Christian women who also work outside the home are a group with skills and knowledge that could enhance our churches significantly. Yet, in so many cases, that potential remains untapped. Jo welcomes author, speaker, business consultant and COO of 4word, Sandra Crawford Williamson. She unpacks the phenomenon of so many working women unplugging from their churches, and what we can do to stem that tide.
It’s an important discussion about career women and faith – on this latest Connecting Faith. Here’s where today’s interview takes us:
Sandra paints the picture of how the church currently ministers to its different sociological groupings. With ministries to stay at home moms, businessmen, and youth in her church, she found no ready made “bucket” into which she really fit. Additionally, the simple timing of the meetings for these groups isn’t often conducive to career women’s schedules. Meanwhile, the messages from the pulpit itself don’t often seem to offer many illustrations or applications with parallels in the lives of women who work outside the home.
The spiritual gifts that we all have been given are richly unique, yet it seems that even if women have gifts outside of the home, they are still leaned on to make the tater tot casseroles and things of that nature! Are we missing an opportunity here? Sandra notes that women have areas of expertise that pertain to their jobs that could be used powerfully in the church. And yet – marketing experts have realized it, and Sandra believes it’s true in the church as well – professional women in general are a very challenging group to reach.
We talk about pastors & other church leaders wives and the unique difficulty of their profession. How can we support them?
Then we also expand the conversation into the issue of Millennials in church. They’re also said to be unplugging from organized religion in droves and don’t see how it applies to their lives. What parallels can be drawn here with the situation as regards career women?
Sandra talks about the mission of 4word’s program and how the organization is ministering to career women from 22-82. Local branches of 4word can now be found in 18 cities.
