The church faces a new problem when married women are employed in the various fields of gospel service. Not all career women are single, and yet the spinsterhood of the past has become a convenient arrangement in our present economy. We are not here discussing the wisdom of a woman's attention being divided between the home and the office, the schoolroom, the laboratory, the hospital, or any other place of employment. Today we live in a different world, and these facts are well accepted. The growing number of women in industry suggests that the home has not provided sufficient satisfaction, or that economic demands have made it imperative that she supplement the family income. On every hand we hear that it takes more than one salary to make ends meet —a fact that cannot be brushed aside.
Facing these problems squarely, the educational systems of our time have been providing courses for the training of professional women and an endless variety of business executives. In church administration the trained woman is in even greater demand. Christianity has long realized that consecrated womanhood will venture where men simply do not fit in. Other women, as well as children, depend on her skilled help in the fields of nursing and technology, and in the various branches of welfare service. And aside from these fields there is the need for young as well as mature women in business offices connected with the church. Yes, the church is in big business today.
We should mention another area of church work that requires a woman's motherly touch—that of the teaching profession. From kindergarten to university, certain courses simply need younger single women, or mature married women whose families can now share their services. Education would certainly suffer from the loss of woman's rare talents if her employment were ruled out; in fact, many, many schools would have to close.
True, we enter a vicious circle as we raise the standard and demands of modern living. It becomes extremely difficult to provide automobiles and adequate housing without supplementing the breadwinner's salary. The item of insurance on our health and possessions is becoming a staggering responsibility. And with many the problem does not arise out of a lust for luxury and convenience; some things just have to be done to keep pace with life. The twentieth century has thrown us all into a different world, and we shall have to think our way through our difficulties.
Our Church-employed Women
With the expansion of the military, of industry, and of education during the last decades, towns became cities, and cities took over miles of suburban areas. In America we now have Greater New York, Greater Los Angeles, and so forth. Obscure spots have mushroomed into prominence. The establishment of health and educational centers under the auspices of the church has produced problems before unheard of. Professions advantaged by war have received new importance, with a halo on their prestige and a demand for higher wages.
Because of the shrinking value of the dollar it was inevitable that Adventism would be affected by these problems. But back of the dollar's decline is the greatest disappointment the church must face and combat—the spirit of aggrandizement and selfishness. Adventists will have to come to grips with this trend if they hope to remain God's called, prophetic people. In this respect every employed worker in the denomination has a responsibility.
Our Adventist educational and health institutions were raised up on faith and denominational sacrifice when we were a humble, unrecognized group. Our younger workers have been more or less sheltered from the influence of those rugged early days. They have been raised closer to the world, and too many now desire a home in heaven as well as "a little heaven to go to heaven in."
Our humble tastes are changing rapidly. Education costs dearly, and after it has been mortgaged and paid for, the struggle seems to remain. It is then that some seem to lose the vision of simple living and sacrifice. One questions whether some ever had it. It is this flagrant infringement of our precious heritage of simple faith that we must challenge in our modern living. Today we do well to keep before our churches the Adventist vision—that of a pilgrim people in this world. Looking at the Joneses will make us dissatisfied and will cause us to lose our interest in working for the message. Those who draw away too often and too long will sorrowfully regret their first step.
Counsel for the Program Committee
It will be profitable to discuss some problems met by career women today in their various professions. We would suggest that you select from the following ten questions those that best meet your local situation. These should be assigned beforehand so that counselors will have time to think through the answers. Call on consecrated and experienced workers to add strength to these discussions. And balance mature thinking by adding the touch of youth to the program. Free, discussion must be followed by wise guidance. Every shepherdess present will have gained new vision and courage for her work in the denomination. These discussions are pointed, and the leader will want to close the meeting on a note of renewed dedication to God's work.
Suggestive Questions
(Check on the suggestions for handling the questions for the program. See "Entering the Ministry" in the March issue of THE MINISTRY)
1. As Adventist workers, are we justified in thinking that our strenuous times will produce disrupting changes in our work? Will this affect our standards? To what extent should we exercise caution?
2. Has home and motherhood ceased to satisfy Adventist women? How may we hold up our home ideals and yet meet today's financial pressure of maintaining a comfortable home and education for our children?
3. Is the working wife becoming the pattern for Adventism? If so, what will happen to the home ideals set forth in the Spirit of prophecy?
4. Should the minister's wife be working outside of the denomination? What exceptions may be recognized?
5. What ways of stretching the dollar may wisely be suggested to younger mothers? (Call on a few frugal young women to make practical suggestions.)
6. Should women who found it necessary to work when first married continue in denominational work after the financial pressure has been adjusted?
7. What cautions are helpful to those employed at one of our educational or health centers? Is life at such a center a fair picture of Adventism?
8. After paying the cost of a professional education, to what extent is the employee entering denominational work justified in claiming wages higher than those received by the average worker?
9. Is the present financial pressure on our homes a negative problem entirely? Are there some commendable by-products to be gained from the employment of women?
10. How may single and married women keep close to God and become the guiding forces for Adventist young womanhood still in our colleges and nursing schools?
