Recently, there’s been quite a lot of pushback to the ‘fluffy’ teaching many Christian women are receiving. Christian women are just as thirsty for Scripture-grounded teaching and theological training as men. We are not satisfied with essential oils and pretty colouring pages. Picture-perfect Bible journalling might make for some nice Instagram pics but they don’t mean anything if they’re not drawing us closer to God.
I think this is a function of the overall effort to modernise churches over the past few decades, as churches have tried to ‘keep up with the times’ and be more inviting; fancy welcome packs and high-quality coffee after the service and graphic design to rival a major marketing company.
My concern is that it’s very easy to join in the pendulum swing. If we see that someone has identified an issue we agree is wrong, we tend to rush to their side in our mutual opposition. But the Christian way is rarely at the extremes. There is almost always a third option, a middle way.
Self-care is not sinful. Bible journalling can be a great tool for many to engage with the Word. Telling young girls that they are ‘enough’ is often a much-needed message in this age of constant comparison. Yes, of course, there are plenty of nuances associated with self-care but there’s nuance with most parts of this life. The Bible shows us how to live on a higher level but it doesn’t give us the specific actions for each scenario we’ll encounter. A lot is left unsaid, and these grey areas are freedom, not cause for division.
Sometimes it can feel like Christians (on both sides) are just picking at parts of the other side as opposed to examining themselves. It is no life to live reactionary. We need to be contemplative in how we live; approaching each topic with Jesus as our moral compass.
Furthermore, I don’t think the issue is experienced exclusively by women. It seems as though there is a larger problem with discipleship and training in many churches. Often, only a select few men are chosen for discipleship development from the church leaders. These are identified as possible future church leaders, and many others fall along the wayside. There seems to be a need for church-wide discipleship; not just investing in the select few who could become pastors or elders.
(The issue of women in church leadership positions is a different conversation and something I’m still trying to investigate. Either way, the point remains that true, decent discipleship is required for all believers. Filling up this void with superficial, self-focused teaching for women is just one function of the larger issue.)
What’s the purpose of the church? It’s meant to be a place where believers can come together and build up the body of Christ, both by investing in people who have already come to faith and by reaching non-believers.
At the end of Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus gives his disciples the Great Commission: “Go and make disciples of all nations,” (Matthew 28:19). Making disciples involves both the telling and the training.
One of the questions I’ve heard people say you should ask when you’re considering getting married is: “Are you more dynamic for the kingdom of God together than you are apart?” In the case of the church, the question becomes an instruction: the church exists so that believers can be more dynamic for God’s kingdom together than they are apart. Some ways that the church accomplishes this are:
- Encouragement
- Teaching
- Inviting/Hospitality
- Friendship/Family
- Social justice ventures
- Outreach/Engagement with the local community
We all are desperately in need of Jesus. Good theological education is vital in churches. We need to beware of inspirational quotes substituting our Bible reading. There are plenty of shallow, watered-down devotionals for women out there, and they often do more harm than good. Jesus should always be our focus, not ourselves.
So yes we need to call for clear Scripture teaching. We should keep Jesus as our focus and not be satisfied with pretty graphics or matching hoodies or any other ‘fluff.’ Moreover, we need to beware of the me-culture that is often propagated by this kind of teaching. But we don’t have to be throwing rocks at each other because of this. We can become just as prideful of our absence of smoke machines as we can become prideful of their abundance. The devil doesn’t care if you’re proud for ‘focusing on what really matters’ if your pride is driving others away in shame, and pulling your focus to yourself.
We do not need more division. We need more Jesus.