Where are the Christian suffragettes?

I just saw Suffragette at the movie theater. The same language used 100 years ago to keep women from voting is the language used today to keep women from equality in church.

It is not just by preaching where women should be equal in church. Last Sunday I was at First Baptist Church and I was greeted by a man who handed me the church bulletin.  The music director was male. Believe it or not, the orchestra had men on one side and women on the other, playing the same kind of instruments. The offering was taken by men. The welcoming was by a young associate pastor, male of course. All the prayers were by men. Needless to say, the sermon was by a man. And if there had been the Lord’s Supper, that would have had an all-male crew of deacons. In fairness to say, there were two women pianists.

As I watched the movie Suffragette, I wondered why churches feel it is necessary to gather up a bunch of women to go see a film by Provident Films (War Room) but will not take them to see a movie that shows them how far women have come, and how far we still have to go. Churches are made up of people, and it is people in those churches who made the laws against women and it is the people in those churches today who still enforce religious laws against women.

I don’t want to go to prison for my work in women’s equality, and running out in front of racing horses doesn’t appeal to me. When the movie ended, everyone was sitting in silence as the credits ran. I could not let that young suffragette’s life be in vain. I call myself a street evangelist for women’s equality. So, standing up and looking at those still sitting, I said in a loud voice to those in the theater, “Women still are not equal in most churches on Sunday mornings.”

Will you stand up in the movie theater with me and say “Women still are not equal in most churches on Sunday mornings?”