“In the last days, God says, 
    I will pour out my Spirit on all people. 
Your sons and daughters will prophesy, 
    your young men will see visions, 
    your old men will dream dreams.” (Acts 2:17, NIV) 

March 8 was International Women’s Day. It is not a Christian holiday, but I believe it can and should be baptized and sacralized by Christians. Why? Let me explain. 

There are many holidays that Christians can and should use to connect the Lordship of Jesus with local cultures and calendars. International Women’s Day was initiated by socialists and communists in Western Europe and at the same time (roughly 1909-1917) was initiated by socialist women in the United States. This is not a very Christian beginning at all, I dare say. But many of the same concerns regarding equal treatment under the law, equal access to jobs, and equal pay would (or ought to) be considered Christian concerns.  

What would it mean to “baptize” International Women’s Day in our churches? It would mean that we show that we stand with women around the world who are oppressed or excluded. It would demonstrate that, in Jesus’ name, we support fair, just, and kind treatment of women. Poverty hits women and children the most acutely. Wars often are hardest on women: I think of the “comfort women” during the Pacific War, as well as the rape and ravaging of women in wars throughout human history. 

More to the point for our community, I think of the awful abuse of women in churches by church leaders. No denomination or country is innocent of this terrible scourge. Many women and their families leave the church and the faith of their fathers because of such misogyny. Any church leader who is paying attention knows that this is true, and it continues to poison our witness in the world. 

Nancy and I have been reading a troubling but carefully researched book, For the Love of Women: Uprooting and Healing Misogyny in America by Dorothy Littell Greco.[1] It puts before the reader the depth of the problem, even in churches, when it comes to the mistreatment and marginalizing of women. While this is not true in all churches, it is pervasive. It is a matter that is unrelated to the issue of the ordination of women, but has everything to do with recognizing that the image of God in all humans: men and women.  

“God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” (Genesis 1:27, NIV) 

The way we treat a person matters to God. Sanctifying a secular and broken system of honoring women can be serviceable in Jesus’ name for the conversion of individuals and cultures. Breathing the purifying Spirit into our cultures—both secular and religious—is both a gospel–proclaiming and a gospel–honoring thing to do. 

It is good to lift up some of these “holidays” and make them “holy days.” Black History Month, Hispanic Heritage Month, and many others offer opportunities to recognize and honor the diversity of the Kingdom of God. Of course there are so many special days, months, and seasons that we could become “off-centered” (eccentric) if we try to “sacralize” every special day and month on the calendar. That is not the point.

My plea is simply to try and find ways to connect with the non-Christian world around us and permeate our nation, our culture, our societies with the mind of Jesus Christ. We need bridges to our culture. Finding ways of making holidays “holy days” is one way to connect.  

So without adopting all the history and politics of the past, I believe, by God’s help, we can redeem holidays for Christian witness and—in the case of International Women’s Day—demonstrate that we worship a God who protects, promotes, and provides for women.  

“Truly I tell you, wherever this gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.” (Matthew 26:13 , NIV)

[1] Zondervan, Grand Rapids, MI, 2025

Dr. Scott W. Sunquist, president of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, is author of the “Attentiveness” blog. He welcomes comments, responses, and good ideas.