Why not men?

In conjunction with the Institute for Servant Leadership, Milligan College is presenting the conference Why Not Women? the remix today and tomorrow, open exclusively for women. This free conference pertains to women’s roles in the church and ministry.

According to Jeff Miller, associate professor of Bible and conference leader, the most common suggestion from the student evaluations of the February 2004 conference on Women’s Leadership in the Church was “men should be invited,” but the leaders decided against it.

Miller explained that while men can gain insight from and contribute to a women’s conference, “some women feel more free (to express their views) when men are not around.”

Another reason for excluding men is due to expenses. The conference has enough money to allow 40 people to attend and the leaders decided to offer the positions to women only.

Both Miller and Traci Smith, director of student success and conference leader, said they would support a conference for students of both genders.

“I wish we could provide a similar format” for men, Smith said. “Some students have expressed a feeling of being shut out or not welcome.”

To open up the discussion of women’s roles in the church to both men and women, Milligan offered the house course Women in the Church, Bible and Home to both men and women, taught by Milligan graduate Melissa McGovern in fall 2004 and senior Abby Conley in fall 2005.

“The collective voices of the Bible have the power to liberate women,” said Miller, but “the church has often said ‘not women.’” Miller would love for the women at Milligan College to understand they have a role in the church.

Why not Women? the remix is a second conference on Women’s Leadership in the Church. The first conference, held in February 2004, was a success according to Miller and he anticipates a similar result for the upcoming conference.

The conference will include teachings from Miller, Britton Professor of Bible Lee Magness, Campus Minister Nathan Flora, Adjunct Professor of Bible Heather Parker, Emmanuel School of Religion Chaplain Heather Holland and Milligan graduate Laura Buffington.