# Gender-specific Bible Studies & Mentorship



## danmpem (Jul 15, 2008)

Admins/Mods: If this is in the wrong forum, please feel free to move it.

One of the things I have been thinking about for a long time is the issue of gender-specific Bible Studies. For three years, I was a co-leader of a college men's small group, and we were the only group in the church to do an expository of the Bible (as opposed to 40 Days of Purpose video studies).

One of my good female friends told me that she had been looking for a co-ed small group, because the women's groups were far to superficial for her liking. I know that some churches solve this problem by having adult Sunday school or something similar, but at the time, my friend did not have these available to her. I had always pictured the women's small groups as being very similar to the men's. After talking with her and then asking around, I learned that it's not uncommon for them to be just how she described.

It seems that things like the ladies Bible studies are usually the result of a very poor interpretation of scripture. Instead of not allowing women to be teaching other men, it becomes women not being taught at all. I'm sure there are plenty of very God-glorifying women's Bible studies all over, it's just a shame that so many of my female friends have yet to find one. My friend was actually denied mentorship from a pastor on the grounds that she was a young lady. It really hurt that the leadership did not even want to consider working something out to stay "beyond reproach". 

When I was leading the small group, one of my priorities was to give my peers something they would not get anywhere else: deep, challenging, and expository study of the scriptures. I just wish I had realized sooner how many of my friends truly felt excluded from something they desired so desperately to have.

To the ladies, do you feel I am misinformed about how women's small groups function? Is it different in Reformed churches? What do you think the catalyst is to make it different?

To everyone, I understand the need to stay beyond reproach, but what can be done so that anyone who desires to have a deeper study in the Word of God can have it with other small groups in the church?


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## Kim G (Jul 15, 2008)

I don't come from a Reformed background, but I completely sympathize with your friend's concerns about women's Bible studies. They are very often emotion-driven dialogues about "how you would feel in pregnant Mary's place" or "what Sarai was thinking when Abraham pawned her off as his sister", or "what to do when you don't feel like loving your husband." 

Also, I don't think I've ever been to a "Bible study" that studied the Bible. We always studied a book about women in the Bible or about friends that are hard to love or about lies women believe. Often the study becomes a place for women to share stories or misapply scripture. I've had to bite my tongue when it wasn't my place to speak and a principle was being taught that was contrary to God's Word. (Of course, I've had the same trouble in mixed-group meetings in some churches.)

I think some of this problem comes from women's reading and viewing habits. Ladies who feed their minds with daytime TV and romance novels are satisfied with a shallow, emotional reading of Scripture. I praise God that my mom taught me to develop my mind and desires not to be satisfied with such . . . vanity.


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## Grace Alone (Jul 15, 2008)

In all the reformed churches I have belonged to, we have had women's Bible studies led by a godly and knowledgable woman in the church. If you look at the PCA bookstore, there are many biblical studies as well as topical studies written by reformed authors. In my current church, the pastor's wife is currently leading a study through the book of Ruth for the rest of the summer. She is studying the material and makes outlines for us and we study and discuss the material verse by verse. It is excellent!


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