Women Small Group Leaders?

Ryan FullertonDecember 17, 2015Articles4 Comments

Recently, I read Jeremy Linneman’s article, We Need Female Group Leaders, in which
he explains why the leaders of Sojourn Community Church have chosen to have female
small group leaders and how their church empowers women for this role. Linneman’s
article outlines many of the positive contributions that godly women can make to the
church, and that is a great and glorious thing, since God loves to reflect His glory
through both women and men. (Is. 43:6-7)

Immanuel Baptist Church, where I am one of the Pastors, has decided not to have
women lead mixed small groups, because we view small group leadership as an
extension of our pastoral care for the whole flock. Because of this, our pastors love to
test and train godly men for leadership of the whole church by having them
lead some of the church in small groups. I wish I could say that Linneman and I only
have a different practice, but, unfortunately, it’s weightier: as he attempts to lift up
female group leaders, his line of reasoning devalues the unique glory that God has
given to women. The way he argues for women leaders inadvertently takes away more
than it gives.

Before I jump in and explain why I think Linneman’s reasoning is unhelpful and
unpersuasive, I want to make sure that it is clear where I think this argument falls: this is
clearly a family disagreement. Sojourn Community Church, where Linneman pastors, is
our dear sister church. In fact, their main campus is practically our next door neighbor.
These guys (and gals) are allies in the gospel, and what the Lord has done through
them in the last 15 years is simply marvelous beyond words. As a congregation, we
regularly fellowship with, celebrate, and pray for the Sojourners in our city. On top of
this, I want to stress that I think this is a disagreement between complementarian
brothers. Nothing I say in this little response should be understood to be calling into
question Sojourn’s complementarian credentials. Linneman has made it clear that
Sojourn’s small groups “are not mini-churches that hold to qualifications and rules for
elders.” I appreciate his sensitivity in making this important theological distinction, and it
is not my intent in responding to say, “but you see, they are obviously not really
complementarian because they have women small group leaders.” Sojourn is both a
sister congregation and a complementarian church.

If this is not a gospel or complementarian issue, then why respond at all? My reasons
are both pastoral and biblical. My reasons are pastoral because this is an issue that
affects our congregation. The former Prime Minister of Canada, Pierre Elliot Trudeau,
once said that living beside the United States is like sleeping in the same bed as an
elephant. They are friendly, he said, but you feel it when they roll over. So, too, with
Sojourn: they are friendly—even gospel friendly—but you feel it when they roll over. I
first found out about Linneman’s article when I saw it was positively linked from one of
our member’s Facebook pages. I think the sister who linked to it (and others like her)
deserves a response from her pastor.

Not only are my reasons for responding pastoral, they are biblical. I believe Linneman
argues from a presupposition that cannot be supported from the Book we both love.
Linneman’s argument assumes that when groups are functionally led by a man, “the
female leader regresses into a mere support role.” He adds that, “many ladies enter our
groups expecting to be marginalized and relegated to support roles at best.” I find all of
this language curiously unbiblical. What is the problem with support roles, and since
when does occupying a support role make one “marginalized?” Was God marginalizing
women when he created them for a support role?! Eve was made a helper. (Gen.
2) The dominant orientation of a woman when she is filled with the Holy Spirit is
towards helping. In 1 Corinthians 11, Paul celebrates the mutual dependence that men
and women have on each other and simultaneously says, “For man was not made from
woman, but woman from man. Neither was man created for woman, but woman for
man” (1 Corinthians 11:8-9). There is no talk here of being relegated, marginalized, or
regressive. The scripture speaks positively to a woman’s original creation as a helper. It
is her glory to be one oriented to come under another in a common cause. What if,
instead of speaking of “mere support roles” and being “relegated to support roles,” we
spoke of being given honor through support roles and finding one’s calling in the
glorious kinds of support roles for which God made women?

Some may debate if 1 Corinthians 11 should be used in this argument since many of
the small group leaders Linneman equips are single. I believe this verse has application
for singles, but let’s begin by thinking about the clearer application. Linneman tells us
that 90% of Sojourn’s small group leadership pairs are actually married. So, how does
that work? Is there one standard for their day to day marriage and another standard for
when they are leading a group? Should we say that in marriage it’s good for a woman to
be a wise, intelligent, submissive helper, but in small group ministry it’s important that
no wives be relegated or marginalized into the role of helper; there they must be
leaders? How does that work? It seems better to say that in marriage husbands ought
to be wise, sensitive, cross-bearing leaders and wives ought to be intelligent,
submissive, helpers, and this kind of marriage relationship should continue when they
minister to a small group together.

Instead of exploring the Biblical theme of “helper,” Linneman asserts, “women are more
natural group leaders.” What? An entire gender is better at small group leading? If this
is true, then assuredly there is Biblical support for it. If it is true, then we should certainly
have women lead all of our small groups. To back up this claim, Linneman asserts that
women are generally better at asking good questions, making complex ideas simple,
demonstrating patience, comforting, building better relationships, reminding one another
of upcoming events. Well, let me just say: I know many women who excel in these
things! Many women are better than many men in all of the categories mentioned
above; I praise God for their excellent God-given talents and hope they will use them
mightily in the local church. But I also know many impatient women, many disorganized
women—many women whose zeal for the Lord can discourage the suffering.
Linneman’s whole line of thinking is offensive. Maybe offensive seems a bit strong, but
what if I were to assert: men are more patient, ask better questions, comfort the
discouraged better, and generally make complex ideas simpler than women can? If I
said that, many would be rightly offended. It is true that often women are more gifted in
different ways than men. But the presence of many diverse gifts in many diverse women
does not mean that the entire gender is better at small group leading.

I can agree with so much of what Linneman writes: some seminary students are terrible
leaders (AMEN!), some women are amazingly gifted (AMEN AGAIN!), we need to
constantly encourage the ministry of women (TRIPLE AMEN!). All of this is true, but
Linneman caricatures the best women and contrasts them with the worst men and then
advocates for his small group practice. This is not the way to argue biblically.

As a church, Immanuel has gone in a different direction. Since we believe that the
church is to be led by godly, qualified male pastors, and since we believe that small
groups are an extension of our pastoral leadership, we choose to place over our small
groups men who are growing in faithful leadership. We use small groups as a testing
ground for faithful pastoral leadership. I recognize that the Bible does not command us
to gather into small groups, nor does it tell us how they should be run. Nonetheless,
since so many churches have found them helpful as a vehicle for cultivating
discipleship, community, and mission, and because they are consistent with the Biblical
pattern of gathering in homes, we use them. And since they are so central to how we
disciple our congregation, we want the people in these groups to experience the kind of
godly male leadership that we hope they will experience in the broader church. We want
to create a continuity between our discipleship in the church at large and the church
gathered in small groups. On top of this, we hope our people will experience the kind of
empowered and mobilized ministry of many gifted women and men in their small groups
and throughout the church. So, on Sundays, under the leadership of our elders, we see
women serving on welcome team, in nursery and children’s discipleship, and on our
music worship team. We also see them baptizing those they have led to the Lord and
serving the Lord’s Supper to the brothers and sisters they love. Then, in small groups,
we seek to encourage these same sisters to cultivate all of the virtues Linneman lines
out, under the leadership of godly men.

Since the Bible does not command us to meet in small groups, we are always on
slippery ground when we discuss how to do them best. Nonetheless, we have found
that keeping our groups in continuity with the New Testament pattern of leadership for
the broader church allows us to disciple our people into lifestyles of supernatural service
by women and men under Godly male leadership.

http://immanuelky.org/articles/women-small-group-leaders/

As we continue to highlight the debate on creating gender equity in leadership for

professional women, it's important to know that networking contributes to the
inability to close the gap. Believe it or not, women simply do not have access to
the same tools and resources offered in professional networks at the caliber of
male leaders. This creates a disparity in the level of information for women.

I attend several networking functions each month in various professional settings

for my company. And by far, functions that cater to the professional acceleration
of men tend to deliver more actionable content, shared resources and create more
long-term value. On the other hand, there is a slightly more diluted approach for
women that focuses on decor, dancing breakout sessions, business cards and
raffles to encourage participation.

Why Does This Happen?

A few years ago, I hosted a public event to celebrate the launch of my book. The
purpose was to teach women how to expand their business model by leveraging
corporate investors. I invited decision makers from some of world's leading
retailers to discuss how to gain access to corporate contracts, lenders to discuss
how to increase market share, and venture capitalists to discuss the importance
of equity. I based it on the success of a VC event I attended in the past, where I
had the opportunity to raise capital in the room to fund my startup. My event fell
on deaf ears, as the women thought it was "boring" and were waiting for more
entertainment than education.

After years of working on ways to provide the same value without diluting the
message, I introduced a vetting process to attend my incubators to avoid the
same mistakes. Women attend leadership functions with a different goal than
men. Many focus on how many people are in the room, business cards, who is on
the stage (and it must be someone they admire) and decor, rather than building
solid relationships with proven leaders. In the end, they segregate themselves
from the influential leaders in the room by networking with other like-minded
women.

Why Is This Important?

In order to create a competitive advantage and increase the market share for
women, there must be a strategic focus on quality over quantity.

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According to Dr. Athena Vongalis-Macrow in Harvard Business Review, “A key

reason why women lag behind in leadership is that they are less likely to have
extensive networks to support and promote them as potential
leaders…Networking with more senior representatives has its benefits. Having
access to a powerful spokesperson and building your connections is one way of
working toward extending your network."

This is an issue of diversity and a lack of networks women feel comfortable to be

connected with rather than value. Throughout the past decade as a corporate
keynote speaker, my view from the stage allows me to view women who attend an
event because they have a level of familiarity in the room versus those hungry for
applicable knowledge and new leadership skills. On the other hand, when I
present to a group of men, there is more interaction and substantive discussion
around my research and content.

I will agree that women require a different level of accountability and support in
their leadership efforts. However, there must be a balance between leadership
and entertainment. Women need to network with leaders in order to close the
value gap.

“While I love having cocktails with the mid-level reporters from my organization
and others in the city, the medicine I actually need in networking is having
conversations with editors who are far my senior. Veterans who understand the
big picture of the business and, most importantly, could someday be helpful in
landing a plum position higher up the food chain,” writes Meghan Casserly in
a Forbes piece.

Diversity and inclusion within a network are more than gender and race. It also
factors in the level of equality and access to the same level of mentors, advisors,
information, education and advocates. If the level of access is not comparable to
male leaders, how will women close the value gap, which continues to hinder
equality in compensation and access to senior-level roles?

The simple solution is for male membership organizations to invite more women
to join. In addition, women must participate in learning how to leverage
actionable strategies from male leaders without focusing primarily on social
interaction, but value.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescoachescouncil/2017/08/01/why-are-networking-groups-that-
support-women-failing-to-produce-more-female-leaders/#1a3a8d842632

Gender and generational gaps have recently become big buzz words in
the business world. According to a new study, it’s not a passing trend:
Having millennials and women in leadership positions directly
correlates with the success of a company.

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The Global Leadership Forecast looked at the workforce issues

affecting 13,124 leaders from around the world, representing 48
countries and 32 major industries.
Millennials present a unique catch-22: Their presence in leadership
positions related to the company’s growth rate. Companies with a 30%
proportion of young people in higher roles saw “aggressive growth,”
according to the study. When it’s more like 20%, they saw “little to low
growth” rates. At the same time, they were the least engaged of all the
age groups studied, and the most likely to leave within a year.

The researcher suggest strategies to keep this catalyst-generation

engaged and loyal, including social learning opportunities, virtual
workshops, and ways to connect in person with mentors. See the
millennial breakout section of the study below:

Women in leadership, like millennials, are a sign of successful

companies. Of the participating organization, those in the top 20%
financially had almost twice as many women in leadership roles, as
well as more high-potential women holding those roles. Visualize that
gap below:

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The main issue holding these high-potential women back, it seems, is

a lack of opportunities. Women had the edge in development plans and
in knowing where they needed to improve, but men had more chances
to lead in visible ways: In multinational teams, geographically
dispersed groups, and in international assignments. These missed
chances to shine mean that women, on average, get fewer shots at big
projects and promotions.

“To improve business outcomes, bolster current development

programs so that all leaders, including women and millennials, can
improve their skills,” study coauthor Evan Sinar, Ph.D. said in a press
release. “Development opportunities build confidence. Provide
opportunities for stretch assignments, ensure formal pra
https://www.fastcompany.com/3033950/why-the-most-successful-organizations-have-women-and-
millennials-in-charg