Women’s Church Experience
By Julie Clawson
Jim Henderson of Off the Map is working on a book on how the church treats women. As part of his research he commissioned the Barna Group to conduct a survey of women’s experiences in the church. They (Barna Group) spoke with 603 women who met the following qualifications: 18 years or older, described themselves as “Christian” And had attended a Christian church service at least once during the past six months. Among those women, 63% met the survey criteria for being a “Born Again Christian.”
Here’s a bit of what the survey discovered –
- 84% say that their church’s perspective on women in ministry is almost identical, very similar, or somewhat similar to their own.
- 83% say that their Senior Pastor is somewhat, highly or completely supportive of women leading in their church
- 82% say they can tell by their church’s actions that the church values the leadership of women
- 81% say that their church provides women with the same degree of leadership opportunities as Jesus would.
- 72% say they possess a lot of spiritual freedom in their life
- 70% say that the media has little influence on their decision-making
- 71% say fear is not something they experience ever or often in their life
- 62% say that ALL leadership roles are open to them in their church.
- Only 1% say they often struggle with jealousy
- Among those who feel they are capable of doing more to serve God, and should be doing more, only 4% say that their fear of failure is holding them back from doing more to serve God.
Jim admits that these results seem almost unnaturally positive and asked for other women to comment if these results actually represent their own experience. Here’s what a few Emerging Women wrote on their own blogs concerning the results -
Pam Hogeweide responded -
When I first saw these stats, I had to reread them three times just to make sure I was understanding the data. It then became apparent to me: if a woman in church believes she is only meant to serve and lead other women or children, then yes, of course she is content within her church experience. If today’s Christian woman is convinced by the men in power who teach her that she is to remain dutifully in her biblically mandated role, then this is the perception she will report from.
To answer Jim’s question for myself, No, these stats do not match my experience, nor the experience of many, many women on the road of faith I have known for the last 28 years.
Kathy Escobar commented as well –
once i look up and out at the reality of women in the typical evangelical-y church system i get really, really sad. and really, really mad. when i read these statistics i honestly thought it was a joke. they are not representative of the majority of women that i know and their experiences. but then i remembered that most of the women i hang out with on a regular basis are, on the whole, no longer drinking the christian company kool-aid.
what do i mean by the company kool-aid?i mean the things that the system tell us to believe. the things that leaders engrain into the community’s culture. the things that are backed up with “we’re 100% certain this is what God meant.” the subtle and direct messages that “good christians believe this.” the herd mentality that is so strong in any homogenous culture–this is the direction everyone’s going so i better tow the line and walk this way, talk this way, too.
And Sonja writes –
It made me angry to read these statistics. It made me angry, not just for the women … but for all the people involved in those churches. They are losing out. This is not the Kingdom of Heaven that Jesus talked about in the Sermon on the Mount, or as he walked with his disciples or at any time. Would even Peter, or John the beloved disciple be able to answer these questions so affirmatively? How about Mary Magdalene? Good grief, if even the disciples struggled with jealousy why on earth can only 6 women out 603 acknowledge it? Perhaps it was the word, often, that threw them off. Maybe they decided that they could deny that jealousy was something that strolled in and regularly did battle in their hearts. I know I will stand up and say that I am jealous all the time. It doesn’t make me mean anymore, but acknowledging it to myself and being able to laugh at it has made it easier.
Then this report made me sad. The kind of sad that aches in my bones. Because when I look at it I see poverty. The church in North America (like the US) may have a lot of money. It may have a lot of stuff. We may also have a lot of people for all I know. But we are starving to death. Emaciated and dying for lack of food, water and oxygen. Worse, we are doing it to ourselves. With a huge smile on our faces. We are a people with anorexia or bulimia. When we look in the mirror we see fat and happy, but the reality is we are starving. Dying.
In all truth I lost my faith in the Barna Group’s ability to conduct meaningful surveys years ago. The way they ask their questions, and especially who they ask them of, doesn’t exactly represent reality as I know it. But I get that for women in churches that tell them that “1. Women must not lead in the church, 2. To question that is to question the Bible, and 3. That to question the Bible (or admit there might be different interpretations) is a slippery-slope into unchristian liberalism” OF COURSE they are going to say that they are in agreement with their church’s confining views of women. I bought that lie hook, line, and sinker for years, I know that world.
So like the other women have expressed, these survey results sadden me. They do represent a segment of the church – one where patriarchy rules disguised in biblical clothing. These women don’t have the freedom to question their position without fear of being mocked or excluded from their fellowship. They don’t even have the freedom to admit they experience fear or jealousy (what sort of sick repression is going on here in our image first church world????) They don’t believe that they are allowed to be happy in any other setting. I get that that part of the church exists. But it’s not my experience anymore. Maybe the women who have escaped that world might not fall into Barna’s strict definition of Christian (didn’t a few years ago they define a Christian as one who believes in the Bible’s inerrancy?) I don’t know, I just know that some of these results are disturbing on a deep and visceral level. There is much we can learn from the results, and I am eager to read Jim’s response in his book. But I also think there is a real danger of these statistics being grievously misused in defense of the continued oppression of women and the silencing of half the church. I pray that is not the case.
Tags: Barna Group, Jim Henderson, Julie Clawson, Kathy Escobar, Off the Map, Pam Hogeweide, Sonja Andrews, Women
July 8th, 2010 at 1:57 pm
As a Christian woman who is a TT social science professor at an RI university, I have a strong reaction against these survey results on 2 levels.
First of all as a quantitative social scientist, the Barna group is notorious for providing statistics that create a false impression of reality. Their surveys are typically not representative samples; their recruitment methods for respondents are often suspect; their question wordings are usually not designed to be objective or scientific; etc. Therefore, it is impossible to know what these results possibly mean. We cannot say who these women are and who they represent. Therefore the findings should be treated with considerable skepticism.
Second on a personal level, I find these results to be misleading and unrepresentative of the reality that I have lived. Sadly, much of evangelicalism in the United States denies the contributions women might offer to their church communities. (Mainline protestant churches are sometimes more welcoming.) A place for women is often hard to find, and the Barna survey findings fail to reflect the considerable discomfort women feel in church settings. As Julie writes, I certainly hope these results do not become a bludgeon used to pressure women into continued submission.
July 8th, 2010 at 2:06 pm
Thank Julie
Appreciate the help
please send other commenters
to my blog at http://www.offthemap.com so I can collect
all the stories in one repository
July 9th, 2010 at 6:55 am
What these results say to me is that most women attend churches that already agree with their own beliefs about gender roles. That, to me, is not so surprising. Most of us tend to gravitate towards like-minded people.
I’m also not sure these results indicate that a lot of women are in denial about the oppression they face in church. Did the survey also record what their churches actually do believe and practice regarding women? A lot of these questions could be answered the same way, regardless of whether a church is highly supportive of female leadership or highly restrictive of it, since the survey mainly just reflects whether or not the respondent agrees with what their church teaches, not what those teachings actually are. I.e. a woman could be in very progressive mainline church that is supportive of women (Episcopalian, UCC, etc.) and still respond that:
- their church’s perspective on women in ministry is almost identical, very similar, or somewhat similar to their own.
- their Senior Pastor is somewhat, highly or completely supportive of women leading in their church
- they can tell by their church’s actions that the church values the leadership of women
- their church provides women with the same degree of leadership opportunities as Jesus would.
- they possess a lot of spiritual freedom in their life
- ALL leadership roles are open to them in their church.
So unless these results are correlated with the actual attitudes of their churches towards women, this survey doesn’t really tell us a whole lot, except that women tend to go to churches they agree with.
July 9th, 2010 at 7:26 am
These results were just stunning. As in, I needed to read them over and over to get over my initial shock. I do NOT in any way see that this could be a true representation, on the whole- much of what was storming through my mind as I read has already been mentioned- I was just shocked the numbers fell as they did. And yes, women will respond from their own position, their own perspectives, and yes, generally believers do not faithfully attend fellowships that they do not fundamentally agree with in most areas.
I was especially stunned to read #9 and #10. These are things that war the heart of every woman. I can’t imagine the woman surveyed could truly not struggle with fear or jealousy- either they feel hindered to admit it, haven’t had opportunity to freely search out their hearts (for fear of discovering something that isn’t “accepted”, or discovering they are not “ideal”) or they are simply lying, out of pride- whether they realize it or not- which every one of us has to struggle with in degrees- but to feel you can’t let down your guard and admit these things, even in a Barna survey, is so very, very heartbreaking.
July 9th, 2010 at 9:43 am
Mike … There’s a part of me that tends to be in agreement with you. We do tend to gather with like-minded people, so that first datapoint is unsurprising. And then the rest roll out from there. I think what women are offended by are the implications behind this. And the questions that follow. Why are so many women so complacent about gathering with people that want to keep them in their (second-class citizen) place? Why are so many men so power hungry that they need to be in power all the time?
I don’t think it’s the data, per se, that’s offensive … it’s what the data implies that women are struggling with. It raises a lot of questions for many of us … as I’m sure you are aware.
July 12th, 2010 at 3:35 pm
If you are interested in a more narrative take on women’s experiences in the evangelical church, the book I edited might interest you. Here’s a review:
http://www.internetmonk.com/archive/recommendation-and-review-jesus-girls-edited-by-hannah-faith-notess
July 15th, 2010 at 12:48 pm
I guess I come at this survey and experience from a different angle. I have always felt like women had an equal place in the churches I have grown up and matured in. The one exception to that is that I have yet to have a female senior pastor in a church with multiple staff members. But besides that exception, women have played all sorts of roles in the life of the churches I am a part of.
If I were to give those same questions to the women in the congregation I am now serving – as a solo pastor – I think they would heavily agree with many of the findings of the survey. Women are the leaders of my church. They are the ones who make decisions and make things happen. They are the ones who are working behind the scenes and who are up in the pulpit and lecturn. In a small town rural congregation, many of the men stay home. Women carry the faith, teach the faith, and lead others in the faith.
I don’t know much about this actual survey, but my hope and prayer is that many of the survey respondents were not second-class citizens in their churches content with how things are, but women who are strong leaders in their local communities and who will be leading the church into the future.
July 15th, 2010 at 12:50 pm
May I also say that the one exception that I just mentioned is a glaring one… but that a good friend who was an associate at my home church was just appointed as senior pastor of another urban congregation… so I’m seeing that change happen before my very eyes.
July 21st, 2010 at 8:42 pm
These stats just don’t make sense in light of more nuanced research out there…especially research of women who have actual aspirations of participating in Church Leadership in a ‘call’ sort of way. Jim, what in the world are you going to do with these stats?
August 4th, 2010 at 11:59 am
Well…
Abused wives often feel their husbands are good people who are only beating them because they did something wrong, too.
Elizabeth Smart was concerned about the well-being of her kidnappers and rapist when she was found.
Keep someone in a abnormal relationship long enough, abuse them physically or psychologically, and they will think it is perfectly normal, sometimes even desirable.
August 10th, 2010 at 7:59 am
81% think the church provides women with the same amount of leadership as Jesus would. Makes me think women from many Baptist denominations and the churches of Christ were not interviewed. I can’t believe they would believe that. But then again, they may believe it and be where they feel comfortable.
November 15th, 2010 at 8:27 am
As a woman who has been in ministry for 25+ years, I have to say I was shocked at the results of the Barna survey. I think the results would paint a much different picture had Barna surveyed women who were in leadership in churches. I know from my own experience and that of close friends, one of whom is a Harvard PhD and yet wasn’t allowed to lead in her church and was expected to work for FREE because her husband was a pastor,that the church world, even among denominations started by women and claiming to support women in ministry, is overwhelmingly prejudiced against women serving as pastors. Women leaders in the church have often kept silent for fear of political retaliation. Unlike the corporate world, where HR law and the court system have offered some protection/accountability against gender discrimination; there is no system of accountability in the church world. What is more horrifying than the real world statistics are the anecedotal stories where prejudice, bias, and a total massacre of authentic scriptural exegesis and interpretation are routinely used and justified to the deep wounding of women with a genuine call and leadership gifting. These women are being victimized and the body of Christ is forced to function as an amputee, as we cut off some of our own limbs to support a patriarchal culture that has nothing to do with the example Jesus lived and taught.
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