Recently, I saw this article posted on social media (http://www.religionnews.com/2016/03/08/178533/) , and I did a slow burn.
I have known some FANTASTIC female ministers in my day. Many of them are colleagues, buddies, and even mentors to me. (I do not understate the importance of male ministers, but this posting is not about them.)
But this is blatantly unfair, and I cannot figure out why it even occurs.
I have heard and read expert after expert "explain" that there is "more to this that the statistics don't reveal." I'm sure they are correct.
But nothing changes some of the nonsense I have heard over the years.
For example...
NO ONE ever commented on my shoes, my hair, my shirt, my suits, or my robes when I was preaching in the pulpit. Yet my female colleagues have told me about comments such as, "Do you really think you need to do your hair like that?" and "You should choose a different dress for Sunday worship" and even "You're already so tall...why do you need to wear high heels?" (I wonder if a short man asked that one...)
NO ONE ever told me "I just don't know if I can get used to a male minister." Yet my female colleagues have reported that when they were called to a new location, they were often told they were a problem simply because they were female, especially if they followed a male minister. Also, I have even been told that when female ministers interview for senior pastor jobs, they are told that they may have an interview but "don't expect to get the job...we are really looking for a man for the senior pastor role."
NO ONE ever told me that I have no business preaching the Word each Sunday because Paul told me and everybody who looked like me to "keep silent in the churches "(1st Corinthians 14: 34).
NO ONE ever told me that I can't teach the opposite sex anything about God either because Paul had something to say about that too (1st Timothy 2: 12-13).
It's all unfair if you ask me.
I know what the Bible says, and I also know what the Lord has revealed to me, what He has shown to me, and what I believe myself.
Whether you are good or bad has NOTHING to do with whether you are a male or a female. The same holds true in ministry.
The "glass ceiling" is defined as the barrier that women must break through in industry before they are taken seriously.
I guess the "stained glass ceiling" is a similar thing for women to shatter in ministry.
They will find that this particular male is their friend, their colleague, and their staunchest supporter!
