Sarah Ago

Sarah Ago is an ordained minister with the Evangelical Covenant Church and the President of SEARCH (Southeast Asia Rescue Coalition and Haven). She is the mother of two young sons. Sarah serves on CBE’s board and on the President’s Advisory Council for Alaska Christian College. You can find her at sacredsnapshots.net.

CBE’s 2026 International Conference Speaking Session

Workshop Session | Friday, August 7 at 3:30 pm | Location: Kennedy

How the Subtleties of Patriarchy Set Up Marriages to Fail 

Track: Biblical Equality in Action

Patriarchy doesn’t always look like a brazen male seeking dominance over a compliant female. Sometimes, it subtly creeps in through the prevalence of teaching women to distrust themselves, repress their needs and wants, and keep their expectations in check. This seminar examines the way that movements such as the evangelical purity culture and the no dating/courtship movement have set up marriages to struggle. We will discuss how the expectation that a man leads and a woman follows can diminish a woman’s confidence in her ability to make her own choices.  

We will examine misinterpretations of Jesus’s command to deny oneself and passages about the wickedness of the human heart to see how they have laid the groundwork for self-betrayal and an incongruence of our inner and outer lives. We will seek to uncover the grace God offers in the midst of the pain of a marriage ending and explore how to become free of the toxic messages that many women and men have internalized, the fruit of which has often been brokenness in marriage.