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Women in Church – Part 3

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But let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious. 1 Peter 3:4 ESV

This has been the most difficult series I have ever written, but I have done my best because, this is an issue we are facing in our churches today. My earnest hope is that in some small way, these simple studies may stimulate you to think through how to respond and consider carefully what the Bible has to say. So, here on day three, let’s forge ahead into the topic of women holding church office and in what way God would have them serve. Yes, that may be thin ice, but it is ice that we are being forced out onto, so let’s test its thickness!

Photo by Arina Krasnikova on Pexels.com

First, let’s begin with today’s verse. God loves women! God cares about your hearts, your families, and your callings! You are precious to Him and uniquely crafted to fulfill His plan, but in a way that is wonderfully different from men. A small but important part of the battle we have is about the titles we are using. Maybe it is because today, virtually any place people serve in the church (men or women) they end up being called pastors. I’m not saying these folks are not validly serving a need, but consider the fact that we now have worship pastors, children’s pastors, youth pastors, and even executive pastors, just to name a few! I challenge anyone to find any of these kinds of “pastors’ in the New Testament church. Our modern church administrative structure is vastly more complicated than even a generation ago, not to mention two thousand years back. Everyone may be serving a genuine need, but maybe there are different titles that come closer to the Bible’s view of what they should be called.

Secondly, I wholeheartedly agree that there are special occasions and unique experiences from which women can and should have the opportunity to teach. Now I know some of you whom I respect may hold a different opinion, but I believe that biblically speaking, the senior pastor position is to be held by msn. Are we guys weak, fallible, and sometimes thoughtless leaders? Yes, but please pray for us! That having been said, on the other hand, I am against some who are proposing to completely keep women out of any role in leadership. For example, who questions the ministry of Fanny Crosby? Born in 1820 (certainly a day with few women leaders in the church). In spite of her blindness, her gift for song writing brought Fanny to national prominence through hymns like Blessed Assurance and Pass Me Not O Gentle Savior. Sometimes she spoke to large crowds of eager listeners, and not only did she have the opportunity to teach publicly, but the words to her songs still instruct both men and women in sound biblical doctrine as we sing them today. It would have been far easier for Fanny Crosby to simply stay home, especially considering that she never was paid more than ten dollars per hymn! But by God’s grace she found her voice and every woman’s voice, even the gentle and quiet ones, should have a part for it in God’s chorus. If women are to be completely silent, who will sing the harmonies? What of Mother Teresa, Joni Eareckson Tada, Priscilla Shirer or Kristyn Getty? What of the women in the Bible like Queen Esther, Ruth, Martha or Deborah. These have all, in their own way, written, spoken or simply bravely lived out the gospel message in a way that their faith is still an example for us all today. So, I end with a sincere hope that these ramblings of an old man, may have stirred up some thoughts in you. Some of you may agree, and some respectfully disagree, (maybe a few less respectfully!) But whatever your position, I urge you to know why you believe it, keep open to God’s voice and trust His Word. The power of the next generation’s ever changing socially acceptable ideas, cannot change God’s eternal plan. As Jesus taught us, His words are truth, they are our daily bread, and they are our life. Let’s not hide from the cultural war that is raging all around but courageously trust God’s promise, that Jesus will never leave or forsake us no matter what lies ahead!

Women in the Church – Day 2

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He began to speak boldly in the synagogue, but when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately. Acts 18:26 ESV

Entering (Tiptoeing or striding you decide!) into day two of this area, I confess that I may be inadequate to debate all the details of where women fit in with leadership in the church. What I can do is share both from my personal experience as well as from a biblical basis, as to why women need to be included in some leadership roles in God’s church. Yes, Paul does say that he wants women to be silent in the church (1 Corinthians 14:34), but I promise to address that on day three. Today let’s simply take a deep breath, step back and look at the New Testament church as a whole. What we will find is that there were definitely times when women are speaking and in today’s verse, Priscilla, together with her husband Aquila took aside Apollos. This man Apollos was one of the preeminent leaders of the Greek church and one whom the Apostle Paul considered an equal to himself and to Peter (see I Corinthians 3:5). Together this godly couple, pointed out some things that Apollos needed to learn and he willingly listened. Notice, the verse doesn’t say that Aquila took him aside, but that together as a team, they both explained the word of God to him. Their teaching was not just an interesting detail but something that was vital for Apollos to learn about the gospel, so that he could fulfill his own calling. Now if a woman could be included in teaching a great leader like Apollos, then surely women have a role to play today that we should not overlook.

Secondly, not only as in today’s verse, may women assist their husband in shepherding God’s flock, but they are also called to share their own special testimony of what God has brought them through. Let’s return to yesterday where we looked at the life of Corrie Ten Boom. Beginning in the 1950’s, she travelled all over the world speaking about God’s grace and forgiveness based on her life experience at the Ravensbruck concentration camp in Germany during World War Two. Corrie, not only wrote extensively, but had a film made of her time at the camp made called, “The Hiding Place.” Or what of the writing and speaking of Lisa Beamer, whose husband Todd died in the downing of flight 93 on 9/11? Should she have spoken at the Wheaton College chapel in 2021? In our own fourteen years of service on the staff of a Brazilian church, my wife and I were often blessed by the ministry of the pastor’s wife. She held the title of “Pastora”. When she spoke, it was almost always about developing an intimate relationship with God in prayer, which was something she had learned from the hours she spent on her knees interceding for others. So as I end today, my prayer is that these insights will do more than ruffle feathers or stimulate debate. I sincerely hope that they will all look more deeply into the wonderful complexity of the subject of women in leadership roles. If we are careful, prayerful and open to all the counsel of God’s word on the subject we just may open a door for more of what God has for all of us in His church today! Now, stay tuned for day three!

The Role of Women in the Church – Part 1

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Our brother Bruce at Reasoned Cases for Christ talked recently about ruffling feathers, and though I am not so accustomed to do, I felt it necessary to enter the fray concerning the role of women in the church. It has been widely reported this week about Saddleback Church being disfellowshipped from the Southern Baptist Convention. To read more click here for the story. Though we are not Southern Baptist, our denomination holds a similar view on women in the pulpit. But I have often felt that lost in the ruckus over credentialling women, is the bigger question of just how far we are to push the concept of women remaining silent in church.  (see 1 Corinthians 14:34) Just what exactly Paul meant, and how God wants us to apply his teaching today are two very valid questions. First let’s begin with some biblical examples, beginning with two of the most famous women in the New Testament: Mary and Martha.

But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me.” And Jesus answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.” Luke 10:39-42 NKJV

Interestingly, Luke does not tell us of anything that Peter, James or John had to say, only this brief conversation Jesus has with Martha. Notice that our Lord does not dismiss her by saying, “Be quiet and sit down woman.” Instead, Jesus treats her question seriously and addresses her with love and respect, even as he is correcting her attitude. If we follow on with the story of the lives of these women, we discover later that it is Martha who comes and addresses the Lord on the outskirts of Bethany after the death of her brother. There again, Jesus does not either command or expect her silence in His presence and his reply to her words, “I am the resurrection and the life” are ones that still comfort God’s people after two thousand years. In fact, even Paul, who is often cited in the defense of keeping women from speaking at all in the assembly appears to have sometimes relied on women in spreading the gospel.

And I intreat thee also, true yokefellow, help those women which laboured with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and with other my fellow labourers, whose names are in the book of life. 
Philippians 4:3 KJV

I am not saying that there is no difference between men or women serving in the senior pastoral role. What I am suggesting is that even the most conservative of positions cannot really mean that women should never speak in church. Should Amy Carmichael have remained in Ireland rather than serving Christ on the mission field of India for 55 years and rescuing thousands of girls from temple prostitution? Are we to believe that Corey Ten Boom should have not traveled around the world speaking about the lessons she learned of forgiveness and grace in the German concentration camp? Does God mean that books by Elizabeth Elliott or Joni Eareckson Tada are meant to be read only by women? If we are honest, these kinds of questions ruffle our feathers, but ruffling can be good, if it opens our hearts to consider what God has for us today. Stay tuned for part two tomorrow as we take a deeper dive into the Bible and a few ideas on how that might be applied today!