church (Charisma House, 2003), and Ten Lies Men Believe (Charisma House, 2011).
In his new book, Fearless Daughters of the Bible: What You Can Learn From 22 Women Who Challenged Tradition, Fought Injustice and Dared to Lead (Baker, 2012), Grady turns his attention to biblical and historical women who challenged tradition, disrupted status quos, and stood up for themselves and others. Each of the book's 15 chapters discusses a woman or group of women whom Grady sees as role models. Each chapter highlights a specific character trait—for example, Miriam, Moses' sister, represents "the courage to lead in a man's world," and Ruth represents "the courage to forsake the past." Short chapters are designed to prompt further group discussion, with a handful of discussion questions and a short "Message from Your Heavenly Father" with the chapter.
Grady talked with Her.meneutics contributor Ruth Moon about women and ministry in the contemporary church.
Some of the women you mention are well-known Bible characters, but others I hadn't heard of. How did you choose them all?
All of the chapters are different messages that I've been preaching on for the past eight or nine years. For example, the daughters of Zelophehad, who are in chapter 2, [offer] a fundamental message, because of the whole revelation of women taking their inheritance. Hardly anybody preaches about them, even though they're in the Bible in five places. It's such a powerful message, yet most women never hear it.
You point out women in the Bible who take charge, some with actions that could be interpreted as overbearing. Is there a model for women today to do this well?
We've done such a disservice to women in the church [by saying] that in order for you to be a good Christian woman, you have to be quiet, demure, and all about domestic duties. That is tragic. I don't want my girls to be that way. I want them to be assertive and to stand up for what they believe and be bold when they need to be. There's nothing brash or wrong with a woman doing that. We've elevated timidity to a virtue. The Bible says timidity is a sin. Why do we think that women are being Christlike or virtuous by being silent or quiet? There's a time to be quiet. There's a time for all of us to keep our mouths shut. But there's also a time to speak, and we have plenty of examples of women in the Bible who were bold enough to speak.
The Seminary Gender Gap
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jamie taverska
Single women have consistently out-earned single men since the 1970's are prominent on mission fields throughout the world and hold at least 85% of the jobs in primary education 65% of secondary(up to 16yrs old in the UK) serve in the armed forces in 'hot' combat zones and are a significantly greater percentage of the population going to university and gaining better grades at college than most men. Women have almost equalled men in numbers employed in the British labour market the small discrepancy ( about 15%) can easily be explained by pregnancy or other issues. I think it might be men who need to be encouraged not women, women who now dominate the workplace and wealth creation, building families and running the planet.
carlene byron
The questions raised about the relationship between empowering women and interacting with cultures where women are disempowered are quite to the point for me. I was recently "tagged" on LinkedIn by the HR director of a Saudi company who had some extremely desirable positions open. For family reasons, we had to decide that relocation was not possible. But just considering living in such a culture caused me to look in a very different way at the women around me. My career has been in male-dominated technology companies and male dominated evangelical non-profits. Connecting with men has always seemed to be the way to success -- as one female friend puts it, "you put on the game face and the uniform" each morning. Following on this dismissed possibility, I began looking at the invitations I was receiving from women's professional networking groups and discovered high ranking women, women entrepreneurs, and Christian women who were actively nurturing others in their careers. And sharing stories about their kids and grand kids. And joking about their propensity to self-nurture with too many pairs of shoes. And passing on the faith ... like our AT&T president, who says the acronym stands for "Anointed To Testify." So I am beginning to think that the company of women has become, over the time since my career began, a better place to be. And if the company of women inside a particular church is being constrained, then we need to find the family of Christian women outside our church ... and the family of women God is calling who have yet to meet God ... where we can serve according to the call God gives. I know I am fortunate to have a husband who shares my perspectives. It would be harder for a woman whose spouse wants her at home and in the kitchen to find a free space. For you, sister, my prayers.
Venice Venable
We havent done a good job of equipping women to discover who they are and what theyre called to do. I hope this book unleashes that in women.
Kristen Rosser
Hadasseh said: "It disturbs me somehow that there seems to be a lot of emphasis on encouraging women to be 'this or that' rather than to live in obedience to what the Lord wants us to be - and this might be the surrender of perceived rights and/or keeping ourselves still and just 'be' - content in living perhaps the 'drudgery' of life and work and in quietly meditating on Him who is our life and love." This is an admirable sentiment-- but what is a woman do to when she feels deep in her heart that living in obedience to what the Lord wants her to be means, for her, "being this or that" -- when"this or that" means pastor or preacher? What if the Lord isn't calling every Christian who has lady parts to do quiet, in-the-background tasks? What if what we're faulting certain women for isn't selfish ambition, but is actually obedience?
Yohanna Puric
Great insights and ideas. I grew up in a church that encouraged women/ladies/girls to develop and exercise their spiritual gifts. Having been raised in a culture where women control the purse strings, it wasn't dificult for us women to soon be in the leadership and be very active in all facets of ministry except preaching. I was involved in evangelism, discipleship and church planting. The pitfall for us I think was spiritual pride and the tendency to look down on others - both men and women - who were not as active as we were. I find it difficult to empathize with non-assertive women. I think the Lord has now put me in a situation where I could learn to have a 'quiet and demure and humble spirit' and to be content in 'being' rather than in 'doing'. It disturbs me somehow that there seems to be a lot of emphasis on encouraging women to be 'this or that' rather than to live in obedience to what the Lord wants us to be - and this might be the surrender of perceived rights and/or keeping ourselves still and just 'be' - content in living perhaps the 'drudgery' of life and work and in quietly meditating on Him who is our life and love. I sound old (sigh)...
Ruth Moon
Deborah -- no relation to Lottie Moon that I know of, sadly!
Deborah
I just have to ask... is Ruth Moon related to Lottie Moon? Thanks again for all you do, Lee!
Kathi Vande Guchte
The scripture about a woman having a gentle and quiet spirit has been misconstrued, which is why girls were taught to not laugh too loud, yell, or run, and certainly to not break a sweat by exerting oneself. I was thinking of Amy Carmichael as one of the key single women who was a missionary, and who wrote in credible studies after she was bedridden. I don't think it is marriage or being married that is the wrong focus, but the engagement/ring/dress shopping/big wedding, and all the other "stuff" that comes along with weddings today. Couples spend so much money and time planning parties and s pending a rediculous amount of money on an event that doesn't even last a whole day, yet not much time and effort, or money, is put into preparing for marriage itself. I think that's one of the reasons why the divorce rate is so high - the expectations for marriage is unattainable - life is not a 120 minute romantic comedy where everything ends all nice and tidy. I am a single woman in my 40's and haven't married yet. I would very much like to be married, but not to just any man, and it isn't like I haven't been asked. Also, my gifts and calling don't seem to lie in the area of the mission field, but it wouldn't surprise me if God called me to go to countries where human sex trafficking is the worst and pull girls/women out of underground brothels. Although, I wouldn't have to leave my own city to minister to these poor people - it is in my city, as well as towns all over our country. Where I took issue with the article is the author's writing that Christian women have been and are just waiting around for "Mr. Right". If anything, I see something different happening, and that is young women serving in the field as teens, going to college, and then returning to the field as single people. So, to say he's opening the door is kind of...?...the door opened long ago and women have been moving through.
Susanne
Lee -- Thank you, and please keep saying what you are saying.
Nancy Lee
Hannah and Kathryn, There is a ministry called Not Forgotten International that has been reaching out to a completely Muslim refugee people group. Although their name is new as of last year, they've been serving for almost 10 years, and a woman heads it up. The key to their acceptance has been knowing the culture well (for example, Christian women who serve there have worn head scarves out of respect for the culture they're entering), understanding some of the language issues that can alienate Muslims and Christians, and the loving, humble behavior of the Christians who visit and stay for longer amounts of time. Listening has also been important -- too often, Christians charge in, thinking we know what other people groups need . . . instead of listening at least as much (or more) than we are talking. Having low expectations of conversions is also necessary -- and a vision for long-term involvement. Hope you'll google Not Forgotten International and see what they're up to!
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