Many of Sydney’s women are working harder than ever but remain spiritually empty
by Madeleine Collins
When 500 women gathered for the first time since the launch of the Diocesan Mission to find fresh ways to reach their unbelieving Sydney sisters with the gospel, the challenge was to come to grips with a female population gripped by the ‘new spirituality’, soaring depression levels and ‘time-poor lifestyles’.
Armed with a shared commitment to the Mission goal, the inaugural diocesan Women’s Day, organised by the Diocesan Women’s Ministry Team, saw hundreds seize the chance to become better equipped to reach their female neighbours, friends, family and colleagues.
The role of women in reaching the Mission’s ten per cent goal was a ‘big task, and a hard task’, said Archdeacon Narelle Jarrett who urged Christian women to understand better the mindset of the women they want to reach. Soaring levels of stress and anxiety, compounded by loneliness, worries about appearance and chaotic sex lives were leading non-Christian women to seek answers to their difficulties, she said.
“Sydney women are focused on life as it is now, and these women are very much like us, except they are involved in weighty and ethical decision-making without God,” she said.
Virginia Adam, 53, who turned to Christ three years ago and is now involved in ministry at Christ Church Gladesville, said the challenge in sharing the gospel was to recognise that women are struggling.
“The ‘millennial woman’ is busier than ever, working harder and doing longer hours. She renovates, goes to the gym and is very anxious, with a deep awareness of emptiness in her life. She tries not to think about the meaning of her life, because to think is to know you feel lost,” Mrs Adam said.
Likening the Mission goal to ‘engaging in a spiritual battle’, Arch-deacon Jarrett said by becoming more aware of Sydney’s obsession with materialism, open hostility to God and attractiveness of New Age spirituality, Sydney Anglican women can more effectively minister to non-Christians.
“Sydney’s prevailing ethos is ‘let’s have as much as we can of everything’. Repercussions of this lifestyle are ignorance and hostility to God,” she said.
Her concerns were reiterated by Archbishop Peter Jensen, who said, “women make up half our target group … [but] our new societal norms have failed us, particularly women.”
Dr Jensen said women in Anglican congregations have never been better educated and more equipped to take initiatives to get the work done. He added that the horror of sexual abuse of children within the church means the responsibility for children’s ministry is going to need to be carried more than ever by women.
Archdeacon Jarrett warned that ‘because their knowledge of Christianity comes from the media,’ women see Christians as hypocritical and untrust-worthy, evidenced to them by scandals of abused women and children in the church.
“The non-Christian will be observing us. There has to be a difference between my non-Christian friends and me except going to church. We talk theology [but] we fail to introduce them to Jesus.”
She said Christian women must find out how to answer the questions women are asking by “genuinely dialoging with them about how ‘in control’ they feel about their direction in life.”
“We’re talking about a relationship with one person,” she said. “The only way women will be content is if they are in relationship with God.”
Mrs Adam said seeing the diversity of ages at the women’s day has helped her to be bolder in evangelism, having been reminded that she is not alone in the task. “I feel encouraged that such a large number of women from so many parts of Sydney are making the Mission a priority in their lives.”