Why Not Women?

For those from one of my favorite nations who allowed me to learn from them this week.

You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.

Genesis 50:20

Why wouldn’t the majority of house church leaders throughout persecuted nations of the world be women? Nations that see the world through the lenses of honor and shame?

Women are leading house churches by the thousands. God has raised them up and they are bringing HIm much glory.

In honor-shame cultures, from an early age, women are responsible for teaching children how to avoid shame and cultivate honor. During adolescence, girls become women and take on their roles as honor burden bearers. Their behavior becomes the icon of honor, or shame, for their families, communities, and nations.

Boys become men at that time and take on their roles as honor guards. This is tragically why we see brothers taking the lives of their sisters in extreme cases of honor killings, in an attempt to purge the group of shame and restore honor.

The struggle of these girl-women and boy-men is, at the heart, a struggle for redemption.

Girls and women were never meant to be honor burden bearers. Boys and men were never meant to be honor guards. The task is too great. A Savior is needed.

There is one Honor Burden Bearer, one Honor Guard, and His name is Immanuel, God with Us, Jesus the Messiah.

When the honor guards meet the the One who bore their shame on the Cross and sealed their honor forever, they carry not only honor but also humility. When the honor-burden bearers meet the One who bore their shame on the Cross and sealed their honor forever, they carry not only honor but also power and authority.

So why wouldn’t women be leading the charge in house churches, including the fastest-growing church in the world, inside cultures gripped by the forces of toxic shame?

Could it be that the Church needs the authority and power these women carry because of the blood of the Lamb and their testimonies of honor instead of shame? Could it be that the thousands of girls and women who took to the streets in Iran’s “Hijab Revolution” one year ago need just that? A power and authority that can break strongholds, set captives free, and heal broken human systems? Could it be that women and girls in the West need to see their example of surrender and strength?

Why wouldn’t God put women in a position of leadership in the house churches springing up at lightning speed across the persecuted world today? Why not?

Throughout Scripture, we see a pattern of the enemy planning something for evil, and God intending it for good. And not just any good. The good of nations! 

In Jesus, The areas where We overcome the enemy’s plan for harm in our lives become centrifuges of spiritual authority and power.

Why wouldn’t those who have been kidnapped, trafficked, mutilated, hidden, ostracized, and killed by shame be given astonishing power and authority when they rise up and follow the Messiah who removes their shame and gives honor instead?

Why not?

WOMEN IN HONOR-SHAME NATIONS MAY BE THE VERY ARROW IN GOD’S QUIVER FOR SUCH A TIME AS THIS.

I am a witness. God is on the move in the nations through women who have overcome shame by the blood of the Lamb. 

I am a witness. God is on the move in the nations through men who have laid down their swords and taken the path of humility, treating the women in their midst as one with equal value.

Together these women and men are taking the world by storm as honor-promoters, bearing power and authority needed in this warring, wounded world.

This is happening in real-time, in the hardest places on earth, where following Jesus is a life-threatening decision. But they’ve found new life. I want to learn from them.

Women, men, we stand equal in our need for a Savior who will remove our shame and give us honor instead. Let us take our eyes off each other and set them upon the God who intends good out of evil to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. 

Lord, release Your intention for good across the persecuted nations through the thousands of women who have been given honor instead of shame because they trusted You. Amen.

@audreycfrank

Photo by Ben White on Unsplash