That's a nice patriarchy you got there. Be a shame if someone were to smash it...

Whether your church is complementarian, soft complementarian, egalitarian or has never thought about the distinction, the odds are good that patriarchy is damaging people in your fellowship, and damaging the witness and ministry of your church.

In this episode we examine how this happens, and why - and what we can do about it, taking our lead from author Liz Cooledge Jenkins. Her book, Nice Churchy Patriarchy: Reclaiming Women's Humanity From Evangelicalism, is an excellent starting place (with an excellent further reading list) for anyone wanting to examine their faith and faith community and how it may be hurting or holding women back.

Liz is an absolute legend and exceptionally gracious and fun as we navigate these important waters with her, asking:

Can complementarianism ever be healthy? What should someone questioning their faith because of patriarchal church do? What can men do to be helpful? How funny can a podcast about fighting oppression really be?

The answers may surprise you!

You can find out more about the book and read more of Liz's thoughts at lizcooledgejenkins.com

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Beer Christianity is an anti-capitalist, pro-BLM, pro-LGBTQ+, post-post-post-evangelical (and apparently republican) podcast where we drink a bit and talk a lot. Our aim is to be real, to be helpful and entertaining.

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We don't really want to preach at you, but some people like to know what we believe. It's this: Jesus Christ is the Son of God and came to teach us a better way to be while reconciling us to God and each other in a way we could never do without Him. He also changed water into wine. Nice.