This weekend, a Christian leader at a conference, recorded and publicized, told another Christian leader to “Go Home” in large part because she is a woman.
This behavior, demonstrated by the highest levels of respected teachers within the faith, is RAMPANT. Taking pot shots at other believers over disagreements and minor doctrinal issues has become a popular past time of those who claim to be faithful. Wake up! We cannot afford to send ANYBODY home. We need every single faithful spirit-filled believer out on the front lines proclaiming the gospel so that MANY will come to know Christ.
While I could write an entire blog about how/why God calls women into ministry, and that is an important issue, it is the subtext of this blog and not the main focus. A few thoughts to ponder on your own:
1. Nothing in the flesh qualifies anyone to be a teacher or servant leader (which btw is the one of the only words used to describe pastors, Greek: Diakonos, in the New Testament and is also used to describe Phoebe)
2. Only the indwelling of God’s Holy Spirit gives any of us the ability to do anything worthy or worthwhile. Not our maleness or femaleness.
3. Galatians 3:27-29 ESV "For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slavenor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise."
There is a study here on heirs and how property was passed from father to son in Israel. Study how women were heirs -Old Testament – daughters given a portion of the land of Israel – and how they were not typically heirs. Once you understand the custom Paul is describing, you begin to understand the weight of him saying that there are no longer male and female – but both are joint heirs with Christ.
I've seen the hashtag #notgoinghome a few times since Monday in reference to the comments made - but perhaps a better one would have been #WeAreHome!
4. There is a great video by Ravi Zacarias that also addresses the idea that women are somehow less, second class citizens in God’s eyes. https://youtu.be/MD3CsFfLxlo
But let’s just push pause on the whole “Can women teach?” question. Can we just talk about the make-up of our churches these days?
In a church – let’s say there are 100 adults. Of the 100 adults 60 are women, 40 are men. 34 of the men are married to 34 of the women.
Now consider children. Each married couple has 2 – so 68 more congregants, but a large portion of the additional 20 women who attend are either married to a partner who will not attend church or are single mothers. Fully 18 have children – so that’s another 36 congregants.
Our church is shaping up nicely with 100 adults and 104 children. – that’s an above average sized congregation of 204 people. (The average church serves just 184!)
Now with 40 men to serve the congregation – this little flock should be doing really well – but let’s look at those 40 men
68% are watching pornography – and they are watching it regularly. Engaging in a sexual sin that totally disqualifies them from church leadership. Shockingly, there is a 50/50 chance the pastor is also hooked on porn.
Between 7- 10% of those men are involved in some sort of domestic or sexual violence. (that’s WITHIN the church, not a general population statistic) 30% of murdered women in Georgia, who were victims of domestic violence, had strong connections to their local church!
Between 10-15% of parishioners have a serious issue with alcoholism or drug abuse (men and women)
Even if we say that all of these things are co-occurring, we decrease from 40 men who could serve down to about 12 who could serve. Yet, if these things occur independently , and at the highest possible rates, we are down to a mere 2-3 men who are qualified to serve in the local church.
Taking all of this into account -we should not be surprised that 38% of all marriages within the church are ending in divorce. (BTW that is one of the lowest stats I could find, others place it closer to 50% and still others cite cohabitation as a reason it is not higher)
So how is our church shaping up?
40 men:
27 need significant male accountability and recovery focused programs.
65 women:
25 have severe marital struggles, likely something to do with abuse and addiction.
18 are single mothers or married to an unbeliever and need significant support
104 children:
Nursery and preschool programming during services is fairly typical
Sunday School, VBS, Awana and teen programs would be highly beneficial for these children
50 – 60 are growing up in a home with some sort of addiction
36 are growing up in a home that has only one parent or only one faith focused parent
AND:
Some congregants are older shut ins, they need help with basic things like mowing the grass and getting to the grocery.
Some congregants are severely ill, in the hospital, and need a visit.
Some are pregnant or have had a recent birth in the family and need help.
Some have experienced a recent loss of a loved one and need comfort.
Not to mention the overall State of the Church report released by Barna (https://www.barna.com/research/state-church-2016/) which reports that fully 56% of “chistians” state they have no responsibility to share the gospel.
Considering all of this, is it any wonder why God is calling faithful women to serve him? At the very least, the wives of faithful men need to active in serving the congregation!
And I come to the point – and perhaps it is a bit belabored and long winded and too full of facts and figures, but please hear me. There is so much work to be done. For the people in the back who still think this is about women teaching or some theological debate – THERE IS SO MUCH WORK TO BE DONE.
Can we please stop taking cheap shots at each other and just be co-laborers in the kingdom?
Isn’t there more than enough to keep every single one of us busy. Isn’t there enough hurt and heartache and brokenness without trying to tear down good faithful ministry leaders? Have you not seen enough suffering and hurting people that you can stop finding fault with every ministry and person in ministry over something as foolish as whether or not they were born male or female and maybe instead spend your time trying to win souls? Isn’t there enough here to keep the faithful busy for quite some time? I think there is.
Blessings,
Amanda
References:
https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/04/06/christian-women-in-the-u-s-are-more-religious-than-their-male-counterparts/
https://conquerseries.com/why-68-percent-of-christian-men-watch-porn/
https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/04/06/christian-women-in-the-u-s-are-more-religious-than-their-male-counterparts/
https://conquerseries.com/why-68-percent-of-christian-men-watch-porn/
