Bridging the Egalitarian Gap

Recently, I was talking with a woman who had resigned her church leadership post, burned out and disillusioned. Her church had claimed to be egalitarian, and though she had initially been given opportunities to express her call and use her gifts, over time those opportunities began to dissipate. Eventually, this woman discerned that the church’s egalitarian values were “an inch deep,” and the only viable way forward for her was to leave and start over somewhere else.

Tragically, I hear similar stories all too often in my consulting work with churches and Christian ministry organizations. Indeed, in too many egalitarian faith communities a gap exists between what is proclaimed as a value—namely, the full participation of women in the work of ministry—with what women experience in practice. This gap can vary in terms of size and origin, but it’s almost always present in some form or fashion.

In his seminal book Organizational Culture and Leadership, leadership theorist Edgar Schein notes that espoused values are a key piece of an organization’s culture. For Schein, espoused values are “the articulated, publicly announced principles and values that the group claims to be trying to achieve…”¹ Mission, vision, and core values statements are examples of espoused values. What is crucial is whether these professed values align with the lived experience of people within the organization. As Schein notes, “social validation,” the affirmation of people who are embedded in the organizational culture,² is required in order to confirm the convergence between what an organization says it values and what an organization does to put those values into practice.

For egalitarian faith communities, convergence between our espoused values and day-in, day-out practice should be our goal as well. In order to avoid the burnout and disillusionment that my friend and so many other women experience, we must strive to reduce the egalitarian gap whenever and however possible. To help with the this process of bridging the gap, I encourage leaders and faith communities to consider these three things:

First, seek to understand the gap. It is impossible to fix something we don’t understand, so bridging the gap starts with an unflinching exploration of the nature and magnitude of the gap. Some key questions at this point in the process could include:

• What exactly is our espoused value? Do we have one? If so, how are we communicating our egalitarian convictions in our organizational life together?
  
• Are there particular places where our egalitarian value is expressed well? Give concrete examples, if at all possible.
  
• Are there particular places where our egalitarian value is not expressed well? Give concrete examples, if at all possible.

• What can we observe in the experiences of women in our faith community? On a scale of 1–10, where 10 is high, how does their experience align with our espoused value?

These are useful questions for everyone in the organization to reflect on, but fully and truly understanding the nature and magnitude of a gap will hinge on gaining the input of women in the organization. Creating an environment where women can honestly and safely share about their experiences should provide the clearest picture of what the egalitarian gap entails.

Second, think through your gaps and available bridges. Sadly, in my experience, there are plenty of gap-makers, or reasons why the gap exists. On the other hand, that means there are also plenty of bridges that faith communities can build to close the gap. I’ll group them into categories:

• Theological. If there is insufficient theological acuity, clarity, or alignment, this could be an important bridge to build. Curating space for people to explore the Scriptures could be an effective way to bridge the gap.
  
• Cultural. It takes work, but organizational culture can be shaped. There may well be cultural tweaks that can help better align value with practice. For instance, being intentional about equal representation in up-front activities can help build this particular bridge.
  
• Structural. Perhaps there are structures that need to be reimagined to better reflect an organization’s egalitarian conviction. In one case, I’m working with an organization whose bridge includes revising their hiring and promotional pipeline, with the goal of making it more hospitable and attractive to women candidates.
  
• Systemic. If the processes associated with being an employee are in some way running counter to an organization’s egalitarian value, they may need to be revisited and even reimagined. I have worked with clients who have closed the gap by reworking their childcare and parental leave policies.
  
• Interpersonal. It could be that ministry colleagues need training on how practically to work together well, so an interpersonal bridge might be called for.

Before moving to close the gap, it’s worth the time to carefully discern the potential bridges. Some might be more relevant than others; some might even be more do-able than others.

Third, organizations should consider specific action steps designed to close the existing egalitarian gap, creatively and courageously pursuing ways to better align their espoused value with their organizational practice.

For leaders and communities who are invested in closing the egalitarian gap as quickly and completely as possible, there may be a temptation to try to do it all at once and use every bridge available to close the gap. Generally speaking, there isn’t enough organizational bandwidth, or even organizational will, to take on this much. So, instead of trying to do it all, communities should consider earnest but modest steps, with the hope that small steps will beget bigger ones down the road. As Jim Collins notes in his book Good to Great, “good to great comes about by a cumulative process—step by step, action by action, decision by decision, turn by turn of the flywheel—that adds up to sustained and spectacular results.”³

Over the past year, I’ve been helping a denomination attempt to bridge their egalitarian gap. We began the process by making space to understand and then analyze the gap. We did this by interviewing womenacross the denomination and getting their input. This gave us a data-informed picture of what the existinggap entailed.

Following this discernment step, we examined the various potential bridges at our disposal. Each one of the bridges listed above were solid options. I firmly believe that engaging each bridge will be crucial if this organization’s egalitarian gap is ever going to be fully closed, but we knew we couldn’t do them all right away. So, we picked several that seemed like they might be the places to start, and then we prescribed tangible action steps designed to bridge the gap.

Next, the organizational leadership gathered to sift the recommendations and look for concrete action steps that they could take soon. For instance, this group decided to start by working on the systemic bridge by shoring up their sexual harassment process and then broadcasting the details of that process around the organization. The hope is that doing so will both communicate that doing the survey was worth the time of those who participated, and it will generate an early victory that builds momentum for more robust changes to come.

How can you close whatever egalitarian gap exists in your faith community? Setting aside time to prayerfully understand the gap, consider your potential bridges, and then move forward with right-sized and timed solutions will help your churches and organizations more fully embody the espoused values they claim to embrace.

 ¹ Peter A. Schein and Edgar H. Schein, Organizational Culture and Leadership, 5th edition (John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 2017), 4.

² Schein and Schein, Organizational Culture and Leadership, 20.

³ Schein and Schein, Organizational Culture and Leadership, 165.

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