The CBE Scroll

Julie Long is Minister of Children and Families at the First Baptist Church of Christ in Macon, Georgia, where she serves alongside her husband, Rev. Jody Long. She is a graduate of the McAfee School of Theology. On a personal note, she is also one of my daughter’s favorite grownups!

What in your religious upbringing prepared you to be a woman in church leadership? What (if anything) might have hindered you from responding to God’s call to serve as an ordained minister?

I grew up in a small town, county seat First Baptist Church. Some of my earliest memories were of church and church people. From the time I was in preschool, I remember being a part of church activities, leading in worship with my children’s choirs, and taking part in children’s sermons during the worship service. As I grew older, I participated in children’s musicals, missions programs, and summer camps. As a teenager, I was very active in our church’s youth program, including “speaking” on Youth Sunday worship services.

I do not remember ever overtly being taught a theology of inclusiveness regarding women in ministry. I did, however, experience a church family that welcomed me to participate fully in the life of the church. I also saw the example of competent women who led, whether as chairs of committees, Sunday School teachers, or in other facets of worship. Even though I did not know many, if any, women ministers, the thought never crossed my mind that women could not serve in church leadership.

As I began to explore my own sense of calling as a college student, my home church as well as my college church affirmed me and encouraged me, offering me opportunities to serve in ministry. Author/minister Chuck Poole has a sermon titled “We Ordain Women Because we Baptize Girls.” I honestly believe that statement represents the attitude of the churches that I have been a part of. My home church had no problem calling me to serve or ordaining me because I was ‘Julie,’ their daughter, not because I was the token female. It was not a theological issue. It was a personal issue.

The deep love for the church that had been fostered in me as a youth certainly aided my response to God’s call for my life. The only hindrance that I recall was a fear of the unknown. I was not aware of what opportunities would be available for me. I was unsure of where this calling would take me. I was concerned of what my parents and peers would think. But thanks to a few good mentors who recognized my gifts and helped me along the way, I responded to the call of ministry and pursued the vocation that would not let me go.

Many Christians interpret the Bible in such a way that what you are doing is a no-no. You obviously disagree with their interpretations. How did you come to believe that God is “OK” with women serving in these capacities?

I did not grow up in a religious upbringing that held a lower view of women’s abilities and gifts. I grew up in a family with strong, competent women that succeeded in their chosen fields. While my home church did not have women deacons and most staff ministers were male, I witnessed leadership by women in other areas and did not hear teaching that contradicted that practice. I was aware that some Christians did not believe that women should serve in leadership, but that view was never taught to me.

Theologically and biblically, I was taught that God created both male and female in God’s image and that we all are one in the body of Christ. These theological teachings only supported my experience that God had called me and had equipped me with the gifts needed to do the work of ministry.

How do people react when you are introduced to them as a minister?

I get different responses. Some are very interested and like to ask questions about how that came to be. Because female Baptist ministers in the South are certainly not the norm, I find that many people want to hear my story and are inquisitive about what kind of church I’m involved with. Some are less eager to talk about it and appear to be uncomfortable. Some who might otherwise be hesitant to accept a woman as minister can reconcile it with me because I serve as a children’s minister. Only occasionally do I meet someone that communicates his or her disapproval.

Poverty and injustice discriminate. And the health and well-being of women around the world suffer because of it. Many of us who live in privilege do not worry about their daughters being raped during war or being forced into prostitution. Many of us who live in privilege do not think about injustice and inequality at all, because it doesn’t seem to be a necessary or pressing concern. We are in a place to make the choice between apathy and becoming aware. But the vast majority of people who live in poverty do not have that choice to make, because the structures that surround them or the people who are in power over them have already made another choice: to force their advantage.

I do not mean to deny the agency of people living in poverty, no, far from that. What I do mean to do is to ask why injustices, largely against women and children, are allowed and at times even encouraged. I mean to ask what systemic and theoretical structures exist that perpetuate harmful perceptions and actions about and against certain groups of people?

Why do women form the majority of heterosexual cases of HIV/AIDS? A number of factors might explain the growing number of women who are infected with the virus. In many places, girls are pressured to be married young, often to older, more experienced men who may already have multiple wives. Typically, these girls also live in places where educational and economic opportunities for them as women are extremely limited. Even if they are fortunate enough to know about the danger of HIV/AIDS, their cultural tradition may not protect their rights or provide them the choice to either abstain from sex or request to use a condom if they suspect their partner is infected. In areas of political unrest, many women are raped in war crimes, being made susceptible to HIV infection against their own will.

Direct correlations can be made between the spread of HIV/AIDS and human trafficking, particularly sexual trafficking. Women who have been abducted into the illegal sex industry do not have the choice of whom they will be with, and are often at risk for violent sex. Many people who are trafficked are lured with the false promise of a good job or an educational prospect. Once in captivity, many are brought across borders where they know no one and do not speak the language. They are isolated from outside contact and warned not to plan escape; threats are made against them and their families in order to maintain submission. Because of the coercion and deception involved, the estimated 12.3 million people who have been trafficked are considered victims of modern-day slavery. Lest the question arises of how so many fall for “too good to be true” offers, it should be recognized that the hopelessness of poverty breeds desperation and an ambition to do anything that might make life better.

In speaking of the vulnerable, we might also consider the millions of young girls who undergo what is commonly labeled “female circumcision.” However, circumcision is probably not an accurate term, considering the health risks involved and the pain that it causes in sexual intercourse, childbirth, and even urination. For this reason, the practice is more appropriately called female genital mutilation, or female genital cutting/modification, out of respect for those who have had the procedure done. While it is practiced for a number of different reasons, including as a rite of passage, most cultures that perform the cutting acknowledge that it is done in order to control a woman’s sexual desire and keep her chaste.

The work of many organizations that directly fight injustice is essential in these times. So also, is the work of CBE. It is especially relevant for vulnerable women living in poor countries, because the last thing that those who are living in situations of oppression need from the church is more male hierarchy. If the church promotes patriarchy, then what could ever free these women from the injustice in which they are caught? If the church excuses, and even advocates for hierarchy, then the church may have little theological or theoretical basis upon which to call into question the structures of injustice that women face all over the world because of their gender. Patriarchy is incompatible with justice for women.

Injustices against women are not just isolated incidents; rather, they result from many societal and even theological factors. These are interconnected issues, linked by the views that many around the world hold that women are second best, meant to be dominated or needing to be controlled by men. CBE is necessary in order to set a precedent of dignity and equality of women and men in places where people of privilege live, as well as, and perhaps even more urgently, where people live in poverty, desperation, and vulnerability.

So how can those who lead lives of privilege stand by and claim ignorance or apathy? Will they? Or will they — will you and I — do what we can with the gifts, tools and influence that we have in order to change the minds of those in power, change the structures that oppress, and change the lives of the hurting?

Being an Agent of Change
Step 1: Educate yourself about injustice against women.
Step 2: Tell others.
Step 3: Support organizations that do the work.

Available resources for education:

Good News About Injustice, by Gary Haugen
Cut Flowers: Female Genital Mutilation and a Biblical Response, by Sandy Willcox
“Sexual Exploitation and Violence toward Women: Global and Local Concerns,” recording by Ellen Armstrong
“Helping Christians Set Trends for Oppressed Women in India,” recording by Ellen Alexander & Beulah Wood
“Sexual Trafficking, Prostitution, and the Global Sex Industry,” recording by Lisa Thompson
World Hope International

Leah

Editor’s note: This is a condensed summary of Leah’s “As We Speak” lecture series, originally presented at Cornerstone Music Festival, July 6th, 7th, and 8th, 2006. She addressed injustice against women in the topics of HIV/AIDS, Human Trafficking, and Female Genital Mutilation.