In my previous post “When the going gets tough”, I mentioned how difficult it can be to follow the path of obedience when the direction of our church is contrary to our personal preferences. Even when we know the position our church has taken is right, our personal preferences don’t just simply disappear.
For me, the role of women in ministry is one of those circumstances where my personal preference conflicts with the position of the AGC church. This past Sunday, our Pastor spoke about this issue as we continued our series of messages reflecting on the Biblical foundation upon which our constitution has been drafted. The message made me uncomfortable, which I suppose is actually a good thing. I felt uncomfortable because the Biblical argument presented was sound, but it conflicted with my own sense of what is right and wrong. The purpose of this post is not to re-hash the message Pastor Glenn presented – if anyone wants to discuss this issue in greater detail, please contact Glenn, Joel, or me – what I want to do is share with you how I’m dealing with this conflict.
The origin of my conflict starts in my childhood. My mother was the spiritual head of our family. She assumed this role because my father did not. My mother made sure we attended church and Sunday school, taught us how to pray, and as we grew older, she engaged us in conversations about our faith life. Like Timothy, my mother played a key role in my decision to follow Christ. I grew up with a view that women could be as good as or even better than men at providing spiritual direction.
Up until 2003, our family attended the Christian Reformed Church (CRC), which is a denomination that is no stranger to the women in ministry debate. It has often been a divisive issue resulting in several churches splitting or leaving the denomination. Before switching to the AGC, I served alongside of female elders and attended many services where the Pastor was female. This felt completely natural to me. As with most churches, finding people to serve in leadership positions was always a challenge so opening up the role of elders to women basically doubled the pool of resources to draw from. In both the CRC and the AGC, I have heard from many women who have been active in the mission fields, as partners with their spouses, or as individuals on their own.
In my working life, I have worked with many women who have been gifted managers and leaders. The engineering profession actively encourages young women to pursue a career as an engineer, and I know of several women who are in senior leadership roles in their companies. The whole issue of gender equality in our society is one that is often referred to when looking at hiring people or promoting people.
So my life experience tells me that women are every bit as capable as men to do anything. It would seem logical to extend this to ministry roles such as elder and Pastor. Yet, the restriction of these roles to men is not based on ability or logic. It is a directive from God. A directive that is not influenced by culture or education or overridden by new revelation. A directive that doesn’t mesh with my personal preference.
So what are my options? Fight, flight, or obey. I could try to fight this and try to get the AGC to change its position. I could leave the AGC and join a denomination that permits women to be elders and Pastors. Or I can obey and follow the leading of the AGC and our church leadership.
I chose to obey. This means I must set aside my personal preference and follow a path I don’t want to walk. It’s not easy. Simply making this decision doesn’t erase my past experiences. It doesn’t mean I can just let go of what seems to be logical to me. I can’t turn off the messages from society that say women can be whatever they want to be.
This decision means that every day, I need to pray to God that His will be done, not mine. I need His help to overcome my resistance to following His lead. Like other aspects of my life, I need the constant reminder that my natural desire is to follow my own path, but I’m called to walk a different path.
It’s not easy. I don’t like it. But it’s what I need to do.
Jac
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This was very encouraging Jac I too have had similar experiences as well. But I love to hear of Men of God who are submitting to the Father. I love how you end by saying, " I need the constant reminder that my natural desire is to follow my own path, but I’m called to walk a different path. " or like Jesus said. Let your will be done Lord."
ReplyDeleteTrevor Goforth
I am also encouraged that you have the courage to express your thoughts Jac. I also hold to a more redemptive Biblical view of the role of women in ministry. I have submitted to the position held by the AGC in order to not cause division, but hope that someday soon this issue will get the attention that it deserves from the evangelical church denominations that suffer from the absence of gifted women in key leadership roles.
ReplyDeleteWomen who are "put in their place" by a message such as the one that made you feel uncomfortable, must sacrifice who they are as human beings in order to "obey" rather than flee or fight. Godly men will have to open the way for women to use their God-given gifts in the Church. I don't want my own daughter to ever think that she less important to God because she was born female.
I agree with Sara wholeheartedly. I have been taught and encouraged and inspired over the years by many many Gifted Women in ministry. I do not believe this style of government reflects Jesus's heart or the new covenant Church. I believe that it is counterproductive to the modern Church to revert to Church Government based on a old covenant model. I have been blessed to be a part of Life Church for many years. I enjoyed the leadership here of talented women such as Sara. I feel I must find a body of believers where Men and Women are treated according to their faith and talent and not according to their sex. I am very sad that the Evangelical Church has yet to address this issue reflecting the way that Jesus would!! There are traditional Faith's that have addressed this issue due to the mass exodus of parishioners and are making good progress toward recognizing and utilizing the talents of All their members toward the great commission we have all been given through the Gifting of the Holy Spirit.
ReplyDeleteSara and Kim,
ReplyDeleteThank you for commenting on this blog. Not many people do so it’s always a welcome surprise when I log in and see someone has left a comment.
I can appreciate your concerns with the restriction of elders to men only. As I indicated I am not completely at peace with this position, but I do want to make a few clarifying comments.
The AGC’s position on women in ministry was established quite a while ago, and to the best of my knowledge, LIFE Church (and Faith Bible Church) has always followed the AGC’s leading on these types of positions. So our recent re-working of the constitution did not make a change regarding the requirement for elders to be men – it was always implied if not specifically stated.
I agree with Sara’s point that hopefully, someday soon, this issue gets some attention in the evangelical community. Very few people are willing to dialogue on the issue, so I give Pastor Glenn a lot of credit for ensuring we explicitly state the requirement in our constitution (so our position is obvious) and also for having the courage to review the background of that position with our congregation. Having lived through some heated debates on this issue in the Christian Reformed Church, I am hesitant to open up the dialogue in a public group setting, but I am willing to meet with small groups to openly talk about this issue. I know of several CRC families who have left the church (ie no longer attending any church) following these debates, not because they disagreed with the final outcome, but they left because of the way people were treating each other during the “discussions”. This is in line with one of the themes Joel mentioned in his follow up post “Two Tricky Questions” - “making every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace (Eph 4:3) as we strive to follow God's Word as best we can.” For our church, I think we have worked hard at developing a sense of unity while being respectful of differences in opinion on some matters. It would sadden me greatly if we set our sense of unity back several years by introducing on open debate on this issue at this time.
I also feel that our church has done a good job encouraging women to use their gifts within the church ministries, other than being elders. We have many women leading ministries in our church and we support (or have previously supported) women in missions as part of missionary couples or on their own. While there is always room for improvement, I think for small church, we have done well.
Since this is a sensitive issue, I would prefer to continue this discussion in person rather than on this blog. So let me know if you want to meet sometime to further explore this issue.
Thanks again for contributing to this blog. Hopefully more people will comment in the future.
Jac