The CBE Scroll

Comment by faith

November 12, 2008 @ 11:48 am

good point Hubert, i think many women are denied the opportunity to excell in their gifts as are many men whose gifts fall outside the regular perceptions of male gifts. my spouse is particularly gifted with children… it took a long time for his gifts to be used. He likes just being with and playing with and nurturing the kids in a Sunday School setting… but usually got thrown into a leadership role–even if it was with kids. And he is a wonderful leader but he does that in his work life and has led well in the church also…. He just enjoys talking to kids about Jesus and playing games with the k-3 age group.

Comment by Liz

November 12, 2008 @ 5:15 pm

Yes, Faith..one of our sons (34) is extremely good with little children. He has 3 of his own (6,4,2) and was training to be a school teacher but is now a chaplain.

He said he was strongly encouraged to not go into early childhood teaching as guys who do that are often suspected to have wrong motives…how sad.

Comment by faith

November 13, 2008 @ 8:38 am

that is really sad.

Comment by historyloveralways

November 14, 2008 @ 7:25 am

What would the Church be like today if the women, racial/ethnic minorities, even slaves like Onesimus, would have been allowed, even encouraged, to preach and shepherd the people God had sent them to serve?

The church would have spread the gospel all over the world by now if that had been allowed to happen.

Comment by Hubert Edgar

November 14, 2008 @ 4:17 pm

In junior high and high school, I spent my summers as a “summer missionary” with Child Evangelism Fellowship. I remember having children of both genders on my lap, holding hands with them, even carrying them on my shoulders. That was in the 60s/70s. Now, I’m not sure how people would react to that.

While working with that organization, I was one of the few boys involved. From what I’ve heard, the number of boys has dropped even further in recent years. I think many boys/men fear working with children because they think (and they may be right) that they will be seen as unmasculine, homosexual, etc.

It’s a shame we have lost ministry from men because of these kinds of stereotypes and, on a wider scale, a tragedy we have lost ministry from women because of stereotypes. Most of the people who formed my own beliefs, under the guidance of God, were women and I love and praise them for their work, faith and courage.

And yeah, Historyloveralways, I don’t think you’re that far off. The souls lost is truly staggering.

Comment by PS(an after-thought)

November 16, 2008 @ 9:25 pm

I had a similar thought but not in the realm of the Faith. When you have on public radio, any decent news program on TV, you will see all sorts of interviewers and interviewees who are women. Some are good; some are great. (just as the men are.) Not that many years ago, actually, in my life time, that wouldn’t have happened with even the world’s brightest woman. What we missed all those centuries!

Comment by Hubert Edgar

November 18, 2008 @ 10:02 am

One of my sisters wrote to me directly about this blog. She talked about another underused, often denied group of Christians. I felt what she had to say was important and wanted to put it with the blog. I’ve edited out names used. She gave her permission, so here it is:

I read your blog. This past year in the church I attended here does not respect the older adults. The pastor doesn’t want them involved in activities and he also feels that they know all they need to know about the bible so therefore there is no reason to have a class for them. He is only interested in the teen program of his church. I think older Christians are left out of churches and they have many things they could contribute to the church. You know the bible says older adults should mentor younger adults I would sure like to see a church that follows this. Churches do not respect older adults. I can remember how we used to go pick up Mrs. M for church each Sunday, N and K pick up an older lady (and she is black “whisper this”) to take to church. No one would come and take me to church when my car was not running. The pastor told me no one drove big enough cars to add one more person to ride. What a pile of ****. The church I attended in Oklahoma certainly had people that picked up older adults who were not family and brought them to church. I don’t know what kind of cars they drove but somehow they had room for one more person. Enough said. Just a bad experience for me.

Comment by Hope

November 19, 2008 @ 8:16 pm

From the CBMW blog, Susan Hunt Casts Vision for Women’s Ministry. The male author seems to have had no difficulty sitting under her instruction!