This morning, I was standing in the hallway outside my office, chatting with two men who were waiting for a few others in order to hold a meeting in my congregation's building. Neither of the men is a pastor so, of course, neither was wearing a clergy collar.
Not long into our conversation, two more men came into the building, spotted us in the hall and came to greet us. They turned away from me--toward the men--and asked, "Pastor Lastname?" as they reached out to shake hands.
I responded by saying, "That would be me, unless you're asking for the other Pastor Lastname," and quickly learned that they were Gideons.
Apparently clueless about the fact that they'd just insulted me by failing to acknowledge my identity as pastoral leader, they plunged right into their request to come and speak to my congregation. Sorry, but no. Your organization may very well be a worthwhile and important ministry but as long as it excludes women, I will not invite you here. My congregational leadership supports that stance. I'm proud of them for doing so.
The congregation council also feels that, while it is certainly a good thing to place Bibles in the hands of those who otherwise might not receive them, it is more important to feed the hungry, clothe the poor and shelter the homeless. One of them noted that, in working toward meeting these most basic of needs, we are embodying the Word of God in ways that are much more powerful than simply handing out Bibles. I can't fault that theology.
After being told, "No, thank you," the men tried to convince me to change my mind. In the end, I walked them to the door and encouraged them on their way. They'll be back, though. Of that, I have no doubt.
1 comments:
I ran into the exact same thing during the seven years that I helped with my son's baseball team. Even when I wore a shirt that said coach. There were two guy coaches that I worked with. I didn't consider myself equal to them in baseball knowledge, but we all contributed to working with the boys and girls, mostly boys. Those two guys remain good friends of mine. But sometimes we'd meet with another coach or two and the three of us would be standing together, but the opposing coaches hands would reach out to shake only the guys' hands. It seems to me that would be rude in any context. In your context, it shows that women in the church are off of their radar screen, which means that they aren't acknowledging over 50% of God's creation of people. Like, would they have greeted you if you were the secretary and nobody else were present? Our former pastor, a woman, let the Gideon speak at our church. I don't know what vibes she got from the guy.
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