Lent and the Witness of Women:
Resources for Reflection and Renewal
During Lent — a season of repentance and renewal — MC USA’s Women in Leadership ministry invites pastors and congregations to reflect on how the church can more fully honor and support the gifts and leadership of women.
In the Holy Week stories, women care for Jesus, remain faithful in suffering and are entrusted as the first witnesses to the resurrection. Their witness reminds us that the marginalization of women is not God’s design but the result of human systems.
If your congregation seeks to better understand and address the harms women have experienced in the church — including exclusion from leadership, silencing of their voices and other effects of patriarchy — we invite you to engage the resources below for learning, prayer and discernment.
The Hope-filled Persistence of Women in Ministry
This one-hour conversation invites the church to listen to women’s experiences in faith communities and to reflect on how systems and practices have sometimes caused harm.
Learn, Pray, Join: Undoing Patriarchy
MC USA’s “Learn, Pray, Join: Undoing Patriarchy” initiative draws attention to the ways the current systems in our world and churches create spaces that perpetuate patriarchal norms and do harm to those who fall outside of those norms. It provides tools and resources to help MC USA church communities work toward a more equitable world.
Laboring Toward Wholeness: A training on dismantling patriarchy
This training explores the history and roots of patriarchy – a social structure in which men hold power and domination over others – and how it got entangled with our faith. It unpacks the church’s role in perpetuating it and our responsibility to dismantle it, while searching the Bible for truths about who God created us to be. Ideal for Bible studies, small groups and retreats.
Join the work
Your support helps women in MC USA live out God’s call, grow their leadership gifts and share their wisdom across congregations, conferences, agencies and institutions — strengthening the whole church.