by Joy Wong
Many years ago, God put on my heart the need for Asian-American women mentorship. At the time, I was one of four worship leaders at an Asian church, and the only female worship leader. At the monthly worship leaders' meeting, it became very apparent that my struggles and insecurities as a female worship leader were very different from those of my male counterparts. As such, I struggled to voice my opinions because I sensed that my perspectives were very different from those of my male co-leaders. This made me question whether I really belonged on leadership. Without other female leaders who shared my feelings, insecurities, and perspectives, I often felt very much alone.
During this time, I also observed a strange phenomenon at my church. The pastors often spoke of raising up leaders and empowerment, ideas that made me very excited to be a part of the church. However, over time, only men were moving into positions of leadership, while the women – including many who were more spiritually mature than the men – seemed to be hitting a glass ceiling. I came to realize that the women who aspired to leadership did not have any mentors within pastoral leadership. Both pastors of the church were male; they encouraged and shepherded the women in the congregation with the same care as the men. But mentorship required consistent one-on-one relationships, and the pastors found it inappropriate to engage with the women in this way. Even though such reasoning was understandable, the absence of women in pastoral leadership perpetuated the absence of women in church leadership in general.
This was a particular burden on my heart when I came to Fuller Theological Seminary to study theology. I wanted to fill the gap of mentorship for Asian-American women. But I also recognized that I need to be mentored before I can lead and mentor others. I prayed and waited. After several years of waiting, I was introduced to AAWOL. I immediately knew that this organization of women could provide the mentorship I needed and yearned for; they were the answer to my long-held prayer. Thus began my journey with AAWOL, and I have never looked back.
Joy Wong is pursuing a Masters of Divinity degree at Fuller Theological Seminary. Currently, she is the worship coordinator for the English congregation at Evangelical Formosan Church of Los Angeles. She and her husband live in Pasadena, California. To contact Joy, please send your inquiry to AAWOLblog@gmail.com.
Many years ago, God put on my heart the need for Asian-American women mentorship. At the time, I was one of four worship leaders at an Asian church, and the only female worship leader. At the monthly worship leaders' meeting, it became very apparent that my struggles and insecurities as a female worship leader were very different from those of my male counterparts. As such, I struggled to voice my opinions because I sensed that my perspectives were very different from those of my male co-leaders. This made me question whether I really belonged on leadership. Without other female leaders who shared my feelings, insecurities, and perspectives, I often felt very much alone.
During this time, I also observed a strange phenomenon at my church. The pastors often spoke of raising up leaders and empowerment, ideas that made me very excited to be a part of the church. However, over time, only men were moving into positions of leadership, while the women – including many who were more spiritually mature than the men – seemed to be hitting a glass ceiling. I came to realize that the women who aspired to leadership did not have any mentors within pastoral leadership. Both pastors of the church were male; they encouraged and shepherded the women in the congregation with the same care as the men. But mentorship required consistent one-on-one relationships, and the pastors found it inappropriate to engage with the women in this way. Even though such reasoning was understandable, the absence of women in pastoral leadership perpetuated the absence of women in church leadership in general.
This was a particular burden on my heart when I came to Fuller Theological Seminary to study theology. I wanted to fill the gap of mentorship for Asian-American women. But I also recognized that I need to be mentored before I can lead and mentor others. I prayed and waited. After several years of waiting, I was introduced to AAWOL. I immediately knew that this organization of women could provide the mentorship I needed and yearned for; they were the answer to my long-held prayer. Thus began my journey with AAWOL, and I have never looked back.
Joy Wong is pursuing a Masters of Divinity degree at Fuller Theological Seminary. Currently, she is the worship coordinator for the English congregation at Evangelical Formosan Church of Los Angeles. She and her husband live in Pasadena, California. To contact Joy, please send your inquiry to AAWOLblog@gmail.com.
2 comments:
Great post, Joy! How many female students (percentage?) do you think Fuller Seminary has?
Thanks for sharing.
The last time I checked Fuller's statistics, the percentage of female students varied by school. In the School of Psychology, it was about 70% female; School of Theology, 30% female; School of Intercultural Studies, 40% female.
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