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On Wednesday, the 24th I attended a lecture about women in the ministry. The lecture was given by Christopher Jack Hill, a journalist, author, and social activist. Hill graduated from Johns Hopkins University and he serves as Youth and Young Adult Director at Baltimore’s Bethel AME church. Hill is also the co-author of Who’s Got the Power: Black Church, Black Politics and Black Family, alongside Senior Pastor Reverend Dr. Frank M. Reid, which will be released next year. His work has been featured in Baltimore’s Afro-American Newspaper, Black Issues Book Review, The Baltimore Sun, NNPA, The Humanist Magazine, and NSBE Magazine.
In his lecture, Hill talked about how many women struggle with identity today and how there is this friction between men and women. Women have become disgruntled about who they are today because of the powerful role that men automatically play in society. Although Hill brought up a very interesting point about how women are capable of being equal to men and this opportunity is through education. Women are able to achieve a higher education, and as women we must create a fair family in which daughters are valued just as much as sons. At the same time though this places a burden on the church.
Hill said that Alicia Keys presented a very valid question asking, “What is a woman’s worth?” We struggle with this question especially in the ministry since men have always played the stronger and more important roles in the ministry. Hill also talked about Hilary Clinton’s important role in society, pointing out the fact that she is a top front-runner for women especially with the presidential election approaching.
Hill also talked about the Book of Genesis, and how it is about creation. He pointed out an interesting fact that out of some 1,500 scriptures, only 10 were written by women. Genesis is a social literary text; two very important characters are Adam and Eve. Eve is the life bearer and Adam is the dust from the Earth, this further proves that God can create almost anything from scratch. Hill mentioned a very interesting point saying that Eve bit the apple and shared it with her husband, but the question is “But why did she share?” He further talked about how women always play the lesser role in the ministry and that is something that most definitely needs to be fixed. Hill’s most significant point was that behind every successful man is somewhere a successful woman, and this is very true. Women are taking a stride towards becoming more independent and powerful; many women are also fighting for total equality between men and women.
This lecture made me realize how important equality between men and women is. For many years now men have had the upper hand in society in terms of jobs, money and the ministry. After attending this talk I realized that women can be just as powerful as men and they can definitely be just as smart. Hill left me with an open mind towards my future, by making me see that I can hold a very prestigious job position such as CEO of a successful company and I can make as much money as please if I work hard enough to earn it. Society is letting down this boundary which has caused such inequality between sexes and men and women are finally starting off with equal opportunities.