How often should we speak up and share our opinions and beliefs with others? This question confronts us a great deal personally and professionally. It is also a question that requires great prayer and thought.
Recently a friend shared with me that she has become the “token egalitarian” among her group of friends. She often feels like her friends discount her opinion because of her stance on gender equality. At the same time, her friends will often tell her stories of events at their churches that reflect gender inequality, saying “you would have been so angry.” Her advocacy, while in some respects has made her feel like an outcast, has also caused her community to be come more aware of gender prejudice and injustice.
These situations involve a great deal of discernment. Knowledge, however imperfectly we might posses it, is both a calling and a burden. Honoring our history of Christian abolitionists and civil rights leaders, we are called to be a prophetic voice when we are in the midst of injustice. Let us do so with humility prayer, and grace, trusting that God will work in and through our persistence.
May God continue to give us discernment, wisdom, and courage!
