Small Groups and Gender Segregation
I wrote last week about a difficulty I have finding bible studies that study the Bible in a sea of group meetings that study other things they feel are more interesting or more important. I want to follow up on that with a related idea.
What is up with all the separated men’s groups and women’s groups?
What exactly are we afraid of happening with unmarried people in a room together?
It made a certain amount of sense to separate the girls and boys when I was 9 and girls were yucky, or when I was 14 and girls my age were adults already. But I am seeing nary a coed study group at many churches straight through to death.
If there is a mixed group it’s for married couples. Still, men go to the Men’s Breakfast, women go to their Beth Moore class. Why?!?
Well I’ll tell you why actually. It’s because of this same stupid trend of fearing and avoiding the Bible and talking about something else instead. Men’s groups end up talking about Lust and Porn the whole time. Women’s groups probably end up talking about Submission and “Biblical Womanhood” and such crap. Married groups talk about how to have a good Christian marriage. And that is the practical extent of our Christian education.
There is no way that in an authentic inductive study of the book of Judges you need to get vulnerable about your masturbation habits. That simply will never ever come up. And if an emergent issue does arrive, you know how to pull someone aside.
There are 66 books in scripture. 1 Corinthians 6 is one chapter. If you need to split for that week. Or the 1 Timothy 2 week or the Ephesians 5. Fine. I’d submit that there is much to be gained even in those chapters from having both voices, but I’ll grant that sometimes people need to feel extra safe. Still, I see no reason for that to be the topic every week. EVER. It shouldn’t even be one week every year.
Let’s quit pretending like the central issues of Christian discipleship are gender specific.