When I visited BridgeWay a year ago this month to explore with you the possibility of coming to serve as your pastor, the question of women in ministry cropped up in the Q & A session we held on Saturday night. I forget my exact answer, but I think I said something about “never standing in the way of a gifted woman” and I believe I mentioned that I had happened to write my master’s thesis on just this topic, and writing the paper took me on some surprising twists and turns.
We didn’t go much beyond that, but I think I made it clear that I didn’t personally have a problem with women occupying all levels of ministry. Knowing that BridgeWay had practiced male-only eldership, I made a mental note to myself that should you call me to come and serve, that at some point down the road we would have to revisit this question together.
Welcome to down the road.
On October 25th from 5:00-7:00pm, we will hold our inaugural Theology Town Hall, the first of what I envision to be many such forums, since training people to ‘think theologically’ is such a core part of my ministry. And our first topic? You got it – Women In Ministry.
Obviously, most of you have heard us talk this up now for nearly a month, but it’s time for us to start to lay the groundwork for what this event will be all about. I’ve been asked several questions about it, so I want to use this blog to answer some of them. If I don’t get to yours, or if you come up with new ones, don’t hesitate to reach out.
What’s the purpose for this forum?
I have two answers for this question. The 40% answer (of slightly less importance to me) is that, as you know, BridgeWay is still being served by a transitional Leadership Team, and the intent is that as soon as we have established a proper infrastructure for the church (soon and very soon), that we will commission a new team of spiritual leaders the Bible typically calls “elders”.
This gives us a perfect opportunity to revisit the question of women in ministry, and look under the hood of BridgeWay’s “male-only” practice. (And to be clear, when we speak of “women in ministry”, we’re referring primarily to our eldership. Women serve in ministry in many capacities at BridgeWay. But should men only occupy the top tier of leadership? That’s the question.)
How many of you if push comes to shove can give the biblical underpinnings for why many churches practice male-only eldership?
Meanwhile, I happen to know that there are many Jesus-loving, Bible-believing churches that have no difficulty at all with women serving in leadership at all levels, and I would do you a disservice to let this opportunity go by without at least giving you the chance to examine the biblical rationale for why they think this way. (And not a few of you sit in our “pews”.)
The 60% answer (of greater importance) though is this: I want each one of you who take your faith seriously to become “Berean Christians”. You heard me teach on this recently perhaps. In Acts 17, when Paul came to preach the gospel to the Jews in Berea, they “examined the Scriptures daily” to fact-check Paul’s teaching, and make sure it lined up with God’s Word.
I want to train you to “think theologically”. And here comes a perfect opportunity to learn some of the ropes. Trust me, culture is coming after the Church with great ferocity, and those Christians who do not know how to think biblically, theologically, and transformationally will get wiped out.
The only reason that wide swaths of Christianity have abandoned classic biblical sexual ethics is not because the Bible’s teaching is weak or backwards in regards to sexual behavior; it’s that many Christians don’t know the full theological richness of the Bible’s teaching.
This forum will be an attempt to encourage growth in this area.
Aren’t we playing a bit with fire, knowing the struggles that BridgeWay recently had, to bring up such a potentially controversial topic?
I suspect that many are still suffering from a little PTSD from the bumpy road we traveled on not too long ago. So anything that smacks of disagreement might brush against that bruise.
But one of the things that drew me to consider coming to BridgeWay was the idea I heard mentioned more than once that we like to do “theology in community”. Truth be told, I think more often than not this was an “aspirational” idea than an actual practice, but the idea is in our DNA.
To do “theology in community”, or to be “always reforming” (another value we talk about) requires people saying, “Yes, but…” or “What about this?” Disagreement or “robust conversation” (a buzzword on the Leadership Team) are all part of conversations like this.
I’ve had quite a bit of experience being the midwife to precisely these sort of conversations, and seen the Lord bring about astonishing growth because of it. You may not believe in yourselves, dear BridgeWay, but I happen to believe in you. In Jesus in you, more precisely. So if you’ll ride on my faith, and take this plunge with me, I think it won’t be pain waiting for us on the other side, but a deeper understanding of Christ.
So at its heart, we’re putting the question on the table if BridgeWay should have women elders or not?
If we say we want to do “theology in community” and be “always reforming”, then yes, this is the proper time and place to have that discussion. Future theology town halls won’t usually have such practical outcomes. But we need to have this conversation at this time, to reaffirm our historic position or be open to God leading us in a new direction, so that we can move forward in unity into the next season of life and ministry the Lord has for us.
No formal motions or actions will be entertained that evening. Our purpose is to sit together in the presence of God, listen to each other, and afterwards, to pray and trust God to bring us to a Spirit-led consensus by our next formal business meeting, which is tentatively scheduled for November 15th (to be confirmed by this weekend.)
What will the night of the forum be like?
Most of theological forums I’ve attended, and superintended, present two conflicting ideas. Sure enough, when it comes to the subject of women in ministry there are two classical positions: one called complementarianism and the other egalitarianism.
So after a brief introduction and a time of prayer, we’ll lay out the arguments for one side, then lay out the arguments for the other side. As you go through your “homework” this month, your main assignment is to reach a place where you understand what each side is trying to say, and the arguments they are advancing. Typically, I will have those who stake their claim on one side be the ones who first lay out the arguments of the other side. It’s proof that they are listening.
Then we’ll give time for each side to finesse those arguments in their favor, before having an open discussion where we do poking and jabbing and question-asking. I’ll wrap up with a small-ish summary (emphasis on -ish.)
And hopefully we arrive at a place of consensus, or synthesis, or a humble “there but for the grace of God go I” appreciation for the richness of the Body of Christ.
The goal for the forum will be to embody the saying, “Mature Christians are to be narrow in doctrine, but broad in fellowship.”
In other words, we need to be able to know what we believe (narrow in doctrine), but also know what another believes, such that we come to respect their thought and their relationship with Christ (broad in fellowship). Another way to put it is we need to learn which are hills to die on and which are hills to disagree on.
If this is really about “women as elders/pastors”, then why are you asking us to study how women are referenced throughout all of Scripture? Shouldn’t we just be focusing on a couple key Scriptures?
It’s true, this is the nub of the disagreement, which generally focuses on a handful of Scripture passages. But properly answering the question of whether God is reserving top-tier leadership positions for men only is usually aided by a more comprehensive survey of the Bible’s full sweep of male-female relationships in general, and women in leadership positions in particular.
Will the forum be in person or online?
Hopefully, both.
What is the “homework” for those who want to participate?
Here’s the full fact-sheet we’ve distributed to the church:
Assignments:
- Write out a paragraph that describes your basic view of women in leadership .
- Let’s “Think Theologically: Learn The Scriptures” (two weeks). In a paragraph or two (no more than a page), identify as many relevant Scriptures as you can find, that pertain to the topic of women in leadership.
- Let’s “Think Theologically: Look At History” (two weeks). Spend some time doing some research on women in leadership spanning the church age. (The resource below, Christian History Magazine) would be a good starting place.) In a paragraph or two (no more than a page), summarize some of your key findings.
- Let’s “Think Theologically: Listen To Culture” (two weeks). Here, we’re going to listen in particular to church culture. Review enough of the reading material under “Books and Resources” so that you can write out in a 1-2 page essay your summary of the two primary views of women in leadership, complementarianism and egalitarianism. As best you can, attempt to summarize the respective arguments each side presents.
- Share in the Women in Leadership Discussion on October 25, from 5:00 – 7:00pm.
Books & Resources:
- “Two Views On Women In Ministry (Counterpoints: Bible and Theology Book 12)”; Craig Blomberg, James Beck (Editor)
- “Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood: A Response To Evangelical Feminism”; John Piper and Wayne Grudem
- “Men and Women In The Church”; Sarah Sumner
- Christian History Magazine: Women In The Early Church