The other day a friend who has been a national leader in Southern Baptist college ministry called to ask, "Do you think the actions at the Southern Baptist Convention will have any effect on women in college ministry?"
If you are not aware, at the SBC Convention in New Orleans, it was voted to "dis-fellowship" churches that had women pastors. One had a lead pastor who was a woman and another had women on staff who were ordained and had the title of pastor, but were not the lead pastor. Also, a motion was made that would be added to the Baptist Faith and Message that in addition to women not serving as lead pastors, also "does not affirm, appoint, or employ a woman as a pastor of any kind." Many SBC churches call everyone on their staff pastor, such as Children’s Pastor, Youth Pastor, etc.
Obviously, none of this discussion was related to college ministry, but will it have ripple effect? Or, as some might term it, will there be unintended consequences? Currently there are multiple Baptist Collegiate Ministries led by women. When I began in college ministry in the 70's, some of the best known BSU leaders were women. But, that number has declined over the years. I attribute part of that decline to the movement several years ago to change the title from BSU Director to Campus Minister. I think when the term "minister" was used, there became a greater reluctance to place women in these roles for a variety of reasons. But, as recently as 2006-2011, a woman was the National Leader for College Ministry at Lifeway Christian Resources.
Several years ago, we were in the process of hiring a woman for the Associate position for the Baptist Collegiate Ministry at Arkansas State. Three local pastors came to see me expressing their concerns about our hiring this married lady who was a recent seminary graduate to be part of our BCM staff. I said, "Guys, last week a freshman girl came to see me upset and wanting to talk about her first visit to the Gynecologist and I am not good with those conversations." One of the pastors said, "Obviously college ministry is different than the pastorate." That seemed to end the discussion.
We need women in college ministry!
To quote my pastor friend, "College ministry is different than the pastorate." As more families are breaking down, college students are wanting and needing to talk about very personal issues and to be able to do it with someone who understands and to whom they feel comfortable talking about those issues. As gender is a more prominent discussion on college campuses and in society as a whole, having both women and men in college ministry is a must. Young women are looking for godly female role models. However, it is getting harder and harder to find women for college ministry positions. We must not do anything that discourages women from responding to and serving in God's call to college ministry.
None of the several women I have worked with in college ministry were ordained. Let's not combine those two discussions. Women being ordained or serving as lead pastors of churches is a very different discussion to women serving in college ministry.
We not only need women in college ministry, we need MORE women in college ministry. Let's beware of unintended consequences! Be an ENCOURAGER to any women you know who are currently serving in college ministry.
Arliss Dickerson's book, Tips for College Freshmen: 124 Tips for Fun, Faith & Good Grades, is available at Amazon.com/dp/B09QFB9DJ9 and A 3 Part College Ministry Success Formula is at Amazon.com/dp/B0BZ6Q7HSV.
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