Women serving on church staff in complementarian churches face unique challenges due to the polity, structure, and culture of the churches they serve. Men who lead and serve with these women can lead better by learning of these challenges. Some can be solved; some cannot. Recognition of the challenges can better prepare both men and women as they work together in churches.
The challenges discovered through qualitative research for my dissertation involved twelve interviews with women serving in Southern Baptist churches for at least five years where no women served as pastor or elder. The job titles varied, with most working with children. It is recognized that in qualitative research, the results cannot be generalized.
I have served on church staff in Southern Baptist Churches, as a ministry wife, and as a helper in over ten church starts. My husband had read my dissertation, minus the research, as I went through the process. Near the end, I asked if he would read the research chapters. When he finished, his response was, “nearly all of these things have happened to you, too.” So, although no research-based generalizations can be made, the challenges uncovered will be familiar to women who have worked in conservative churches.
The challenges discovered were put into three categories: cultural, theological, and personal. The cultural challenges are what women face in the world and in the specific culture found in SBC churches. These were: role ambiguity, lower compensation, lack of female co-workers, role incongruity, environment, and supervision issues. Women interviewed experienced that although there was agreement on a complementarian theological viewpoint, how that is practiced in each church changes from church to church. It also changes inside the church from person to person and situation to situation. Because of this, confusion and frustration resulted for the women. Some examples of this were women staff members expected to do secretarial tasks when male staff members were not, decision-making meetings impacting the ministries they led where they were not invited to provide input, or difficulties created from being the only woman on the ministry staff. These are categorized as cultural because most of the women realized they were not done intentionally to hurt or belittle them, they just happened because they were female in their estimation. The culture of the local church sometimes showed itself less than hospitable when women moved beyond the secretarial roles, even when those roles were in areas where there was no theological disagreement.
The second area of categorization of challenges was theological. Theologies on what women should be allowed to do and how it plays out in the local church vary widely. Ordination is one visible dividing line that at face value played no part in the ability to do the job assigned. It did factor into reasons given for lack of opportunity for advancement or as an explanation for why they were not a part of particular groups or meetings. Probably the most mentioned theological issue was that it could be difficult to find a job. Most churches/pastors who hired a female staff member usually hired from within or someone with whom the senior pastor was already acquainted.
The last area of challenge category was for those of an individual, personal nature. These areas were somewhat unique to the woman or the situation. Single women had different issues than married ones. Single or widowed women had the additional pressure of being compensated enough to support themselves. (Interestingly, half the women did not know what their co-workers earned in comparison to their own salary.) Those with young children or aging parents usually had more responsibility for their care than their male counterparts. Work/family balance played itself out in different ways in each situation. All of them faced some type of discouragement that had its source in their femaleness in the particular environment of the conservative SBC church.
Challenges exist, yet in spite of them, I talked with no bitter or disillusioned women. They were positive, upbeat, and still ready to work in the local church. That is not to say the former don’t exist, just that none were interviewed or did not stay long enough in a church staff position to qualify. Women interviewed were selected through random invites to pastors and denominational leaders to recommend women serving on church staff.
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