Does Gender Impact Evangelism?

Whether you’re doing outreach at home or abroad, you most likely run into a wide variety of people. But this month, we’re curious about how one key difference impacts evangelism efforts: gender.

Many people have debated whether gender differences actually exist. And while we don’t want to get into a deep biological or psychological debate, we think it will be worth our time to investigate whether gender impacts global outreach efforts.

What do you think? Does gender play a role in how we reach others with the gospel? Do our methods vary based on the sex of the individual? Should they?

Keep asking those questions, and let’s start digging in and see what answers we can find…

Week #1: “We see someone’s sex as an important predictor of their abilities and interests and assume that if we know someone is a girl or a boy, we know a lot about them. That assumption is wrong! Knowing someone’s sex may tell us a lot about them biologically but it tells us very little about them in other ways.”

Some may argue vehemently that while one’s gender does come with key biological differences, gender alone is not a good predictor of personality, thought processes, abilities, and so on. So, they might argue that gender alone should not be a reason to change methods of evangelism and that outreach can and should remain gender neutral.

But let’s flip the debate coin for a moment.

Other philosophers and social researchers agree that gender differences do exist and should be noted, saying that “The Bible teaches that God not only created us ‘male and female,’ but that in Christ, ‘there is neither male nor female.’ Within this paradox, God not only affirms the differences between men and women, assigning complementary roles for each, but He also points to the equality existing between the sexes.”

So if men and women are different but equal, how might that impact evangelism efforts? Is gender alone a good-enough predictor of one’s receptivity to various outreach methods, or should other factors be considered? How might we view the gender-missions intersection from a biblical perspective?

Please join in the conversation! Leave your comments and tune in as we continue to brainstorm this missions mystery.

http://www.campbell-kibler.com/Stereo.pdf
http://www.pureintimacy.org/piArticles/A000000395.cfm