Changing times

When Jane Hansen Hoyt joined the staff of Women’s Aglow 30 years ago, there were few women heading large ministries.

Today women are leading in business, politics and the church. According to a Barna Group survey, the number of female pastors has doubled in the last decade.

Hansen Hoyt believes the ministry, now called Aglow International, has played an important role in encouraging women to walk in fivefold ministry through its more than 45,000 Aglow groups in 170 nations up from 20 groups when Hansen Hoyt became president in 1980. 

What’s more, 22 of those groups are comprised of men, as gender reconciliation becomes a more prominent ministry focus. Last year, Hansen Hoyt became the first woman to speak at a Promise Keepers event.

She hopes the church will become even more open to female ministers. “The church cannot rise in the power, anointing and authority that is needed in these times until the genders truly accept what Galatians so clearly speaks ‘in Christ there is neither male nor female,'” she says. “I would hope that a greater acceptance of the gifts and strengths in women will be welcomed in all settings, from the church to the corner office, from conferences to consulting. We have seen women rise in the business and political realm. The church could be leading the way.”