Thoroughly equipped #1 Popular American Evangelical Women's Ministry: Is it failing Christian Women?

The Purpose of This Podcast and the Question of Women’s Ministry

Welcome to Thoroughly Equipped, a podcast for women where we compare the popular women's ministry teachings, books, conferences, Bible studies, etc. to scripture. Our focus is 2 Timothy 3, 16 -17, that all scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness so the man or woman of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

To my podcast, this is the first episode. I go by the name Melbitos and I am just so glad you found this podcast. If you haven't listened to the Thoroughly Equipped trailer slash purpose statement, I suggest you take about 4 minutes to listen to it.

That way you know why I'm doing what I'm doing. Anyways, for my first episode, I thought long and hard about what I should discuss. This topic has been of course on my mind for a very long time and really it has so much to do with the book critiques that I work on in my spare time.

But the biggest reason I think I should talk about this as my first episode is because I know so many women whose walk with God seems to be just lacking. I don't mean that they do sinful things, which all of us do, but that discontentment, depression, and just a lack of joy is prevalent in their lives.

So, it got me thinking. Our popular evangelical women's ministry, is it failing Christian women? Have you ever thought about the popular evangelical women's ministry in America today? Do you read the popular books by popular teachers, attend the popular bible studies, and popular sold-out conferences?

Do you wonder if they're producing the maturity they claim to encourage? Or maybe you've spent hours and hours reading and spending money attending conferences and feel no more mature in your Christian walk than you did 5, 10, or even 20 years ago.

Or maybe you're a discerning woman who understands that there's something wrong but can't put your finger on it or articulate the possible reasons why there seems to be a problem. I'm no expert, but as one who was immersed in it and has, by the grace of God, climbed out of it, I can at least tell you what I see.

So please, feel free to disagree, but I think it's time we start talking about it. So, the best way I think to go about this is to see what scripture says about women's roles in the fellowship of the church and what God has called women to do.

From there, we can look at the popular women's ministry as a whole and ask if the tools, books, conferences, etc. that are provided actually produce the same results. So, the questions we should ask are, what does scripture say the goal of women in ministry is?

What is said or encouraged to women in American evangelical women's ministry today? Specifically, as a Christian woman, what is the focus in these books and conferences? We can look at the purpose of popular books and sold-out conferences to see why they are produced.

This will tell us where they see a need. Their books or discussion topics are given to supply the solution to that need, so this will be their purpose. Are the results produced by American popular evangelical women's ministry the same results that we see in scripture?

So, if they are not, what is then lacking in women's ministry today? By looking at a woman's role in scripture, we can see God's goal. For someone to clarify a word that I'm going to be using here, that's the word church.

I will use it in two ways. One, as the institution, the building, and the offices that are involved therein. So, when I say a woman's role in the office of church, you will know I mean the building. Number two, the church as the called-out ones, the whole or church catholic as we like to call it, meaning universal, the whole, all the people called out by God.

A Woman’s Role in the Church Catholic

So, I will be looking at both. Let's look at what scripture says the goal of a woman's life should be in the catholic or whole of the church. The scripture is inspired by God to teach, rebuke, correct, and train us in righteousness so we are thoroughly equipped for every good work.

Its goal is that our love abound more and more in knowledge and discernment, Philippians 1, 9 -10, pointing us to Christ so that by the Holy Spirit we will accomplish the good works God prepared in advance for us to do, Ephesians 2, 10.

In Genesis, we see that God made woman for man to be his helper. That's Genesis 2, 18. In Proverbs, the wise woman of God works for her husband and her children. Everything she does revolves around this and is entirely for those in her household.

That's Proverbs 31. As with the rest of the church catholic, she trusts God's word, the scriptures. She's a child of Sarah, trusting God's promises found in scripture and fears nothing, calling her husband Lord, doing what is right, and is not given into fear.

That's 1 Peter 3, 6. In fact, this is not done on her own but through the careful study of Christ and his work found in scripture. She holds to the more sure word regardless of any experience she may have.

That's 2 Peter 1, 19. Her goal is to love her children and her husband, be pure and self-controlled, working from home, kind, and submissive to her husband because she knows this is how God's word is honored and not reviled.

That's Ephesians 5, 22 -24. Titus 2, 4 -5. Colossians 3, 18. 1 Timothy 2, 9 -10. The woman who continues in faith, love, and holiness will be saved through the hardships and curse brought about from sin and childbearing.

This means that through Christ and his work, she can be brought safely through all the hardships of the curse and childbearing. Motherhood will look more like God intended, the bringing up of children to know and love God.

She desires to be gentle and quiet in spirit because it pleases God. 1 Peter 3, 3 -4. 1 Timothy 2, 9 -10, 3 -11. Proverbs 21, 9, 19. So as you can see, scripture has a lot to say about the role of a woman in the church catholic.

This is what the righteousness of a woman will look like. And at the very foundation of this righteousness, of course, is Christ. Because a righteous woman knows her actual righteousness is filthy, but it is Christ that makes her righteousness perfect.

Women’s Roles in the Congregation and the Limits of Authority

And so the Holy Spirit works in her because of Christ. Now, what about her role in the congregation of the institution of the church? Scripture is clear about this as well, even though we have only a couple of verses in regards to this.

First, we can look at what she cannot do, and that is found in 1 Timothy 2, 11 -15 and 1 Corinthians 14, 34 -35. Paul says that because of creation, women are not to have authority over men, but are to submit to husbands as the law says.

So real quick here, you should notice that the reasons Paul gives for our submission is found in creation and in God's law, not because of any cultural or philosophical reason. Both creation and the law are under God's hand.

They are in his purpose and plan, not man's. Both creation and the law are unmovable. So, regardless of changes in culture and what men say through philosophy about the roles of men and women, God decided to institute the roles of men and women in creation and the law so they will never change.

In Titus 2, 3 -5, we can see what a woman's role in the institution of the church is. It is to teach the younger woman what is good, all the roles taught to all women in the church Catholic. In Titus 2, 5, we see that this teaching what is good encourages the younger woman to love children and husbands, be pure, self-controlled, workers from home, kind, and submissive to husbands.

When they are taught what is good and encouraged to do these things, they honor God's word. This encouragement is the result of teaching what is good. This is what God wants women in the institution of the church to train other women up into.

This is the biblical purpose of women's ministry, to encourage the younger woman not to revile God's word and to be Titus 2 women. So, when we get into the purpose and results of the popular women's ministry today, will it match up?

Are these female teachers teaching what is good resulting in encouragement towards being a Titus 2 woman? That's what we want to find out. Back in my 20s, my husband and I attended a very small Baptist church steeped in the purpose-driven theology.

We were heavily involved in ministry there. Every season, I attended women's small group Bible study, I attended the women's retreat, the women's conferences. We were determined not to be seat warmers, and I would be lying to you if I said my pride didn't get involved.

It was almost pharisaical-like, if that's a word, being in the 10 of the church that actually followed the push that told you to follow your purpose. Now, almost 15 years later, and women's ministry has become a national thing.

Female leaders such as Beth Moore, Priscilla Schreier, Jenny Allen, Liza Turkers, Christine Kane, and many more have produced studies and books that are all used across the whole world. The average individual books are around $20, the study guides can be around $8, DVDs for group studies are around $30, tickets to attend a conference can range around $90, and add to your hotel if you're traveling.

Prices add up as you are involved in the world of the evangelical women's ministry. So do these women, myself was included, did we get our money's worth? The constant teaching is a steady stream of learning to hear God's voice, all this apart from scripture, so we can receive revelation from him about our calling in life.

The individual books and conferences are to give you how-tos in overcoming obstacles that get in the way of this calling. The calling is always the bigger purpose in your life, something special God has only for you.

Others are self-help oriented to motivate you to, as some teachers would say, experience God and radically obey. Look through a Christian bookstore or catalog and you can fit most studies and books for women under these three topics, how to discern God's voice and experience God, how to chase after that God-sized dream, and how to conquer any obstacles that may get in the way of that experience, dream, or your obedience.

This is the purpose of most evangelical women's ministry today. Now don't get me wrong, ministry in the church institution is needed and good, but it's for the older women who have served her home, children, and husbands.

Their children are grown up and now she can teach and encourage the younger to love her children and submit to her husband. This is so very different from what's being encouraged through these popular female teachers, so of course the result is going to be so much more different.

And because of this difference, it is lacking in producing women who love children, submit to husbands, are pure and kind, and whose main focus is the home. And because of this, it is failing our Christian sisters today.

Five Reasons Popular Women’s Ministry Fails

Now I'm merely an observer, so you can take my observations and scrap them if you see fit, but through my observations I believe that there are five reasons that the popular American evangelical women's ministry has been failing and not producing spiritually strong Christian women in the church, women who are without fear and are strong in the Titus 2 results that are brought about by teaching what is good.

Here is number one. Feminism. Feminism has affected these women. The feminist ideal of women working outside of the home now has been redeemed by claiming that God has something better for them outside of the home.

I call it Christian feminism. It's all okay because God told you and because God needs you to advance the kingdom through any means necessary as long as it's apart from the home. The home itself is not a place of serving and evangelism.

These things happen either in the church building or ministry within the institution of the church. Well, how do I know this? Because I fell for it. In the end, it pointed me toward a higher calling within the institution and away from the purpose of the home in the church Catholic.

Scripture Is Treated as Insufficient

Number two, the insufficiency of scripture. I believe this next failure is the result of the Christian feminism that is hidden in plain sight in the teachings of most women's ministry. To urge women on to ministry apart from the home, something apart from scripture must convince women to head in that direction.

This is where the discerning God's voice doctrine comes in handy. It's easy to justify a God-sized dream from supposed inner directions and heart nudges that come from God, but if scripture was our only guide for life, godliness, and good works, then it's not easily justified.

Instead, it points you away from yourself and your heart nudges and clearly defines how a woman should live in God's kingdom. The lack of sufficiency of scripture is the driving force behind all the books and themselves.

If scripture is enough and Christian women knew that, these female writers and teachers couldn't sell a thing because American evangelicalism today doesn't believe that scripture is enough to teach, rebuke, correct, and train us in righteousness so we can be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

That's 2 Timothy 3, 16 to 17. And because of this, we need their books and teachings to instruct us how to be good Christian women. Number three, the failure to call out sin. Women are relational beings who pride themselves and judge themselves by their relationships, so we tend to be cautious about what we say and how we say it, and this affects the teachings we hear.

We don't like when we are told that we're wrong and we don't like to tell other people they are wrong. We fight for peace and unity, and yes, most of the time it's done at the expense of truth unfortunately, and this is a big issue.

Sin is not identified as sin and therefore it's merely written off as mistakes or mess-ups. Things like restlessness and discontentment, worry, and anxiety, these are tossed around as obstacles to work through but never looked at deeply enough to point out sin.

Christ and the Gospel Are Treated as Past

Desires of restlessness and discontent may come from a heart that covets something other than what God has given. Worry and anxiety may be a result of lack of faith in God and His sovereignty. Number four, Christ and his gospel are in the past.

This failure results from failure number three. If sin is not called out, then Christ and his gospel are not proclaimed for these sins. The gospel was to get us in the door, and that's the past. Now, because sins are merely obstacles, these teachers can write books and hold conferences giving you disciplines and rules on how to overcome them.

These women have gone through just what you are going through, so believe them. They know the rules and the disciplines that get you through it. And yes, these rules and disciplines are supported in scripture.

I'm being sarcastic here, but I think you see where I'm going. They teach the law. There are rules and regulations, but it's law all right. And if they do get to law found in scripture, it's law light, meaning that you can totally accomplish it if you only surrender.

Don't worry too much about being perfect. God doesn't expect perfection. He only wants you to surrender. Wink, wink. See, this is not scriptural at all. Scripture tells us that God does want perfect obedience.

The law was given to show us our sin and how we do not meet that perfection, therefore causing us to cry out for a savior. Romans 7, 7 -25, Galatians 3, 19. They search the scriptures thinking they can find life and write living, John 5, 39, and teach others to do the same.

Emotional Pragmatism and the Use of Personal Testimony

All the while, they miss that the scriptures testify about Christ and what he has done, and because of that, they see no need to proclaim him. Failure number five, emotional pragmatism. And finally this, the failure to depend on the Holy Spirit to teach us through the scriptures how to grow spiritually.

This comes from a pragmatic view of church growth, and it is prevalent in American evangelical today. In the woman's ministry, it's expressed especially in emotionalism. Emotions are stirred to encourage women to obey these rules and directions they sell you.

Stories are told to bring laughter, tears, and sometimes indignation, all to get your heart moved to do, and it sells very well. Oh yes, the Holy Spirit can be talked about and give you what you need to succeed in your God-given purpose, but any talk of him pointing to scripture and what it says on how to grow the individual and the kingdom is missing.

If they believed that the Holy Spirit worked through the written word, they would teach it. Instead, they do a lot of talking about themselves, their lives, and their encounters. They truly believe the Holy Spirit uses their encounters to help other women grow, but scripture tells us that no encounter, whether ours or someone else's, will convince us of the kingdom of God.

This is Luke 16 19 to 31. Nor will it cause us to grow in Christ. The Holy Spirit uses scripture to make us more like Christ, whom they testify of. Stories can entertain and can also encourage, but they don't revive the soul, make wise the simple, rejoice the heart, enlighten the eyes, declare our hidden faults, Psalm 19, keep us from shame, and our ways pure, and they are not our counselors.

This is what scripture does. Psalm 119. I have a hypothesis on why this is. The move from evangelism by objective testimonies of Christ and his sacrifice on the cross for our sins to evangelism by subjective testimonies of how Christ has changed our lives and behaviors.

There is so much I could go into this subject, but for this discussion, I want to look at how evangelizing now is giving our subjective personal testimonies. The underlying assumption of telling testimonies like these is that they will stir one's emotion up to motivate them to turn to Christ.

A see what Jesus has given slash changed in me, you can have it too kind of evangelism. While these stories are wonderful, I mean I love hearing how Christ has worked in people's lives, the gospel is a proclamation that happened in history.

What Christ did on the cross for our sins can be applied to anyone. How Christ has changed my life will be different to how he might work in you, but the gospel works the same in all of his sheep. It cleanses us from our sins, it gives us his righteousness, it sanctifies us, and will one day bring us to glorification all through faith in it.

So how do I believe this has brought emotionalism into the church? Well, if we have a good enough testimony to emotionally drive someone to go to Christ for a better life, then we must keep them emotionally driven to obey.

Conclusion: The Good Works of a Woman and the Need for Reform

In conclusion, I'm sure that many will say how nitpicky I am to say that the popular evangelical women's ministry is failing Christian women. It's done a lot of good for so many women, that's understandable, but I can't help but wonder what do they mean by good?

Do they mean their standard of good? If it encourages women to do good works for the church institution, bringing them into service and ministry focused more outside of the home, some people may say that is good.

They would claim that it's advancing the kingdom, and please know that I'm not saying this is bad. I'm only pointing out that God has told us in his word what the good works of a woman actually look like.

They're focused on our children, our husbands, our purity and self-control in the home. This is how God's word is not reviled, and truly, truly, I believe these good works also advance the kingdom, not only advance it, but reveal it, expose it, and magnify it in our own homes.

I hope this makes us think a little more about what's being said and done in the popular evangelical women's ministry of today. I hope it brings on discussions like whether you agree or not, or if there's a need for reform and change, etc.

All those who are in Christ long to see the of God grow, and despite these feelings that I see happening in the popular evangelical women's ministry, God will cause the growth of his woman and his church, and we praise him for it.

So until then, I pray that you're staying in the word.