{"id":6834,"date":"2015-01-16T06:00:30","date_gmt":"2015-01-16T11:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/?p=6834"},"modified":"2015-01-17T07:52:20","modified_gmt":"2015-01-17T12:52:20","slug":"do-professional-women-have-a-place-in-the-church","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2015\/01\/do-professional-women-have-a-place-in-the-church.html","title":{"rendered":"Do Professional Women Have a Place in the Church?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"ID-10020774\"<\/a><\/p>\n

It was a usual Sunday and time for announcements. The Associate Pastor announced the women’s meeting at 10:00 a.m. on Tuesday. The focus was on decorating the church for the holidays. The men were meeting Friday morning at 6:30 am. to discuss marketplace ministry. I looked at my husband and whispered. “I wonder if the men would let me come to their meeting?” I can’t make the women’s meeting as I work outside the home and frankly, I am interested in the topic of the men’s meeting.<\/p>\n

I’ve been attending church all my life. Don’t get me wrong, I love church and am committed to attending, but I often feel like a duck out of water.<\/p>\n

What I do Monday through Friday feels like a foreign world when I step inside the church. As a professional woman, my skills in the church seem to be relegated\u00a0to bringing food, working in the nursery or decorating at holidays. Nothing is wrong with these activities and I will happily serve, but they just aren’t my areas of interest or passion.<\/p>\n

It’s not an ego thing, just a weird difference that often makes me feel like church is\u00a0a foreign country where I don’t speak the language. I can get by and participate, but it doesn’t feel like what I am doing is using my skills. But maybe that is OK.<\/p>\n

However,\u00a0\u00a0I wonder, how many other professional women feel the same?<\/p>\n

In the church, no one seems to be talking about the challenges women face in the work place, yet men often meet to discuss such things. Instead, our option to gather as women is usually a Bible study. And while those studies are very helpful (I’ve done several), they don’t speak to the issues professional women face in the marketplace.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, in all of the years I’ve been a national speaker, one church has asked me to address women in the marketplace issues at a women’s conference.<\/p>\n

So with almost half of the workforce women, maybe it is time for the church to assess the needs of its congregations and include more biblical application to the lives of professional women. Perhaps a group that addresses marketplace issues would be a good place to begin.<\/p>\n

Love to hear your thoughts on this. Do you think the church addresses the needs of professional women?<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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