Obama and Wright Aside, What About Women in the Black Church?
Which brings up a completely unrelated although interesting point related to women's issues: If the the congregations of African American churches are predominantly women, why is there always a male pastor heading up the church? Why don't we see black women as spiritual leaders?
This is not a question criticizing the structure of the black church, but a query as to why this is so. Like women of every culture and background, black women keep their churches going. They serve as lay leaders and enrich the life of the congregation. Yet the African American female pastor is a rare thing.
This issue doesn't seem to interfere with the faith of black women, or their churchgoing. Yet it's a topic that isn't often discussed. Daphne C. Wiggins wrote a book on the subject, acknowledging that “the interpersonal, emotional or spiritual needs of church and community members were primary in the women’s minds, ahead of systemic or structural injustices.”
If black women can look past situations that are less than ideal for their gender, and focus on what it is that makes them proud to be members of a church community, then perhaps that says something about the nature of faith, belief, and what we gain from participation.
It's something to think about as pundits and political experts examine Obama's speech on faith and race yesterday, and praise his efforts - or pick them apart.
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Comments
Why so few women as spiritual leaders? That is a really great question that I wish I had an answer for.
The fact is, the majority of pastors in general are male. Men usually have power in the church. I don’t think black women are looking “past situations that are less than ideal for their gender” I think women in general are.
I am a black woman and really struggled with this situation to a point where I left the church because I thought it was very hipocritical. In my heart I struggle with it every day. To me of all the people that should be the least prejudice should be the black man because he is the one perived to be the most descriminated. When I look at this it is very untrue. As black women we are discriminated one because we are black by whites and then by black men because we are women. It is frustrating because to me this says from the one that I look to for strength that I am not enough, I am not good enough, so I had to distance myself from this because this caused a level of depression for me. I refused to believe that I was not enough and refused to accept that from the church or anyone else. I had to distance myself from the baptist church just to keep from being angry. When I looked at all the other women in the congregation I could not understand why they paid their tithes and offerings to a chuch that would not allow them to be in the pulpit of they so chose. They are living their lives based upon the words of a desciple not on Jesus Christ the true pure one without sin. The Desciple Paul who had sin, he had prejudice and he did not graduate to being Jesus Christ like when Jesus died on the cross. To me it is all so silly for us to continue to live under the rule of a desciple and not that of Jesus Christ. It is through Jesus Christ we pray not Paul. So I worship my God through Jesus name and leave the beliefs of men and their need to stay one up to themselves.
K.S., you got that right!
Paul in his epistles said that women are not to teach or hold authority over men, they are to keep silent in church. So many denominations (black, white, etc) don’t let women be preachers, priests, ministers, etc. They figure, it’s in the bible so that’s that. There’s a lot of things that Paul said, that churches follow his word to the letter. And there’s a lot of things that Jesus said and did that seem totally foreign to what modern churches say and do. Sometimes I wonder if Christianity follows Jesus or Paul.
Black women were the first women ministers in this country and head many churches around this nation. Black women also like men. They will not reject a minister because he is male, nor accept a minister because she is a woman. Remember, women have male and female children!
The Black women has always been the back bone of the church and the family,we have been taught that’s our place, and because of this teaching the men of the church don’t work at keeping us from leadership, because it’s the women, the ones who have not “studied” the word of God. As long as women position themselves to hold back women who are called the men don’t have to do a thing,or say anything. We as women have failed to realize our God given strength through Christ,and as long as we are distracted by petty conflict and are ignorant of the word of God we will be mistreated and told to hush. We don’t support one another ministries, unless we are having our ears tickled. The truth is difficult to hear, however it is necessary for cultivation and growth. Christian women have and wonderful life before them if they would only embrace it. that’s all for now!