Jim Henderson (1)

As a young woman who was raised in the church, spent some years away from it, and is now coming back to it with a whole slew of ideas and beliefs that don't necessarily fit into a Southern Baptist frame, I was interested to see what this book was all about. The author interviewed many women from a variety of Christian backgrounds, including those in the church, those who have left the church, and those who are still trying to determine what role, if any, the church has in speaking to, about, and for women. Although I appreciated the different viewpoints presented, it seemed that the writing was a little clunky, with the author self-inserting at random points in time; he offered his opinion on each interviewee at the end of the chapters, and this often seemed overly simplified. He did have some good questions for the interviewees, and their responses (or non-responses) are quite interesting to read. I found myself trying to figure out how I would respond to the various discussions and issues that he brought up in the book.… (mais)

The book is okay. It seems more directed towards evangelical Christians who are recovering from "bait and switch" and heavy-handed salesmanship "evangelism"--things Orthodox Christians traditionally don't do. As such, I fell outside of the book's intended target audience and felt the author was belaboring a point I already get.

What the author recommends (treating "the missing" as people we should love and not as projects) seemed obvious to me, but clearly he's writing for a particular segment of people where this may not be so obvious.

What was a glaring omission in the book was any discussion of the Great Commission and how it fits into (or doesn't fit into) his whole approach. While there is a great deal of merit in the author's kid gloves approach, I can't help but think he's not doing all the work Christ has given us. Isn't there a reasonable middle ground between heavy handed and kid gloves when it comes to sharing our faith with others?… (mais)

Are women leaving the church? Perhaps that is the first question that comes to your mind when you see this provocative title: The Resignation of Eve: What if Adam's Rib is No Longer Willing to Be the Backbone of the Church?. Certainly when I go to church I see women well represented; yet research conducted by the Barna Group suggests that women are leaving and author Jim Henderson argues that if the church loses its women, we are in serious trouble:

[Women are] the one groups whose loyalty the church can least afford to lose. The people who for the most part run the church, attend church and pray and serve at significantly higher rates than their male counterparts. Women(23).

Henderson wants to see women given more opportunities to lead and serve than they have in many churches. Women are who run the church they just aren't able to lead the church and yet most women are happy with what their church teaches about gender (according to the Barna Group). Henderson wants more. He wants women to feel the freedom to use whatever gifts God has given them in whatever sphere He calls them. As may tell from this photo, Henderson, is a man and therefore incompetent when it comes providing a comprehensive understanding of the fairer sex. He compensates for this by utilizing a qualitative approach, interviewing women about their 'resignation' from church. As an evangelical pastor type, Henderson can't help but engage in tripartite wordplay with the term 'resigned'. When he says resigned, he means the following:


Resigned To

In speaking to women from fundamentalist and conservative evangelical backgrounds Henderson discovers women who happily toe the line regarding the hierarchical gender roles. They are not allowed to teach or have any authority over a man. They need to submit, and they are 'resigned to' their secondary role in the church. Some of these women never really gave the gender inequity in their church much thought (why would they want to be a pastor anyway?); others see men as bringing the appropriate competencies to spiritual leadership in church and society.

Resigned From

On the other side are women who quit the church, in part, because they have more opportunities EVERYWHERE ELSE BUT THE CHURCH. Many conservative denominations do not ordain women, so if women want to actually have responsibility or get paid for leadership, they have to do it elsewhere. Other denominations affirm women in ministry, but women pastors rarely get hired (especially as senior pastor). Henderson talked to accomplished professional women who disengaged from their church culture because of this gender inequity. A couple of the women he spoke with, left the faith altogether.

Re-signed

By 're-signing' Henderson has in mind women who despite the risks, limitations and the church's slowness to change, re-engage, lead and affect influence from within the church. The women Henderson speaks to in this section all have strong leadership gifts, which have sometimes been stymied by patriarchy in the church. But they have pressed through and are finding a way to fulfill God's call in their life.



Along the way, Henderson combines his interviews with evaluative comments and combines his qualitative approach with the quantitative approach of Barna Group. Statistical data peppers each section and he includes Barna survey data at the end.

What I appreciated most about the book was encouraging tone. Henderson wants women to feel like they can pursue where God's calling Henderson speaks to a number of women with an array of different views on gender roles. He manages to be respectful and affable with each person and their position, though I think he does seem to reserve his hard biblical questions for the rank complementarians. I loved that Henderson engaged with a variety of women with varying views on the subject of gender roles in the church. Even some of the 're-signers' are theological complementarians but long for and work for greater equality in ministry.

I do not fault Henderson for using and integrating the Barna data with his own findings (it is after all a Barna Group publication); however I didn't find the data particularly helpful or illuminating. Most of the data is probably accurate, but I am suspicious and would have preferred data from Gallup or Baylor (Rodney Stark and Byron Johnson are quite critical of some Barna findings). But Henderson uses these stats to augment his own research rather than to substantiate it, so I think he used it well.

I would recommend this book for women who feel slighted by their church's views about gender, women who never really thought about it and Christian guys who just don't understand women (this book may not help you, but hey you need all the help you can get). There are no discussion questions provided in the book, but it might be a useful catalyst for a small group or ministry team wrestling with this issue.

Thanks to Tyndale for providing me a copy of this book in exchange for this review.

… (mais)

This is a project inspired by the book 'unchristian.' Jim Henderson, Todd Hunter, and Craig Spinks conducted interviews with 'outsiders.' By this they mean people in their 20's that don't fit in traditional church (some are atheists, unbelievers, and some Jesus followers who don't like to self-identify as Christian because of the baggage). They asked them questions about various issues and perceptions of Christianity. The DVD provides the footage of the interviews. The book is the authors' reflections upon the interviews and the whole project.

The video is fine and even has some interesting parts. The book is kind of blah. I didn't gain many 'insights' from either. Apparently we are supposed to listen to people now, and love them… (mais)