Comments on: Women in Ministry: Why Ask?

By: Liz

Liz — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 00:50:12 +0000

While I don’t doubt the integrity and sincerity of the Finchers I have a problem with the suggestion that women reflect God’s glory in an unique way (in other words, in a different way from men)

I don’t see anything in scripture to suggest such a notion.

By: Eowyn

Eowyn — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 00:03:03 +0000

Great discussion!

One excellent resource I recently came across that may be helpful is: Ruby Slippers: How the Soul of a Woman Brings Her Home, by Jonalyn Grace Fincher. Zondervan, 2007.

This fine, scholarly work celebrates Christian femininity and the unique way in which women reflect God’s glory.

For more info., check out: http://www.soulation.com

By: faith

faith — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 15:57:02 +0000

good luck. the hardest thing is to speak about this with groups who view this as divisive. to me it is a side-stepping and unwillingness to face the issue with thoughtfulness and compassion. in my experience speaking about this has tagged me as having a chip on my shoulder–when i have only expressed my view.

the hard part is that when i speak of this, i am tender and hurt rises up. i feel exposed and vulnerable and inevitably re-wounded by the apathy. i seldom feel as if i have been heard or understood as to why this is a serious issue for me.

sooo. not only does the heirarchial position feel wounding to me, so does the side-stepping and anxiety the church has about thoughtfully engaging the issues around heirarachy and women in ministry and gender.

it is threatening to a church or ministry because folks leave over it. i want the church at large to have enough courage to speak about it in healthy ways. and to hear, hear, hear, hear, hear, hear, hear, HEAR… the stories of women caught in this communal dysfunction.

By: jlp

jlp — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 05:20:22 +0000

In addition, its time that complimentarian teachers be held responsible for the harm they have caused. If their teaching causes a marriage to come apart, the couple whose marriage was harmed should come and tell them. If they destroy an opportunity for a woman to use her gifts for the glory of God, that woman needs to confront them about what they did. It’s time that their actions be held up to the light of day and examined by the Christian community as a whole. Right now the results of their teaching are being swept away under the rug, and thus they are not in a place of accountability for what they have done.

By: jlp

jlp — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 03:59:17 +0000

We also need to continue to discuss gender roles in order to understand the effects of gender hierarchy teaching. I think Christians have a hard time admitting when they have done something that has harmed the Christian community, and gender hierarchal teaching has caused great harm. We need to discuss it to help those who teach it understand the great damage they have done.

By: leigh

leigh — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 20:21:12 +0000

Huh. Another reason it’s important to talk about “gender roles” and it is central to the faith is because…

One’s beliefs on the matter are often used as a litmus test of one’s orthodoxy, of whether one “accepts Scripture” or not, of whether (in point of fact) one is truly a Christian.

So while some of the complementarian persuasion may say that gender roles are “not a central issue”, “not central to the Gospel”, and that they’d rather avoid the issue for fear of dividing the church, their behavior illustrates how it is a central issue from their perspective, and thus the conversation a necessary one.

By: hrht

hrht — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 22:21:26 +0000

http://hrht-revisingreform.blogspot.com is an interesting site on British Reform agenda and one woman’s experiences of a church that has a very particular slant on the role of women.

By: Sarah

Sarah — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 02:10:27 +0000

Christy, I agree wholeheartedly. I have occasionally been dismayed by what appears to be an acceptance of aberrant theology on the part of some claiming biblical egalitarian allegiance. Granted, I would hope that doctrinal statements such as cbe’s would filter these folks out, but this isn’t always the case. Lest those opposing biblical equality be tempted to make too much of this, they should probably look to see who’s riding their coat tails – more than enough questionable folks to go around. Still, we might need to be extra careful to emphasize sound biblical doctrine to disarm “guilt by association” attacks.

By: faith

faith — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 15:29:03 +0000

Hey Christy, I so agree. I talked with a woman recently who was studying Hebrews in her bible study. While no one mentioned the role of women, it was foremost in her mind.

She felt the liberty of the gospel but that in her church at least, it could not be applied fully to women.

That is because it is taught that the sin of Eve was to disrespect her husband’s authority and the sin of the man was to listen to his wife instead of lead. Original sin was to violate God’s ordained roles; eating the forbidden fruit was the result of not following the role rules.

That perverts it right there with a warped and skewed understanding of original sin. Then redemption is based on law… following the role rules and not based in Christ and his amazing love for humanity. I think it is the Galatian heresy at its best. Salvation based on flesh (only men can be circumcised, only men can lead) and law (follow the role rules).