Sophia Network

Praxis: Find new ways of working together

If we want to put equality into practice, we need to take responsibility for our own integrity and accountability so that working relationships with the opposite sex are an opportunity for growth and not a threat to be avoided.

The Christian world is wonderfully relational. Projects and partnerships are dreamed up over late-night curries; mentoring takes place during shared car journeys on mission trips; friends get invited to speak or take part in other friends’ ministries. The Christian world is also acutely aware of how relationships can get distorted and corrupted, so to protect our integrity and marriages we need to be wise about the potential for things to go wrong when men and women work together. It can be difficult to get a good balance though, and the danger is that women can miss out on opportunities and end up invisible, particularly when hard and fast rules are made. It needs a longer conversation than just a blog post, but Mixed Ministry is a book that addresses some of the issues and is perhaps a good place to start.

Praxis: Use inclusive language

More on putting equality into practice: consider using an inclusive language version of the Bible for your own study and in public contexts, and making sure worship songs and liturgy don't exclude.

There has been huge controversy over inclusive language translations of the Bible, particularly in the States. Just Google the term and you can get embroiled in the arguments and conspiracy theories. The central issue for me is the language that is used by our culture. As I said here, the word 'man' used to mean 'people' as well as 'a male human being', but it doesn’t any longer.

Verses like this from Psalm 1 can leave women thinking ‘but what about me? ‘Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.’ Just read the psalm replacing the male terms with female ones and you’ll see what I mean. And it’s particularly important when you’re dealing with young people outside of the church who won’t have the background or knowledge of the jargon to include women as well.

A new version of the Bible can take some adjusting to when you know certain passages in the version you’re used to and not everyone will want to make the change, but if you want to explore an inclusive language version, compare Romans 12:6-8 in the NIV with the TNIV, CEV, and NCV to see the difference. The NRSV is also inclusive language but isn't available online.

UPDATE: The Committee on Bible Translation (CBT) announced at the beginning of September 09 that the NIV will be revised over the next couple of years with a new version being published in 2011. The TNIV will be phased out and no longer available. The NIV translators say they are 'committed to a complete review of every gender-related change that it has made since the publication of the1984 edition.  They have broken up the entire Bible into 6 major chunks, each of which will be fully reconsidered by the committee taking all the major published comments on their approach into consideration. It is not possible at this stage, therefore, to give a definitive answer to the question about the use of gender inclusive language in the new NIV.' More info on the NIV Bible 2011 website.

Praxis: Share the ironing!

If you want to put partnership into practice, then recognise that the organisation of what you do at home has a big impact on what you do outside it, and, where appropriate, share housework with the people that you live with.

There are different ways to deal with the never-ending range of tasks that fall into the category of housework and in many ways it’s a dull subject to talk about. Single people just have to get on and do all the stuff that needs to be done. Many parents with small children are able for one of them to stay at home to look after the children and do the housework, while the other earns the money to keep them all going – and ideally both of them are happy with those roles and responsibilities.

But what about those marriages where both partners work, and yet the woman does all the housework on top of paid employment and takes responsibility for everything to do with caring for children – the second shift? Some women expect this of themselves and don’t want to let go; some men expect it of their wives and don’t want to get involved! I’ve ranted about housework on this blog before, so I won’t go on too much here. Again, if that’s what people want to do then it’s up to them, but often that pattern begins through assumptions and expectations rather than deliberate intent. And it does make a difference to the amount of time women have to study, play, dream or create; it does limit their ability to travel, attend conferences or go on retreat. So it’s worth a frank conversation every so often, on who does what and why, and what impact that has on your lives.

Praxis: Do new things

The second suggestion for putting equality into practice is to create opportunities for women to learn, to be stretched, to do new things so that they grow in skills and confidence and the body of Christ is enriched – even if that means taking some risks.

Generalisations are never true for everyone, but some women can be very good at putting everyone else first and themselves last. A friend of mine talks about how when his Dad was serving the pudding after Sunday lunch there would always be a big, beautiful piece left for himself; when his Mum served the pudding she was always left with the burned corner – does that ring true for anyone?!  When it comes to developing skills and learning new ones, some women benefit from a bit of a push, to be reminded that it’s not selfish, that it’s worth making the time even though home responsibilities might make that more difficult.

One of the reasons we’re working with Tearfund on the Women in Leadership trip to Malawi next year is to provide an experience that will take us out of our comfort zones, stretch us in places we didn’t think we were stretchy and provide space for God to speak into our lives. That certainly happened for those of us who went to Cambodia earlier this year, pictured above. You can find out more from the Tearfund website or download the information sheet here. Email Jenny Baker if you have any questions or need more information.

Praxis: Find the missing women

During August, I’ll just be updating the blog twice a week as its holiday season. Each Monday I want to explore what the partnership of men and women could look like in practice, following the suggestions in this post on praxis.

The first suggestion is to find the missing women! If women are under-represented, then be proactive in looking for gifted women when you need someone to speak, train, lead, write about, write for you, use as an illustration, preach about and so on, instead of immediately opting for the more obvious male candidates.

Over the last year, I have challenged a number of event organisers, editors and resource producers where they have included few or no women. Invariably the response is, ‘We’d like to include more women, but we don’t know any!’ I hope the Sophia Network can begin to address that problem through the women that we profile in interviews on this blog, and also because we’re a network, creating opportunities for all our members to find out who’s doing what around the country and then speaking up for each other. We’re looking at setting up a directory of women’s speakers but want to do this in partnership with other organisations so it can be really useful, and helps more inexperienced women speakers to develop through training, feedback and creating opportunities. But I’d also like to encourage those gatekeepers who can provide opportunities for women to speak, write and lead to take some risks and not just go for the safe pair of hands.

And there’s a need to be aware of barriers that can stop women applying for positions or putting themselves forward. The Appointments Commission, an organisation responsible for finding non-executive directors, found a marked decrease in the number of women applying for these over the last few years and an increase in the number of women resigning from posts. Their publication, Women on board, gives results of their research into why this was, and is useful reading for anyone looking to increase the number of women in their organisation at any level.

At the same time, we need to work to avoid any kind of tokenism or setting people up to fail. There’s an element of truth in the adage that a woman has to do twice as well to get half the recognition, and a feeling that women will be judged harshly for not making the grade. Let’s make sure women are well equipped and well supported when they move into new areas.

Putting it into practice

One of the aims of the Sophia Network is to see the partnership that God created between men and women expressed fully in the world - in churches, families, businesses, schools, in every area of life. We want to see men and women working together because we think that’s how we work best. When God created the world, the one thing that was not good was that the man was alone. Sue Edwards writes, ‘Healthy faith families, just like biological families, need both men’s and women’s ideas, gifts and perspectives in order to thrive.’ Where women’s voices are silenced, or where men are excluded, then the body of Christ is impoverished and we can end up misrepresenting the gospel. Of course, there will always be a place for single-sex groups with a specific purpose (like the Sophia Network!) but we need to actively work at breaking down barriers, challenging unhelpful stereotypes and enabling both men and women to reach their full potential.

So what does that partnership look like in practice? It will be different for each person, but here are some suggestions for you to think about:

• challenging stereotypes, sexist attitudes, degrading humour and exclusive language that damage women and/or men when you encounter it in your church, your work and your relationships.
• if women are under-represented then proactively looking for gifted women when you need someone to speak, train, lead, write about, write for you, use as an illustration, preach about and so on, instead of immediately opting for the more obvious male candidates. At the same time, working to avoid any kind of tokenism or setting people up to fail.
• creating opportunities for women to learn, to be stretched, to do new things so that they grow in skills and confidence and the body of Christ is enriched – even if that means taking some risks.
• taking responsibility for your own integrity and accountability so that working relationships with the opposite sex are an opportunity for growth and not a threat to be avoided.
• recognising the wonderful and creative diversity that exists within both sexes, allowing people to be who God calls them to be and not expecting them to fit into neatly defined boxes.
• recognising the impact that the organisation of private life has on the public sphere, and, where appropriate, sharing domestic duties with the people that you live with.
• working towards an appropriate mix of men and women actively involved in any project that you participate in, or in any network that you belong to.
• consider using an inclusive language version of the Bible for your own study and in public contexts, and making sure worship songs and liturgy don't exclude.
• wrestling with theology and understanding of biblical texts that relate to gender to discover what they say to us as men and women today.
• helping young men and young women to relate healthily to each other, realising that they are brothers and sisters in Christ rather than aliens from another planet.

Any other suggestions? I hope to expand on some of these in future posts.