Recently, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary shared a photo of a book display table featuring “godly women who have served the church.” This started a contentious debate in the comments, given the SBC’s reputation for lending credibility to subversive women teachers, most notably Beth Moore. The post was later removed without explanation, which is likely what will happen to the posts of leaders like SBTS president Al Mohler decrying a sexual abuse “crisis” in the SBC and former SBC president JD Greear’s calling for a “pervasive change” in how abuse cases are handled. This is because the two-and-a-half-year federal investigation into a so-called abuse cover-up in the country’s largest conservative denomination turned out to be a classic case of “crying wolf.” But should we fault these institutional leaders for showing concern for the victim (real or perceived)? While we can all agree that shepherds should protect the most vulnerable from false teachers and other nefarious actors, they should do so with “just weight and measures,” (Deut. 25:15) “not showing partiality” (Lev. 19:15, Js. 2:1). However, in the “Church Too” era, SBC leaders fell captive to the feminine spirit of the age. Just as the SBC leaders caved to CRT and intersectionality, they have bought into the female victim narrative. As it turns out, no one in the SBC has propagated this message more than Jen Wilkin, the most prominent woman on the aforementioned book table.
You won’t have to look hard to see Wilkin’s impact on the SBC and broader evangelicalism. Wilkin, who credits Beth Moore as an influence, remains a bestselling women’s bible study author, highly sought-after speaker, and consultant on all things related to women’s ministry. If you were to mention her name in a critical manner, you would be met with “What’s wrong with Wilkin?” by many conservative believers. Indeed, you would be hard-pressed to find any aberrant or heretical teaching in her materials. However, sound orthodoxy does not equal sound orthopraxy. We witnessed that when we heard Allistiar Begg advise a grandmother to attend her granddaughter’s same-sex wedding. Furthermore, I would argue that Wilkin teaches from an egalitarian, feminist perspective that has spread to conservative evangelical churches through her bible studies, punditry, and institutional standing. Herein, I will lay out three ways Wilkin infuses progressive ideology in her teaching ministry. Since Wilkin has been very open about her beliefs, much of the following information was found through podcast interviews and panel discussions. As you read, ask yourself: do her views align with a biblical view of male headship, church hierarchy, and male and female roles in the church?
1) An Egalitarian Ministry Philosophy
A simple definition of egalitarianism is a belief that all people should have the same rights and opportunities. In the church context, however, there is a distinction of roles for men and women based on the created order. In a TGC round-table discussion, titled “How Men and Women Can Must Labor Together…” (mid-podcast Wilkin insists that the host, Collin Hansen, change the title from “can” to “must”), Wilkin shows how she reads an egalitarian view into the Genesis 2 account to support her view of discipleship. Whereas most see a complementarity and distinction in the nature of men and women, she states, “When we lose sight of sameness as the starting point…we devalue women.” Later, she adds that pastors fail to properly disciple the women in church when they draw boundary lines that they wouldn’t for non-elder men. Elders should instead “lead with sameness,” and embrace their “shared humanness” rather than adopt the world’s “Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus mentality.” While men and women are equal in dignity and share a spiritual inheritance in Christ, the aforementioned self-help book does bring to light some natural principles regarding gender distinctions found in the Bible such as their different needs, weaknesses, and strengths. In the video, Hansen does push back by saying we shouldn’t be “calibrating the biblical teaching to counterbalance the cultural narrative.”
She goes on to scoff at pastoral concerns that such personal interactions could appear “sketchy.” This seems to fly in the face of the biblical guidance to “avoid every form of evil” (1 Thess. 5:22) which means taking a proactive stance against the subtlety of sin. It also seems to dismiss instances when crossed boundaries do indeed lead to sin, as was the case when her pastor, Matt Chandler, underwent church discipline for sharing inappropriate texts with a female congregant two years prior to this. Wilkin’s framing of the Genesis narrative bears a striking resemblance to the secular push for “gender neutrality” which reduces the distinctions between the sexes to our shared “humanness.” She was preceded in this view by Aimee Byrd, whose book Why Can’t We be Friends?, argues that men take a “When Harry Met Sally” approach to women in the church. She, like Wilkin, envisions the church as an egalitarian utopia where neutered men should never face temptation from their sisters in Christ, simply because they would always view them as they would a biological sister. Such a platonic view of male/female relationships is entirely unhelpful nor is it rooted in scripture which warns us to be vigilant against sexual immorality “lest [we] fall” (1 Cor. 10:12). In fact, it stems from a feminist framework that seeks to level the playing field but instead breeds envy and strife.
2) A Feminist View of Gender Roles
Feminism, commonly distinguished by its first, second, third, et.all waves, is essentially an ideology that aims to end disparities between men and women because that equates to oppression. It is an extension of egalitarianism, but when brought to its natural conclusion, amounts to a usurpation of male leadership. Wilkin often speaks about the church’s “absentee mother” problem, meaning church members do not often see women with prominent leadership roles. In an interview posted on May 27, 2024, Wilkin recounts how, upon arriving at the Village Church, she was dismayed to hear that the women’s ministry had disbanded due to it being labeled “a rogue organization.” One might ask the question: was there merit to their decision? Women’s bible studies are notoriously for pushing therapeutic, self-help drivel, as Wilkin would attest, which is why she became so passionate about biblical literacy in the church. In a 2024 interview with TGC, Wilkin offers a less charitable interpretation, stating church leaders are more concerned about the “optics” of having women teachers. However, as being a bible teacher had become her identity, she wouldn’t be denied. She proceeded to go rogue herself by teaching women in her home which eventually led to her teaching at a nearby Methodist church.
Did it occur to her that she was out of order by defying the elders’ wishes? Wasn’t she essentially functioning as an elder by teaching with, as she calls it, “delegated authority?” Wilkin states that women with leadership aspirations are often villainized as a “usurper,” “temptress,” or “a child.” However, she was validated in her teaching gifts by her elders since they followed the philosophy of “pushing out” authority to all believers rather than hoarding it for themselves. In fact, she mentions that she helped contribute to the Villiage’s position paper on the role of women in the church. This points to her influential role she has in her church which puts her in a position to command a certain level of respect and a “seat at the table” when it comes to leadership decisions. There’s little doubt the elders, cowering under the progressive gaze, served as “white knights” in this issue as Chandler did for other social justice causes.
3) A Demand for Deference to the “Den Mother” Authority Figure
The term Longhouse has become more prevalent the last few years to describe the feminized culture in which we live. Many of the goals of feminism have been reached as women now determine cultural norms and social behaviors. Wilkin was a harbinger of a matriarchal, or “den mother,” influence in the conservative Evangelical church, as evidenced in a circa 2018 Acts 29 message to pastors. This video may be most remembered for her regrettable “menstrual cycle” analogy for the Gospel, but more importantly, you see the combination of intersectionality, empathy, and “trauma-informed” counseling that would later wreak havoc on the SBC. She starts by giving a history lesson about female oppression followed by an admonition to pastors not to be like those sexist (“white”) authoritarians but instead let women be equal partners in leadership. Women, she argues, have special insight in counseling situations that men do not. They are more attuned to meet the emotional needs of the marginalized. This leadership must be visible, prominent, and preferably paid.
These women must also be validated by the men in the church. In her 2024 TGC interview, Wilkin mentions that in her experience interviewing pastoral candidates, rarely has anyone listed a woman as a spiritual influence. To her, this signifies either a low regard for women teachers among young men or a lack of female influence in the church. But perhaps these men were thinking of a role model” specific to their calling, a role unique to men – a pastor/elder. Wilkin’s displeasure with this reality shows an underlying perception of a woman’s role as mother or quiet co-laborer as less than, as it’s often an overlooked and thankless role. She wants strong, visible female leadership to be normalized. Anything less equates to female erasure.
“Let Her Works Praise Her at the Gates”
In an objective sense, Wilkin is a very impressive woman. She’s a gifted speaker with a sharp wit who commands respect from men in positions of power in conservative institutions. She also ascended to the top echelons of the Reformed community while raising four kids with her husband, Jeff. Lastly, she had a noble vision of helping women understand the Bible for themselves. Her legacy will be indelibly etched as a preeminent women’s bible teacher of her day. She will also be remembered as a woman who helped steer the conservative evangelical church toward a more culturally acceptable, politically correct, and social-justice-oriented path. In other words, she served as the female face of the SBC downgrade of the early 21st century.
Most of the “godly women who have served the church” will never acquire the social stature or name recognition of a Jen Wilkin or Beth Moore. They are serving in the local church nursery. They are visiting the “orphans and widows.” The older women are training the younger women to love their husbands and children. They may not be expert Bible expositors, but they are wise enough to teach women how ““to be sensible, pure, workers at home, kind, being subject to their own husbands, so that the word of God will not be dishonored.” (Titus 2:3-5) These women are in the spiritual lineage of Sarah, who recognized Abraham’s headship (1 Pet. 3:6) but put her ultimate trust in the Lord Almighty. These are the women who are worthy of honor. “Give her the fruit of her hands, and let her works praise her at the gates.” (Pro. 31:31)
