New initiative propels women
University adapts to evolving perspective on female leadership in culture
The spring 2015 Convocation calendar is nearly full at 39 confirmed guests, with the exception of four to-be-announced speakers. Of those speakers, eight are women. To hear the majority of those women, be sure to attend Convocation this week in the Vines Center at 10 a.m. After that, the university will host three more female speakers throughout the spring.
This week is the launch of Propel Women, an “initiative designed to equip and encourage women for leadership,” according to a Liberty News Service article.
Inspiring — Emmy-winner Roma Downey encourages students. Photo credit: Courtney Russo
About 21 percent of those invited on the Convocation stage this semester — including musical guests — are women, according to the Convocation page on liberty.edu. In the fall 2014 semester, 6 percent of the scheduled Convocation speakers were women. Thanks to Pastor Christine Caine’s new initiative and Liberty’s partnership, the amount of female speakers at the university has increased nearly three times in only one semester.
This is a statistical improvement. No one can deny that. With guests like Caine, Beth Moore, Meredith Andrews and Kari Jobe speaking during the Propel Women launch, the university is adjusting to the elevated role women now play in ministry.
Liberty must continue to build on this improvement. Being an institution that is affecting so many aspects of the church, culture and the workplace, I applaud the university for launching the partnership with Propel Women.
Using 2013 data of the total enrollment at Liberty, 41 percent of students are male and 59 percent are female, according to US News & World Report rankings.
When that 59 percent graduates and those women step through the doors into their first day at the office, are they inspired by Christ-honoring, people-loving, hard-working role models? Role models who have spoken insight and advice unique to issues that a woman may face?
Of course women glean from the lives of Paul the apostle, Charles Dickens, Martin Luther King Jr. and other great men. And men glean from the lives of Ruth, Marie Curie, Corrie Ten Boom and others. The balance of men and women is critical to gaining a well-rounded perspective.
Mark Burnett, producer of “The Apprentice,” “Shark Tank” and “The Bible” miniseries is scheduled to speak in Convocation on Friday, Feb. 6. Last semester, Roma Downey, Burnett’s wife and Emmy-nominated producer, shared some of her story with students, providing meaningful insight from a female perspective.
Downey’s voice was invaluable to female film students as they walk into a field where “women comprised 26 percent of individuals working in key behind-the-scenes roles on feature-length films screening at high-profile film festivals in the United States in 2013-14,” according to a study sponsored by the Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film, San Diego University.
The residential students on campus set aside a time three days per week to listen about topics from speakers they might otherwise not get in class. These stories entertain, convict and inspire students to dream about who they want to be, both now and after graduation.
Dale Archer, a medical doctor for Psychology Today, wrote in a 2013 article about the importance of a responsible man in a boy’s life. A boy with the influence of a positive role model “does better across the board.” Archer goes on to write that this idea applies to women as well.
“Though it’s not publicized as much, the same goes for a positive female role model in a girl’s life,” Archer wrote. “In today’s world, what exactly are we saying about what it means to be a woman?”
In my experience at Liberty, I felt supported and welcomed as a woman, both in class and in other campus activities. My male and female professors challenged me to work hard and honor God in all that I do. The increase in female speakers continues to further Liberty’s long-standing tradition of “training champions for Christ.”
In today’s world, women now play the same roles traditionally limited to men. Women are now teachers, lawyers, doctors, pastors and presidents. As culture continues to change, it is critical for Liberty to continue rising to the occasion of these new standards.
As Caine shared in Convocation Monday morning, we cannot continue to rescue women from sexual bondage in the darkest parts of the world and then send them into a culture where they are not able to thrive as leaders.
“It’s not going to happen on my watch,” Caine said.
And it will not happen on Liberty’s watch, either.
HOOSIER is a news writer.
It is discouraging to see that a female pastor was invited to speak. This means she has some form of an egalitarian view of the Bible, which is not what is taught to ministry students in the classroom at LU. Better ministries are out there to help women navigate gender role issues, without compromising LU’s historic stance (and the church’s historic stance) on gender role differences, which is complementarianism:
http://cbmw.org/
http://www.girlsgonewise.com/
http://www.truewoman.com/
What God creates is beautiful and good. Be careful of feminist theology that wants to embrace social changes in the culture that call for a new paradigm of the family, other than the paradigm given when God created man and woman in the garden.
Every student at LU needs to read John Piper’s book “What’s the Difference?”. You can download it for free here: http://www.desiringgod.org/books/whats-the-difference. John Piper ironically spoke at the same conference as Christine Caine this year at the Passion conference, and spoke in convocation last year at LU. I hope this book helps further the conversation with a different angle on biblical femininity and masculinity for students. Take care.
I am encouraged to see that a female pastor was invited to speak. I think the egalitarian view of the Bible should be taught to ministry students in the classroom at LU. I am glad that ministries are out there to encourage women who are called by God to preach the gospel. It is good that Liberty is seeking wisdom through Scripture rather than putting man’s tradition and organized religion’s historic stance above what God, Himself, has to say concerning women’s roles in God’s Kingdom. Both men and women are called to further spread the gospel to the unreached people groups who are beyond the reach of the gospel described in Matthew 28:19-20. I am proud to be called a feminist if that is what it is called to obey Gods call in my life, as a woman, to preach the gospel. What a great privledge! Jesus, too, may be a feminist if He was the one who has called me, and other women to be included in the great commission! I am happy to obey God in whatever He may call me to do. I fully embrace my womanhood and take joy in serving Christ and others.
What do you think God will say to a woman pastor when she stands before him after death? What is she guilty of? Preaching salvation to the lost, visiting the sick and those in prison, helping the needy, sponsoring missionaries, and serving others in His name? Do you think he’ll say “away with you to eternal punishment?” He may ask “where are all your accusers?”. If you are one of them, you may want to think about what he may start writing in ground about you. I’d much rather be guilty of supporting women in ministry than not. Who wants to be guilty of stopping His word from going forth?
The problem is not that women preach the gospel or teach, but rather that she is in a position over a man in the church. Passages like 1 Timothy 2:11-12 are the concern in this case. The “Concerned Alum” above is calling attention to the disregard of this New Testament teaching in favor of modern socio-political movements. In other words, God’s inerrant and Holy Word is being disregarded as secondary, or obsolete, for a single demographic (feminist) who disagrees with a portion of His word and therefore deliberately chooses to disobey it. In other word, feminist ideals over biblical teachings.
Many of the works you described are carried out by many kind Christians, and some even by atheists, but I don’t think that those works are relevant to this question. Neither is a woman participating in ministry, as this is biblically supported (Romans 16:1, Titus 2:3-5). In reference to your literary device, I believe God would not question those good works you listed, but rather the intentional disregard of His Holy Word by putting a woman in a position that biblically requires a man. He may ask “why did you intentionally ignore my Word, and the order I established for the church?” and proceed to explain the different roles of men and women as it is outlined throughout the Bible. In answering that question, I fear that a female pastor would be forced to give a similar answer as would a non-believer who “did good things” his whole life but still denied God.
Here is an article I found that seems to summarize the biblical evidence fairly well: http://www.gotquestions.org/women-pastors.html . As always, these issues need to be interpreted based on Scripture, on God’s Holy Word, and not on our volatile, personal desires and opinions. From my perspective this is where the argument for women in pastoral positions falls short, as it requires the denial of biblical patterns (Eph 5:22-23, etc.) and portions of Scripture (1 Tim 2:11-12) in order to give unwarranted support to a very modern bias. We must not put God’s Word in a secondary position to our personal desires.