The Voice of Latina Liz

Birthing a Church: Exploring a Feminine Model of Church Planting

2005-11-02T16:55:00.000-08:00

Prism Magazine (Jan/Feb 2006)
In Like Manner…the Women
Elizabeth D. Rios

Birthing a Church: Exploring a Feminine Model of Church Planting

Last year I heard author Edwina Gateley share in a keynote address that “women are called to be birthers of healing and hope in a broken world.” For centuries Christian women have struggled to nurture the lives of the downtrodden and marginalized, and more recently they have begun birthing new churches as the ultimate institution for healing and hope.

Those women who feel that God has called them to go forth in what is still a predominately male world--planting, pastoring, and growing a church--are exploring alternative models of doing so. They feel the necessity of moving beyond the highly touted, (generally white) male models of such megachurches as Willow Creek, Saddleback, and the Dream Center.

When a woman named Sherri Story, who connected with me via TheOoze.com, shared her model with me, I knew it needed to be passed on to a wider audience. One of a team of five women and two men who this year birthed Generations Quest (generationsquest.org), an emerging church in Virginia Beach, Story seeks to reformat church using a feminine perspective. She believes that women who venture to plant churches need to look within themselves to find an altogether new model in order to reach today’s unchurched population.

The team at Generations Quest uses an egg metaphor to illustrate their infrastructure, which Story describes as “living and interactive with one another and porous to the community around it.” Whereas the male approach to leadership is traditionally hierarchical, with one person dictating to others and information traveling down from the top of a chain, the feminine approach features shared leadership, with communication occurring around a table in a more relational, household type of model. Titles are not important in this model; community and holistic integration of all aspects of life are.

One particularly exasperating question that is frequently asked of female church birthers is: “Does your church attract males?” Story responds with understandable annoyance, “Do we ask male pastors if they attract women? Our gatherings are focused not on men or women but on people in the Kingdom. We’re all in this journey together. We’re all in the process of becoming whole.”

I was particularly intrigued with the Generations Quest model for church birthing because I myself am a female church “birther,” along with my husband, and while I’ve heard many women (and men) talk about establishing new churches I had never heard anyone approach it from this perspective. Story compares a new community of faith to a newborn child and feels that women are especially suited to nurturing such a body. “Most women know the joys and pains of birthing. We know how to give birth and then nurture something new, sensitive to all the nuances of being a newborn. It requires much of the same tender and relational characteristics.”

Like Story, I agree that those who feel called to establish a new church need to have alternative models for doing so. Women will be encouraged to know that their feminine nurturing and relational skills are transferable to this area of ministry as well. “By reimagining how churches can be birthed,” explains Story, “women ministers may see, feel, and hear a new hope to lead and feed communities of faith that they have birthed.”

In addition, the team aspect of this model provides an excellent way for women to partner in birthing a church, especially those who are finishing seminary or graduate school but haven’t received a denominational invitation. In this way we can use our God-given creativity as well as incorporate the social justice aspect of ministry that Jesus modeled for us.

Story and her colleagues and the men who support them did not wait until they were invited to start a church community. They knew that the “line” they were not supposed to cross existed, but they realized the wall was not erected by God but by man. Thus they chose to obey the great commission to “go and make disciples.” In that obedience a new church is emerging. Story admonishes women to feel the fear of God’s call but to respond to it anyway: “We have the call, we have the ability--we just need a new paradigm which fits us.”

Elizabeth D. Rios is co-pastor of Wounded Healer Fellowship (woundedhealerfellowship.com) in Pembroke Pines, Fla., academic advisor and adjunct professor at Trinity International University’s South Florida Campus, founder of the Center for Emerging Female Leadership (cefl.org), and a doctoral student in organizational leadership. Visit her weblog at latinaliz.typepad.com.

The Value of a Godly Father

2005-07-13T16:38:00.000-07:00

The Value of a Godly Father
By Elizabeth D. Rios, MA
[Originally published in Tristate Voice, June 2003]

A godly father can have such a significant influence on his children—and, as a result, the next generation— yet tragically, the father that faithfully stands by his wife and children is becoming more of an rarity. Sadly, I know, my own dad walked away from me at 2 years old. I had a dad but not a Godly father.

Twenty-four million children live in homes without their biological fathers. That means that tonight one out of every three children will go to bed in a home in which his or her father does not live. It has been documented that children who grow up in father-absent homes are more likely to suffer from child abuse, poverty, low academic achievement, drug use, emotional and behavioral problems and suicide.

How did we get here? The fatherhood crisis began with the physical disappearance of fathers from families. Two major demographic trends that contribute to the rise of father absence is the increase of divorce and unwed childbearing. Throughout history, men have been torn from their families by war, disease, and death. But in this millennium in America, men are choosing to disconnect from family life on a massive scale. Consequently, we are in danger of becoming a fatherless society.

The decline of fatherhood is tragic and profound, but it does not have to be permanent or irreversible. Every pastor can help by making sure they have good men’s leaders putting together relevant men’s programs tackling the real issues in society. There are enough social events going on in many men’s programs. Here are a few tips on developing a relevant men’s programming agenda:

• Help men become Godly men. Although the first step may seem obvious, it needs to be said. Before men can become the fathers God has called them to be, they must become the men that He has called them to be. This comes from a personal relationship with Him and the only way to the Father is through His son, Jesus Christ.

• Help men learn to love their children’s mother. It is important for men to love their children, but even more so to love their mother. A child who knows that daddy loves mami and is true to her will be far more stable and have greater emotional health than one who is torn by the opposite situation. This can be extremely difficult in divorced families. For divorced fathers, never ever let your children hear or see you dishonor their mother in any way. We need men today who love their families by showing loyalty in every way to the women they have chosen as their life companions.

• Help men learn how to show love to their children. We all want to be loved and there is a tremendous security in knowing that we are. But there is a common misconception today that a father is not capable of loving his children or at least not as much as a mother can. This is ludicrous. I know a few fathers out there who not only left their jobs to be the primary caretaker but look forward to showering their children with love as much as possible.

• Help men to pray and trust God for their children. There are only so many things a father can do for his children. Help men to trust in God to provide that which they cannot. Help them to never underestimate the power of prayer.

In June, we celebrate Father’s day and every man who has a child is remembered. That’s nice, I guess. However, a bumper sticker I saw once said, “any man can be daddy, but it takes a special man to be a father.” This month, let us celebrate the special men who have not walked away from their kids. Let’s continue to pray for God to work in the churches of this country that build up our men. Godly fathers do not need to remain a rarity.

Every woman has a purpose, that means you!

2005-07-13T16:33:00.000-07:00

Every woman has a purpose, that means you!
By Rev. Elizabeth D. Rios, MA
[Originally published in the Tristate Voice (NY), March 2003]

God has called you; He has anointed you. Now “deal with it.” In other words, He has done His part; now you go and do yours. I believe as women, we struggle with the call of God over our lives for various reasons but mostly because for too long churches have fostered judgmental attitudes toward women who preach, lead or work outside the home. Isn't it time we allowed God's women to fulfill their destinies—whatever that may be for them?

Women, especially mothers, are constantly on the firing line for their choices. Women today are not reared to be only mothers, as they were decades ago. Many go to college, seminary, graduate school, develop careers and use their talents to serve God in ways other than, or in addition to, caring for children. This does not diminish the role of mother nor devalue it. It's not easy, to be sure. Being a leader and working outside the home while mothering takes a lot of creativity, planning, prayer and good support systems.

However, no one and nothing can keep you from fulfilling the call of God on your life-except you. Although God may define your calling with a different title than you perhaps anticipated, if you look closely, it will still be your calling.

All too often, potentially influential Christian women are hindered in their God-ordained callings by their own responses to other peoples’ perceptions of what women should and shouldn’t do. Some may feel hindered by their seasons of life (too young, too old, I’m a mother, I’m divorced) and others by role definitions. Women do go through seasons in life when they may not be as active in external ministry while they focus on internal ministry in the home. We all need to acknowledge that there are preparation periods for all leaders when they are not seen by the public as “doing much” but God is always at work whether a woman decides to stay home with her children, focus on education with limited ministry obligations or is taking the time to nurture her spirit in extended quiet time with Lord. If you find yourself in a “waiting season” don’t let anyone make you feel guilty about not being active. However, in whatever season you find yourself in, when God speaks to you to go forth, none of the above should hinder you from fulfilling the call!

One key hindrance of going forward in our call at times is other women! A significant study done by Dr. Maria Perez y Gonzalez in 1993 revealed that women are other women in ministry’s greatest obstacles. Many women have brought into the patriarchal system and are more comfortable taking spiritual guidance from male pastors because of traditionally held beliefs that men have a greater spiritual relationship with God.

Another hinderance is the fear of being labeled a feminist. I am not a feminist in the secular perspective. I consider myself to be what is called an egalitarian as opposed to a complementarian. Egalitarians hold to the view that women should be able to do whatever men do in ministry, while complementarians see the role of women as different — that is, complementary to that of men. Other terms used to describe the position of women as equal partners in ministry are equalitarian or evangelical, Chrisitan or biblical feminist. In that regard, I would call myself a biblical feminist. Why are so many women afraid of being called feminist? Perhaps because of lack of education on the subject. Historically the basic aims of the women’s movement have been that women be accepted as equal members of society and be free to become full persons. A formal definition of feminism from Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary terms it “the theory of the political, economic, and social equality of the sexes,” with a secondary meaning being “organized activity on behalf of women’s rights and interest.” Secular feminism can take many forms and integrate various philosophies that don’t match our theology. Persons who consider themselves to be biblical feminists make an important break with the secular approach, it centers around the equal opportunity to serve as opposed to secular feminism’s gaining equal rights.

Gretchen Gaebelein Hull explains the differences this way: “secular feminists say “I want equal rights. I want to be able to compete on an equal basis with men.” The biblical feminist says: “I want to be free to be the person God created me to be and to have the privilege of following Christ as He calls me to do.” Hull goes on to say that “feminism (or any other ism) without Christ is just another power struggle”. Biblical feminists want to explore their conviction about equality of women in a biblical way and implement their findings according to biblical guidelines.
Biblical feminists advocate for partnership not competition, mutual submission and not domination by one sex or the other, the priesthood of all believers and not a male hierarchy. In conservative Christian circles feminism has become the scapegoat for many societal ills. Feminism has become the false target upon which to blame all problem areas in human relationships. Blaming feminism for all societal ills is simplistic, unfair, and unscriptural. It also places women in a no-win situation. The true enemy of a just society is not feminism or chauvinism, but us—men and women as the two components of a fallen humanity (I really could go on and on about this but this is not my dissertation).

Can believing women permit persons, or institutions to limit and stifle their witness for Christ, who first chose a woman to proclaim the greatest message of Christianity, that He is risen? (Jn. 20:17) Are Christian women to be silent in God's work today when so many women in the Bible were His messengers? Can believing women afford to bow to discrimination in the church world, while their equality in the secular world is a fact of life?

I dare say, as well, that I believe some women use Paul's words (1 Co. 14:34, 1 Ti. 2:12) as an excuse for their own lack of courage to become fully involved in proclaiming Christ. Be the woman who Jesus has anointed you to be, and do what He has called you to do. And if you lack courage to do that, do not shoot another sister down who has accepted what God told her to do! Be an encourager! Not a discourager! There is enough in this fallen world that keeps a sister down!
If you do have the courage to go forward, His timing and placement have been with much forethought and planning. Graciously respond to His placement and His plan. This is clearly a day when God is calling openly and specifically to many women and it’s not as a second choice! He desires to empower us with His anointing to help heal a hurting world. Every woman has a purpose, that means you!

My Gonna’s Keep Me Going

2005-07-13T16:29:00.000-07:00

My Gonna’s Keep Me Going
By Rev. Elizabeth D. Rios
[Originally published in the Trestate Voice, 2003]

Many times in our life brokenness, hurt and the plain old ugly truth about humanity make us want to quit the Christian race, sit by sidelines and watch things happen while God makes things happen through other people. We are tempted to give up constantly—“they said this about me and they don’t deserve my help,” “he broke my heart,” “Christians are worse than unsaved folks, just look at the way they treat there own!,” “where was God when I needed him to heal my child!” These and more are all “I deserve to be mad at God and therefore never serve again” reasons.

Giving up seems like the best alternative most of the time. I am sure all of us have our own laundry list of why we should stop serving the Lord and why we should cease to give our gifts away in a church or ministry. But giving up is not an option for the Christian. “Whoever does not persevere and carry his own cross and come after (follow) Me cannot be My disciple” (Luke 14:27). “Be steadfast and persevere in it” (1 Peter 5:12b). We cannot, shall not, quit.

Bad things happen to everybody some time in life and it leaves people without faith or hope for the future. Robert Schuller once said “never believe in your hurts, believe in your dreams”. I am encouraging you today to believe in your dreams. We all have gonna’s in our life that we still have to attempt to reach. We all have that tugging in our hearts about a step we need to take to get us closer to the dream God shared with us about us.

In my life, when others hurt me and ran me over a few times with their words or just plain misunderstood me, what kept me going in addition to God’s grace and favor was the gonna’s He gave me. Yes, my gonna’s kept me going. When God told me “your child is gonna survive,” that gonna kept me going through two years of hospital ups and downs. When God told me “I’m gonna get you through this trial,” that gonna kept me walking the road when I had no one by my side. When God said to me, “I’m gonna make a way for you to get that scholarship,” that gonna helped me apply to school not knowing where the money would come from. When God said, “your denomination may not validate you but I am gonna validate you,” it helped me put aside confusion and hurt to realize all things at His time. And, finally, when God said to me “I am gonna use you as an instrument to reach people you never thought you could or would reach,” that gonna keeps me going today!

Sister, brother, I do not claim to have it all together. But God isn’t finished with me yet! As the saying goes, I am not what I used to be but I’m not what I’m gonna be! Neither are you. What are your God-given “gonna’s”. Are you believing more in your hurts or are you believing your gonna’s? I know you have a gonna or or two…ask the Holy Spirit to remind you of them. Remember God gave you “gonna’s” to keep you going. My gonna’s keep me going, do you have a gonna keeping you?

In Search of the Blessing

2005-06-18T09:14:00.000-07:00

Prism Magazine [A publication of Evangelicals for Social Action]August/September 2005 Issue -- Column: In Like Manner…the Women

By Elizabeth D. Rios

At the National Pastor’s Convention/Emergent Conference in Nashville, Tenn., last May, I attended, along with about 35 other women, a discussion group facilitated by leaders of the Emerging Women’s Leadership Initiative www.emergingwomenleaders.org). One theme that resonated for all of us present was that many women--women who are gifted, experienced in ministry, academically prepared for leadership roles, and feel the call of God on their lives--are tired of their search for “the blessing.”

The Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary defines blessing as “the formal act of giving approval” and “to speak well of, approve.” I, like many other women around the country who I've spoken to, am saddened by the lack of opportunities afforded to us just because of our gender. Although various secular studies show that men still earn more money then their female counterparts in the same positions, there is progress in the fact that at least there are female counterparts in both government and corporate America. Unfortunately, the church (specifically in some denominations and individual male mindsets) represents the last frontier for biblical equality of women as reflected in Galatians 3:28: There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

While the search for the blessing is not necessarily gender specific, women have a harder time accepting themselves when they are not accepted by those in authority. In her new book Leading Lessons: Insights on Leadership from Women of the Bible (Augsburg Fortress, 2005), Jeanne Porter writes “the leadership gift within doesn’t need to be affirmed or validated by some one else to make it ‘real.’” While I wholeheartedly agree with her, in reality countless women don’t dare step into God’s call on their lives because they are still waiting for “the blessing.” Often times, when the blessing does come, if ever, it is only for specific or restricted roles.

To wit: My husband and I recently planted a church in Pembroke Pines, Flor., but only after many years of my own inner struggle about the legitimacy of my leadership role as a pastor. As women, even when we feel qualified for certain leadership roles, when God asks us to do something that has historically been a “men’s club” position, we often begin the questioning process all over again. Or, just when we find ourselves able to let go and do as we believe God wants, someone challenges us. Just this week, my role was again challenged by a denominational presbyter who has been genuinely supportive of our emerging church in the past. But he suddenly emailed me and asked that I not use the term “co-pastor” because of some alleged “legal ramifications” but instead use “associate” or “assistant” pastor. I responded, “I would gladly use one of those terms if it indeed described what I was, but since I am, in fact, a co-pastor, I will continue to use that term.”

Would a man have been challenged about his title? I wonder. I was able to respond to this challenge with loving firmness because I am healed, and no longer search for “the blessing” of mortals. I seek God’s blessing. However, that doesn’t make it any less hurtful.

Unfortunately, the search continues for many women who see ministry as their life-long call and for various reasons feel they should struggle along in their denominations. One young woman at the Emergent conference was very honest about some of those reasons: familiarity, retirement, financial security. Staying may help in the security department but may not mean acceptance, as Rev. Delores Carpenter of Washington, D.C., mentioned in a Disciples of Christ newsletter: “Despite the increasing number of women in religious leadership, African-American women clergy of historic black churches still find acceptance difficult.” The lack of blessing for women in leadership in this post-denominational era has and will continue to challenge those denominations that are losing members.

In the church, it is more important to look at gifting and character than at gender or age. Regardless of the gifts involved, individuals are remiss when they fail to fulfill their God-given function within the Body of Christ. “But by the grace of God I am what I am,” writes Paul in 1 Cor. 15:10, “and his grace to me was not without effect.” Therefore, if you are a leader, lead. Whatever God has put at your hand to do, do it.

One thing to remember is that women can be the source of blessing for other women’s work. Your opportunity to do just that is coming up in October. I’ll be joining many powerful women of God as a workshop facilitator at the Women in Ministry Conference hosted by Dr. Suzan Johnson Cooke (www.wiminconference.com), October 9-11 in Fort Lauderdale. Trust me, you’ll be encouraged and blessed to go forward in the work God has for you.

Although it may hurt to lack the blessing of man, we must desire so much more the blessing of God. God’s blessing comes through our obedience to what God has called us to do, and sometimes fulfilling that call comes without the blessing of those from whom we desire it. Nevertheless, step out into your calling, searching first God’s blessing, and looking forward to the fulfillment you’ll receive by ministering to those whom God shall have you bless.

Elizabeth D. Rios is co-pastor of Wounded Healer Fellowship (www.woundedhealerfellowship.com) in Pembroke Pines, Flor., academic advisor and adjunct professor at Trinity International University’s South Florida Campus, founder of the Center for Emerging Female Leadership (www.cefl.org), and a doctoral student in organizational leadership. Visit her weblog at http://latinaliz.typepad.com.

Do You Hear What I Hear?

2005-04-26T08:17:00.000-07:00

Prism Magazine [A publication of Evangelicals for Social Action]July/August 2005 Issue

As a teacher and a preacher, and as a woman in ministry, I am frequently astonished at the plethora of forces--both internal and external, both individual and communal--that can silence “voice” in women who feel called to preach, to minister, and to lead.

Many women seek to move out of silence and into an expression of themselves. Yet they are taught to attend to the voices of others and rarely to their own. Some women cannot envision themselves in the pulpit because they have rarely, if ever, seen any woman in that place. Others doubt they have anything of value to say. Some wonder whether the church community will accept them, or will the community discount or exclude them and in this way silence them? Still others find that other women are the biggest obstacles to developing their voice--jealously, fear, and one-upwomanship characterize what many sisters who aspire to ministry have experienced.

But the church needs every one of us. Each voice represents reality in a distinctive way; each voice is an important part of the harmonic chorale that is needed for understanding. When some voices are suppressed, the church’s vision is not only distorted and deficient but also deeply flawed.

The concept of voice is prevalent throughout the Bible. God spoke the universe into being. In Deuteronomy, the Israelites saw no form upon Mt. Sinai, but experienced God’s presence through the sound of his voice. It was God’s voice that distinguished the Israelite’s God from lesser gods. John describes Jesus as the Word itself, and Christ consistently spoke words of healing and liberation. The importance of voice comes to play again in Acts, where Paul, Barnabas, Ananias, and Peter all heard God’s voice for instruction on the steps they were to take next. Hearing God’s voice is critical to finding our own.

Finding our voice is truly a biblical notion. As women created in God’s image, our voice is an expression of the freedom and responsibility to be the unique souls God created us to be. God gave us a voice for a reason.

Anna Julia Cooper, a 19th-century African-American theologian, described God’s presence in human beings as a “singing something.” What if we considered ourselves as created not in the “image of God” but rather in the “sound of God”? Cooper asked. What if our God-likeness is something to be expressed through our voice? Being created in the sound of God, we listen for that voice which speaks from without and yet is part of the very essence of who we are.

Mayra Lopez-Humphreys, a 30-something social work professor at Nyack College and an emerging leader involved in church planting in New York, recalls her struggle to find voice. “Growing up in a Pentecostal Holiness church was a unique challenge and birthing place for my emerging voice. Male and female roles were clearly delineated, from the division of men and women in seating to who made decisions publicly (make no mistake--the pastor’s wife was a mover and shaker, but her public persona was consistently demure and restrained). I grew up feeling a mixture of shame and anger for how women accepted the ‘wind beneath my wings’ role--even when they had awesome leadership gifts and callings. Maturity and a couple of knocks in the head have allowed me to appreciate the challenges we, as past and present women, have endured while in the process of nurturing our voices.”

Searching for meaning in the church can be frustrating for women. It is not uncommon for women to be excluded from leadership roles in certain churches and denominations. It is therefore not uncommon for women to question both their place in the Body of Christ and the value of their voice.

Preachers need to learn to evaluate their teaching and to anticipate any tendencies they might have to silence or oppress those who are looking for a redemptive and liberating word--one that will challenge us to lift every voice.Women need to be invited to speak, to have the opportunity to experiment with our voices and be heard.

I, too, must exercise my pastoral and prophetic voice, especially for those who have been marginalized and left voiceless by the wayside. One of my prophetic tasks is helping women come to terms with themselves and the call they hear to lift their voice. For some, simply standing and speaking in a group setting is a prophetic act. For me, planting a church was a prophetic act.

Every prophetic act builds on the one before it. Across the country, one by one, voices once silenced are rising up to join the chorus God created for them. Moved by the Spirit, more and more women are speaking forth the prophetic and transformative Word.

Listen! Do you hear what I hear? Women trusting their own voices as an embodiment of the Word, naming the forces which alienate and silence as well as those that encourage and release. Going from silence to voice takes courage but, as poet/artist Mary Anne Radmacher says, “Courage doesn’t always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, I will try again tomorrow.”

Women of God, try again, for there are many others in the world yearning to hear your voice.

Elizabeth D. Rios is co-pastor of Wounded Healer Fellowship (www.woundedhealerfellowship.com) in Pembroke Pines, Flor., academic advisor and adjunct professor at Trinity International University’s South Florida Campus, founder of the Center for Emerging Female Leadership (www.cefl.org), and a doctoral student in organizational leadership. Visit her weblog at http://latinaliz.typepad.com.

Daughters Shall, Daughters Do

2005-02-25T18:03:00.000-08:00

Prism Magazine, May-June 2005 Column: In Like Manner…The Women

Daughters Shall, Daughters Do
By Elizabeth D. Rios

Thousands of years ago the prophet Joel proclaimed a message that would ring like a clarion call for centuries to come. It would empower godly women around the world to stand against bias, comfort them when misunderstood, and encourage them to serve their God regardless of how their culture received (or failed to receive) them. Joel spoke for God simply but powerfully, saying, “I will pour out my spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophecy…” (Joel 2:28). Yet to this day, the church still debates the role of God’s daughters.

As my friend Kelly Bean says, “Stories are life-changing, debates rarely are.” So, as I promised in the last issue, this column will be not about the debate but about two women who have claimed Joel 2:28 as their mandate are thereby set free to do Christ’s work, both globally and locally, both inside and outside the church.

A house church pastor for the past 17 years in Portland, Oregon, Kelly understands Joel’s call as both an invitation to all God’s children to fulfill the needs of his kingdom and the authorization for all of us to speak his words of healing and hope. This daughter does just that in a ministry model she has dubbed “the team of three.” Groups of three people take the lead in planning the house church gatherings so that Kelly is not always perceived as the chief but as a fellow sojourner. This group of friends and fellow spiritual travelers is comprised of men, women, and children of all ages; it includes young singles, divorcees, and married couples; artists, mechanics, teachers, computer geeks, and nurses. It is a mosaic of the diversity offered by the human race.

For Kelly, Joel 2:28 was “especially encouraging a number of years ago when being a pastor in my context seemed like a pipe dream. I felt a call but had no idea if it could ever be realized, but I held on to hope when I read this and other Bible stories of women in leadership.”

Thanks to Joel’s message, Rachelle Mee-Chapman of Seattle, Washington, was able to see herself as the pastor, lead cultivator, and prophetic visionary of Thursday PM, what she calls “a neomonastic incarnational community,” a group of God-seekers who, although not yet all Christians, “are trying to develop a rhythm of living that allows us to stay connected to God and present to the world around us.” As the community’s website states, “We are explorers. We are people who want to worship God, and talk to God, and listen to God. We are people who readily admit we are not entirely sure what that means. …We uncover ancient practices and make them our own. We say, ‘I was wrong.’ We look twice at something that catches our eye. We seek.”

Rachelle describes her multiple roles as host, listener, cook, and teacher of children. She allows herself to learn from her neighbors, who she says “are often better ‘Christians’ than I am!”

As a recent church planter myself in South Florida, I claim the biblical truth that there is “neither Jew nor Greek, neither slave nor free, neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Gal. 3:28). Although the Scriptures never portray women as second-class citizens, our male-dominated religious system still promotes a biblically misinterpreted female inferiority. But the demeaning attitudes of this system do not reflect God’s heart. Through Joel God told us then and reminds us today that daughters shall prophecy. Thankfully, today we hear and know of many daughters who do.

Many other stories are as yet unwritten by daughters who still dwell in Shall-ville, and it is to them that Kelly and Rachelle prophetically speak out encouragement and counsel. “Do what is in your heart,” says Kelly. “Seek mentors everywhere. Don’t fight about it, just do it and remember that you were made for this!” Rachelle says, “You have permission! God has given it to you in Scripture and in an outpouring of gifts onto you. As a prophet I stand here and call you out! Find your way, whether it is small, hidden, and unofficial--or whether it is carving out a path through official channels.”

Be obedient to the One who called you. And be encouraged by those who support your call, whatever that may be, by joining with networks like the Center for Emerging Female Leadership (http://www.cefl.org/) or the Emerging Women’s Leadership Initiative (http://www.emergingwomenleaders.org/). As T.D. Jakes is famous for saying, “Woman, thou art loosed!” Daughter, go do!

Elizabeth D. Rios is co- pastor of Wounded Healer Fellowship (www.woundedhealerfellowship.com) in Pembroke Pines, Flor., founder of CEFL, and a consultant to faith-based nonprofit agencies. Visit her weblog at http://latinaliz.typepad.com.

Beyond Labels, Toward Calling

2005-02-25T18:01:00.000-08:00

Prism, March-April 2005 Column Name: In Like Manner…the Women

Beyond Labels, Toward Calling
By Elizabeth D. Rios

When I was 12 years old, my Sunday school superintendent told me that she would be on vacation the following week, during which time I would be “in charge”--collecting attendance notebooks and offerings from all the teachers and reporting any news back to her when she returned. I was stunned. Me, in charge? I thought to myself. I’m just a kid. My mom isn’t even a Christian! Surely, she’s made a mistake.

But Enid Rios Rivera had made no mistake. She recognized something in me at that age that no one had ever seen before. And that promotion (temporary, but oft-repeated) from nursery-supervisor/baby-bottom-cleaner extraordinaire to substitute superintendent changed the course of my life. Sunday school was the context in which that change took place, and a woman was the instrument that God used to give me my first chance at leadership.

And so at a young age I was comfortable with leadership responsibilities. But growing up as a Puerto Rican female, and initially unfamiliar with God’s thoughts on women as revealed in his Word and in the life of his Son, I was not particularly disturbed by the machismo I observed in the male leadership of my church. That type of behavior was expected in my culture and, although I was hurt by it, I accepted it as the way things were.

But as I got more involved in city-wide and even national events and partnerships through my 10-year involvement as an employee of the Latino Pastoral Action Center (http://www.lpacministries.com/), the disparaging attitude about women in ministry leadership did start to offend me, especially when I realized that it was not limited to Latino men but was prevalent within the broader church. Rather than remaining in resentment or even joining the debate, however, I felt called to give voice and visibility to women in my circle of influence so they could fulfill their God-given destiny.

In 1996 I founded the Center for Emerging Female Leadership (CEFL), and Enid Rios Rivera--the woman who gave me my first leadership opportunity back in Sunday school--joined me as ministry partner and associate director (she also became my sister-in-law, and was the first full-time female pastor to be installed in the Primitive Christian Church). CEFL was born from my belief that the gospel promotes a radical equality that extends across the artificial gender, racial, and socioeconomic barriers that humans love to erect. And so, like many of the sisters who have gone before me and many who now walk alongside me in the journey, I move onward toward the high calling that God has placed on my life and seek to help other women do the same.

Honored to author this new column on issues related to women in ministry, I have decided to call it In Like Manner...the Women, because in various epistles Paul used these words to state similarities between men’s and women’s roles (see 1 Tim. 2:9, 3:11). Rather than join the theological debate on women in ministry, this column will tell the stories of women who themselves have put the debate on the shelf and have gone on to “just do it.” It will also identify and tell stories about the issues that trouble women in ministry. My ultimate hope is that readers will go beyond spirit-stifling attempts either to label others or to accept labels ascribed to them by others, so that all can go forward to fulfill their calling regardless of gender.

Many women have determined that they have no time to squander on the “great debate” and are mobilizing themselves by the thousands to fulfill what we are all here for: Christ’s Great Commission. They have gone beyond the labels and are moving toward their call. Their mantra? Lead, follow, or get out of the way.

Join me here in the next issue for some storytelling!

Elizabeth D. Rios is a bi-vocational lead pastor of a church plant called Wounded Healer Fellowship (www.woundedhealerfellowship.com) in Pembroke Pines, Flor, where she lives with her husband and two sons. Founder of the Center for Emerging Female Leadership (www.cefl.org), Rios is also doctoral candidate in organizational leadership at Nova Southeastern University, and consultant to faith-based nonprofit agencies. Visit her weblog at http://latinaliz.typepad.com.

Documenting Myself

2005-02-25T17:58:00.000-08:00

In the last few years, I have written a few things here and there for Christian newspapers in NYC (Tristate Voice/Love Express), for National Magazines (Faithworks, Shout, Prism) and most recently for a book by Hispanic Churches in American Public Life. A friend urged me to document myself and post all of this stuff on the web. I have finally listened. My main blog is at http://latinaliz.typepad.com but this is where all my articles will be hosted because I want you to hear my voice...(at least read my writing) that is at the heart of Latina Liz.