2016: Year of Gender
The Problem
From growing numbers of working mothers, to the masculinity crisis, from legalizing gay marriage, to the rise in singleness we see daily headlines challenging old gender norms. Being faithful to the gender God created in us is getting harder to figure out.
The Solution
No more settling for tired, forced answers to how to be a “biblical” man or woman. There’s more to women than submission and more to men than leadership. It’s time to devote an entire year to fresh conversations on what it means to be gendered humans without scripted roles to play.
The Plan
Why Gender Matters
We can see it . . . can you?
Powerful professionals, ministry leaders, accountants, stay at home mom and dads, we are all boxed in by the roles we play. When it comes to being comfortable in our own skin, our own gender and sexual identity, many of us feel like we don’t completely fit. The scripts are given to us, but we have parts of ourselves we keep hiding. And it comes to dating or befriending the opposite sex, we hide our real selves like it’s a competitive sport. Even after we’re married. Watch married couples off for date night–how many of them are actually wondering if they’ll really get to see and hear the person sitting across the table. And we haven’t even touched on how Christians have developed a fear to even listen to some people of certain gender or sexual orientations.
Like you, we love unpacking the people packages we meet and learning to love the person inside, the person beyond the labels.
In eleven years of soul-care at Soulation, we’ve noticed how many relationships require hiding, rolling with the expectation, and squeezing into what “Christian life” is supposed to look like.
Our curiosity about who is really inside led us to find out that Christians like you want a safe place to talk about being male and female, made in God’s image. We want to see how our faith in Jesus gives us insight into being masculine and feminine, but doesn’t require us to all play the same roles. There’s plenty of room for theology and curiosity at the same table.
We want you to join us to launch 2016: Year of Gender.
The People
- The husband and wife on date night meet each other as two human beings–not just filling out their adopted roles and scripts.
- The mother reeling from her son coming out as gay learns all LGBT angles from experts who value Scripture. She clarifies her beliefs, learning to talk with her son in a way that deepens their friendship.
- The lay single leader watches women develop ideas and shepherd souls. He finds a strong theology for women’s leadership and joins our community as a sounding-board while discussing female leadership with his pastor.