Can Women Plant Churches?

Posted on 30. Apr, 2009 by frank in ministry, my church

I ran into an interesting blog post by Dave Ferguson today, “Do you know any female church planters?” In the United States… unfortunately no. It is quite interesting, our culture is quick to push for women’s rights and encourage progress for the opposite sex in other countries but there are still some interesting career areas where women have yet to break into here in our own country.

I’ve actually met female missionaries that plant churches around the world while I was going to college. But I have not yet met a lead planter that was a woman here in the US. I’ve met women that are youth pastors, small group pastors, discipleship pastors, counselors, and even associate pastors and senior pastors of some main line denominations, but no church planters.

It is not just in church planting that I see these barriers for women. I also saw it first hand in the military. I met numerous women that entered the law enforcement and security career field because they were not allowed to join the infantry. It is kind of funny though, when I was a cop in military I had some female partners that could kick the crap out of some of the guys I worked with.

Galatians 3:26-28 says, “26You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, 27for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”

We have quite a few women on our staff at CCV and all of them are bright, strong, skilled, and outstanding to serve with. So if women can effectively hold all of these positions in our churches what is preventing them from planting churches?

Anne Jackson continues this conversation on her blog – http://www.flowerdust.net/2009/04/23/women-church-planters/

2 Responses to “Can Women Plant Churches?”

Jon Stolpe

01. May, 2009

It’s an interesting subject. Actually, when I think about the industry that I work in – construction, I realize there are not many women here either. I wonder where else this gender difference is prevalent. I’m thinking more elementary school teachers are female. More garbage collectors are male. More librarians are female. More race car drivers are male. More “sunday school” teachers are female. More church planters are male. Hmmm… Obviously, I don’t have any statistics to back any of this up, but it leaves me wondering…are some jobs just meant for men and some for women? Or is it our culture that is creating these barriers and stereotypes?Sometimes, I think it takes someone willing to break the barrier. For example, Danica Patrick – Indy Car Driver. Or John Hackworth (my college roommate) – kindergarten teacher. Maybe someone just needs to step up and take the risk. I realize it takes a lot of planning, strategy, and support to plant a church. Maybe there’s a woman out there who has a heart to serve God in a specific region by starting up a church. Maybe this dialogue will spur someone on to take this leap of faith.Interesting subject…
mark cooper

24. Jun, 2009

I have met several female church planters. If you spend time in major urban settings and small country towns you will meet female Church planters. Many of these women struggle to be accepted by the male pastors and their efforts are dismissed as not relevant. I met Rev. Gladys Logan in Forest City NC and her church was one of the few churches that attracted young people. Eventually a Bishop came and took the church from her. Rev. Audrey Brunson was the planter and pastor of Sanctuary Church of the Open Door in Philadelphia. started in 1975 with 12 people in her home. Pastor Peggy Scott is a female church planter of the Norristown Family Christian Center. As a male church planter I know the how tough the task can be and yet I know for women it’s twice as tough because people see you working at the vision God gave you and question has he really spoken. They adk plenty of questions and do very little to help you. So outside of our mainstream denominations you will find female church planters. They are too busy trying to plant and have very little time to focus on getting their story out because it makes a lot of people uncomfortable.

Can Women Plant Churches?

2 Responses to “Can Women Plant Churches?”

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