To give you a little context to what is to follow, let me tell you what this particular blog post is all about. Over the past few years I have become quite burdened for women in leadership. I grew up in a church where I was given opportunity to lead and although there were challenges like being the first female youth pastor or always finding myself on teams full of men and being the only woman, my experience was generally not as difficult as what some have faced. There were however and continue to be some unique challenges. An example of this would be in the lack of mentors, particularly women in more senior leadership roles. There is still a serious lack of female representation in many churches. There are other interesting challenges that are not often spoken of. This questionnaire speaks about some of these.
I have written an introduction below but feel free to then click on the link to read the full document of findings.
A note to anyone reading this….
If you have taken the time to read this, THANK YOU. And thank you especially if you are a man! It’s easy to skip over things that don’t apply to you without taking the time to stop and listen so I really appreciate you taking the time to read through this!
Before we get started there are a few key things I think you should bare in mind:
This questionnaire was filled out by a total of 70 women from a variety of denominations, backgrounds, age ranges and ethnicities. Although 70 people is quite a lot it will only give you a snapshot of the findings.
I sent this questionnaire to women who I know are actively leading in some form in their local churches. That means it was sent to women who have been given the opportunity to lead. There will be a whole group of women who did not receive this because they have not had the opportunity or been allowed to lead.
My purpose in doing this questionnaire was not to ‘rant’ about the problems we women leaders face but to use it as an access point for solutions asking ‘how can we ensure the challenges faced now are NOT the challenges of future generations?'
As you read through these findings I want to encourage you to think about your own life and leadership and to be challenged to be intentional about raising female leaders, whether you are a man or a woman. So grab a cup of tea and let’s get started….
Be blessed,
Hannah
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