Reaching out, drawing in

Evangelical ministers’ wives as spiritual leaders

Abstract

The American Evangelical movement has been described as anti-feminist and patriarchal, but little research has been done on the female perspective and female leadership from within Evangelicalism itself. This collective case study looked into the lived experience of nine American evangelical ministers’ wives in their roles as spiritual leaders. To understand each woman’s leadership, underlying value systems are explored using a modified version of the Schwartz (1992) model of values. Results indicate two distinct mythologies under which the participants have created their roles: Drawing In, which aims to bring others into alignment with their religious beliefs and subculture; and Reaching Out, which aims to understand the perspectives of others without a proselytising agenda. The two mythologies are each rooted in love, and though distinct from one another, they each have transpersonal self-actualising characteristics. The distinction between the two mythologies has been drawn based on each participant’s views in three key areas: belief about the role of scripture in their spiritual understanding; support for women in senior ministry; and acceptance of out-groups (groups not accepted by fundamentalist Evangelicals), namely LGBTQ.