
It seems to me that a current popular question in the circles that I move in, asked by male preachers sounds something like this ‘When preaching to women what are some things that need to be kept in mind?’ The first time that I heard this I baulked, rolled my eyes and refused to give an answer until the person properly explained to me exactly what they meant. Are women really some sort of strange species that cannot be understood and who cause that much confusion among the male population? However after a few men keep asking me the same question at various times after that, I wondered whether there is a real searching, genuineness and a desire to relate, coming from this question. It is still a question that bothers me and reminds me of the movie ‘What women Want’ with Mel Gibson as the protagonist who gets into the female mind and then receives all sorts of ‘revelations’ about this mysterious species. The movie is full of stereotypes but the discussions around the difference between men and women persist today. And they persist in the church as evidenced by these puzzled men wondering how to preach to women asking me and others for our opinion.