Why are we talking about this?

The Western church is currently going through a major shift that needs to be acknowledged. Pastors, church leaders, denominations, fellowships, and networks are all deeply engaged in conversations about the role of women in church leadership, striving to establish a standard on when and how women can teach, preach and lead in the local church.

If you’re still in the beginning stages of regular church attendance, this discussion might seem dated at best and offensive at worst. If you’ve grown up in the Church, you likely have a basic understanding of how contentious this issue can be. Historically, there has been a well-established divide between two camps:

1. Complementarianism, where men and women serve different but complementary roles in the church.
2. Egalitarianism, where men and women serve equal roles in the church.

This divide is often centred on the interpretation of specific chapters from the Pauline Epistles (1 Cor. 11, 14, Gal. 3, 1 Tim. 2, 3, and Tit. 1), and the intent of each passage. The discussion simplified down to a couple of questions:

• Did God lead Paul to write these as absolute rules for all time, in every church, for every context, in every culture, regardless of church health, membership, structure, or situation?
• Or is there grace within these Epistles to adjust the rules based on the church, context, culture, etc.?

Historically, there was an underlying push toward extremes that were always debated, because there were always variations (women can lead worship, pray, lead a meeting, teach a class, etc.). In our current moment, however, the variations have become more centralized. Something has shifted in local churches over the past few years, where a third, untitled distinction has emerged as the dominant one, which sits in the middle of the two extremes.

Again, it is not defined or even named as of yet, but more and more churches, even conservative evangelical ones, are moving toward the middle of Complementarianism and Egalitarianism. In this middle camp, women are permitted to hold pastoral roles in shepherding, counselling, teaching, preaching, and leading, as their spiritual gifting aligns, but under the authority of men, serving in senior leadership roles.

Related to the fellowship that I belong to, Complementarian/Egalitarian lines were getting blurred a couple of years ago. That’s when I discovered that our national convention voted on an official statement of their position a decade prior (ahead of the curve in my opinion), that women could serve in pastoral roles as long as the lead or senior pastor was a man. I communicated this finding to our church membership when I discovered it. This statement seemingly sat dormant until recently. Now it’s a key discussion point; so, what changed?

Why is this shift happening now? (How did it start?)

There are lots of theories on why this shift is gaining steam – some say it’s the church is just following culture; others say it’s the church being lazy and not adequately training men. And yet, they all attribute the shift to present-day leadership decisions.

I bought into most of these theories until post-pandemic evidence suggested that this shift was and is more organic, potentially starting decades ago. This shift may have originated in the home before it ever entered the local church.

Ask any Christian Gen-Xer or Millennial about their upbringing, and a common response would be that their mother was the primary spiritual leader at home. This shift didn’t occur overnight; it began after World War II but gained momentum throughout the 1960s and 1970s (when most Gen-Xers were born).

In Western Christianity, it became customary for mothers to attend to the spiritual and emotional well-being of their children, while fathers focused on their physical and financial needs. Unfortunately, this trend resulted in fewer men praying over their children, reading Scripture with them, and leading devotional times with the family.

CAVEAT: This isn’t meant to be a criticism; just an assessment. Most fathers and mothers did what was believed to be the correct model of parenting for Christian homes. If you happened to have grown up with a spiritually engaged father, you are blessed because it was not the norm.

Why didn’t Gen-X men take the mantle of leadership?

By the 1980s (when the first Millennials were born), it wasn’t just that mothers had assumed the primary role of spiritual leader in the home. Gen-X men had other factors that would impact their ability to carry the mantle of church leadership. To start, they had the lowest generational birth rate in recorded history due to increased access to birth control and abortion, the normalization of dual-income households, and divorce.

Specifically related to the increased acceptance of divorce (even among Christians), many mothers were given majority custody of their children, making them the sole leaders in almost every aspect of life. A higher percentage of Gen-X men grew up without fathers than ever before. Those men were raised by women who were forced to lead, provide and protect in capacities that they never would have chosen, but accepted for the well-being of their children. And it left an imprint on that generation.

As time progressed into the 1990s, Gen-X started reaching the age of 30; a typical age to begin taking on church leadership roles in previous generations. Many of these Gen-Xers were spiritually led by their mothers, while their fathers (or fathers of their friends) led the church.

This may be one factor (among many) related to the disconnect and disengagement among Gen-X adults in the Western church. They became the first generation to establish what is now known as “deconstruction”, withdrawing from organized church or in the worst case, walking away from their faith.

Sadly, by the end of the 1990s, for many Christian families, the long-standing tradition of church attendance ended when their Gen-X children reached adulthood. In simple math, based on their low birth rates and how many Gen-Xers left the church, there weren’t enough qualified men to take the mantle of leadership. The result? Boomer men in leadership would receive another decade of leading as elders and deacons on church boards.

In the periphery, however, women started to lead more ministries, and some enrolled in seminaries. I believe this was the hinge moment that shifted the trajectory of church leadership in the 2000s. As I look back, I wonder if this was the beginning stages of a generational Deborah situation (Judges 4 & 5), for lack of a better term. I wonder if God was preparing women to sustain the Church in a future deficit of qualified men. I have no theological backing for this concept; just a musing in my attempt to find a spiritual explanation for the shift that we’re faced with today.

How do Millennials fit into the current shift?

The first Millennials hit adulthood in the early 2000s. The majority of these adults were spiritually raised by their mothers, potentially to a greater capacity than Gen-X. The difference? There were way more of them! Birth rates had started to climb in their generation. And so, during the 2000s, Millennials would become the largest adult demographic to enter the local church since the Boomers.

At the same time, many Boomers were becoming empty nesters and looking forward to retirement. Gen-X men and women who remained faithful to the local church are now reaching their 40s, and well-established in their gifting and calling. Many evangelical churches have started changing their leadership structures, giving more opportunities for women to serve as board members and ministry leaders to share oversight responsibilities.

Related to pastoral leadership, the first wave of Boomer pastors began retiring from long-standing positions. Some of them had led the same church for 20-30 years, leaving behind elders and deacons who had served alongside them for most of their pastorate. (Due to that Gen-X deficit.)

Finding pastoral replacements became more challenging than ever before. Denominations and fellowships grappled with filling the demand, as qualified pastoral candidates were not in abundant supply. Some churches succeeded in finding a replacement, but many struggled to secure a new pastor or cycled through a few candidates before finding the right one.

By the 2010s, the remaining Millennials reached adulthood, but some church boards were still cycling through the same candidates. Due to the Gen-X deficit, some of these elders and deacons had served more consecutive terms than ANY other generation before them, potentially in church history. (Let that sink in for a moment.) As already highlighted, there simply weren’t enough qualified men (under the age of 60 by this time) to fill the void.

Related to congregations, this situation caused a very wide generation gap between church leadership and the incoming generation of adults. Historically, based on life expectancy factors, the 2010s saw the widest generation gap in church history. (Let that one sink in as well.) How the Boomer board room thinks and how the Millennial church attender thinks, are vastly different. Then there’s this minority of Gen-Xers stuck in the middle.

Why is this shift gaining so much attention now?

The shift of increased women in leadership that started in the early 2000s gained traction in the 2010s. To sustain the health of the church, many evangelical churches shifted their leadership structures to give more opportunities for women to serve on boards and leadership teams. That being said, the role of preacher and teacher was still sustained by male pastors and elders throughout the 2010s.

Many of these pastors were Boomers, who remained in their pulpits in their later years, or came out of retirement to serve because the need for pastoral care was so significant. The need may have been felt to a greater capacity in smaller, rural communities, where congregations had fewer options to find and sustain a full-time pastor.

As the 2010s came to an end, no one could have predicted what would happen next. The catalyst moment happened in 2019 with the pandemic. It was the hardest, most divisive season of ministry in modern church history.

During and after the pandemic, the local church saw more pastors, elders, and deacons step down from leadership than ever before; most of them were Boomer men without any replacements. Many of these leaders would have stayed for 5-10 more years under regular circumstances, but they were completely overwhelmed and exhausted and wanted out. As it turned out, many Boomer congregants wanted out as well.

Following the pandemic in 2022, Church analysts predicted that Boomers would be the first to return to church, but a large portion of them didn’t. And they still haven’t. Contrary to predictions, Millennials weren’t the ones who ended up staying on the couch watching church online. They all came back, and brought some friends!

A review of 2023, showed that more Boomers stayed home than Millennials. For the first time in 40 years, a new generation of adults is the majority in the local church. This may be the crux of our shift. Potentially for the first time in Christian history (outside of times of war), the majority of church attenders were spiritually led and guided in a higher capacity by mothers (and women) than fathers (and men).

Due to several factors leading up to this moment, the average adult congregant is more willing to listen to and learn from a woman, related to spiritual and Biblical matters, than ever before. There are simply fewer people with fewer barriers to female leadership, pushing the conversation to the forefront in every denomination and fellowship, as local churches strive to determine a standard for the future.

Has Pastor Jeremy gone Egalitarian?

No, I have not. And yet, I’m increasingly aware that I’m not a full Complementarian either. I’m increasingly struggling to find a line that might not exist. But in the meantime, I will continue to double down on my support of our fellowship’s statement on women in leadership. I believe it carries a balance of truth and grace in approaching Paul’s Epistles and charting a productive way forward in this current cultural moment.

For my fellow Complementarian-leaning friends and colleagues, this reflective journey should solidify an important lesson for us. We should focus on our homes before we ever call out standards for the local church. If a man is not spiritually engaged with his wife and children, I see little value in his position on a woman’s role in the church. From my study of Scripture, including Paul’s Epistles, the Gospel lived out in marriages and families is an essential component of the Gospel being lived out in the local church.

In this season of ministry, perhaps we should focus on the re-engagement of Christ-centred fatherhood over the role of women in the church. Considering many of our men didn’t have an example to cling to, it might prove to be a far more productive endeavour.

Where do we go from here?

The shift in how the Western church sees women in leadership is not going away, but it’s not a straightforward path either. We have to figure out the history that brought us here, realizing that we’re standing at an intersection. There’s a well-established road in one direction, holding tightly to what they’ve always done. There’s another well-established road in the opposite direction, rejecting everything that’s been done in the past.

We’re going to try something new, realizing that this road has just been roughed in with gravel and is not as frequently used. The future is not clear yet, but I’m thankful for our national and regional leaders. Regardless of our position, we should be praying for them and showing understanding for the difficult journey they’re travelling.

If you’re willing, I’d love to hear your thoughts. If you’re local, we can meet up for coffee and chat about it. Otherwise, we can connect through Zoom or FaceTime. Reach me at (867) 335-7524 or drop me an email at jeremy@mountainview.church. Your thoughts and questions are important; I believe that talking openly strengthens our community.