Why the Church Needs to Teach about Body Image

Recently, my church experienced its first-ever Five Day Challenge, an initiative launched several years ago by Willow Creek Community Church. The Challenge encourages people to eat only small portions of rice and beans at each meal as a tangible experience of the hunger that the bottom economic half of the world endures daily.

Like any good leader, I prepared my team in advance. We marketed the event, provided information and meal plans, We inspired our congregation and set a fundraising goal. With an expectant tone, I stood before my own ministry area, high schoolers, and asked, “Who will be participating in Meals With Hope?” Scattered hands tentatively went up, while one high schooler in the front thrust her arm in the air and shouted, “It’s a great way to lose weight!”

Oh. No.

A deeper hunger

This post isn’t about the global food crisis or inspiring students to get involved in justice projects. It’s about an issue that strikes closer to home for many of us: body image.

Up until recently, I liked to think that body image was being addressed effectively outside the church, like through the YMCA, Weight Watchers, and Dove Beauty ads, which have done a great job of teaching that our bodies are made for strength, resiliency and health. As a church leader, I’m too busy solving the global food crisis to develop a theology of female body image! There’s more important work to do than worry about people’s perception of themselves.

And yet this high schooler’s rallying cry to fast as a way of losing weight revealed a deeper hunger—one that I needed to be concerned about. For many people, women especially, achieving a healthy body image is the first step toward satisfying their deepest hunger: the need to be loved and accepted for who they are. For churches, tackling the body image issue is every bit as important as feeding the world.

We live in a culture that idolizes the feminine form as either an ornament to be adored or a sexual plaything to adulterate. As Christians we’re trying to make sense of how to treat our bodies with enough attention—but not too much; how to be sexy for our husbands, but not for our co-workers. How to teach our girls that true love waits—even if we didn’t. Body image is one conversation the church can’t afford not to join.

But how do we have an authentic, effective dialogue about body image with the women we lead? How do we listen to young women, like my high schooler, without judgment and provide a safe environment for people like her to explore this topic through the lens of faith?

In the past, churches turned to curriculum designed around making sure we got the “result” we wanted from our girls—modesty and the assurance of purity rings. But what about engaging in real discussion about the purpose of the body and a healthy understanding of sexuality?

Earlier this week I texted a twentysomething volunteer to ask how the five-day challenge was going. She responded, “I now know I think about, avoid, plan for, and dwell on food so much of my day.” This is the beginning of a good discussion.

There’s a need in leadership to not only reconcile our own personal understanding of body image, but to begin to address it among the women we lead as well.

Do you sense that body image is an issue among the women (and leaders) in your community? Do you address it with any program or curriculum? Is it working? Let’s begin a dialogue on this topic here so we can deliver a faith perspective in our churches that will satisfy a world starved for truth.

Nicole Unice is a contributing editor for GiftedforLeadership.com. She has decided to accept her status as a wrestler with God. Between raising her kids and working in Family and Student Ministry at Hope Church in Richmond, VA, Nicole likes to write and teach on the intersection of God's word and modern life. Her first book, "The Divine Pursuit, A Study of Jonah" released in Fall 2010. You can find her blogging at The Stubborn Servant.

How I Became a Twitter Believer

I swore I wouldn't sign up for Twitter. It seemed like a nuisance. I had already given in to Facebook and started my personal blog. I didn't need one more thing!

But I quickly realized that as a leader in a church with a population of primarily Generation X and Y, I needed to engage this medium if I intended to influence them. Little did I know that less than a year later Twitter would become a key tool for responding to one of the greatest tragedies our city has ever faced.

Sunday, May 2, 2010, is a day that will be etched in my memory forever. I'd never seen so much water in my life, and it just continued to rain and rain and rain. I had spent nearly two hours trying to get home, but there was simply no way. My neighborhood and several of those around it were completely surrounded by water. Since going home was not an option, I found my way to a friend's house and camped out in front of the TV, paralyzed by the continuous news footage. Soon I received word of not one, not two, but three of my staff members whose homes were submerged in water. Tears began to flow when one of my staff texted me a picture of the roof of her house—everything else was under water. "God, please make it stop," I begged.

Nashville was devastated and we needed to respond. That evening, Pete Wilson, lead pastor for Cross Point Church, and I brainstormed ways our church might bring the love and hope of Christ to our flooded city. We had no idea what we could do, but we knew we needed to rally Cross Point volunteers and begin to help. Sunday evening Pete and I began tweeting our plans to our combined 60,000 followers and several thousand Facebook friends, asking them to meet Monday morning to help with flood relief.

Pulling into our Bellevue Campus on Monday, we had no idea what to expect. We had put the word out, but who would show up? People from around the world had responded to our tweets with prayers and encouragement. This provided immeasurable strength. But would enough volunteers come out to help?

At 10 a.m., people began to stream into the parking lot. They arrived ready to work with chainsaws, gloves, boats, generators—all the supplies we had requested in our tweets. We didn't know what all the specific needs would be until our volunteers got out into the field, but as we sent each team out, I reminded our volunteers, "You will be hope today. Whether you lift a hand in physical labor or not, your presence will represent hope to people who desperately need it. Serve and love them well!"

For nearly two weeks we sent teams out every day to do flood relief. They sorted peoples' valuables, cleared out homes, pulled out drywall and flooring, prayed with people, cried with people, served people—loved people.

More than 2,200 volunteers responded to our call for help—a call for help that began with some simple Twitter messages and grew to include a fully interactive website, updates on our personal blogs, and frequent email blasts.

In the weeks that followed, our social media efforts helped avert the "out of sight, out of mind" syndrome that happened when national media attention waned and the city itself got back to business as usual. There were still thousands of families who needed to know they weren't forgotten. Social media became the platform for us to keep the need alive and to rally volunteers as opportunities to serve continued to surface.

Additionally, we received tens of thousands of dollars in donations for flood relief from churches and individuals across the country who knew of the flood need only because of our social media focus.

I'm convinced it was no accident that our pastors and staff have been active social media users for the last several years. I believe that God gave us influence in this medium "for such a time as this." (Esther 4:14) The expediency and viral nature of social media allowed us to engage people to serve as I believe God had called us to for this specific moment.

The flood changed my perspective on just how powerful social media can be. I tweet and blog with more sensitivity now. I watch for needs and identify ways that I can pray for others. I look for opportunities to serve and for opportunities to encourage others to serve. I'm reminded that God will use whatever He needs to use to accomplish His purpose, and I pray I'll always be receptive to how I can be a part of His plan!

How has social media helped you mobilize your church for ministry?

Jenni Catron first shared this story in the book @StickyJesus. She serves as the Executive Director of Cross Point Church in Nashville, TN, and is a contributing editor for GiftedforLeadership.com. She loves a fabulous cup of tea, great books, learning the game of tennis and hanging out with her husband and border collie. Jenni's passion is to lead well and to inspire, equip and encourage other women to do the same. That passion drove Jenni to start the women's leadership community, Cultivate Her. Jenni blogs there and at www.jennicatron.tv.

Leading in the Midst of Woundedness

I am not sure the North American church in general does the right thing on Mother’s Day or Father’s Day. Then again, I don’t always attend church on these feel-good holidays because frankly, they don’t make me feel so good.

As a 38-year-old woman who married in her mid-30s, my biological clock ticks on and my womb and arms remain empty, at least for now. I focus on seminary, and ministry, and family, and friends, and work, but I haven’t given up hope on the fertility front. I am in that awkward in-between place, where I get asked if I want kids while women everywhere suddenly seem to sprout baby bumps.

Ironically, I will preach my first church sermon this year on the day we celebrate moms. Not only will I enter the church doors, but I will be the Mother’s Day sermon-giver, the one who helps celebrate the amazing women who give us life. In my personal journey, this is a turning point that can only be accomplished through the God of all comfort, who indeed comforts me in all my troubles (2 Corinthians 1:3). I will be leading from an area of open woundedness. At some point in your leadership story—no matter what it might look like—you will, too.

My heart-wrenching questions have driven me to God’s Word for answers about a woman’s identity—and my brokenness has led to some transforming discoveries. Our heavenly Father does not glorify marriage and motherhood as the primary goal of every woman. These are noble pursuits, yes, but they don’t define us in God’s eyes. Instead, each woman is his image-bearer representative in this world (Genesis 1-2); she is appointed as an ezer—the Hebrew word used for Eve that means strong helper, warrior, and rescuer (Genesis 2:18); and finally, she is set free to love God with all her heart and to obey him, no matter what her station in life. How amazing to think my empty arms give me an opportunity to encourage infertile women, singles, empty nesters, and every woman who feels sidelined somehow. Yes, even mothers! These truths make me smile despite the tears and recast my years of infertility in an entirely different light.

Second Corinthians 1:4 says we will comfort those in “any trouble” with the comfort we have already received in “all our troubles,” This tells me two things about the wounded leader. First, God’s comfort extends to her, no matter her struggle—grief, infertility, loneliness, health, battling addiction, you name it—nothing is beyond God’s reach and restoration. And second, it doesn’t matter what your trouble is, it’s transferable—it exists so you can comfort others in all sorts of trouble. Understanding these truths, I’ve been asking God exactly how he wants to use my pain as a platform that allows his comfort to overflow.

Remember whose you are

To get there, I’ve been focusing on whose I am—my identity—and how God wants to redeem my struggle for a greater purpose.

God created me, he bought me with a price, and he prepared good works in advance for me to do (Psalm 139:13; 1 Corinthians 6:20; Ephesians 2:10). We are God’s image-bearers in this broken world, giving us a reason to lead. As we do, we cling to the hope that every struggle that tears our hearts in two can, and will be, gloriously redeemed by a good God. If we forget who—and whose—we are while suffering, our leadership morphs into a struggle to make things happen. If we remember our identity, God equips us for every good work.

Share your burdens

It is difficult for me to listen to a leader whose heart has not been formed in the fires of life. Second Corinthians 1 goes on to say that no Jesus-follower suffers, or is comforted, alone. By sharing his burdens, Paul allows the Corinthians to participate in his sufferings and his victories. Those we lead are even being equipped to endure future suffering in their own lives. Might we be short-circuiting this process when we are less than honest as leaders about our heart’s struggles?

As I watch my heavenly Father bring purpose through this pain, I am beginning to believe our sources of greatest struggle can become our points of greatest ministry. When that happens, I am thrilled to give credit where credit is due: “This message—and ministry—made possible by the God of all comfort.”

What results have come when you have been honest about your struggles while leading?

Suzanne Burden writes marketing and content for Christian publishers and nonprofits (suzanneburden.com) while attending seminary. She lives in Indiana with her husband, David, and blogs about her seminary journey at onewomaninseminary.blogspot.com.