Featured Liberal or not?

I think this points to the fact that, more and more, many of our churches' most faithful attendees are of the female gender.

 

Catholics have communion

 

Are you catholic

 

I did not read anything from MacArthur, yet it is still not a distinction the Bible ever makes. Even here you are arguing from a philosophical perspective, not a textual evidence in scripture.
The fact is that Phoebe is addressed as a deacon and thus we consider her a deacon. She was entrusted with a service ministry that was not given to men who could have performed the service. Yet, Paul had her deliver the letter.
Would you enforce the deacon and elder commands to the letter? If so, no man who is not married nor has children whom he has raised to be obedient can ever be an elder or a deacon. Thus all single pastors are disqualified for the ministry since they are also to be elders. Exactly how narrow minded do you wish to be?

In this case, there is no regulative principle ever laid out in scripture regarding who can serve communion. Nowhere does God tell us that only male deacons can serve the meal to the body of believers.

Therefore, you are speaking for your particular tradition, which has no biblical merit above a different tradition, but it is the tradition you were raised in.

 

no such thing found in scripture

 

So reading this and reading Paul's comments about Phoebe, she would have had an administrative role as a deacon (assuming your idea of varying types of deacons has any biblical merit, which MacArthur doesn't do a great job of being convincing).

Romans 16:1-2
I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a servant of the church at Cenchreae, 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.

 

I've seen pastors use this as a proof text before, but this does not speak of a woman's place in the Church operations - it is speaking of the fact that there is no superiority in any sort of classification. The Jewish Christians believed that they were superior due to being descendants of Abraham and following the law. Male and Female roles within the church and the body differ, that is not due to superiority, but due to God's decree.

 

Yes, it is liberal. Liberal movements within churches often start small with more "soft" compromises and then eventually compromise more and more. There are innumerable denominations that testify to this.

 

In a denomination I used to belong to(baptist but different than the missionary Baptist church I attend now) the women served the women and the men served the men. It was deacons and their wives who did this.

 

The Bible says that women cannot preach or teach in a Church, which is the role of the Pastor, so they cannot be Pastors.

Where does it say that they cannot pray in Church, or read from the Bible in front of the Church, or distributing communion elements? NOWHERE! These are traditions that are MAN-MADE!

 

absolute RUBBISH!