Rev. Jeremy Smith at the Hacking Christianity blog looks again at the gender of the pastors leading the largest United Methodist churches in the United States (by attendance) and dicsovers that “of the 177 United Methodist churches that have over 1,000 people on an average Sunday morning, only four have female senior pastors . . .”
He says, “Every church has to overcome a systemic level of bias away from the straight white male that has been the ‘traditional’ pastoral image. Every. Church. Our connectional system is better equipped than call systems to take on these issues head-on, but as Dr. (Karen) Oliveto said, it is when our connectional systems become more like call systems that such biases become more manifest. It takes a willingness by the Bishop and the local church leadership to appoint someone transformative–a willingness that is not always present.”
Click here to read the entire post (and the comments).
What do you think are the reasons for this underrepresentation of women in a denomination that prides itself on having more women in leadership than other large denominations??