Equal to the Task: Men and Women in Partnership

Would you like to

• discover how to break through gender barriers at the office?
• learn how to work through conflicts on ministry teams?
• have a healthy friendship with a man or woman who is not your spouse?
• better understand the relationship between sexuality and spirituality?
• move beyond stereotyping to godly partnerships?

God has created male and female to live in community as one. Yet in the church we have created systems that segregate and limit us rather than unify and free us. But we can be together the way God intended--not only as husbands and wives in the safety of marriage but also as brothers and sisters in the safety of community. The disciplines of biblical community, partnership in marriage, good communication and more can help us serve God together. Only a radical return to Christian community can take men and women beyond ineffective relational patterns to genuine models of mutuality and interdependence. Ruth Barton's biblical insights, personal experience, extensive research and real-life interviews will help you take significant steps toward true teamwork in all of your cross-gender relationships.

Ruth Haley Barton (DD, Northern Seminary) is founding president of the Transforming Center, a spiritual formation ministry to pastors and Christian leaders. A trained spiritual director (Shalem Institute for Spiritual Formation), teacher and retreat leader, she has served on the pastoral staff of several churches, including Willow Creek Community Church. A sought-after teacher, preacher and consultant to leadership teams, she is currently adjunct professor of spiritual transformation at Northern Seminary. Educated at Wheaton College, Northern Seminary and Loyola University Chicago Institute for Pastoral Studies, Ruth is the author of numerous books and resources on the spiritual life, including Invitation to Solitude and Silence, Sacred Rhythms, Longing for More and Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership. She is also the author of an online resource titled eReflections, spiritual guidance via e-mail. She contributes regularly to Conversations: A Forum for Authentic Transformation.