People always asking, "What are you going to do with that?"
Without fail, every time an adult asks me what my major is, they ask what I'm going to do with my degree.Well obviously I going to work in ministry. Duh. While churches are FINALLY acknowledging the worth of women in ministry, it's still something not wide spread to have a women minister on staff.
Being asked, "Why don't you just marry a minister?"
When I first started telling people what I was going to major in I have several (well meaning) people ask why I just didn't marry the minister. Well first off, I want to be part of ministry. It is my passion and love and I couldn't think of a better way to spend my life. The second problem with this is that I'm not going to troll the bible building looking for a random guy that is a ministry major. I would love to do ministry with my future husband, but I want to actively be working in a church.
People asking "Are you going to do children's ministry"
To preface this, I have nothing against Children's ministry, but it takes a special person to do that, and honestly, children aren't my passion. So many times when a church finally hires a women minister its usually a children's minister. They see that its okay to have women involved, as long as it is just with telling little kids bible stories, the other stuff, well we have to leave that for the men. Personally I am doing ministry because I love youth, I see the brokenness in their world and I want to be able to bring Christ into that. It take a special person to do children's ministry, someone passionate about kids, and that is just not me.
People asking "Is there even jobs for that?"
Constantly I am asked if I will be able to find a job and honestly I can't say for sure that I will be hired somewhere, but I can testify that more and more churches are realizing the importance of women in the church and they are making spaces for them throughout the denominations. There are more and more job offers for women available. There are jobs out there people and I trust that I will be able to find one.
Being asked "Is that biblical?"
This is probably the most annoying question I get. People don't ask if a male ministers job is biblical, so why am I being asked? There is no example of having a church building, paid preacher, song books, projectors, pews, etc. in the bible. We have put these things and people where they are because we see that they are needed. Women in ministry are needed, heck, even Paul saw this! There is a female deacon mentioned at the end of Romans.
While it is an honor to help pioneer women's roles in church, there are still some downfalls. We are constantly questioned, constantly pushed aside, and constantly having to fight for every step towards equality in the church. It's not an easy road, it's not a happy road all the time, but it is one that needs to be paved for this generation and for those to come.Â