By Rebecca Worl

The elderly woman caught my attention as I was exiting the church. She gave me a smile and waved me over. Her eyes glistened a bit as she grabbed my hands and put them between her own.

“Hello dear, I just wanted to tell you, that I was so moved by your… talk today, it was one of the best – you know, I ever heard in all my 80 years… “

I smiled. As I could tell she was struggling with the words, I offered a little help.

“The best…Sermon?” I volunteered.

“Well, I wasn’t going to say THAT, you know, after all, at my age I can’t change my spots!” She laughed a little under her breath.

I was puzzled. “Sorry, what spots do you refer to?”

I took her hands even tighter into my own and led her to a chair so we could talk. Her sweet spirit and kind words moved my heart, and I could tell we had more to chat about.

“Well, after all these years of believing that women shouldn’t be in the pulpit, I just can’t change how I feel about that. But your – ,” she hesitated again.

I smiled again and tried one more time, “Sermon?”

“Ok, for lack of a better word, yes, your sermon was really one of the best sermons I have ever heard, and it challenged me in my faith – imagine that, after 80 years of walking with Jesus.”

I was very humbled and grateful for her generous words, but wanted to push further…

“Ah, thank you so much! It was my true honor to bring God’s Word today. I’m so thankful that the Spirit ministered to you. So you are not sure if women should preach, but you think that maybe, I’m an OK preacher though?” I pushed further.

“Oh yes! The best! But that’s just you honey, I don’t know about any other woman out there.”

Read the rest at the CBGE blog, then come back and comment (you can leave a comment there too!). How does SEEING women minister effectively change our attitudes about women in ministry? How can we provide people with more opportunities to see women preaching and teaching?

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