OVERCOMING the Obstacles to Women in Ministry

Obstacle # 3: The fear of man.

One day in the early 1970's, the Lord instructed me to call a citywide revival prayer meeting. This had never been done in my city, and I had no previous experience from which to draw.
Innocently I phoned local ministry leaders to come to my home to pray on a Friday night. They came, but one man in the group immediately challenged my right to direct the meeting. Since God never said I had to be in charge, I was not threatened. But when he suggested that only the men lead the prayer each night, I was quite disheartened.

Suddenly I found myself as a spokes-woman for all the females. Why couldn't we lead? What was wrong with a woman overseeing the prayer times? My simple obedience to do what God had asked brought me face to face with the gender issue in ministry.

Eventually the prayer times were divided among all present. Did God honor those prayer meetings? I don't know, but I did learn that responding to God's call and getting it done are not the same. I had no idea there would be controversy about a female leading a prayer meeting.

I also learned that revival cannot come to a community when leaders have their own agendas. As God worked on our hearts those days and nights, we prayed that walls would fall. We did not experience revival then, but we did learn that revival could not come without unity -- men and women alike.