Need to Know

In a recent book curated by Danielle Strickland called Need To Know, with the wonderful subtitle, Empowering Female Leadership and Why It’s Essential for the Future of the Church, a long list of mostly women authors, speakers, pastors, professors, and leaders have written up reflections on the following topics:

(1)  It’s not us vs. you

(2)  All are made in the Imago Dei

(3)  The cost of patriarchy

(4)  Anti-abuse and advocacy

(5)  The future church

My chapter, “The Hand that Rocked the Messiah’s Cradle,” about Mary is in the Imago Dei sections. There are 22 chapters full of insights, stories, and observations that can nurture a new way of church. I will keep my observations today to the introduction, which gives you a taste of the contents and value of this important new book.

The introduction opens where it ought to open: with the reality of a male-centered church, even a male-dominated church. “In the western church today -- particularly in evangelical spaces -- in leadership and dominance, the depiction of God as male, and the over-valuing of ‘masculinity’ in the churches promotion of certain character traits. Not only have we allowed these ways of operating to become our norm, they've become enmeshed with our understanding of following Jesus and being the church. It's become the water we swim -- that we breathe in -- and we're completely oblivious.” A good place for some hyperbole, methinks.

The “stakeholder principle” pervades evangelical culture, and it is invisible to most of us. “The church, those of us who benefit from the current status quo (most notably white, cis, heterosexual men) are slow to recognize its pitfalls when we experience better salaries, more leadership opportunities, and fewer menial tasks in our roles. Even when we support the equality of women in the church, it can be difficult for us to fully understand women's experiences and to do the necessary work to improve their situations. Our ignorance isn't necessarily woeful; the structures we inhabit have simply become our norm.”

Danielle Strickland provides an anecdote about the power of a system to prevent sight of what’s actually going on: “Many years ago, I interviewed an influential executive leader about the challenges he experienced in trying to bring health and change within his organization. He offered valuable insights that I still find relevant today. However, he also expressed something of significant concern. He said that as he rose in leadership and influence within his organization he found it increasingly difficult to get an accurate understanding of the situations he faced. Most of the people around him simply provided information they believed he wanted to hear and, as he rose in power, there were fewer dissenting voices offering much-needed, alternative viewpoints. Eventually, he reached a point where he couldn't determine whether his efforts were genuinely making any difference at all. This led him to realize that he needed to break free from the cycle of closed-loop feedback in order to gain a more objective perspective, as well as drive changes with real consequences. What I learned from this man was that it is very hard to expect change from people who benefit from the system as it is. Change requires us to listen to voices outside of what has become our norm.”

Ergo, white men are the inevitable beneficiaries of a system they’ve created. For women to benefit from the system, women will have to be given voice and agency to change that system. Culture and system changes are both complicated and painful for those who are the current beneficiaries. “We need to listen to the voices of those who are experiencing abuse in the church, are excluded from certain roles, have their gifts and talents overlooked, are victim-blamed or even encouraged to stay in abusive relationships, are overlooked in their contributions, and who end up shouldering much of the lower-wage or unpaid work in the church and at home.”

Barna is referred to about women leaving the church so much that the gender gap is shrinking. Many today are in phases of deconstruction because of the way women are treated, and even more, because they as women are experiencing suppression. The gender gap is not closed because there is an increasing number of men entering the church. The gender gap is closing because women are walking out the back door.

Has the following every happened in your setting? “I (Alan) have sometimes wondered what might happen if women showcased the importance of their contributions by organizing a collective ‘strike.’ Imagine if, for several months, all women refrained from attending church and offering their usual assistance in running things. Perhaps they could gather separately during church hours to pray for the men who are supposedly running the church. What do you imagine would happen? I tend to think that our churches would come to a grinding halt.” A good place for understatement, methinks.

The system we have, a male-centered and -dominated culture, produces what that system inevitably must produce. Groupishness produces self-perpetuating groupies. For there to be a different result, the group has to change. “If we want to change the outcomes of the male-dominated system, then we will have to redesign it to include female genius and contribution.”

So why this book? “This book is written primarily to men to show them … some of the things that their male privilege has blinded them to.” The book is full of diverse voices – a vast majority of women authors already turns the book into diverse voices. “Many of these female voices are from Black and brown women, highlighting yet another level of exclusion many people experience in white patriarchal systems. … Some of them are speaking out of their personal pain. Some are speaking out of their theological expertise. Some out of their practical experience.”

Need to Know then is both “an intervention and an invitation.”

Buy a copy. No, buy two copies and give one to a man who needs it.