We believe that the Bible,when propery interpreted,teaches the equality of men and women of all racial and ethnic groups,all economic classes,and all age groups,based on the teachings of scripture as reflected in Galatins 3:28:
There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are ALL one in Christ Jesus.
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The Bible teaches the full equality of men and women and ALL races.(Gen 1:26-28,2:23,5:1-2; 1 Cor 11:11-12; Gal 3:13,28,5:1)
We believe that Scripture is to be interpreted holistically and thematically. We also recognized the necessity of making a distinction between inspiration and interpretation. To be truly Biblical, Christians must continually examine their faith and practice under the searchlight on scripture.
Bibical Truths
Creation
The Bible teaches that both man and woman of ALL races were created in God's image, had a direct relationship with God, and shared jointly the responsibilities of bearing and rearing children and having the joint share or responsibility of caring for creation (Gen 1:26-28).
The Bible teaches that both man and woman were created for full and equal partnership. The word "helper" (ezer), used to designate woman in Genesis 2:18,refers to God in most instances of Old Testament usage (e.g. 1 Sam 7:12;Ps 121;1-2). Consequently the word conveys no implication whatsoever of female subordination or inferiority.
The Bible teaches that the forming of woman from man demonstrates the unity and equality of human beings (Gen 2:21-23). In Genesis 2:18,20 the word "suitable"(kenegdo) denotes equality and adequacy.
The Bible teaches that man and woman were co-participants in the Fall: Adam was no less culpable than Eve(Gen 3:6;Rom 5:12-21; 1 Cor 15:21-22).
The Bible teaches that the rulership of Adam over Eve resulted from the Fall and was therefore NOT part of the original created plan and order. Genesis 3:16 is a prediction of the effects of the Fall rather than a prescription of God's idea order.
The Bible teaches that Jesus Christ came to redeem BOTH sexes and ALL races. Through faith in Christ we all become children of God, and heirs to the blessings of salvation without reference to racial, social, or gender distinctions (John 1:12-13; Romans 8:14-17; 2 Cor 5;17; Gal 3:26-28).
The Bible teaches that BOTH women and men of ALL races are called to develop their skills and talents and to use them as stewards of the grace of God (1 Peter 4:10-11). Both men and women of All races are divinely blessed and empowered to minister to the whole Body of Christ, Under His authority (Acts 1:14, 18:26, 21:9; Romans 16:1-7,12-13,15; phil 4:2-3; Col 4:15; see also Mark 15:40-41, 16;1-7; Luke 8:1-3; John 20:17-18; compare also Old Testament examples: Judges 4:4-14, 5:7;2 chron 34;22-28; Proverbs 31:30-31; Micah 6:4)
The Bible teaches that, in the New Testament economy, women as well as men exercise teaching functions (Acts 2:17-18, 219; 1 cor 11:5; 1 Peter 2:9-10; Rev 1:6, 5:10). Therefore, the few isolated texts that appear to restrict the full redemptive freedom of women must not be interpreted simplistically and in contradiction to the rest of Scripture, but their interpretation must take into account their relation to the broader teaching of Scripture and their total context (1 Cor 11:2-16, 14:33-36; 1 Tim 2:9-15).
The Bible defines the function of leadership as the empowerment of others for service rather than as the exercise of power over them( Matt 20;25-28, 23:8; Mark 10:42-45; John 13:13-17; Gal 5:13; 1 Peter 5:2-3).
Family
The Bible teaches that husbands and wives are heirs together of the grace of life and they are bound together in a relationship of MUTUAL submission and responsibility (1 Coth 7:3-5; eph 5:21; 1 Peter 3:1-7; Gen 21:12). The husband's function as "head" (kephale)is to be understood as self-giving love and service within this relationship of MUTUAL submission (Eph 5:21-33; Col 3:19; 1 Peter 3:7).
The Bible teaches that both mothers and fathers are to exercise leadership in the nature, training, discipline and teaching of their children (Ex 20:12; Lev 19:3; De 6:6-9.21:18-21, 27:16; Prov 1:8, 6:20; Eph 6:1-4; Col 3:20; 2 Tim 1:5; see also luke 2:51).
Application
Community
In the community of faith both women and men are to be recognized, developed and used in serving and teaching on all levels of involvement. In so doing, the community of faith will model the unity and harmony that should characterize the community of believers. In a world fractured by discrimination and segregation, the community of faith will dissociate itself from UN-Christ-like devices designed to make women or other races feel inferior for being female or another color of skin. It will help prevent their departure from a believe in a personal God and his Son Christ and their faith in such.
Family
In the home, husband and wife shall defer to each other in seeking to fulfill each other's preferences, desires and aspirations. Neither spouse is to seek to dominate the other but each is to act in humanity considering each other. In a case of decisional deadlock they should seek resolution through Biblical methods of conflict resolution rather than by one spouse imposing a decision upon the other.
In so doing, the husband and wife will help the home stand against improper use of power and authority by spouses and will protect the home from wife and child abuse that sometimes tragically follows a hierarchical interpretation of the husband's "headship".
In the home, spouses shall learn to share the responsibilities of leadership on the basis of gifts, expertise, and availability, with due regard for the partner most effected by the decision under consideration.
In so doing, spouses will learn to respect their competencies and their complementary. This will prevent one spouse from becoming the perennial loser, often forced to practice ingratiating or deceitful manipulation to protect self-esteem. By establishing their marriage on a partnership basis, the couple will protect it from joining the tide of dead or broken marriages resulting from martial inequalities.
In the home, couples who share a lifestyle characterized by the freedom they find in Christ will do so without experiencing feelings of guilt or resorting to hypocrisy. They are freed to emerge from unchristian and unbiblical "traditionalism" and can rejoice in their mutual accountability in Christ. In so doing, they will openly express their obedience to Scripture, will model an example for other couples in quest of freedom in Christ, and will stand against patterns of domination and inequality sometimes imposed upon the community of faith and the family.
We believe that Biblical equality as reflected in this document is true to Scripture.
We stand united in our conviction that the Bible, in its TRUE totality, is the liberating Word that provides the most effective way for women and men to exercise the blessings distributed by the Holy Spirit and thus serve God.
Modern-day secular society has gone a long way in eliminating sexism in employment, education, accommodation, etc. The feminist movement has raised the public's consciousness about the unfairness of gender discrimination. A large portion of the public has accepted that women should be given the same career opportunities that men have long enjoyed. It is obvious that, early in the 21st century, the largest institutions in North America which will still deny equal rights to women are among conservative Christian denominations:
Roman Catholicism,
Eastern Orthodoxy and many denominations within Protestantism,
like the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Jehovah's Witnesses.
These groups view the Bible as requiring women and men to follow defined roles. In opposite-sex marriage, for example, men are to lead and women are to be submissive to their husbands. In religion, women are not to be placed in a position of authority over men. A logical result of these beliefs is that women are not to be accepted as clergy.
Liberal and Progressive Christian Groups:
Most liberal and mainline Christian denominations
(e.g. Congregationalists,
some Lutherans,
the Presbyterian Church-USA,
the United Church of Canada,
United Church of Christ,
United Methodist Church, etc.)
ordain women and give them access to other positions of power.
A study by the Hartford Seminary, 4 commented upon by the Boston Globe, 5 has examined the Christian denominations which do ordain women. The study shows that the number of clergywomen in 15 large Protestant denominations has skyrocketed over the past two decades. For example, between 1977 and 1997, female clergy:
in the American Baptist Church has increased from 157 to 712;
in the Episcopal Churches in the USA has increased from 94 to 1,394;
in the United Methodist Church has gone from 319 to 3,003.
However, they remain in a minority in those denominations that permit women to be ordained. According to Time magazine, the liberal Unitarian Universalist Association, has the highest percentage of female clergy -- over 50%. (The UUA is regarded by many as a non-Protestant, non-Christian denomination.)
The study found that clergywomen are paid 9% less on average when compared to men working in similar jobs within the same denomination and the same sized church. Few women serve as senior pastors. Female clergy more often serve as assistant or associate pastors; this will probably change with time as women gain more seniority on the job.
Fundamental Christian Groups:
Southern Baptist Convention:
The SBC is by far the largest Protestant denomination in the U.S. They have about 1,600 ordained women filling various roles. In recent years, Fundamentalists have won a power struggle with moderates within the denomination. The SBC released a document on 2000-MAY-18 that states: "While both men and women are gifted for service in the church, the office of pastor is limited to men as qualified by Scripture." The statement cites 1 Timothy 2:9-14, which says in part, "I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man." There is no consensus over the accuracy of this passage: Fundamentalists accept the validity of the preamble in 1 Timothy which states that Paul is the author of the book; most believe that the book was written by him, perhaps circa 62 CE.
Most religious liberals reject the sexist interpretations of of Paul's words. They feel that the interpretations devolped years after Paul's death. The anonymous author reversed some of Paul's and Jesus' policies, including equal treatment of women.
The statement is consistent with the SBC's 1998 ruling that a wife should "submit herself graciously to the servant leadership of her husband." The Baptist Faith and Message Study Committee issued a statement in response to questions raised about their recommendations. 8 They explained that they dealt "with the issue of women in the pastorate" at this time because they "were driven by biblical authority, a sense of urgency, and the near unanimous verdict of our churches....There is no biblical precedent for a woman in the pastorate, and the Bible teaches that women should not teach in authority over men... Far less than one percent of churches cooperating with the Southern Baptist Convention have ever called a woman as pastor."
Calvary Chapel
In the book "Leaving the Fold" author and former Calvary Chapel member Marlene Winell tells how Calvary Chapel only allowed male leadership and she felt the church was Just as I was disappointed with sexist and hypocritical.
Association of Vineyard Churches
This group restricts the offices of elder and pastor to male candidates. However, an article in their periodical 6 supports women in other functions. "A woman can preach, teach, evangelize, heal, prophesy, counsel, nurture, administrate, and build up the flock of God."
Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship
This is a university-based conservative Christian group. They issued a position paper in 1993-OCT which reversed their previous stance. The paper states that "gifts, character, essential theological faithfulness, and experience" are more important than gender in selecting employees for leadership.
Pentecostal Denominations:
Although Pentecostals are conservative in theology, approximately 8 denominations ordain women. Two were actually founded by women: Amie Semple McPherson (1890-1944) started the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel. Ida Robinson founded the Mount Sinai Holy Church.
Seventh-day Adventist:
This denomination has implemented a compromise policy. They do not ordain women as ministers, but do grant them most of the authority given to ministers. They do allow ordination of women to the lower post of elder.
Other very Conservative Denominations: Essentially all forbid women from the ministry, on theological grounds. Most also advocate that family decision making power be concentrated in husbands.
Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood: The CBMW 7 promotes a "complementarian" position which promotes male leadership at home and church. Women are expected to "forsake resistance to their husband's authority and grow in willing, joyful submission to their husband's leadership." They oppose the "egalitarian" position which would allow female ordination and equal sharing of power within the family.
The organization maintains a list of Christian denominations which have adopted the complementarian position, including:
Association of Vineyard Churches,
Presbyterian Church in America,
Southeastern Seminary-Lake Forest,
Southern Baptist Theological Seminary-Louisville,
Southern Baptist Convention,
and the Westminster Theological Seminary.
The Louisville seminary is notable because they carry discrimination against women to an extreme position. They enforce doctrinal purity by refusing to hire male faculty members who favor the ordination of women.
Jehovah's Witnesses
Articles at times found in the Watchtower and Awake! magazines seem to support women's full equality, and thus are very praiseworthy. Nevertheless, other of JW's publications paint a very different picture of how women are viewed. What the Jw organizations fails to tell people is here that Lydia, Dorcas, and Prisca were said to actually be "elders", as pointed out in the book, "What Paul Really Said About Women," By John Temple Bristow. But JW's forbid women to serve as elders. Only men are given roles as elders or congergational leaders. Like Promise Keepers, JW's constantly makes claims of "honoring women" and yet their talks, books and printed material proves the opposite teachings. The JW's Revelation-A Grand Climax At Hand! Page #48, paragraph #8 claims that the reason why JW men turn apostate is because their wives fail to allow their husbands the God-given right to rule over them and thus they also "insight court action against Jehovah's faithful servants"; and that when a woman challenge a man's right to rule over her, that then this is a "Jezebel influence".
Paragraph #11 also claims that it is "LOVING for Christian overseers to FIRMLY RESTAIN ANY PROMOTION of EQUALITY or LIBERTY of RIGHTS for WOMEN as counseled by WATCHTOWER SOCIETY'S PUBLICATIONS." (Notice they did NOT say as counseled by the BIBLE!)
In the JW's Proclaimer's book page #221, paragraph #3 a women who is a devout reverer of Rutherford is quoted as blessing Rutherford and his issue of the Watchtower for helping promote her feelings of "relief to see the end of 'women's rights". Then she goes on to call women's rights as "local opinions and individual judgement that is opposite of Jehovah God and Jesus Christ and thus thereby a reproach on Jehovah's name".
Then back to the Revelation book page #51, paragraph #14 speaks of JW elders being used by Jesus as "trusted stars to POLICE and SURPRESS WOMEN". Individuals of the congregation are threatened to not question stating, "After these elders have fully examined a matter and JUDGMENT has been rendered it is NOT for INDIVIDUALS to probe into the ways and wherefores of the action taken. All should humbly accept the elders disposal of the matter and continue to be supportive of these congregational stars".
Also they call such faith groups as Seventh-Day Adventists and Christian Science "spiritually sullied" and "spiritually immoral" for simply having women teach from the pulpit. All of this is the complete opposite of Galatians 3:28, which says that, "There is neither Greek nor Jew nor Male Nor Female but that ALL are one through Christ"!
The committee recommendation was ratified at the SBC annual meeting on 2000-JUN-14.
A resolution which expresses concern for the status of women in the SBC has been presented to the 2000-JUN General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA). Resolution 00-25 has been referred to their Catholicity and Ecumenical Relations committee.
On 2000-OCT-21, Jimmy Carter, former President of the U.S. and a Sunday school teacher with the Southern Baptists since the age of 18, has severed ties with his denomination. He and his wife Rosalynn have felt "increasingly uncomfortable and somewhat excluded, in recent years." The denomination's statement that prohibits women from serving as pastors and which requires women to be submissive to their husbands was the final straw. Carter said: "I think there ought to be the ability for Baptists who have slightly different commitments to Christianity to get along, work together and love each other." 9
Baptist commentator Mark Coppenger has written a defense of the SBC decision. 10
Other Religions
Liberal Jewish groups, including Reform Judaism, have had female rabbis for years.
The theology of most Neopagan groups has always emphasized the equality of the genders; a few give their priestesses greater power than priests.
Native American traditional religions have recognized both male and female healers. Women have been accepted as ministers within the Unitarian Universalist Association for decades.
Recent developments
1999-OCT-17: India: India's Christian women were told to 'break culture of silence.' The biggest ever convention of Christian women in India has called for all 29 churches affiliated to the National Council of Churches in India (NCCI) to approve the ordination of women. The appeal was issued by the Ecumenical Women's Millennium Celebration, held from 14 to 17 October in Secunderabad, a city in southern India. More than 2000 women leaders and workers belonging to the NCCI's member churches - mainstream Protestant and Orthodox - attended the event. [ENI News Service]
References
Rt. Rev. Alexander Schmemann, "Concerning Women's Ordination - a letter to an episcopal friend," available at: http://www.episcopalnet.org/TractsForOurTimes/ "Raiser raises possibility of women's ordination in Orthodox churches," Ecumenical News International, 1998-DEC-8 "Raiser raises possibility of women's ordination in Orthodox churches," Ecumenical News International, 1998-DEC-9 B.B. Zikmund, A.T. Lummis, P.M.Y. Chang, ''Clergy Women: An Uphill Calling,'' Hartford Seminary, Hartford CT (scheduled to be published in 1998-MAY) Diego Ribadeneira, "The Spiritual Live, Still facing resistance, women ministers expand clergy's role," Boston Globe, Boston MA, 1998-FEB-07, Page B02 John Wimber, Article in Vineyard Reflections, 1994-MAR/APR Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood maintains a web site which promotes male leadership. See: http://www.cbmw.org "Baptist Faith and Message Committee: Response to feedback since report release," at: http://www.sbc.net/response.html News item posted by Covenant News. They disseminate "Today's news for today's church." See: http://www.CovenantNews.com/index.html Mark Coppenger, "Women Pastors and the SBC," at: http://www.comeletusreason.com/
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