Women Were Not the Echo Today

I will worship…  (men lead)

I will worship… (women echo)

With all of my heart… (men)

With all of my heart… (women echo)

The soundtrack of my early 20s was contemporary Christian music.  I still enjoy it, and although I also like the liturgical calendar and smells and bells—I’ll never not sing my heart out to "Big House."

Somewhere along the way I noticed women often (always?) echoed the men in praise choruses—this happened at conferences and on the radio.  At first it seemed normal because it was presented as such, but one day it struck me:  Why is this normal?  Why do men always sing the lead?  Why are women always the echo? 

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Fast forward to this week. 

Women were not the echo.

Chapel Service at Tyndale Seminary

Our Uptick Voice cohort gathered in Toronto at Tyndale Seminary.  We are a group of women who are leaders in the church and nonprofit world.  As part of our learning experience we worshipped with the seminary community, and as we entered the sanctuary we were met with a diverse team of women leading us.

I was immediately struck by the visual and before I realized it I was choking back tears.  The tears were a response to the beauty of the moment and also the rarity of the moment.  It's rare and it shouldn't be.

I thought about it all week.          

God’s choir is at its most robust when men and women are living in the fullness of God’s calling.  And that means we lead according to our gifts; so sometimes women lead and men echo and other times men lead and women echo. 

This is the witness of scripture.  Paul entrusted Phoebe to deliver (and likely read!) the letter to the Romans.  The church in Rome echoed.  12 men were called to serve alongside Jesus.  Men and women echoed.  Mary Magdalene was tasked with preaching the first sermon of the resurrection.  The (then) 11 echoed. The fullness of all voices leading—alto, tenor, soprano, bass—adds to the richness of the choir.

Leadership changes according to gifts and seasons, but when you’re only allowed to be the echo…it’s hard to imagine you can lead.  This week I heard a scholar say “you can’t imagine what you haven’t seen.”  Do girls see women leading at your church, or are they only allowed to be the echo?  Could there be little Annas and Lydias who don’t know God’s possibilities because you haven’t shown them?  Men, can you consider standing alongside us and insisting on this? 

I am grateful for the men and women who’ve helped me understand God’s call on my life.  That list is long, and I’m eager to encourage the next generation of ministers among us.

Privileged to help lead this Uptick cohort of women leading our churches and nonprofits.