chick preachers

I'm about to blog on the topic of women in ministry, and I'm terrified!
Please be gracious to me in your comments :o)

I haven't figured it out yet. To be honest, I still haven't found satisfactory interpretations for all of those tricky verses. But I believe that God has called me to preach, and I have to sort out how that can be possible.

I know that my experience of God's call should never contradict the Scriptures, so it's taking some effort to feel comfortable with both the Bible, and my own experience. I've read a lot (both sides of the argument!) and prayed a lot and discussed A LOT, and here are a few of my thoughts at this moment. What follows is "wet cement"-- not settled and permanent, just where I am at in this process.

• In 1 Corinthians Paul says that women should wear head coverings when they pray or prophecy... the head coverings were a cultural symbol of marriage, so we don't need to worry about that! The key thing from those verses is this: women can pray and prophecy in church meetings! Catherine Booth and Phoebe Palmer (who greatly influenced the Booths) think that prophecy and preaching are essentially the same thing...but that's still up for debate!

• Priscilla and Aquila (married couple) pull Apollos aside to teach him the way of God...so this supports women teaching on a personal relational level (even teaching a man). The only issue is the fact that Priscilla's husband was there. Would it have been appropriate for Priscilla to teach Apollos one-on-one? Perhaps not.
  

• The troubling verses in 1 Timothy aren't so troubling when you learn these few things: 1) Timothy was in Ephesus which was a town that worshiped women-- the women in that church needed to be more humble and submissive! 2) Paul isn't saying that they should be "silent" because the Greek word for silent is also used in 1 Corinthians to tell prophets to wait their turn. It doesn't mean completely silent, it just means quieter. 3) The whole chapter is about qualifications for elders, it is not about telling women to get in their place. So, maybe women shouldn't be elders, but I'm still trying to sort out what that means for us now!
  

• And one of the most compelling arguments is simply this: the overwhelming trend in Jesus' culture was chauvinism. When Jesus welcomed women to follow Him, to learn from Him, and when He showed them respect...He was making a bold statement about the value of all people, both genders. So even if women shouldn't be elders or apostles (not even sure if that's true, just saying!) they are CERTAINLY equals.

• I'm mostly viewing it from a Trinitarian perspective. Which means: the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are all EQUAL in power, authority, and value, but they perform different roles. The Father is sovereign, the Son obeyed the Father, and the Spirit is mysterious and rarely acknowledged...yet they are all God. In the same way, women and men are completely equal, but still completely different! And that's okay! My concern with modern-day feminism is that it tries to take away gender differences in order to find equality. I believe that we can be equal, while still maintaining our feminine identity.

Okay, now I really do want to hear your thoughts,
just be nice to each other, kiddos!
;-)