The question that shaped this inquiry was: How can women’s experience of “otherness” in the evangelical Christian church be leveraged for change in that community? Throughout this work I have strived to honor God’s truth while exploring how we live the gospel within the faith community. My inquiry has provided an approach to change from within the church that will facilitate the corporate embodiment of a sacred purpose.
I have used the familiar concept of story to describe the relationships of the parts that compose a system. Story is a useful way to imagine other points of view and the meaning that emerges from those perspectives. In the evangelical Christian story men’s point of view has dominated rendering women’s perspective “other.” The experience of otherness is a manifestation of the staggering course of the system of evangelical Christianity. The expression of “otherness” serves as feedback to correct the path to our purpose.
Leaving the community does not remedy this condition, but rather allows it to continue. Incorporating women’s expressions and understanding of the faith into the evangelical Christian story requires that women who feel “other” remain in the community. Facilitating that change also challenges women’s internal stories, or mental models, about the church. This applies in a broad sense of seeing the church as a system rather than a monolith, and in the finer details such as the significance of the individual and community.
I recommend story telling as a method for resolving “otherness.” Story telling in small groups of women fosters a view of the larger story (or system) and women’s part within it. This perspective validates the sense of “otherness” as a response to community norms. Otherness is not an individual flaw rather it is a reasonable reaction to the evangelical Christian environment. Intimate groups foster the relationships that make it possible for women to remain in the challenging settings and to continue to grow spiritually.
Story telling also plays a role in connecting women into the larger story. Sharing personal stories is a powerful way to bridge members and leaders of a group who find different meaning in the group’s life. This may be especially powerful in religious communities where the faith shapes expectations of the community. Sharing stories with the leadership in evangelical Christian communities is an opportunity to understand “otherness” as it is experienced in the real lives of women in the congregation, rather than intellectual or theological abstraction. Sharing stories is also a chance to hear in women’s own words the particular insights and revelations of Christian faith in women’s lives.
My work with the question above opened additional lines of inquiry that I have not begun to explore. Primary among these is a challenge to myself to try what I am advocating. Could this be a way for me, and “other” women, to return to my former faith community? It looks good in a thesis but I start to doubt it once the worship team starts tuning their instruments. I’m also curious about how applications of this model may serve other cohorts experiencing “otherness” in the church. What else am I not anticipating? For example, what does this mean for women who don’t experience “otherness”? Or how else might the church employ story telling? I’m also wondering about the relationship between systems thinking and evangelical Christianity. The list of new questions keeps growing with my curiosity about faith and community.
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Could this be a way for me, and “other” women, to return to my former faith community? It looks good in a thesis but I start to doubt it once the worship team starts tuning their instruments.
You've actually tried going back since writing the thesis, and wrote about it as a guest piece on a prominent women's faith blog at http://www.magpie-girl.com/20091221/pagans-christians-and-the-winter-solstice/ . As an observer of your reactions after the church visits, I'd say its been choppy, you always love the congregation and the works of that particular church, but don't always agree with the message. Most especially if the message is "canned" and read from an old script.
I’m also curious about how applications of this model may serve other cohorts experiencing “otherness” in the church. What else am I not anticipating? For example, what does this mean for women who don’t experience “otherness”?
I am excited with anticipation on this question. ( Anyone reading this don't assume I am Conservative.) Sarah Palin, Sarah Palin, Sarah Palin.
And add to her the colossal numbers of 30something single parent Conservative women. In some ways I can see this new class of political feminine evangelicals as a radical story, upsetting the old narratives in religion and politics. It will upset the tidiness of self-reliance feminism being an ally of secular or leftist agendas. On the right wing, it will be a devaluation of Old Grey War Horses (e.g. McCain) and redneck-hobby men (hunting, guns and hot rod cars), replaced with whatever the Sarah Palin Army likes to do or talk about.
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