Just yesterday I had a conversation with an official in our local Assemblies of God district office. I was trying, somewhat clumsily, to express my dismay at the fact that many of the denominations that have only recently begun ordaining women (recently meaning in the last 30 years or so) have a MUCH greater percentage of women clergy than we do. How can this be, since we have (in theory) allowed women in the pulpit from our earliest beginnings? The answer, in part, is to be more specific and intentional. It does little good to have an excellent position paper on women in ministry (as we do) if our publications use masculine terms when referring to pastors, if every illustration of a pastor is of a man, if letters to pastors speak of a “wife” instead of a “spouse,” if we seldom if ever hear a woman speaking at a denominational function, and so on. The message is subtle, and not-so-subtle. Thanks for this post. I’ll be sharing it.