Dare Mighty Things: Mapping the Challenges of Leadership for Christian Women

Ever since I was young, the organizational structure of the Church has never failed to inculcate a sense of curiosity in me. When I was younger, it was pure curiosity, genuine interest in knowing. As I grew older, I learned to comprehend more complex underlying issues – that there is something more than a rational explanation, that the Church must be working on a different assumption, or perhaps, for a specific interest. It was only when I was a sophomore that I had the guts to ask my religion teacher: “Why are there no female priests?” His answer: “Because Jesus was a man and to continue his tradition of leadership, only men may occupy an authoritarian position in the Church.” Until now, I don’t understand why women cannot continue Jesus’ ministry. Why is the woman’s biological makeup seem to be the deciding factor as to whether or not she has the capabilities to lead in the religious sect?

When I entered college, I indulged myself in writings from different walks of feminism – enlightenment, cultural, radical, libertarian, and multiracial. I attended lectures and wrote articles on feminism. In my quest for the answer to my question, I stumbled upon a BBC4 documentary film The Lost Gospels. In the forbidden gospels – Philip’s, Mary’s, Thecla’s – women were portrayed in an entirely different light than how the Church recognizes them. In the known gospels, women were merely minor characters, as mothers or wives, supporting men. Mary Magdalene, for instance, has always been painted as the woman who kneels before Jesus to wash His feet with her tears, and dries them with her hair, but was never portrayed as one of His disciples and an influential leader of the early Church.

The problem of women being trusted with only the supporting roles in the Church was the central theme that Halee Gray Scott dauntlessly and frankly confronted in Dare Mighty Things: Mapping the Challenges of Leadership for Christian Women. Her reflections on her misogynist experience were honest and uncensored, which is crucial in writing such a book. Along with her reflections, the book was thoroughly researched with statistics to prove her points and excerpts from the interviews which she conducted. The absence of women in the organizational structure, in the priesthood, for example, doesn’t sound Greek to her and to those whom she interviewed. In fact, they had all pondered the very same question.

For those who are expecting a clear-cut answer as to why there are no female priests and how women can have the same equal right to such ministry, you might find this book as another cliché because instead of fighting for the right and capability of women to fully, actively, and equally participate in Church leadership and ministry, Scott diverts women to the kind of leadership that isn’t foreign to them. Women have been known for it for the longest time – as socio-civic agents, as supplementary members, as the supporting cast, and as those working on the side.

Fortunately, however, Scott doesn’t leave women with the advice to only embrace the kind of leadership that is “meant” to them. She doesn’t deny the fact that there are still limited opportunities and that women still have a long way to go in fighting for equality of opportunity in the Church ministries. The point she tries to get across is that leadership doesn’t end in an authoritative position in a hierarchal structure. Biblical leadership, according to Scott, means understanding your people — what they need and what they can do. It means setting the necessary goal for them and pushing them to get there. Similar to our loose definition of heroism, a hero doesn’t need to wear a cape or literally die for the country to be recognized as such. In essence, leaders are those who utilize their skills and talents to achieve a particular goal, to meet the needs of their people, and to change the world to become the best version of itself.

Scott tells women that they don’t need any titles to consider themselves as leaders. Most importantly, she assures women that God knows no sex or gender in showering them with potential. Each of God’s creation has the potential that they need to either reclaim or discover to utilize. Women need to stop bringing themselves down, to start perceiving themselves as great leaders capable of making a change, and to dare the mighty things that hinder them from being leaders in their own way. One step at a time, women will progress – in fact, they already have – eventually, they will have an equal opportunity in the Church.

Although the accounts revolve around Christian leadership, this is not a book exclusive to Christian women leaders. This is for those aspiring leaders who need to draw inspiration from those who have many battles they have yet to go through – be it traditions, societal expectations, self-doubt, and even laws. This is a book not only of leadership but also of shackles, downfalls, and defenselessness, and most importantly of resilience, bravery, and hope.