wfn.org | Editorial: Living out God’s call for women in this world

["Taiwan Church News" <enews@pctpress.org>]

>      Taiwan Church News

>3027 Edition

>March 1~7, 2010

Editorial: Living out God’s call for women in this world

>Translated by Lydia Ma

In one of the hymns found in our new hymn book, there is a hymn  that speaks 
about the

complexity of God’s image. The second verse of this hymn  highlights God’s 
female attributes.

As we celebrate Women’s Sunday this week, it’s worth  spending some time 
reflecting on this

issue to help us build a diverse and creative church.

In the past, churches always viewed God as masculine and evaluated  church 
ministries from a

man’s point of view. Though women may have participated in  ministries, they 
would always

play a secondary or supportive role in this male-dominated  setting. Because of 
this

phenomenon, women’s creativity and uniqueness could never be  fully manifested. 
Though

churches may promote gender equality by advocating 50-50  participation ratio, 
at the end of

>the day, many are only playing a charade.

Knowing God’s more feminine attributes or roles helps women  recover their true 
image and

self-confidence instilled by God at the beginning of creation. It  is only when 
they are thus

awakened, that women can create ministries that fit them. This  process also 
helps ministries

in the PCT to be more diverse and successfully meet the challenges  of 
evangelism in the 21st

>century.

By focusing on God’s feminine attributes, this hymn offers us  a few clues on 
how feminine

qualities support women’s ministries. First, women are very  hard-working and 
excel in time

management. Though humans aren’t like God who needs no rest,  women portray 
God’s

resourcefulness through their excellent time management skills and  sense of 
responsibility.

Second, women’s creativity and leadership skills reflect  God’s wisdom and 
creativity at the

creation of the universe. We discover that creativity and  leadership do not 
belong exclusively

to men as tradition would have us think. In fact, according to a  survey by 
Cultural Creativity

Association, 70% of creative cultural ideas were invented by  women. Women get 
creativity

from interpersonal relationships, their own sensitivity, and their  lively 
imagination. All of these

attributes are what present church ministries need to ward off  rigidity and 
boredom.

Finally, women excel in making everything equal, fair, and  balanced and this 
makes them very

suitable and necessary in administration. Women are more likely to  participate 
in public

affairs or administration with the goal of furthering justice and  
reconciliation. Women are also

more understanding and other-oriented – something they must  have learned from 
managing

their own homes. Such tendencies are reflective of God’s  desire to reconcile 
the world through

>Christ, save the world, and extend grace.

When we emphasize on the feminine or motherly qualities of God, we  are 
simultaneously

pointing out that God also has another fatherly side that is  equally 
important. The creation of

man and woman and their respective attributes was intended to  foster 
cooperation, not

competition or enmity, between individuals. Such cooperation is  how we 
actualize what God

>had in mind for all of creation.

There can only be one Truth, but how we portray this Truth in real  life can be 
very creative and

lively. This is a new goal women in the church can set when  responding to 
God’s call.

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