CAN SHE BE A LEADER?

I saw them in Walmart. An elderly married couple, both appeared frail, shopping together for groceries. The husband pushed the shopping cart and the wife held the side of the cart as they walked down the aisle choosing their items. Who was the leader? Is he the leader? Can she be a leader?

Clear View

Acts of service are my love language and it delighted me to see this couple shopping together. After checking out with my groceries and loading them, as I climbed into the driver’s seat, I noticed the elderly couple again. They were directly in front of me, one row across the lot. I had a clear view of them. With their cart parked at the back of their car, they unloaded their groceries. The husband was standing in front of the car’s open trunk with the cart next to him and just on the other side of the cart was the wife.

Working Together

I thought about jumping out of my car to offer to help them, but something stopped me. I realized, as I watched, that they were working together to load the car. Only one bag was handled at a time. The wife chose which bag to hand to her husband and he was slowly but carefully and deliberately choosing the spot to place each bag in the trunk. I knew it was weird to watch them, but there was such beauty in watching the harmony, clearly born out of long practice, as they worked side by side to accomplish a task.

In the Home

Driving away, several thoughts tumbled around in my mind. Was he the leader of the family because he pushed the cart while they shopped and loaded the trunk? Or was she the leader because she chose the items to purchase and then ordered the way the bags were loaded? Did they sometimes alternate pushing and loading the cart, or was the husband best at navigating aisles and the wife best at planning purchases?

In the Church

In the church, questions of a similar sort must be addressed. Is he the leader? Can she be the or a leader? Do they rightly share leadership? Should leadership best be decided based on gifts, his and her gifts? How the Church’s mission to make disciples would flourish if men and women harmoniously used their gifts as partners under Christ.

If these questions intrigue you and you want to know more, I recommend a recent book, Gender Roles and the People of God by Alice Mathews.

[reminder]How would our ministries be strengthened if women and men worked together as partners in unity?[/reminder]