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About Matt VanGent

has degrees from Azusa Pacific University and Fuller Theological Seminary in youth ministry and theology. After nearly 10 years of traditional church ministry, Matt currently serves as one of the pastors at Sanctuary Claremont, a unique church plant and non-profit coffee house in Southern California.

When Words Aren’t Enough: A Pastor’s Thoughts on Gender Equality

February 15, 2018 by Matt VanGent

“Girls can’t be drummers.”  My 3-year-old daughter.

“I had no idea I could be a youth pastor.”  A female high school student.

These two statements have had a profound impact on my pursuit of gender equality.  Let me start with my daughter.

She and I love to watch music videos together and one morning, we were watching a band with a girl drummer.  With the certainty of a toddler, she uttered the statement above that broke my heart a little bit.

She wasn’t sad; she wasn’t feeling excluded.  This was just the simple reality for her because she had never seen a woman drummer before.  Of course, girls can’t be drummers!

The situation was remarkably similar for that female high school student.   Every winter, we hosted a winter retreat for middle school and high school students.  Every year, we invited a local pastor or youth pastor to be our speaker for the weekend.  And every year, that pastor was a man.

I realized what we had been unintentionally communicating to our students by this choice: girls can’t be pastors.  So I decided it was time to invite a female pastor to be our speaker.

Filed Under: Personal Stories, Women and the Church Tagged With: Matt VanGent

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