wfn.org | Now women have promises to keep

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July 25, 1996
Disciples News Service
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
Contact: Clifford L. Willis
Cliff_Willis.parti@ecunet.org
     
96b-65 
      
     NEW YORK (RNS) -- Five years ago, Christian men drawn
to the emerging Promise Keepers movement began attending
mass rallies in stadiums across the country, pledging to
make their faith and families paramount in their lives.

     Now, it appears to be the women's turn. In churches and
sports arenas from Kansas to southern California, plans are
underway for female versions of Promise Keepers meetings.

     Some of these organizations' goals sound quite similar
to their male counterpart   turning women into more "godly"
resources for their families, churches and communities.
Other groups are interested in helping women adjust to life
with a man who comes away from a Promise Keepers rally ready
to take on more duties at home.

     Even though separate ministries for men and women
existed long before Promise Keepers came to be, organizers
of the women's groups view themselves as part of a spiritual
renewal movement that has special appeal for evangelical
Christians.

     Lori and the Rev. Bob Beckler of Wichita, Kan.,
established Heritage Keepers after hearing the comments of
women whose husbands came home from Promise Keepers events
with renewed enthusiasm about their families. Many women
felt as if they needed a spiritual boost as well.

     Working along with the Becklers to develop the
fledgling ministry are the Rev. Russell and Sarah Jones of
Winfield, Kan. It was Sarah who conceived the name Heritage
Keepers. 

     It was Promise Keepers' success at ministering to men
that prompted the Joneses' involvement. "We saw a need for a
similar kind of ministry for women," said Russell Jones,
pastor of First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).  

     The couples hope their organization will encourage
older women to pass on their religious wisdom to their
younger counterparts who need to learn "how to be godly
women." Bob Beckler said. 

     Their organization also plans to explain Promise
Keepers' philosophies to women so they can better assist
their husbands and themselves in adjusting to the new
relationships the ministry
encourages.

     "Sometimes they're very skeptical and scared because
their husband's promising to make all these changes, and
they don't know how to accept all these changes that they
want to make," said Lori Beckler.

     Heritage Keepers will have its first meeting August 10
at Wichita's Central Community Church, where Bob Beckler is
an associate pastor. They're expecting 3,000 people -- not
counting the men involved in Promise Keepers who will serve
as volunteers. 

     Even before the first meeting is held, Lori Beckler is
hoping there will be more Heritage Keepers meetings across
the United States in 1997.

     Connie Schaedel compares Promise Reapers, the group she
co-founded in 1995, to the account in the biblical book of
Genesis of the creation of Eve.

     "Just as the Lord put Adam on the Earth first and he
was here for some time before Eve was brought along ... that
is more or less how I see this," Schaedel said of her group.
"The timing is now for the woman to be coming along in this
effort that God's wanting to do in uniting the church and
building the body of Christ for his glory."

     The widow of a man who found spiritual renewal in the
Promise Keepers movement, Schaedel now hopes to help women
experience a recharged faith.

     Just two weeks after her husband died of kidney failure
in 1994, Schaedel, of Georgetown, Texas, was asked to talk
about his spiritual awakening at a Promise Keepers rally in
Anaheim, Calif. A year later, she co-founded Promise
Reapers, which now has prayer groups in more than a dozen
states, including Louisiana, California, Minnesota and
Texas.
 
     Catherine Clark Kroeger, president emerita of
Christians for Biblical Equality, applauds the idea of women
gathering with the aim of improving their spiritual lives.
She thinks their relationships with men, however, should
focus on mutuality and interdependence rather than one
partner dominating another.

     "If women want to demonstrate some solidarity I think
there are advantages to that," said Kroeger, whose
organization supports the belief that the Bible teaches
equality of men and women of all racial, ethnic and economic
backgrounds.

     But Kroeger expressed some concern about women and men
in abusive relationships who may misinterpret Promise
Keepers' concept of male leadership in the home.

     "I think, however, that if it means putting them into a
subservient position where they will be prone to more abuse,
then it becomes a very bad thing," she said.
 
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