Women in Ministry: Last Call
Here is the final draft of my position paper on Women in Leadership. I want to thank all the people who challenged, encouraged me, and even disagreed with me.
What you have here is the result of a lot of prayer, study and discussion.
I want to establish from the beginning that I believe that the Church’s ministry to the Church is to Encourage, Equip, and Release.
When I first started researching this paper, I noticed a correlation between the ordaining of women and the embracing of liberal theology:
1. The Methodist Church and the Presbyterian Church-USA (North) began ordaining women in 1956.
2. Presbyterian Church-USA (South) in 1964, (North) in 1969.
3. The ELCA in 1970.
4. The Episcopal Church in 1976.
Today, these denominations are noted for their liberal theology, sinking to the point of ordaining homosexuals, accepting Unitarianism (rejecting the Work of the Cross, everyone gets in), and denying the Bible as God's divinely inspired Word.
At first, I thought that the two issues of women in leadership and rejecting God’s Word went hand in hand, and I felt that the way to stop the encroachment of liberal theology was to keep women out of leadership because allowing them to assume leadership over men seemed to be the ‘beginning of the end’.
Though the last few weeks of prayer, study, and discussion, I have come to the conclusion that the issue isn’t women in leadership, but the spirit by which they got there. The list of churches above began accepting women into leadership not because of a call on peoples lives or a recognition of giftings, but out of a more political sense: Feminism. Once they embraced feminism, there began the downward spiral.
They began rejecting the inerrancy of the Bible, started emasculating men and blurring gender roles, and began questioning the Fatherhood of God. (I’ve seen paintings of ‘female Jesus’ in places where liberal theology has taken root in the Philippines and Guatemala) There are people in these liberal churches encouraging prayer to “God, our Mother”, which opens the door to Earth Goddess religions and the rejection of the Bible all together.
However, I see that in charismatic circles, the ordination of women has not lead down a path of liberalism. Why? It’s because they believe in the inerrancy of the bible, the fatherhood of God, that homosexuality is sin, that men and women where created with different characteristics and roles, that Jesus died on the cross for our sin and to pave away to reconciliation. They also recognize that God calls people and gifts them for ministry, and that you don’t arrive there due to quotas, equal rights, or earning it. It’s not a function of politics.
So to discuss women in leadership is to actually ask, “What are the qualifications for leaders, regardless of gender?”
Titus 1:5-9 5The reason I left you in Crete was that you might straighten out what was left unfinished and appoint elders in every town, as I directed you. 6An elder must be blameless, the husband of but one wife, a man whose children believe and are not open to the charge of being wild and disobedient. 7Since an overseer is entrusted with God's work, he must be blameless—not overbearing, not quick-tempered, not given to drunkenness, not violent, not pursuing dishonest gain. 8Rather he must be hospitable, one who loves what is good, who is self-controlled, upright, holy and disciplined. 9He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it.
When it comes to selecting elders and pastors for the Church, the Bible gives us a clear list of character traits a leader must have: must be blameless, one spouse (This is the only rewording of scripture that I will use), their children believe and are not open to the charge of being wild and disobedient, blameless—not overbearing, not quick-tempered, not given to drunkenness, not violent, not pursuing dishonest gain, must be hospitable, one who loves what is good, who is self-controlled, upright, holy and disciplined.
Their lives are alreadybaring bearing fruit consistent with the call.
There is also a call to “hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it.” One of the biggest challenges the Church faces today is being swallowed up by the world around. We can’t embrace the world and embrace the cross. So even though the world is trying to tell us what to believe, that our doctrine is wrong, that something is wrong with the church because we won’t accept the world, we must stand on the Word of God and live our lives in the shadow of the Cross.
I believe that the ‘sound doctrine’ aspect of choosing an elder or pastor must include, but not limited to :
1. The belief the Bible is God's divinely inspired Word, revealed to mankind (2 Tim. 3:16)
2. The belief that the fullness of God came to earth and lived in the human body of Jesus Christ of Nazareth 2,000 years ago (Col. 1:19).
3. The belief that believing in (John 3:15-19, 5:24), and obeying (Luke 8:21, John 3:20, John 14:21, 23-24) Jesus Christ is the only way to have eternal life or to be reunited with God (Acts 4:10-12).
4. The beliefs that God created men and women with different characteristics and roles that compliement each other.
5. The belief that homosexuality is a sin and not an acceptable lifestyle. (Romans 1:24-27)
6. An acknowledgement of the Fatherhood of God.
Really, if someone has issue with any of these basic Biblical believes, I can not accept them as a leader.
To summarize:
1. A leader’s life mustbare bear fruit consistent with the call prior to the call.
2. That call needs to be confirmed by others.
3. There needs to be an acceptance of basic Biblical beliefs.
Blessings,
Dave
What you have here is the result of a lot of prayer, study and discussion.
I want to establish from the beginning that I believe that the Church’s ministry to the Church is to Encourage, Equip, and Release.
When I first started researching this paper, I noticed a correlation between the ordaining of women and the embracing of liberal theology:
1. The Methodist Church and the Presbyterian Church-USA (North) began ordaining women in 1956.
2. Presbyterian Church-USA (South) in 1964, (North) in 1969.
3. The ELCA in 1970.
4. The Episcopal Church in 1976.
Today, these denominations are noted for their liberal theology, sinking to the point of ordaining homosexuals, accepting Unitarianism (rejecting the Work of the Cross, everyone gets in), and denying the Bible as God's divinely inspired Word.
At first, I thought that the two issues of women in leadership and rejecting God’s Word went hand in hand, and I felt that the way to stop the encroachment of liberal theology was to keep women out of leadership because allowing them to assume leadership over men seemed to be the ‘beginning of the end’.
Though the last few weeks of prayer, study, and discussion, I have come to the conclusion that the issue isn’t women in leadership, but the spirit by which they got there. The list of churches above began accepting women into leadership not because of a call on peoples lives or a recognition of giftings, but out of a more political sense: Feminism. Once they embraced feminism, there began the downward spiral.
They began rejecting the inerrancy of the Bible, started emasculating men and blurring gender roles, and began questioning the Fatherhood of God. (I’ve seen paintings of ‘female Jesus’ in places where liberal theology has taken root in the Philippines and Guatemala) There are people in these liberal churches encouraging prayer to “God, our Mother”, which opens the door to Earth Goddess religions and the rejection of the Bible all together.
However, I see that in charismatic circles, the ordination of women has not lead down a path of liberalism. Why? It’s because they believe in the inerrancy of the bible, the fatherhood of God, that homosexuality is sin, that men and women where created with different characteristics and roles, that Jesus died on the cross for our sin and to pave away to reconciliation. They also recognize that God calls people and gifts them for ministry, and that you don’t arrive there due to quotas, equal rights, or earning it. It’s not a function of politics.
So to discuss women in leadership is to actually ask, “What are the qualifications for leaders, regardless of gender?”
Titus 1:5-9 5The reason I left you in Crete was that you might straighten out what was left unfinished and appoint elders in every town, as I directed you. 6An elder must be blameless, the husband of but one wife, a man whose children believe and are not open to the charge of being wild and disobedient. 7Since an overseer is entrusted with God's work, he must be blameless—not overbearing, not quick-tempered, not given to drunkenness, not violent, not pursuing dishonest gain. 8Rather he must be hospitable, one who loves what is good, who is self-controlled, upright, holy and disciplined. 9He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it.
When it comes to selecting elders and pastors for the Church, the Bible gives us a clear list of character traits a leader must have: must be blameless, one spouse (This is the only rewording of scripture that I will use), their children believe and are not open to the charge of being wild and disobedient, blameless—not overbearing, not quick-tempered, not given to drunkenness, not violent, not pursuing dishonest gain, must be hospitable, one who loves what is good, who is self-controlled, upright, holy and disciplined.
Their lives are already
There is also a call to “hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it.” One of the biggest challenges the Church faces today is being swallowed up by the world around. We can’t embrace the world and embrace the cross. So even though the world is trying to tell us what to believe, that our doctrine is wrong, that something is wrong with the church because we won’t accept the world, we must stand on the Word of God and live our lives in the shadow of the Cross.
I believe that the ‘sound doctrine’ aspect of choosing an elder or pastor must include, but not limited to :
1. The belief the Bible is God's divinely inspired Word, revealed to mankind (2 Tim. 3:16)
2. The belief that the fullness of God came to earth and lived in the human body of Jesus Christ of Nazareth 2,000 years ago (Col. 1:19).
3. The belief that believing in (John 3:15-19, 5:24), and obeying (Luke 8:21, John 3:20, John 14:21, 23-24) Jesus Christ is the only way to have eternal life or to be reunited with God (Acts 4:10-12).
4. The beliefs that God created men and women with different characteristics and roles that compl
5. The belief that homosexuality is a sin and not an acceptable lifestyle. (Romans 1:24-27)
6. An acknowledgement of the Fatherhood of God.
Really, if someone has issue with any of these basic Biblical believes, I can not accept them as a leader.
To summarize:
1. A leader’s life must
2. That call needs to be confirmed by others.
3. There needs to be an acceptance of basic Biblical beliefs.
Blessings,
Dave
Posted by Surly Dave on
Thursday, August 31, 2006
Is that a loaded question? Like I said, it's not a woman issue. Part of working with a team (as there are others working on this as well, is that others will bring other issues and thoughts to the table.
As to my 'criteria'; do you have a problem with them? Is there something that you see as being to restrictive?
I mean I believe that men and women are complimentary and that there are real differences...but that women can still be in any sort of leadership role a man can be.
Yeah...That what I was trying to say!
I think #4 is really the pivot point. It's the point that seperates what I beleive to be a biblical line in the sand from liberal feminist theology.
Also, "complimentary" should be "complementary." "Compliment" means to praise; "complement" means to supplement, mesh with, complete, act as a counterpart. While I would agree that men and women should compliment each other, I'm pretty sure that's not what you meant.
Thank's to all my copy writers! I owe you much!
I like this point: "While we must continue to uphold the scriptural principles so far as ordination of women and their exercising authority over the man is concerned, it is clear from the passages under study that women's participation in the work of the Gospel is a blessing to the church."