Over the years, women in the United States have advocated for equality with men in several areas: voting (success 1920); military combat (not totally there yet, but closer); sports (education, really, known as Title IX, 1972); and pay (we’re still working on this one!).
The struggle of women for equality with men in the United States is ongoing. And we’re doing such a good job that the term for a woman who supports equality—feminist—is often considered a four-letter word.
What we don’t hear much about are men who want equality with women. However, last week a man commenting on Gather magazine’s Facebook page requested just that. And I, for one, was thrilled. David wrote: “I’m impressed with Gather‘s content! How could we include men in the Gather discussions? Women in the church gather to grow while men scatter.”
Editor Kate Elliott responded, “David, anyone can subscribe to Gather and we’d love it if men wanted to use the content to start a small group discussion or Bible study in their congregation! Conversation about the articles and Bible study could be part of adult education with mixed groups too. I can’t tell you how many men have commented to us that they read their wives’ copy of the magazine every month (one told me he tries to fish it out of the mail before she sees it so he can read it first).”
One of the reasons we changed the name of the magazine was to interest and include more readers, including full communion partners without a women’s magazine, and, of course, men. Men often contribute to our pages by writing articles and Bible studies. In fact, we feature a male pastor in one of our newest ads: Pastor Erik Christensen of St. Luke’s Lutheran Church, Logan Square, in Chicago, IL, actually reads and uses the magazine.
Our magazine’s name and tagline is: Gather for Faith and Action. We don’t exclude or include either gender in that tagline. In this day and age, I don’t think the church can afford to turn away any evangelist, male or female. We are called to spread the Good News, and if Gather magazine can help with that, we would be delighted. How about you? How do you feel about men subscribing to Gather and forming a study group?
Terri Lackey is managing editor of Gather. Consider buying your husband, father, brother and/or son a subscription. While you’re at it, join our discussions on Facebook.