Women are flippin ace, don’t you think?

This week has been a week for celebrating women. 

I had the privilege of being invited to talk to a class of ministerial students about my experience and call as a female minister. I talked about how female ministerial role models are still few and far between and those women and men who have walked beside me when it’s all been really tough. 

I heard that a book of liturgy (Gathering the Crumbs) written by female baptist ministers that I’ve contributed to and have been involved in editing is off to to the printers with a first run of 1000 books (so exciting). 

And today I’ve had the pleasure of spending time with women from my community who are doing some amazing and inspirational things as we celebrated international women’s day. 

Women are flippin ace, don’t you think? 

This Sunday is International Women’s Day when women first save the date of 19th November into their head so they know the answer to the inevitable when is men’s day question before it’s even asked, and secondly we take time out to affirm and encourage, celebrate and inspire one another as we make our voices heard above the sounds of every day life where most of us are just getting on with what we need to be getting on with.

Why do we need to bother with such a day? Surely women are celebrated enough these days? 

Well.....

Recently an article was released by the UN called “Women’s Rights in Review.....” which looks at what’s happened for women across the world in the past 25 years - has the situation improved? 

Maybe a little bit, but not enough, and far too slow, says the report..... in fact in some places we’re going backwards..... 

In parliaments across the world the male-female split is 75%-25% (in the UK parliament 34% are women, 27% in the cabinet). 

32 million girls are still not in school, only less than two thirds of women have access to paid work (compare to 93% of men) and nearly 1 in 5 women encounter domestic violence. 

Inequality, climate change, conflict and politics that exclude all take women away from the tables of decision making. 

Those are just the headlines. 

If women are as ace as the stories I’ve heard this week tell, then more needs to be done. 

If women are as ace as the female Baptist ministers I know there should be more than 3 or 4 women at the larger churches conference, more than one female regional team leader and more than 16% of women as ministers. There would be equality in pay and less invisible glass boundaries. 

I live in a community where women appear to be leading the way for change. I serve in a church that has always celebrated and enabled women. I minister in a movement of churches that had passed the centenary of women entering training for ordained ministry. I am privileged, but even in my privileged position I feel the tiredness from hearing again and again stories of women stopped in their tracks simply because they’re women. 

So this women’s day, look around, listen....  because there are many more stories to tell, many more women who need to be set free to live life in all its fullness, many more women who we all might need to step aside for so they can reach the places to which they are called and so many amazing women to celebrate. 

Women are flippin ace, don’t you think? 

An encounter with a woman

It's International Women's Day on Thursday 8th March, and since I am going off to ministers conference (where only 16% of the attendees are women - a reflection I think on the proportions of women ministers in Baptist churches in the North West Baptist Association - but hey ho, I think the proportion of women attending is more than last year) and I am busy until Thursday, I thought I'd use the waiting time before heading off to blog (well, actually re-writing a sermon from a couple of weeks ago) in honour of International Women's Day. 

A satirical photo from 1901, with the caption "New Woman—Wash Day".

It's an important year for women - and I've said a little bit about that already on this blog... 

It's 100 years since some women got the vote in this country. At the same time all men over the age of 21 were given the right to vote. 40% of women were and it wasn't until 1928 that all women were able to vote in the UK. 

It's 100 years since Edith Gates became the first woman to be recognised as being in pastoral charge of an English Baptist Church. They weren't really sure what to call her. Secretary? Pastor? Gatecrasher? And weren't convinced that she should be paid properly or have the same rights as male ministers... but she pioneered the way for me today. 

Did you know that between 1918 and 2015 a total of 450 women were elected as members of the House of Commons which is fewer than the number of men (459) who were elected to the 2015 parliament (source wikipedia (sorry about that!)).

Last year, in 2017 a president was inaugurated in the US who openly who laughed off foul locker room talk about women and ran a campaign that was largely about discrediting his female opponent #nastywoman. He is supported by large proportions of the American evangelical church. 

In the same year, the stories of women who had been abused by men in trusted positions came out under the hashtag of #metoo and, while many listened, the media, the voices of those who couldn't comprehend rang out loud and clear as they shouted these people down. 

A few weeks ago, the news came out about Iranian women stood at the side of the road, their compulsory hijabs held out on sticks to protest being told what to wear and they were arrested. 

And don't get me started on lady crisps. 

2000 years ago, Jesus sat down with a Samaritan Woman at Jacob's well in the middle of the day and he sent her out as a witness to who he was. And that made his disciples a bit grumbly (click on link to read story). 

How far have we come? Have the grumbles stopped? No. Are women's voices valued and their testimonies seen as valid? Sadly, not as much as they should be. 

Are women worth listening to?

Well Jesus, in this story, shows us, yes.... a big fat yes. 

Jesus speaks to the woman and he sends out the woman... John the gospel writer records it. Her story matters. Women's voices matter. They are to be listened to, they are to be valued, they are to be acted upon and it's all in this story.

Jesus comes to the woman and asks her for help - he asks her for water from the well - he values her service. He values the fact that she has what he needs. When we encounter those whose voices we don't value, then we often don't value what they have to offer either. The Samaritan Woman had something that Jesus didn't just want, but needed, and he came and asked for help. 

When we read this story, we tend to assume that the power is all with Jesus, but in his need, Jesus gives the power to continue the encounter with the woman. He doesn't force his company on her and she is not a #nastywoman trying to worm her way into a Jewish man's world, but is someone who can solve his immediate needs. When we worry about people undermining our status and changing this world we live in, perhaps we need to step back and ask why we are threatened by them... Jesus wasn't threatened by the presence of the Samaritan Woman at the well (and she wasn't threatened by his presence either). 

Jesus values that woman as he shares something of himself. He offers her living water that will change her life. "A Jewish teacher offers living water to a Samaritan woman" - it's almost a Daily Fail shock headline. He offers it not because he wants anything, but because he values her and her life. Jesus values women.... and he values her so much that she opens up to him. He kind of values her into telling the truth. Her witness gains credibility because she is not afraid to tell the truth - she is not a woman of fake news - she doesn't hide who she is but shares who she is. She is who she is, and Jesus values that as he crosses the border of Jewish man and Samaritan Woman with her.

When we are in a privileged position - where we have control of who matters and who doesn't. then Jesus shows us that it is our responsibility to enable the border crossing so those people who 'don't matter' can be liberated. A few years ago on my first minister's conference we asked for men to be advocates to enable women to be released into leadership... that was the first step to increasing that 16%.... I am hoping that those advocates have not stopped being committed to this.... 

Who would you trust as a key witness? Someone who tells the truth and whose voice is valued - and Jesus sends the Samaritan woman who does and is just that. Her voice matters, far above and beyond her gender and ethnicity, her witness is valuable. She was entrusted in telling others because because of what she said and people wanted to find out more. And her witness to Jesus and her mutual respect and trust for one another liberated her and gave her freedom to be a truth teller within her community. Jesus transformed her life. Jesus transforms our lives by taking away the chains of shame and sin and setting us free to live a life of truth and dignity. 

On International Women's Day 2018, it gives us an opportunity, yet again, to think about how we as individuals and as a society and world treat women. The Samaritan woman, whatever the interpretation has been, is held up as an example of how women should be treated - we see that in the value that Jesus gives the woman's testimony. Her voice matters. So when we (whether deliberately or without realising it) silence women's voices, we have missed something of what Jesus has done. 

The silencers of my own voice have come from inside and outside the church... they've come from other ministers at minister's conference. They have come from the voices of my own church members. They have come from arguments on facebook about lady size portions of chips. A woman's witness is not valid when a man is available to speak. 

However Jesus chooses the witness of a woman over his disciples in this instance. Jesus says yes, women's voices are important - listen - she has something to say. 

Jesus says yes. The woman's testimony is valid. Through her service, her actions matter; through her life, her value matters; through her honesty, her truth telling matters; through her witness, her story matters. 

Women getting the vote matters. Women being enabled and encouraged as ministers - it matters. Women being able to lead in places they have never led before - it matters. Women's stories being listened to - it matters. Women's protests being reported on - it matters. Women telling the truth of their liberation in Christ - it matters. 

International Women's Day - it matters. 

On the 8th March, instead of shrugging it off as something for someone else... step back and listen... because the stories that are told, the women that are honoured....

They matter. 

We matter. 

It matters. 

Women I know....

This week at college we had a lunch where the women ministers gathered together to share their experiences of being women in ministry, to think about how we might encourage other women in leadership and to just be together. Today is International Women's Day and in both of these things I have been reminded of the importance of standing up as a woman in solidarity with other women who are not given opportunities or rights across Churches and in the world. 

I am one of those people who nervously identifies myself as a feminist. Nervously because when I change men to human, son to child and brotherly to family in songs I've been laughed at and told I need to get over it - that it doesn't mean that the song does not put women as equal to men..... but for me it does. Nervously because feminism is viewed by some as militant and anti-men.... which I am not. Hannah Mudge has written here http://www.threadsuk.com/so-you-have-concerns-about-feminism/ about these kind of views and it makes me want to come out and say, yes, it's alright to say that I am a feminist... 

A book I've read recently 'A Year of Biblical Womanhood' by Rachel Held Evans http://rachelheldevans.com/womanhood-project/ . This interested me because I'd always been angry at John Piper and Wayne Grudem's book on Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood as I was a student and UCCF relay worker and it held pride of place on the bookstall.... every time. I felt it challenged everything about what I was called to do....  I'd read Grudem's chapter in his Systematic Theology on the roles of men and women and I couldn't touch that book for fear of having to shout loudly. 

Evans talks about the Proverbs 31 woman - how actually this woman is everything but the woman who stays at home and has a certain role. She identifies how the Proverbs 31 woman is a 'woman of valour' - honouring women who have a significant role to play in the lives of people and in society. Valour isn't really a word I'd use every day, but the woman of valour in Proverbs 31 is one that is honoured because of what she does, not someone who is good because she performs certain tasks. In response to what she discovered in exploring the Proverbs 31 woman Evans decided to encourage people to talk about those who are Women of Valour in their lives..... so I am going to take the opportunity on International Women's Day to identify those women who have played a significant role on my journey. I don't normally do things like this, as I get embarrassed when I'm nice. I'm not sure whether the people I am going to mention will read this, but I want anyone who reads this to know how important these people are in my life and journey.... so here goes..... (seriously, this is quite difficult, but have to do it!)

Ingrid Shelley was my helper at my Baptism when I was 12. I asked her to be my helper because it was her I first told I wanted to be baptised after she had led us through a Youth Weekend and what she said during that weekend had a big impact in me understanding who I was in Christ. Ingrid has been significant on my journey because she modelled a way of leading that was enabling. She encouraged us to do stuff that we would never have done and created a mindset within the youth group where I knew I could believe in myself. Thank you. 

When I met Pat Took her graciousness and care for me and my family was deep. Her wisdom is evident and gentle. Yet it was in Pat's sermon at Baptist Assembly where she challenged us not to let the conventions of society get in the way of God's calling that I was challenged to properly follow my calling to ministry. Thank you.

It's difficult sometimes being an evangelical woman minister (people assume too often that I cannot be evangelical, because I'm a woman), and when I was exploring my call to ministry, Dianne Tidball was not quiet about the difficulties of being an evangelical woman, yet she is so clearly called to where she is that in looking at her I am inspired to stick to what I believe and to keep living in a world that does not always accept me in what I am called to do. Thank you. 

I cannot talk about significant women without talking about the most significant women who have been there right from before I was born. 


Firstly, my sister, Sarah. I stole her chocolates and begrudged sharing a room with her, yet now in Sarah I have one of my best friends. She has always encouraged me and believed in me, told me I am ridiculous when I am doing stupid things, been angry with me and celebrated with me. She is more full of wisdom than she realises. I am so proud of Sarah because she is one of the strongest women I know, and even in journeying through the darkest of times she brings and is light. Thankyou ace sista. 

It's mothers day on Sunday, and I cannot talk about significant women without mentioning the best mum in the world. Cares deeply, blesses abundantly, rings at the right moment, models the love of God. Brought me into the world, continues to bring me through the world. Thank you.

There is my international women's day gushiness. It won't happen too often, but I felt that today, of all days, it is important. 

One thing I will never forget from my time in Kolkata is the women I met in the house church in the village outside of the city. They shared their testimonies and one woman said that despite her terrible home life that God blesses her in the smallest of things and gives her hope. A woman I will never forget. Thank you and praying that life will improve.