Empowering Women For Leadership
The DEBORAH Principle
– By Chan Tean Yin
Just as God calls men to positions of leadership, He also calls women to
leadership roles. |
It is heart warming and encoura- raging to read of the Prime Minister’s announcement that the government has set a target for 30 per cent of the people involved in decision making in the public sector to be women. He said very aptly, “I don’t think there exists any position that is specifically for men. If you want a good person for a job, your thoughts must not be confined to one gender. The post should be given to whoever is capable for it” (The Star Aug 2, 2004).
As I read this newspaper report, my thoughts raced to the situation in the Malaysian Church and the place of women in Christian leadership. I wonder how many churches in Malaysia would embrace the position of our very open-minded and progressive Prime Minister? Are our church governing bodies consisting of a 30 per cent women representation?
Actually, I feel it is not necessary to set the target of 30 per cent or whatever percentage. The principle should be giftedness not gender, God’s appointment and not man’s volition. In churches where more than 50 per cent of the members are female, it is only appropriate to have a corresponding female representation in decision-making and leadership roles.
It is not my intention to enter into a theological argument of whether women should be in church leadership. My premise is that Christ, through the gospel, has liberated women spiritually, and socially. He has broken through cultural barriers to make male and female equal in Him ( Gal. 3: 28). Both men and women received the Holy Spirit at Pentecost and were given spiritual gifts without gender discrimination. It was not evident that men were given one set of gifts and women another.
Consequently, being incorporated into the Body of Christ, women like men, are members of the Body and thus have equal responsibilities to function according to their God-given role and function in the Body ( 1 Cor. 12: 13).
Just as God calls men to positions of leadership, He also calls women to leadership roles.
Are there models in the Bible that women leaders can emulate? Thank God we are not kept completely in the dark as we do have a wonderful model in Deborah who rose to prominence during the days of the Judges. A case study of Deborah’s leadership role and functions shows us that a woman can be an effective spiritual leader, yet maintain her female distinctive.
HISTORICAL CULTURAL CONTEXT OF DEBORAH’S LEADERSHIP
The book of Judges is one of the saddest parts of the Bible, humanly speaking. Some call it the “Book of Failure”. The last chapter of Joshua anticipates continued blessing upon God’s people in the land of their inheritance.
But we do not proceed far into the account of Judges before we sense that all is not well. While there are deliverances along the way, the tone of the book is predominantly one of oppression and defeat because “ everyone did what was right in his own eye.” When the gospel of God’s grace does appear in the book, it shines forth in sharp brightness in this dark setting 1.
When we come to the account on Deborah, Israel had again turned to idolatry, and experienced its consequences in two decades of oppression by the Canaanites. This time a woman, Deborah, identified both as a prophetess and a judge,2 is the agent of God’s deliverance. She accompanies a reluctant general, Barak and directs the battle. Barak’s 10,000 strong army defeated a much larger Canaanite force. In the confusion, the Canaanite commander, Sisera, escapes, only to be killed in an exhausted sleep by a woman, named Jael. Deborah’s song, long recognised as one of the most powerful poems of antiquity, celebrates the Hebrew victory3
LEARDERSHIP STYLE OF DEBORAH
- Her leadership was divinely appointed/chosen
Deborah overshadows the whole story of Judges. Therefore, she must be seen for what she is: being a woman in such a position; she must represent a sovereign activity of God. This is all the more amazing because in the Old Testament cultural social context, women were not set over men. But here in the case of Deborah, we have a woman by Divine consent and approval placed in a position of leadership.
- Multifaceted roles of Deborah’s leadership
Deborah played at least three different roles ( Judges 4: 4–5 ). She was a versatile leader.
- Deborah is identified as a prophetess. God used her as His spokesperson, communicating special messages to His people.
- The text also says she was “ leading (judging) Israel at that time.” This was very unusual in a society that emphasised male leadership and female subordination.
- The text also says that Deborah served as a sort of supreme court and settled disputes that could not be decided locally.
Any one of these roles would set off any individual as special, male or female. Possession of all three roles indicates that Deborah was a truly unusual woman, with great personal and spiritual gifts. Deborah reminds us that society’s stereotypes need not hold for God’s people. God’s choice of Deborah shows that He is free to work through any human being. That choice reminds us that a person’s sex does not automatically qualify or disqualify him or her for significant ministry.4
- Leadership by inspiration
Deborah led by
• Inspiring faith and inciting vision – vision of victory. She displayed the ability to inspire faith and courage. She not only possessed mental acumen and common sense but she was also a woman to whom the Lord had given the gift of prophecy and song. Because of these abilities, she succeeded in calling the hill folk back to Jehovah (encourage faith). She reminded them of their significant history in Egypt and Sinai and prophesied the coming of better days. Her songs passed from mouth to mouth and resounded from every hill.
Thus, she inspired heroic confidence and awakened the glad hope of freedom in every tribe. Deborah demonstrated the spirit or principle of leadership, that is, inspiration. So we see that the strength of Deborah’s leadership was her power to inspire. Both Barak and the leaders who took the lead fulfilled their leadership by reason of the inspiration received through Deborah. Leadership is a matter of inspiration. It is an endowment.
Our lesson then from Deborah is that, whether officially in the office of a leader or not, leadership is essentially a matter of the gift and power of inspiration, a contagious influence, an emanating spiritual energy, and a potent example.
- Love as the motivation of leadership
Leadership is often regarded as an official matter. The leader must have a title, an office, an appointment. Deborah teaches us that leadership is the expression of the ‘mother-spirit‘ to embrace the whole of God’s people. “ Until that I Deborah arose… a mother in Israel” (Judges 5:7), and not “I a leader, a prophetess, a Divinely- chosen instrument arose” but “a mother.” Hers was evidently a heart-concern, an affectional concern for the Lord’s people. This element must be in all leadership – the element of a jealous yearning over the spiritual interests of those concerned. “ I arose a mother,” said Deborah. The incentive of her inspiring leadership was the mother-passion for a spiritual family.
- A strategic leader
She proved to be unusually wise and tactful. She had not leaped into full glory at once, but had by many years of exertion and organising activity prepared Israel for her war of independence. After these had been completed, she acted quickly and decisively. She was a strategic leader. Deborah showed a great deal of discernment. She saw the strategic moment had come. She called Barak and told him that the time was ripe for action. She told him the military strategy to adopt.5
~To be continued~
Footnotes
1 Irving Lester Jensen, Jensen’s Survey of the Old Testament, Chicago : Moody Press,1978.
2 The judges were leaders or deliverers. The judge was a charismatic leader raised up by Yahweh, on whom his Spirit came to empower to deal with a certain situation. He was not a king and did not establish a dynasty or ruling family. Judges were commissioned by God to deliver the Israelites from the oppression of their enemies, usually by war, and then to rule the people during the era of peace .
3 Lawrence O. Richards, The Bible Reader’s Companion, USA : Victor Books, 1991, p.163.
4 Lawrence O Richards, The Bible Reader’s Companion , USA : Victor Books 1991, p.163
5 Abraham Kuyper, Women of the Old Testament, Grand Rapids : Victor Books, 1975.
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