Genderstanding Leadership: Women a Key Force in Bringing Relevance to 21St-Century Christianity

By Meryl James-Sebro

Genderstanding Leadership: Power to the Pew! questions the gender gap between Christian ideology and practice. It challenges women to move beyond the Pew to retrieve and preserve the dignity of women and the security of women and children that are Divinely intended. The book makes a troubling link between religion and gender-based violence, warns that the way in which women allow themselves to be treated in the Church (based on stubborn misinterpretations of sacred texts) has a direct outcome on the plight of women in the world. The author spurs Christian women to spirit-filled, strategic action for greater and more purposeful gender equality in religious institutions.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Aug 8, 2013
• ISBN: 9781449797317

Meryl James-Sebro

Meryl James-Sebro, PhD is a Christian development anthropologist and gender specialist. Her work focuses on poverty eradication, with special emphasis on mainstreaming gender, violence against women, faith traditions and effective development, and youth and entrepreneurial development. Dr. James-Sebro is the author of two books: Revealing the Power of Gender Mainstreaming: Enhancing Development Effectiveness of Non-governmental Organizations in Africa and Genderstanding Jesus: Women in His View.

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Copyright © 2013 Meryl James-Sebro, Ph.D..

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ISBN: 978-1-4497-9732-4 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4497-9733-1 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4497-9731-7 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2013910056

WestBow Press rev. date: 05/14/2014

Contents

Foreword

Chapter 1     Introduction

Chapter 2     Power Points

Chapter 3     Taking Charge: Leading With Consequences

Chapter 4     On Your Mark: Leading With Style

Chapter 5     Fast Start: Leading With A Sound Mind

Chapter 6     Running The Race: Leading With Courage

Chapter 7     Hitting Your Stride: Leading With Purpose

Chapter 8     Hurdling The Obstacles: Leading With Strength

Chapter 9     Staying The Course: Leading With Spirit

Chapter 10   Busting Through The Tape: Leading With Compassion

Chapter 11   Pressing Toward The Mark: Leading With Victory

Chapter 12   Finishing The Race: Leading With Grace

Chapter 13   Passing The Baton: Leading With Commitment

Chapter 14   Afterword: Winning The Prize

Bibliography

For God has not given us the spirit of fear;

but of power,

and of love,

and of a sound mind.

(2 Tim 1:7, NKJV)

Dedicated to my blood sister, Beverly M. C. James,

And to all of my sisters in the Lord.

Acknowledgment

T his book has been so long in writing, that it takes quite a memory stretch to recall its origin. However, I do remember the challenge coming from a remark made by Dr. Joycelin Massiah, Regional Director emerita of UNIFEM/Caribbean at the launch of " Genderstanding Jesus: Women in His View," at the University of the West Indies in Barbados, W.I. I thank Joycelin, and all of the other women, including Professor Eudine Barriteau, Norma Shorey-Bryan, and my childhood friend, Juliette Rudder, who helped to make that evening possible. Dr. Walter Douglas, pastor of the Golden Gates All Nations Seventh-Day Adventist Church in Naples, Florida, and Professor emeritus of Andrews Theological Seminary has been a major supporter, the first to read this manuscript, and an endless source of knowledge and encouragement, for which I am grateful and humbled.

There were many whose constant inquiry of whether and what I was writing became a much-needed nudge to counter the many stalled periods. Dr. Suzanne Kindervatter of the Washington-based InterAction; Dr. Marcellus Robinson of Maryland; Dr. Leola Weithers and Judith Laird of Trinidad and Tobago top that list, and I am ever so grateful. Thanks also to two dear pastor-sisters, Pastor Brenda Billingy, of the Metropolitan Seventh Day Adventist Church in Maryland; and Rev. Dr. Lucille Baird, MBE of the Mt. Zion Ministries in Barbados, whose unstinting love for Jesus Christ, and whose courage and Holy Boldness continue to inspire me; and to Dr. Gary Wimbish, pastor of Columbia Community Center in Columbia, Maryland, whose teaching on Spiritual Gifts provided an inspiring boost.

I am extremely grateful to Karen Bart-Alexander, who so readily agreed to read this work and write its brilliant Foreword; and to Jennifer Cummings, the first to lift this manuscript up in prayer. Great thanks also to James Patrick, fondly known as Daddy P, an able research assistant, who helped in finding the necessary Biblical texts when I could not; to my invaluable techno-angels, Anthony Sebro, Jr., Victor Elcock, and Dr. Newton Hoilette; to another childhood friend, Carol Carrington, for her graphic representation of the impact of domestic violence on page 98; and to Lois Peters and Cynthia Timpson for their willingness to share their experiences as committed and activist women of God.

A grateful shout-out, too, to my Gender Studies students at Florida Gulf Coast University (FGCU), who provided the necessary impetus to seek clarification and understanding so that I could help them to understand.

More than ever, I thank my sister, Beverly James, for her steady, unquestioning and unconditional love and support; and, my husband, Anthony K. Sebro, Sr., whose invention of a Wednesday Word discussion period served to concretize ideas for this work. Moreover, his love, support, strength and merry heart were instrumental in smoothing my often rough edges during this writing.

Blessings and ‘nuff respect to Lead Pastor Robbie Davis of Celebration Church in Columbia, Maryland, the only pastor I know to sermonize gender equality in a three-part series, titled, God on Gender & Authority. To all the readers of this book, my prayer is that God’s awesome blessings will continue to astonish, inspire and overtake you in everything that you do, and guide you to thoughtful, strategic action to help heal and prevent the escalating hurt of women and girls, as well as men and boys, throughout the world.

This work would not have been possible without the wisdom, guidance and leadership of God the Father, His Son, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit.

All Praise and Thanks.

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Foreword

"This Well Is Deep, and the Water is

Clear; Let Down Your Bucket"

by Karen Bart-Alexander, MSc.

M eryl James-Sebro is a woman with a mission. She has come purposefully to the well of her salvation and is letting down her bucket deeper and deeper to where the water is clearest and purest; and as she draws, she is pouring out to fill our buckets. I was blessed, encouraged and educated by Genderstanding Jesus: Women in His View, her previous book. I came to this literary work wondering how on earth can she do better than her last book? Well, if Genderstanding Jesus: Women in His View made women feel ten feet tall and good for themselves as women, Genderstanding Leadership: Power to the Pew! makes us ready for the forefront of the battlefield, not only for gender equality but also for fulfilling our potential and purpose.

In this powerful book that joins the best that have been written on leadership, James-Sebro is not afraid to confront truth and share it without fear as she attacks with full force the false theological ideas that support gender inequality. She dismantles the falsehoods and inaccurate interpretations that cause the Church to be an enabler of discrimination against women with insight, Divine revelation, and academic precision, making a powerful case at the same time for women to take their rightful, divinely ordained place in the leadership of the Church alongside the men.

Women are challenged to action not only by her soul searching questions but also by the provision of an overflowing tool kit that answers the question how? This gifted storyteller reminds us of the armour in our arsenal to change the world using food and entertainment, aromatherapy, Divine assurance and many more. Her tools are grounded in scriptural examples which excavate truths that lay hidden under years of stereotypical interpretation. Every illustration from the scripture brings an A-ha moment of surprised enlightenment and insight into the qualities required for good leadership. The story of Vashti, as told by James-Sebro, rewrites history in a new and unique way, portraying Vashti, not as a disobedient Queen, but as a woman with a strong sense of self and personal power. New understanding is brought to bear on an old story.

The value that Meryl James-Sebro brings to the world of writing is her ability to challenge women to come to terms with their purpose and calling. If you are oscillating and wondering whether you should or should not do what God has placed on your heart, Genderstanding Leadership: Power to the Pew! is a must read. The author takes us on the inside track of several journeys in which ordinary women accomplished extraordinary feats. These insights help us to realize that we too can do.

Every chapter of this book brings into focus the fact that women matter as leaders and problem solvers. The author demonstrates a deep familiarity with the essence of womanhood and zeroes in on the ability of women to be clinical and direct. She speaks to women as only a woman can, using her grasp of the English language to bring forth powerful imagery, e.g. the royal idiocy of King Ahaseurus. It is quite difficult to make a stronger case for the leadership of women than the one that is made in Genderstanding Leadership: Power to the Pew! The strength of women as leaders, individually and corporately, is reinforced by the author’s call for improved ways of looking at themselves and other women. There are some interesting distinctions made to increase our understanding in ways that only this author can. Have you ever thought of dreaming as a gendered activity? This is a gem that unfolds in the pages of this book and brings clarity to the gendered nuances found between the sexes. The concept of interference is correctly dressed in a cloak of acceptability through the definition of intervention as strategic interference. If you have no desire to see things differently and move to new levels of understanding and activism as it relates to gender equality and leadership, then this is not your read, because the author has a knack for expanding your consciousness.

This book is a bombshell designed to stir the Church into action to dismantle the structures of inequality, abuse, and domestic violence that have been established both in the world and in the Church. It accomplishes this by blowing the cover and exposing the real deal on traditional notions of gender inequality promoted by the Church. The author is clear and unequivocal: The discrimination against women, gender inequality, domestic violence against women and children and the wreckage it leaves behind in our homes, schools, churches, public institutions, in our lives and livelihoods, represent not only physical but spiritual wickedness (p73). The silence of the Church on these issues and the actions that reinforce them therefore make it accountable for perpetuating spiritual wickedness. Ouch!!! I can hear the pastors shout.

In Genderstanding Leadership: Power to the Pew! Meryl James-Sebro minces no words to establish a clear relationship between structures of gender inequality, poverty, violence against women, child abuse and the interpretations of religious teachings that subordinate women. She has turned the spotlight on these issues in a way that forces action from the Pew. Once the Church understands domestic violence as satanic activity, it has to be placed on the agenda for prayer, prevention, counseling and other types of interventions. There is no place for tolerance of the abnormal normalcy of domestic violence in the Church. The author is not afraid to ask the kinds of questions that place the spotlight on contemporary issues and burn a hole in the status quo. Her questions and her answers compete with each other to provoke new thought and life-changing ideas.

Even though the reader is thoroughly educated about domestic violence, the writer maintains a profound focus on power as the ability to get things done. Therefore domestic violence is an obstruction that must be removed if women are to fulfill their God-given purpose. Genderstanding Leadership: Power to the Pew! is a sensitively written, easy-to-read treatise on the imperatives of leadership from a gendered perspective. Leaders are taught how to operationalize balanced gender relations for maximum mutual benefit. The qualities required for good leadership are articulated confidently and knowingly. James-Sebro highlights the leadership barriers faced by the women of the Church and directs that these challenges are not only acknowledged, but used to create the action necessary to overcome them. Her call to action echoes across the Pews of the Church and reverberates into the world.

One of the most important contributions that this book has made to the literature is the unearthing of the hidden connection between the Church and international diplomacy and development. The message is that the Church has a responsibility to embrace the gender agenda espoused by the United Nations, the Commission on the Status of Women, the Millennium Development Goals, CEDAW and all other international agreements pertinent to gender equality.

Genderstanding Leadership: Power to the Pew! written by this outstanding woman of God, who is also a powerful and insightful narrator, moves the gender agenda from outside the gates to the Pews and Pulpit of the Church. It is a must read for all ministers of the gospel, church workers, church members, researchers, activists , policy makers and leaders in every sphere of activity. Enjoy!

Karen Bart-Alexander, Msc.

Social Development Planner

Trinidad and Tobago, W.I.

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CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

T he debate in the United States during the 2012 elections on the so-called War on Women and its