"You are all God’s children through faith in Christ Jesus. All of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek; there is neither slave nor free; nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus."
- Galatians 3:26-28 (Common English Bible)
This is one of the most powerful verses in Scripture. In Christ, racial, class and gender divisions are all broken down. Our identity is not in the labels and roles of this world. We are defined by being children of God.
This is not to say that Christians are to be a homogeneous group blind to social and cultural distinctions. No, rather we recognize that our diversity is drawn out in our unity in Christ. We are free to be who we truly are as Christ overcomes the sinful social structures built around our diverse characteristics.
Take the case of gender: God created us male and female. We do not deny our sexuality, but we deny the gender roles and divisions that have been constructed in a fallen world. What does it mean to be neither male nor female in Christ? It does not mean that we stop being men and women but that we, men and women, look to Christ as our guide. It means that our Spiritual gifting and calling does not depend on our gender. It means that we submit to and love one another. It means that we reject evil cultural and social forces that have warped and and distorted gender. The Church holds out a great hope to the world: all stand equal before God.
But, sadly, the Church has not always held out this hope, and I have seen gender divides persist at SPU. These divides will not end through "gender-blindness." We must recognize how our culture has influenced us and affected us, individually and communally, male and female.
There are at least two concentrated areas of division that I see at SPU.
The first, I think, is more widely recognized. At the highest levels of student and administrative leadership there is a deficit of women. In ASSP this year, only one of the six elected positions is occupied by a woman, Audrey. There has not been a female ASSP president in my time here, and I do not know the exact numbers but I have heard that is something like there has only been seven female student body presidents in the last seventy years. A reality more shocking given the infamous ratio of SPU. On the administrative level, there has never been a female University President at SPU. Currently, Marjorie Johnson is the only woman holding a Vice Presidential position. On the Board of Trustees, there are 13 men and only 2 women. This is problematic.
The second division I see in the service ministries at SPU: Latreia, Sprint, and Urban Involvement. My freshmen year, I volunteered with a UI team serving burritos to homeless folks, and I was consistently the only boy. I currently serve on UI core and there are only three of us guys and twelve girls. Last year there were only two guys and the year before only one. A common complaint among UI team leaders is lack of guy volunteers. On Sprint core its 2 guys to 6 girls which is more appropriate given the SPU ratio, but Sprint usually struggles to attract men to go on the summer mission trips. Latreia core has one guy to four girls and also tends to have more female volunteers.
Men of SPU, why are we not serving alongside our sisters?
Notice that the positions associated with power (I firmly believe all the ASSP positions are service-oriented, but they are the roles typically identified with power and popularity) are dominated by men while the positions associated with humility and service are overwhelming occupied by women. Something is deeply wrong here. I do not think this is how the body of Christ should look. I do not pretend to have the "solution," but I believe much conversation, prayer, and inviting the Spirit to break down our divisions are the way forward.
