Crossing the Line
When I was 18 or 19, I lived in a small apartment in Toronto, Ontario. I was in my second year of seminary. My roommate and I didn't have laundry facilities in the building in which we lived so we had to walk a few blocks up the street to a laundromat.
One evening, as I sat in the laundromat, a young man sat down beside me. He noticed what I was reading—a book that was on the required reading list for one of the courses I was taking. We started to talk and the conversation quickly turned to spiritual things.
Knowing that my roommate was at home, I took the liberty of inviting the young man home that night to talk further. He accepted and the three of us continued the conversation in our apartment.
We were required to report on these kinds of ministry opportunities to our field work supervisor. In this case that was one of my Christian Education professors. After she read my report of the incident, she sent me a message. In her note she told me that I should confine my efforts to share the Scriptures with women only. It could be that she was only concerned about my safety. I never asked her and she never expanded on her instructions.
However, that incident has often reminded me of the struggles that women engaged in ministry have continually had with the infamous "gender issue" and the roles that women are allowed by men to play in churches, Christian ministries, and religious agencies.
The struggle remains and continues to be an issue that divides churches, denigrates and discourages women of God, and damages the mission that God has called all believers to participate in regardless of their gender.
Since I was 18 or 19, when in a laundromat in Toronto, and throughout my years in ministry, I have said "no!" to someone other than the Spirit of God telling who I can, or cannot, speak to about Him.
Whether it be to a thousand people or to one single person, I will take every opportunity God gives me to share the Word of God because I am accountable to God for the opportunities He sends my way. Yes, I am accountable to men—but not for what they may believe a woman should or shouldn't do, but for their souls, and for their spiritual well-being.
If there is a man-made line in the sand on this issue, I happily step over it.
