It’s time to go…and be free!

Yesterday was launch day for Beth Allison Barr’s new book, Becoming the Pastor’s Wife. It’s the follow-up to her first book The Making of Biblical Womanhood, which we talked about on the podcast a few years ago!

In Becoming a Pastor’s Wife, she shows how, over the last 60 years (roughly), the role of “pastor’s wife” has been solidified, with women being told that if they’re called to ministry, they’re really called to be a pastor’s wife. Women’s ministries of preaching the word, starting big movements, leading organizations have been replaced with supporting the man in your life.

And this whole movement started just as the push for women’s ordination was gaining steam. So Beth takes us through history to show us some amazing women you may never have heard of–like Milburga, a bishop from the 7th century, or other women in the middle ages who functioned as pastors and bishops. And she shows us that the idea that women shouldn’t hold offices in the church is modern, not ancient, and not rooted in the biblical text or early church tradition.

It’s an important work, and Beth’s going to be talking about it on the Bare Marriage podcast with me tomorrow!

But we’re also hosting a FREE webinar about where we, as women, go from here.

In 2021, our books published within a week of each other, and now they’re doing so again! And we’re really approaching the same issue from different angles.

I’m arguing that the traditional way we’ve been taught about marriage isn’t rooted in the biblical text or early church tradition, but instead is a holdover of the patriarchy that has come into the church. And Beth is arguing the same thing about women’s roles in the church.

And in both cases, keeping women from using their voices; defining women’s roles solely in relation to the men in their lives, rather in what God has for them; keeping women small–all of this hurts us. It hurts the church. It even hurts the men in our lives.

So where do we go from here? How can we take this conversation beyond the pages of our books and live it out in our marriages, our churches, and our communities?

Well, join us next week!

It’s frustrating to know change needs to happen, but to feel alone

Maybe you’re the only one in your friend group who sees it–or in your family! Or maybe there are a few of you in your church, but your church won’t listen. 

Or maybe you’ve left your church, but you can’t find a healthy one.

And you think: If this is so obvious, if what they’re teaching is so harmful, then why aren’t healthy churches popping up? Why isn’t there a healthy place to go?

That’s why we need to get together to have things like these webinars, to share ideas and ask questions and see that you are not, after all, alone.

Let’s talk about what it looks like to go and be free!

Beth and I will both share our hearts for our books; we’ll talk about what really resonated for us in each other’s books; but most importantly, we’ll talk about what we all can do now, once our eyes have been opened.

And we’ll answer your questions too!

Karen Swallow Prior will be there to moderate the convo and ask her own questions (and hopefully chime in too!).

Can’t make it live?

There will be a recording available afterwards–but you still need to register to access it!

Do try to make it live, though, because we’ll be taking questions, and we’ll have some prize packages too!

So come on over and register–and we’ll see you next Thursday!