So I've definitely adjusted from the midwest freezes in the past four years. It's about 55 degrees today and I'm wearing a jacket and close-toed shoes! In Jersey! The weather is crazy but no snow yet so nothing too horrible. Life has been really good as of late and I'm enjoying what each day brings.
So, for any of you who might randomly or not so randomly read my blog, what is your perspective on women leading in the church? No specifics necessary, just a question I'd like to pose to you. I'd love to know your thoughts!
I'm out for now...it's Tiger Noodles time with the fam. :-)
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
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at 10/25/2006
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7 comments:
NO WAY! Closed toed shoes and a jacket, today??? Wimp! This I've gotta see!
Hm, I wore a leather jacket when it was above 70 the other day. And closed-toed shoes. But I really just wanted to show off my hot new jacket.
Women are certainly not incapable, and many have the skills required to lead in the church. But, at least from what I've seen, the church tends to suffer and languish when women take over, I think because the men don't really have a place in it any more. There are so many wonderful, extremely important ways for women to serve in the church that are so much more appropriate (and biblical). We should focus on doing those well instead of trying to tell men how to do their jobs or take them over entirely.
That makes sense when we are constantly hearing that men are lacking in leadership roles or we keep asking where are all the mature, able to lead Christian men - perhaps waiting until they are given an opportunity? Good thoughts Amy.
Hooches ~
Good and interesting thoughts :-) I've been thinking some about this over the past several years, and went to a panel on Biblical Complementarianism & Egalitarianism at the Evangelical Philosophical/Theological Society in November 2004. I've been a complementarian for a while, but I think I may be slowly coming to see some of the appeal of the egalitarian position, mostly because of making the acquaintance of several women who feel a call to ministry in areas that have been more traditionally male. These women do want men to lead (would even, in some cases, prefer that men lead), and they certainly don't want to step on any toes, or take on any "unbiblical" roles. But they also feel like turning away from a call that God has clearly (or so they say) put on their heart would be disobedient. I certainly don't envy them their position, and I'm not sure that I want to be the one to tell them to ignore what they feel is God's call on their life.
I am reading a great book called "Created to be his Help Meet", and the author made a really interesting point about the judge, Deborah, who many people point to as an example of women leading in the church. "If you actually read the story, you would know that the text makes much of the fact that the men were ashamed by allowing a woman to take the place of prominence. There is no question that Deborah performed the job well, that she saved Israle, that God used her; that is just the point. When the men allowed a woman to take their role and perform the job successcully, it resulted in shame to the nation of Israel. Deborah knew this to be the case and warned the men as such."
I think we live in a time when men have abdicated much of their God-given authority in the church. Maybe He is raising up the women you know as Deborahs. I mean, if the rocks can cry out, God can certainly use women to lead in the church if it comes to that. But I think we might want to take a look at what has led to a crisis of leadership in the church, and what we would probably see is that woman bear a pretty big responsibility in creating that crisis by not showing men respect and by taking over their roles because we think we can do a better job of it.
I hope I'm not sounding too harsh. Respecting the leadership of my husband was an utterly foreign concept to me a few years ago, and one that I have *really* struggled with, and done a lot of damage to my husband and my marriage in the process. By God's grace, I think I am finally learning my lesson, and I've seen so many blessings lately just from the small amount of obedience I am able to show Christ in this area. I have come to feel really strongly that women our age have been taught unbiblical feminist principles for so long that we don't even know them when we see them. I guess I am saying that this isn't something I feel strongly about because I am so bothered by it in other people, but because it is something that has caused so many problems in my own life.
PS. I had a sweater on the other day when it was 90 degrees out. Not on purpose. :)
Good words, hooch :-) I'm reminded that one of the things I learned in that compl/egal session that I attended was that it's SUPER important to respect the distinction between the public roles of women (i.e., in the church, in the business world, in politics, etc.), and the private roles of women (i.e., as a wife, as a mother, as a friend, etc.). Of course, you can (and maybe should!) make even more distinctions between different kinds of public roles; for example, I think that there's an important distinction to be made between the role of women in the church, and the role of women in politics and business.
Anyway, I'm not just introducing all these distinctions because I'm a logic-chopping philosopher :-) I think they're actually really useful in clarifying our thinking about which areas and which roles Scripture actually speaks to, and which ones are left open. And I do think that the role-of-women-in-church issue and the role-of-women-in-family issue shouldn't be confused.
Thanks for the input chicas! Good to see our Hillsdalian bred criticism and skepticism of church and world affairs is alive and well!
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