In church, women lead the way
Nationwide, churches find the most devoted followers are female

That's why, on the first Easter morning, it was women who came to anoint his body at the tomb and earned the chance to spread the good news of the Resurrection.

Modern women's devotion to Christianity is just as strong - so strong that women are seen as the backbone of many churches and the faith as a whole.

"The power of Jesus' message inspires women to a faith that teaches them to love, forgive and work for a better world," said Robertson, pastor of Mother UAME Church in Wilmington, a 200-member church that is 80 percent women.

Robertson's church is an extreme example of a trend commonly found among the nation's 350,000 churches: More women than men attend church and are more involved than men in everything from prayer to discipleship.

Research by the Barna Research Group, a Christian marketing organization, shows that half of American women surveyed have a strong desire to be active in a church, compared with a third of the men in the poll.

"I don't know what we would do without the work of women in the church," said the Rev. Celeste O. Cox, rector of Christ Episcopal Church in Dover. "I don't think we could keep it going.

"Women have a real gift for hospitality, and that was something Jesus had. We take on the role of bringing people together in families and that carries into Christian fellowship."

Women's devotion is a phenomenon that's been noticed for decades, and its recognition was reinforced in the Barna survey of 4,755 adults conducted and released in 2000.

The survey found that 75 percent of women see a closer relationship with God as a desirable goal, compared with 65 percent of men. The poll had a sampling error of 2 percentage points.

"Women, more often than not, take the lead role in the spiritual life of the family," Barna said. "Women typically emerge as the primary - or only - spiritual mentor and role model for family members."

'A natural habitat'

Almost every Catholic parish has a significant number of women in roles such as director of religious education, school principal or coordinator of liturgy, said the Rev. John Hynes, pastor of St. Catherine of Siena, near Prices Corner.

During his 37 years of ministry, he's gotten used to seeing two times more women than men in prayer groups and more women pulling him aside to talk about their faith.

"Church - for women - is a natural habitat," Hynes said. "It's a place where they are comfortable in seeking to be intimate with God and others. Women accept dependency as a good thing.

"I think with men it's more of an undesirable thing, though the truth is that, as humans, we're dependent on each other. And with God we're completely dependent."

Hynes speculates that the cause of these differences may be inherent and the result of an upbringing that gives women permission to express their feelings about God.

But University of Washington sociologist Robert Stark has cast doubts on socialization as the answer, though it's often cited as a cause for the difference between men and women in church life.

A study in 57 nations, called the World Values Survey, has shown that women everywhere report a greater interest in religion than men.

"The gender differences hold up," said Stark, leading him to speculate that these differences are inherent. "If I have offended you to say it's in the genes, it's so I can provoke sociologists to do new research."

In American society men tend to place career, finances and decision-making ahead of faith, said George Barna, president of the Barna Research Group. His research shows that women give a higher priority to Christianity than men.

Several decades ago, the leading theory was that, because fewer women worked outside the home than men, they had more time for religion, said Mark Alan Chaves, a sociologist at the University of Arizona, Tucson. Now most women have careers - and they continue to be more active in the church.

"It's a mystery, really," Chaves said. "Any way you measure it women are more religious than men."

Whatever the cause, Alicia Dominguez says the differences are noticeable among her family and friends.

"I'm more comfortable being public with my faith than some of the men I know," said the 20-year-old Wilmington woman.

She has been involved with everything from soccer to social action at St. Paul's Catholic Church in the city. In her view, men often seem uncertain about how much they should show about this side of their life.

On the other hand, women are drawn to share their spiritual struggles and find comfort in such discussions, said Linda Smith, 46, of Newark, an active member of Newark Church of Christ.

"I think the pursuit of faith and close relationships is something in tune with the female psyche," Smith said. "Women are, typically, caretakers - and being in a community where you are concerned about others plays into our strong suit.

"The depth of relationships is something I value. I think this is true for other women, too."

Motherhood is another motivation for women to form strong ties to the church. Lisa Nowak is an example.

The Prices Corner woman drifted away from Catholicism in college but came back in later years to ground her four children in moral and religious ideas. With that in mind, Nowak, 36, took on the task of directing St. Catherine of Siena's vacation Bible school for five years.

In addition, she said, it's been inspirational to meet other mothers, such as Lisa Harris and Meg Birmingham, who are passing on Christian values to their children.

Harris and Birmingham gather once a week for a Christian play date. The mothers and children sing from a songbook Birmingham created. They also use costumes and props to enact the next Sunday's Bible reading at St. Catherine of Siena parish.

Harris says the dramas are to help children have a God-centered life. But she believes working with the children strengthens her understanding of what the church is about and helps her be a better mother.

"I've learned to try to look at each dish or diaper as a kind of rosary bead - a way to focus on God's love in the home," Harris said.

'We raise the bar'

Some Bible historians say women's role in the church may be result of the attention that Jesus gave to women.

Though they were marginalized in the Roman world, Jesus saw their worth and shared profound spiritual lessons with women, said the Rev. Craig S. Keener, a professor of Bible studies at Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wynnewood, Pa.

"Normally at that time, women were not allowed to be disciples or rabbis," Keener said. "But Jesus opened a new world."

Their presence at the Resurrection elevated women's status, too, though the first century remained a patriarchal world, Keener said. In fact, when the Roman emperor Constantine made Constantinople the capital of a Christian empire in 330, Christianity was well on its way to being a religion led by men.

Even so, women have long felt more affirmed in Christianity than in the secular culture, said the Rev. Cheryl Townsend Gilkes, professor of sociology and African-American studies at Colby College in Waterville, Maine. That's because the church has been a place where women could be in volunteer roles, whatever their position in the secular world.

In modern churches, women are 33 percent more likely to volunteer than men, according to Barna research. That means women tend to take the lead in lay leadership, though nine out of 10 senior pastors are men.

"Sometimes the leadership issue is explained by the idea 'Men create theology but women carry it forward,' " said the Rev. Nancy Dean, pastor of the Unitarian Universalist Society of Millcreek.

Yet during the past 40 years more women have been ordained for the ministry and almost half the students in mainline Protestant seminaries are women, according to the Auburn Center for the Study of Theological Education.

The leading example of women in the ministry is the nation's 1,000 Unitarian Universalist churches, where 52 percent of the pastors are women.

Today women's interest in Christianity is so strong that leaders in both liberal and conservative churches often strategize on how to inspire men.

"We spend a lot of time thinking about how to get more men to come to church and be more active," said Janet Hayes, information officer of the liberal Unitarian Universalist Association. "We've been encouraging men to join our small-group ministries and discover what they have to offer."

At the more conservative Glasgow Reformed Presbyterian Church, the Rev. Charles Betters lets men know that the church has high expectations. He said that, without this challenge, men might defer to women rather than develop their own passion for Jesus.

"A lot of men don't know what it means to be good husbands, fathers and church men," Betters said. "We say, 'If you want to be a Christian father and husband, we'll show you how.'

"We raise the bar of expectations, telling men this is who they can become. And men step up to grab it."

Nevertheless, in the whole of Christianity women's commitment to faith remains a fact of life.

"I think it was women's marginalized state that first drew them to Jesus and his caring for the marginalized," said Keener, a New Testament professor. "Women are still drawn to Jesus. They are a majority in the church. And I'm like a lot of people. I don't know how to fully explain it, but I don't see signs of it changing."

Reach Gary Soulsman at 324-2893 or gsoulsman@delawareonline.com.