{"id":42413,"date":"2025-10-28T17:57:12","date_gmt":"2025-10-29T00:57:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=42413"},"modified":"2025-11-02T11:04:36","modified_gmt":"2025-11-02T19:04:36","slug":"half-the-vineyard-unharvested-how-the-church-withers-when-womens-gifts-are-silenced","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/half-the-vineyard-unharvested-how-the-church-withers-when-womens-gifts-are-silenced\/","title":{"rendered":"Half the Vineyard Unharvested: How the Church Withers When Women\u2019s Gifts Are Silenced"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ten of the twenty-six names are women.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In Romans 16, the closing chapter of his theological masterpiece, Paul commends Phoebe, Priscilla, Mary, Junia, Tryphena and Tryphosa, Persis, the mother of Rufus, Julia, and the sister of Nereus. As Nijay Gupta notes in <\/span>Tell Her Story: How Women Led, Taught, and Ministered in the Early Church<\/span><\/i>, \u201cThis is nothing short of astounding\u2026 none of Paul\u2019s comments are focused on their domestic duties but on their \u2018hard work\u2019 on behalf of the Lord.\u201d [1]\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I grew up assuming that was normal. In my suburban Presbyterian church, women served as associate pastors, elders, and choir director. At my women\u2019s college, our motto was \u201cthe challenge to excel.\u201d Only decades later – in my 50s – did I realize that many congregations <\/span>still<\/span><\/i> restrict women from preaching, teaching, or leading. The discovery left me stunned\u2014and grieved.<\/span><\/p>\n

Why would the church exclude half its members from full participation in God\u2019s mission?\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

I asked that question years ago, and I can\u2019t believe I\u2019m still having to ask it. When the church limits women\u2019s leadership, it stifles not only their flourishing but the flourishing of the whole body.<\/span><\/p>\n

Biblical and Theological Foundations for Flourishing<\/b><\/h3>\n

Scripture offers a continuous pattern of God calling and empowering women despite patriarchal norms. Deborah judged Israel, Huldah prophesied to kings, Mary of Bethany learned at Jesus\u2019 feet, and Mary Magdalene proclaimed the Resurrection. Paul\u2019s own ministry thrived through partnership with women like Priscilla and Junia.<\/span><\/p>\n

Dallas Willard (who was a Southern Baptist pastor before becoming a full-time philosophy professor and scholar) insisted that \u201cthere is no suggestion whatsoever in Scripture that the gifts of the Spirit are distributed along gender lines.\u201d [2] To exclude women, he wrote, inflicts an \u201cincalculable loss\u201d on the church. [3] Leadership is not about rights but about obedience to divine gifting.<\/span><\/p>\n

From Genesis to Paul, flourishing leadership arises when all God\u2019s image-bearers live out their callings. When we silence the voices God has empowered, we do more than ignore Scripture; we impoverish the body of Christ.<\/span><\/p>\n

Human Flourishing and the Cost of Exclusion<\/b><\/h3>\n

Recent data from the <\/span>Global Flourishing Study<\/b>\u2014a collaboration between Harvard\u2019s Human Flourishing Program, Baylor University, and Gallup\u2014confirms what theology has long proclaimed: flourishing cannot happen in isolation or at the expense of others. The study identifies six domains of human flourishing\u2014happiness and life satisfaction, mental and physical health, meaning and purpose, character and virtue, close social relationships, and financial stability\u2014and finds that the deepest well-being is driven by meaning, purpose, community, and faith, not wealth or achievement. [4]\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Matthew Lee, one of the project\u2019s researchers, explains, \u201cIt\u2019s possible for me to have well-being at the expense of you, but I don\u2019t think it\u2019s possible for me to flourish at the expense of you.\u201d [5]\u00a0 The church, then, cannot claim to flourish when it limits women\u2019s full participation in ministry.<\/span><\/p>\n

If flourishing requires mutuality, shared purpose, and belonging, then excluding women from leadership violates both empirical evidence and the gospel itself.<\/span><\/p>\n

In addition, the Human Flourishing Program\u2019s research shows that <\/span>regular participation in religious community<\/span><\/i>\u2014including leadership engagement\u2014is strongly associated with greater life satisfaction, purpose, and longevity. [6] When women are confined to passive or supportive roles, both their personal meaning and the community\u2019s collective well-being diminish.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A church that silences half its voices deprives itself of joy, creativity, and relational strength. Flourishing, as both research and Scripture agree, depends on the full engagement of every member in God\u2019s work of renewal.<\/span><\/p>\n

Formation and Flourishing: Morgan\u2019s Model<\/b><\/h3>\n

Anna R. Morgan\u2019s <\/span>Growing Women in Ministry<\/span><\/i> offers a practical vision for how the church can nurture flourishing for women\u2014and through them, for the whole community. Her model identifies seven interconnected aspects of leadership development: three internal (spiritual calling, leadership cognition, emotional intelligence) and four external (home support, ministry environment, leadership relationships, and communication). [7]<\/span><\/p>\n

Each domain reflects one of the Human Flourishing Program\u2019s indicators\u2014meaning and purpose, character and virtue, and close social relationships in particular\u2014showing how personal formation and communal flourishing are intertwined.<\/span><\/p>\n

Morgan emphasizes that developing women leaders is not a matter of political equity but of spiritual vitality. When women discern and live out their callings, they embody meaning and purpose; when they are mentored and supported within healthy ministry environments, they foster belonging and resilience; when their voices are heard, their communities grow in empathy and moral strength.<\/span><\/p>\n

As Dallas Willard wrote, spiritual gifts create obligations\u2014responsibilities derived from divine design. [8] To ignore those gifts is to defy the Spirit\u2019s intent. Supporting women\u2019s leadership, therefore, is a formation practice: it aligns human potential with divine purpose.<\/span><\/p>\n

When the church invests in women\u2019s development\u2014through mentoring networks, inclusive leadership teams, and environments of trust\u2014it fulfills both theological and psychological criteria for flourishing. Morgan\u2019s model, Willard\u2019s theology, Gupta\u2019s examples, and the Harvard research converge on a single truth: flourishing multiplies when every believer\u2019s gifts are honored and exercised.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Church That Flourishes Together<\/b><\/h3>\n

True flourishing cannot be one-sided. As the Global Flourishing Study reminds us, well-being that comes at another\u2019s expense is not flourishing at all. When the church limits women\u2019s leadership, it diminishes its own spiritual vitality and silences part of the image of God meant to be expressed through His people.<\/span><\/p>\n

Anna Morgan\u2019s model, Nijay Gupta\u2019s recovery of the women who \u201cworked hard in the Lord,\u201d and Dallas Willard\u2019s conviction that gifts are given without regard to gender all reveal a consistent truth: the Spirit distributes calling for the good of the whole body, not for the protection of tradition or ego.<\/span><\/p>\n

A flourishing church is one in which every believer\u2019s purpose and voice contribute to the life of the community. When women are free to lead, teach, and serve as God calls, the entire body of Christ becomes more whole, more loving, and more alive\u2014a living testimony to the God who delights in mutual flourishing and in whose image we are <\/span>all<\/span><\/i> created.<\/span><\/p>\n

=======<\/b><\/h3>\n
    \n
  1. Nijay K. Gupta, <\/span>Tell Her Story: How Women Led, Taught, and Ministered in the Early Church<\/span><\/i> (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2023), 4.<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. Dallas Willard, \u201cThe Roles of Women in Ministry Leadership,\u201d in <\/span>How I Changed My Mind about Women in Leadership<\/span><\/i>, ed. James Beck and Stanley J. Grenz (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2010), 422.<\/span><\/li>\n
  3. Willard, 423.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
  4. \u201cThe Global Flourishing Study,\u201d Harvard Human Flourishing Program, 2025,<\/span> https:\/\/hfh.fas.harvard.edu\/measuring-flourishing<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
  5. Bella DePaulo, \u201cHuman Flourishing in Unprecedented Times,\u201d <\/span>Psychology Today<\/span><\/i>, March 8, 2023,<\/span> https:\/\/www.psychologytoday.com\/us\/blog\/the-art-effect\/202303\/human-flourishing-in-unprecedented-times#:~:text=Human%20flourishing%20can%20be%20defined,individuals%20as%20well%20as%20communities<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/li>\n
  6. Tyler J. VanderWeele, \u201cReligious Communities and Human Flourishing,\u201d <\/span>Current Directions in Psychological Science<\/span><\/i> 26, no. 5 (2017): 476\u201381, https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/0963721417721526.<\/span><\/li>\n
  7. Anna R. Morgan, <\/span>Growing Women in Ministry: Seven Aspects of Leadership Development<\/span><\/i> (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2024), 31.<\/span><\/li>\n
  8. Willard, \u201cThe Roles of Women in Ministry Leadership,\u201d 422.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    ===<\/p>\n

    On a personal note<\/strong>, we have three young adult children, plus a daughter-in-law, who are all looking for churches that support and develop anyone into spiritual leadership who is called to it. Unfortunately, too often, the churches that exclude women from leadership are the kind they are otherwise looking for: larger, more active churches with many young people and families.<\/p>\n

    Our children all want to grow in discipleship and in knowing and loving God, but in the churches of exclusion, our daughter and daughter-in-law do not feel welcome, and our son doesn’t want his daughters to be stifled. (Our other son is in Seattle, attending a welcoming Episcopal church.)<\/p>\n

    I pray for the day when ALL are truly welcome to explore their callings and giftings, for their own well-being and for the flourishing of the body of Christ and our communities.<\/p>\n

    Additional note:<\/strong> I’m coming back to this post because I spoke with my husband about it. He latched onto my story about how dramatically several women ministry leaders – pastors and others – have deeply and profoundly affected my spiritual growth and development. If it weren’t for them, I would not be able to share the ripple effects of their guidance and wisdom with others. And if not for these women pouring into me, how many others have I mentored, discipled, taught, and influenced, who would be poorer in their relationship with God? This isn’t a reflection on me; it’s a reflection of the grace of God who can do much with cracked vessels!<\/p>\n

    My husband was thinking especially about our two little granddaughters who are attending a complementarian church – only reluctantly, because our son and his wife feel like they have so few options – and he’s concerned that they won’t have women ministry role models, teachers, preachers, and leaders in their lives who could also influence them, and by extension, many others throughout their lives.<\/p>\n

    We cannot say “No” when the Holy Spirit calls us<\/em> into leadership, and we equally defy the Spirit<\/em> when we discourage other<\/em> people the Spirit has called. Discouraging and prohibiting women from ministry leadership is, I believe, a significant part of the reason why our country is suffering from ethical decline, moral deterioration, and erosion of values. People are inherently human, so in communities that prioritize the tough self-confidence associated with rugged individualism<\/a>\u2014a trait that has dominated our culture and media for decades\u2014male leaders may be significantly influenced by this mindset. However, if this approach is not balanced with empathy and compassion for everyone, these leaders risk falling prey to its more negative aspects and, therefore, being ill-equipped to incarnate, preach, and teach empathy and compassion for others.<\/p>\n

    We desperately need to focus on empathy, compassion, and lifting up ALL the people who live in the margins of society, just as Jesus did. Who is best equipped – on average – to do that? Research offers some statistics.<\/p>\n

    Not that men can’t show and teach empathy and compassion. They can, and many do. And there are certainly specific women leaders in the US who are clearly and publicly NOT showing empathy and compassion. But a 2022 Pew Research Center study<\/a> found that women were much more likely than men to report feeling sad for those suffering (71% vs. 53%) and to have a desire to help (46% vs. 34%). Research<\/a> also finds that women in many countries score higher, on average, in cognitive empathy, or the ability to understand another’s perspective.<\/p>\n

    By following Jesus’ example in his honoring and calling of women, our churches need to do their part to change society by changing the script. I believe that begins by, as Morgan wrote, honoring and developing women for leadership roles in the church.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Ten of the twenty-six names are women.\u00a0 In Romans 16, the closing chapter of his theological masterpiece, Paul commends Phoebe, Priscilla, Mary, Junia, Tryphena and Tryphosa, Persis, the mother of Rufus, Julia, and the sister of Nereus. As Nijay Gupta notes in Tell Her Story: How Women Led, Taught, and Ministered in the Early Church, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":197,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2967,284],"class_list":["post-42413","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-dlgp03","tag-morgan","cohort-dlgp03"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42413","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/197"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42413"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42413\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42482,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42413\/revisions\/42482"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42413"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42413"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42413"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}