Women in Leadership (not as pastor, but in leadership)

Are you saying it's okay for a woman to be a pastor if there are no men around and that justifies Selina Hastings being a pastor?

 

God's work is not only contingent upon men. It will move on whether or not men step up and take leadership. It is not the best, but God will use it.

There are loads of men in America who are "pastoring" but are not making disciples while the ladies are. While I would not call that pastoring but other might. I would just call it holding services with some preaching.

I truly believe we are beginning to see the church going by the wayside as we know it and coming aorund to be something it should be rather than a party/carnival atmosphere. I think in just a few years we will see the entertainment pastors holding entertainment while others are leaving those churches for other churches and parachurch organization to get some real help instead of sweet milk and empty words.

 

John Asplund, The Universal Register of the Baptist Denomination in North America (1794), p. 6, in describing the origins of the Separate Baptists, identified several reasons why they had left the established churches of New England. Notice the first one:

 

Thirty years ago, while we were without a pastor, I, as assistant moderator, appointed a committee to draft a church constitution and bylaws.

One of the women I asked declined because she felt that she would be usurping the authority of the men. She finally agreed to serve after I explained it to her this way:

"I am not appointing you to a position of leadership or authority. I am appointing you to a position of service. This is going to be hard work. You will join the others in doing what the church cannot effectively do for itself. It can't have several hundred doing the work you will be doing. You will not boss a single member around, and will have authority over no one. You are acting under the authority of the congregation, which will pass judgment on your work. "

This is the way I see most committee work in a congregation. Service, not authority. Whatever latitude the committee has to do its job is latitude given by the congregation. Whatever leadership is required of the committee chairman (chairwoman, chairperson, chairhuman, chairiindividual, Her Furnitureship, whatever) is the talent used for the smooth and effective operation of the committee.

My view is that whatever deacons, committees, etc., do, and whatever authority they exercise, is in relation to the congregation, not in relation to each other. A female committee chair may make some administrative decisions, but does so under the authority of the congregation--the same way a male chair would do it.

 

In a couple of posts, including one of mine, I used the term "usurp authority." I got to thinking about it. If the congregation determines who will serve in various capacities, how can a woman usurp authority? Usurp means to take authority or rights from another without legal approval. How can that happen in a Baptist church without congregational approval?

Besides, if we all adopt a servant mentality, we won't have to worry about anybody bossing anybody else in the church.

 

Amen and amen.

 

If a pastor is a woman and as such a servent of God and her flock, how is it that she has dominion over a man or anyone. How does any pastor, male or female have dominion over others? Dominion in what way? Are we not all members of the body of Christ and all needed for it to function properly? Your proof text on men being taught by women must be taken in the context it was written where Paul was addressing a specific problem ... not giving a general counsel.

Priscilla taught a man.

 

Annsni, have you not been reading your ESV?

Romans 16:2
that you may welcome her in the Lord in a way worthy of the saints, and help her in whatever she may need from you, for she has been a patron of many and of myself as well.

Online Etymological Dictionary: patron comes from Latin pater "father" and means "a lord-master".

Strong's says the Greek word signifies "a woman set over others".

 

What is the authority you are speaking of? How is it playedd out? I am not arguing. I have asked this question in other threads and have never received an answer that defined what this authority is or how it is used.

Alongside or not, it was still teaching a man. If two people teach alongside each other both are still teaching. We might call it co-teaching now. As far as church setting we do not know for sure. Churches at that time were located in people's homes. I expect they taught Apollo in their home. There is no way to prove this one way or the other.

 

And what if this pastor has feet of clay. I have seen far too many pastors with feet of clay.

To rule and command ... I have no idea what you mean by this. These are abstract ideas. How do you see them played out?

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What authority did God give them? To forgive my sins? To tell me what I must do or not do and I must obey? To say 'yes' to anything my pastor suggests? Does the pastor stand between me and God spiritually?

How is church discipline carried out by one person?

I am not arguing, but trying to understand what is being said.




Acts 18:26 "And he began to speak boldly in the synagogue: whom when Aquila and Priscilla had heard, they took him unto [them], and expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly."

He was teaching in the synagogue and apparently, the term "expounded" was not "teaching". They also showed no authority over him but instead "exposed" the way of God more perfectly. They are two different terms and Paul easily could have said that they "taught" him but there must have been SOME sort of difference to explain why he used a different term.[/QUOTE]

 

Your point is well taken.

 

I wish Paul the apostle would have made things clearer. Women in leadership? Yes!

 

He did, as you can't be any more clearer than "husband of one wife" (unless you live in California or Maine )

 

Yet in many parts of the remaining 48 states, there is no shortage of male pastors who are unmarried, and there fore not a husband of one wife.