Ruth Crawford Seeger

In honor of Women’s History Month, for this series of women in ministry and ministering to women (which is broader than women’s ministry), I’m titling each one with important women in history.

Because of my music background, I’m prophesying that most will be musicians. But who knows?

Ruth Crawford Seeger was a composer in the twenties and thirties. She wrote atonal music influenced by composers Alexander Scriabin and Charles Seeger (who became her husband) and folk music. RCS was the first woman to receive the Guggenheim Fellowship.

Back to our discussion about ministering to women, although we have yet to talk about women specifically, and I have a feeling we won’t get to that until tomorrow. Yesterday, I brought up the issue of the purpose of the church, and, more specifically, your local church because any ministry to women should fit within that. I believe, as you can see in the Transforming Culture supercategory above, that the church’s function (within the purpose of glorifying God and showing His love to the world) is to transform culture spiritually and physically. (This includes areas such as social justice, arts, and science.) I believe that evangelism is bringing people into meaningful relationship with God, and this relationship affects the spiritual and physical realms. The church, then, functions to transform believers and, with these transformed believers, actively participate in the world (you can see my fire and coal illustration in the Transforming Culture category). Let me point out that I don’t think this is a two-step process. I don’t think you first transform believers and then you participate in the world. I think these two things go hand in hand. Jesus didn’t remove his disciples from the world to train them and then take them out. He trained them as he went out. In fact, the training was in the going out and in the conversations that his actions spurred. In the same way, I believe the church goes out and ministers/heals/feeds/preaches/touches and in the process also has conversations through Scripture about why and how and who and all that jazz.

Side notes: (1) this being a blog and me being an external processor, I’m working through these things. I have been for years and years. In fact, I wonder–do you ever get to a point where you’re not working through these things? So, please, point out my weaknesses, tell me your processes and workings out so that we can do this together. (2) Later we’ll address the specific role of Bible study and meditation, but at this point, since I don’t specifically mention it much in the above, I do want to say that I believe the Bible to be the most significant shaper of our story as it is a witness to God’s overarching story in which we fit. I also believe that all this is done through the power and guidance of the Holy Spirit. (3) Transforming culture is God’s kingdom work in which we get to participate. In other words, while we are passionate about it, we don’t have to stress. He’s in control. (4) These beliefs influence the Bible studies I write. For example, in the study on Abraham and Sarah, we look at God’s call on, work in, and work through Abraham and Sarah. At the same time, we "storyboard" (what I termed the section that reflects on the reader’s life) our lives (God’s call on, work in, and work through us). Also, because I’m an artist (specifically musician and writer), the arts are an important influencer in how I think about, process through, and reflect God’s work in and through me, so one day a week is reserved for worshipping God through whatever artistic medium you choose. This, I think, helps some people (i.e. people like me) work through things and participate in that sector of life. Finally, while we dwell on what God has called us to, we’re doing it. Part of the commitment in these studies is your social justice project (what I call your Special World, following Campbell and Vogler’s terminology) done as a group and optimally through partnerships with your local church because this is how God works in and through us. Why stop at talking about it? Part of the learning process is in joining God’s kingdom work. By the way, these Bible studies are not written exclusively for women, but we’ll get to that later. I say this to give you an example of how your philosophy and theology about the church (i.e. ecclesiology).

As I predicted, we have yet to talk about ministry to women specifically. Some issues still to be covered in re-evaluating women’s ministry: why do we do this (this specifically in light of our belief about the purpose and function of church and of your local church)? Why do we have it? Why do we need it? Should we try to attract women to women’s ministry? What do personality differences and learning styles have to do with how and what we do? Do Bible studies and spiritual formation need to be different for different genders? What kinds of outreach ministry can women uniquely do?

I will say that these answers will be different for different cultures and sub-cultures. A healthy tension exists between the church ministering within culture (and sub-cultures) and seeking to bring cultures and sub-cultures together. When I say together, I do not mean make them the same. I mean that we can worship together, rejoice together, participate together, all the while celebrating the differences that serve to reveal different aspects of God.

I also want to point out that as we address ministry to women specifically, these answers will be influenced by your definition of feminity. I interacted with this on the three-part series I did on Becoming an Imaginative, Female Theologian Who Loves the Arts (part one, part two, and part three). 

Let me end with one last point I’ve been thinking about lately: how our culture affects this. In our transformation of culture, I don’t believe our goal should be to go back to some "Golden Era." (For the record, I don’t think a Golden Era ever existed.) One of the things that I think the church is not doing well is modeling a healthy mixed-gender leadership for those in leadership in their worlds. In the working world, women are CEOs, managers, project leaders. They have men and women answering to them. They answer to men and women. We teach men how to lead biblically, but do we teach women?

Now that I’ve brought up a potentially explosive subject, I leave you to your interactions. In a couple days from now, we’ll look at epistemology (how we learn/know things) and femininity. This will affect our thoughts on Bible study and spiritual formation. Other thoughts to discuss in the future (many, many days from now): women in leadership (addressing the issue I raised in the end) and outreach.

Oy vey.