In 2021, I conducted a survey of Christian women leaders to supplement my master’s degree thesis research. This survey explored the experiences, challenges, and preferences of women who lead others to know Christ, grow in Christ, or relate together because of Christ. 116 women participated in the survey, ranging in age from teenagers to over 75 years. These women lead people all along the continuum—from one-on-one relationships to large organizations.

The results of this study provide a snapshot of the opportunities and challenges that Christian women encounter as they lead others. These are the women who befriend, mother, teach, feed, counsel, guide, pastor, inform, organize, and shepherd us. They point the way forward and help us grow in faith. My hope is that the following five key findings will help us better encourage and support these women (and one another) along our mutual journeys of faith.

THE SURVEY RESULTS TAUGHT ME 5 KEY POINTS:

1. Women exemplify Jesus’s approach to leadership.

Almost all (92%) of these women strive to teach, develop, or relate to followers as leaders. Likewise, 96% of these women seek to inspire, empathize, or collaborate with their followers. These findings indicate that women lead to transform the lives of their followers. They understand that leadership is about followership, not power, control, or charisma.

Jesus modeled this type of leadership and exhorted His disciples to do the same. For example, after Jesus washed the disciples’ feet at the Last Supper, He said:

“You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.”

John 13:13-15 (NIV)

2. Women leaders need encouragement and affirmation.

96% of these women experienced a sense of God calling them to lead. However, over 66% long for external confirmation of their calling, and more than 70% face issues of emotional confidence. These women leaders often feel inadequate or ill-equipped, and many fear failure.

Clearly, we need to affirm the spiritual gifts and callings of the women we rely on to lead us. Paul’s greeting to the Ephesian church below provides an excellent example of such encouragement:

“For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all God’s people, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe.“

Ephesians 1:15-19 (NIV)

3. Women need ongoing leadership development and support

Most of these women leaders face ongoing challenges of time management, burnout, loneliness, gender discrimination, and imposter feelings. The larger the group led, the more these women also encounter gender-related limits in their ability to fulfill their calling.

Ideologies and statements that discourage women from leading have serious implications that restrict God’s call for all disciples to lead others to Him. The church is called to equip and encourage all its leaders. Paul affirms this work in his letter to the Ephesian church:

“So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.”

Ephesians 4:11-13 (NIV)

4. Women seek encouragement from friends and family.

These women primarily seek leadership counsel from close friends, family members, and colleagues. Close and empathetic relationships offer important support systems for women as leaders.

God created humans for relationships with Himself and one another. In the context of leading, Jesus sent the seventy-two disciples out two by two (Luke 10:1). Jesus also refers to the disciples using the Greek term philos, meaning affectionate friends. As Jesus states in the passage below, Christians are called to love one another well as philos friends after His example:

“I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. This is my command: Love each other.”

John 15:15-17 (NIV)

5. Women leaders want to hear your stories.

Over 90% of these women desire the input of other female leaders, books, spiritual direction, or leadership training to help them grow and serve as leaders. We need one another! Once again, Paul captures this finding in his letter to the Romans:

“I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong—that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged be each other’s faith.”

Romans 1:11-12 (NIV)

This result pushed me to move into my own calling to “tell her story.” This verse proclaims the heart of Faithlogue.

Do you see your own experiences of leading reflected in this study? I sure do, and it encourages me in three ways. First, it tells me to keep moving forward into the places where God calls me to lead, trusting Him despite my lack of confidence in myself and the barriers ahead. Second, the results spur me to recognize and acknowledge the gifts and offerings of the women who lead me to grow in my own faith. Third, and maybe most important, the results exhort me to nurture the practice of spiritual friendship. My hope is that these findings will encourage you to do the same.

(If you would like to see the full survey report, please contact me and let me know in the Message section of the form.)

© 2023 Lori Myers Berry