Thanks for the insight on marriage, church and leadership. Well said, Jenny.

Go to mama-jenny.blogspot.com.

As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. “Good teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
“Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone. – Mark 10:17-18

I have heard that Jesus asked hundreds of questions but when asked questions of himself he only answered three. This suggests to me that there is something good about asking questions. Jesus was such a good “question asker” that he was able to get behind the motivation of those questioning him. In this exchange Jesus has a completely different line of questioning he goes down before he even responds to the man’s concern.

I think that Men and Women in the Church asks some good questions. The best questions are the ones that get us “behind” our own motives by both exploring and exposing our concerns. To what extent should women be allowed to serve or lead in the church? Good question. I think there are other questions that this kind of discussion raises that are even more important.

Question: What are some of the more valuable questions that Sarah Sumner raises in her book? What questions is she asking that you have never asked yourself?

1. What do women in your local church hear?

2. What are they told about their participation in the church?

The responses from various conversations have been both encouraging and discouraging. I have been encouraged that most people from Wheatland perceive an openness to women being involved in all kinds of ministry within our small community. This has been evidenced in the fact that women within our worship gatherings share both their comments and questions, help lead worship, and read Scripture. Women also lead various areas of ministry. In fact, more than one person remarked that they gave no thought to any differences in levels of involvement for women and men prior to our discussion about leadership.

On a discouraging note, when these questions were expanded to consider messages women hear within the broader conservative Christian culture, a different attitude emerged. Some people perceived an overall negative attitude toward women within conservative Christianity. This was a largely unspoken, and unintentional, negativity which sent a message that women were somehow less capable, less valuable or less important. This is a deeper problem that must be faced by Christian men and women and resolved. A good place to begin is to remind one another that:

There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. – Galatians 3:28

My goal in reading Men and Women in the Church is not to indoctrinate anyone from the Wheatland Mission into believing exactly what I believe. Instead, I want us to think through the broader issue of how men and women really are one in Christ and what that might mean on a practical level within our community. Having an informed opinion, even when it is different from those surrounding us, is not a problem to be solved. It is an opportunity to stay close to Jesus. It is an opportunity to love.

This is the deeper and more important message behind the book.

P.S. It has been a bad “blogging week”. For those of you who left comments on here I will be responding. Keep the questions coming.

1.  What do women in your local church hear?

2.  What are they told about their participation in the church?

Feel free to apply these questions to Wheatland but also think about the church at large. What are some of the “messages” that women receive throughout the church.

Some rules for discussion:

1.  Be kind. You will not always agree with other comments or the main post. You may find that you disagree with most of the book. Disagreement is fine, even healthy. However, being unkind is not.

2. Be honest. If you don’t like what your reading please feel the freedom to honestly express that opinion. This requires that we be able to accept opinions of others that might make us uncomfortable. Ask honest questions and give honest opinions.

3. Render love. In my opinion, the most important thing that this book study will do for us is not give us an answer to the questions at hand. Yes, we want to learn and have our questions answered. But the process of learning together, growing together and loving one another through our differences is one more way to express God’s Kingdom among us and remain close to Jesus.