62 Romans 12:4-5

Our memory verse for today, which we’ve been singing the past two Sundays to help with memorization, and which goes along with our study of “The Purpose Driven Life” is Romans 12:4-5.

“Just as each of us has a gender and we don’t function the same,
So in Christ we who are guys form one body,
and each gal belongs to those members who look like her.”

Just kidding. That’s my very own Church of the Acronym paraphrase, a living out of God’s Word in how we structure our church. Our “leadership team” is 100% male, 13 men--pastors, finance, technology, worship, programming, and board president. Our paid clerical, administrative staff, and education directors are probably about 90% female. I think the building manager and custodians are males along with all our musicians, part-time pastors, and miscellaneous positions. I don’t have the most recent directory, but including our 4 pastors we have 16 women and 24 men on our church staff. That is a body count; I have no idea what the FTE is.

However, when it comes to the programs and ministries that bring people into the church, those are overwhelmingly run by women. Our Women of the Word programming reaches hundreds of women every week through carefully planned Bible studies offered many different days and times. Our Vacation Bible School in June attracts about 2,500 children and their families, and may be the single biggest program that introduces new people to the church. Next to VBS, the aerobics classes are probably the second most effective evangelizing tool we have, and it is run quietly and effectively many times a week by a dedicated group of strong, athletic women believers.

The women of the church do not seem to object to this arrangement. I occasionally hear grumbling, but they know that the male leadership is what keeps attracting men to the church. As in many large, successful Protestant churches, the women run a “parachurch” inside, rather than along side, the primary church structure, but below the radar. They allow the men to get together for running things they aren‘t particularly interested in, and then go off and do their own thing. This division of labor works well in suburbia.