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Ten Ways to Practice Equality with Youth
By Heather Scheiwe
10. Invite a female pastor
from your community to share her story and lead a
Bible study at your youth group. Often, seeing biblical equality
in action is the best way to prompt people to explore the
biblical support behind it.
9. Plan a youth group
(or friend group) field trip to a women’s shelter or safe house
sponsored by a church/Christian organization in your area
(contact the center first). Most shelters offer educational
programs about issues related to why women are there
(homelessness, abuse, neglect) and opportunities to serve the
women and children who call the shelter home.
8. Take an older woman in
your church out for a cup of coffee or a meal. Ask
them about their experiences growing up in the church, how
they’ve exercised their gifts, and what they hope for young
people today.
7. Have your youth group
take a look at God’s view of “leadership” in the Bible. Start by
listing the qualities people look for in a leader. Then read
about women such as Hannah (Judges 4), Deborah (1 Samuel
1:1-2:10), and Mary and Martha (John 11:17-44) and see what your
youth can identify in the stories.
6. Use mission reports
from your church or denomination to learn more about what is
happening in other countries. Spend an hour praying for issues
that impact women most directly (persecution, abuse, health,
war, etc.) and ask God to open the doors for women to witness to
their families and communities around the world about Christ’s
redeeming message.
5. Plan a visit with the
leaders of your denomination (or your pastors) to see
how your denomination or church runs on a daily basis. Ask about
specific positions’ duties, how they identify people’s gifts and
distribute tasks, and where the leaders sense the Spirit leading
change in the future. One of the best ways to encourage young
people to explore ministry is to expose them to people in it!
4. Pick some of your
favorite praise songs or hymns and take a deeper look
at the words. Do they fully express the fundamental equality of
men and women of all ethnic groups, all economic classes, and
all age groups in Christ? Do they use pronouns that may make a
visitor wonder if they’re left out of the message? Plan a night
of music that celebrates God’s vision for the world, as
expressed in verses like Galatians 3:28.
3. Choose a female
Christian historical figure and do a little research
into their lives. How did they practice their faith? What Bible
verses did they cling to in times of trouble? What did they do
when they encountered challenges to exercising their gifts? If
you don’t know of any women, try one of these: Aimee Semple
McPherson, Katharine Bushnell, Dorothy Day, or Lilias Trotter
(visit
www.equalitydepot.com for biographies on these women).
2. Encourage each person
in your youth group to try out their gifts by rotating who is in
charge of certain parts of each meeting, such as making
announcements, leading Bible study, praying, providing snacks,
etc.
1. Have an honest,
respectful conversation between young women and young
men in your youth group about how we can support one another in
living out our God-given callings. End the talk with some action
steps and a reading of 1 Corinthians 12 and 13.
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