I was at meetings in Central Asia last week with pastors who are starting (planting)
churches in homes. These local groups can be led by women or men but nearly
everyone at the consultation was male, because they are the leaders. Some wives
popped in and out but the only woman there for the whole time was a petite, single
mum with four children, who has an amazing gifting reaching out to women. Zarina
(not her real name) has established 17 home churches and new groups are growing
up regularly. She, and all the men in her national team, recognise that she is an
apostle.
As she reaches out to women in one of the poorest nations in the region, she has
news that sets them free from oppression and second-class status. She has set up
literacy classes and teaches the women about hygiene and pregnancy health. She is
about to start kindergartens for little ones so they can be prepared for school.
Zarina has a heart to restore broken lives, in places where women are often ignored,
and where despite education and generations of Soviet secular rule, patriarchy is still
strong. The pastors recognise that unequal roles in the family are unhealthy parts of
traditional culture but they are also wary of equality that sounds too western. And
maybe some of them hope that God will change hearts without them needing to take
action!
How can we stand firm for equality as it’s seen in the Bible and also respect non-
western viewpoints. It’s interesting that we see other people’s viewpoints as ‘cultural’
but not our own. So it’s a huge privilege for me to listen and learn as well as
encourage Zarina, a first generation believer, to use her gifting as God intends
without her becoming embroiled in western church views of leadership.
I also want to encourage male pastors who are husbands and dads, to read
Scripture with fresh eyes. They are certainly up for that and loved exploring the idea
of ezer kenegdo, as a first step.
God promises the Israelites in the time of Isaiah that all the nations will come to
respect the truth and everything that has been laid waste will be restored. That
includes their sons and daughters.
18 Lift up your eyes and look around;
all your children gather and come to you.
As surely as I live,” declares the Lord,
“you will wear them all as ornaments;
you will put them on, like a bride.
Isaiah 49:15-16 is such an encouraging message for Zarina and her team. God has
his eye on the forgotten ones who might feel forsaken.
God says his love for his people is even stronger than a mother’s love: “’Can a
mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion for the child she has
borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! See I have engraved you on the
palms of my hands;’”
The verses that follow are hope filled, because power will not be in the hands of
kiings of nations but in the hands of those who faithfully live and speak God’s good
news:
“Then you will know that I am the Lord;
those who hope in me will not be disappointed.”
With our eyes on ‘the little ones’ in our communities, we need our theology of
equality to count for something more than theory. Our theology must be practical for
women across many nations. At Rise 26, we want all voices to be of equal weight as
we grapple with the ‘wilderness’ issues facing Zarina’s nation and so many places of
conflict. We want to explore how women are making a difference – from Egypt, to
England and Ecuador.
We know that If we esteem women everywhere as image bearers of our wonderful
creator, God promises that those who hope in Him will not be disappointed (v23).
Look at this description in Isaiah 49:22, “See I will beckon to the nations, I will lift up
my banner to the peoples; they will bring your sons in their arms and carry your
daughters on their hips.”
What a promise: precious young people will be protected from evil by the powerful of
all nations, who see the goodness of God. And that goodness is demonstrated in the
holistic good news of Zarina and her co-workers.
All of us can have hope because our names are engraved on the palms of God.