in response to "Art Thou Bored" - article posted in comments to a post the other day.

i see what this article is saying and i can appreciate it for the motivation behind it, but i'm not sure i jive with it. who says that men are the only gender with wild spirits and a longing to do and take risks and adventures? and who says only women are looking for comfort, community, a place to belong? it's this sort of generalization of tendencies that can be dangerous.

from the perspective of a woman in ministry/church leadership i face similar problems on the other side of this same coin. the men in my church community are not disempowered. they are all men that have made the decision that God has called them to more than sitting in the pew on Sunday and doing nothing and they have ran after the call they've been given. the episcopal/anglican tradition which threenails is a part of put men first in church leadership. it is expected that if there is leadership in a church community that it is men for the most part. this is also in some ways true to the new emerging church culture which threenails is also a part of. i have found this to be the case across the board in the minds of many christians. "woman are not meant to be leaders. go back to the nursery and read children's bible stories." i am blessed to be a part of an episcopal diocese whose bishop values female leadership, and a church community that is made up of and growing strong Christian woman that desire to be more than wilting flowers in quilting circles. and those that still can't wrap their head around me being a woman and being a leader? well they're coming around.

i understand where the author of this article is coming from and believe me, i want the men in my community to be challenged and released to serve God in the way they think they're called. if the acutal mission of the church is to make long time members feel safe and comfortable then we've got problems. Christ never prayed that we would be comfortable. He prayed that we might have boldness and be protected from the evil one. so you'll excuse me if my sympathies don't completely lie with the oppressed men of congregations internationally. you feel oppressed guys? you feel God calling you to more? then STAND UP in the system and create change, or get the hell out and and start walking with the emerging generation of young leaders making up a people movement that is changing the way we understand church to be. church is not about comfort and quilting circles, and the institutionalized church is a monument being memorialized and dying. look at Scripture and decipher your charge, then follow it. no one's forcing you into apathy, repression, and a system of : behave, believe then belong.