When women fight for justice for themselves in church circles, they are perceived as militant feminists. If men stand alongside them, shoulder-to-shoulder, then something that looks like “Kingdom” will result.
Where are the men who will champion women, standing up for their rights? Where are the Baraks who recognize women in leadership and refuse to go into battle without them?
What is God about to do?
18 replies on “It takes both men and women”
But let’s choose together battles that are worth fighting. Let’s not fight for women in pulpits when pulpits need to go away…
You make an interesting point, Joel!
true!
Agreed, Joel. My heart is to see men and women co-laboring together in the Kingdom. It’s much easier without pulpits–literal or metaphorical ones
If we define kingdom as the realm in which the King is obeyed, then wherever men, women and children are following Jesus – that is the kingdom.
But let’s remember the children in all this. Believing children have some wonderful advantages over us adult believers. Everybody agrees that men can lead, a growing number agree that women can lead too, but who has considered that children can lead? Sometimes they do so in the most natural and unselfconscious way. And sometimes, as men and women, we just need to swallow our pride and follow them!
What is Father about to do?
I have a strong hunch that he is beginning to show us that all should lead and all should follow. What I mean by that is that we don’t need to recognise particular people as leaders and others as followers. Instead we will be recognising leaders in the moment. Who is leading right now? Who is leading by their words, by their actions, by their love, by their compassion, by their joy, by their wisdom, by their humility? If Christ is revealing himself through a particular person right now, follow that person!
I love those thoughts. Who is leading right now…. in any or some of those ways you listed. So cool to think about. Imagine if we all had an open heart to that!
Chris, as always you’ve hit the nail on the head. And I hope many people read the blog post you wrote on this subject at http://bit.ly/13NlcKb
lets commit to walking together to make a difference…mutually supportive, believing the best in each other, trusting each other. Thats the good stuff of the kingdom that is gender-neutral!!!
Julie Ross
I think the men of the Church who will champion women, standing up for their rights and recognize women in leadership and refuse to go into battle without them….. are at the same place that all the men who would even just go into battle at all are.
The same place where the men who are wrapped up in the gluttony (desire for excess, more, looking for satisfaction in things) of this culture are. The same place where the men who are trapped in addictions of porn, alcohol, lust for money & power are. The same place where all the men are who have lost their eternal focus and are instead focused on themselves….are trapped in self pity for the mundane, unexciting, strenuous place they are at in their home, marriage, work place.
The blame doesn’t lie entirely on their shoulders. They are surrounded by women who put pressure on them to fulfill their emotional needs that only the Lord can fill. They are pushed, prodded nagged and assaulted to change quicker, do more, be better instead of respected & loved & encouraged. They are trying to fit into a institutional church business that caters to a very specific personality…. and on top of that confuses sin with simple God given personalities & traits & enjoyments.
This skirmish we are fighting for women is not an isolated battle. It is simply a symptom of the major battle of our life and of every age. Who will be Lord of our lives? When our men surrender to the Lord, make Him the focus at all times, and allow the Lord to take back redeem, the world through His sons, those sons will be transformed along with their corner of the world. When our men & women focus on the Lord & surrender to Him, and put Him in His rightful place of Lord….. we will have unity in Him and we will able to see Christ in each other and bring that out!
Will we allow God’s love to enrapture captivate & transform our lives because we can’t take our eyes off of Him, Jesus Christ? He is the solution to all our problems & skirmishes! Give Him the victory of Lordship!
When the body if functioning well, with Jesus as the head and us all connected to him and gaining strength from one another, we will see this. And I agree that this is symptomatic of a dysfunctional body
I have been a follower of Christ for more than sixty years, and this issue has been among us for that time, at least.
More than thirty years ago I was dealing with this issue in congregations, and encouraging women to use the gifts with which they have been endowed, and it has been my joy to see women become excellent teachers and preachers of the Scriptures, in churches where I served, as an equal, alongside men and women, and in which I refused to be designated as different by the title “pastor”.
I can promise you that the men/women matter will never be resolved by men championing women, or visa versa, or, any other “fight”. It shocks me that any believer would use such terminology.
If we could only learn that it is NOT about leadership, nor is it about justice!
Men and women, who are followers of Christ, are JUST THAT, FOLLOWERS, who have the ONLY leader we need, the Lord, Jesus Christ, our Pastor.
When we realize that Scripture has NO sexual delineation for being a follower of Christ, nor an obedient disciple, and, maker of disciples; and, when we focus on what we are called to do, to, “… love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself”, we will be found to be working shoulder to shoulder in the field in which He has placed us.
It is only then that “something that looks like “Kingdom” will result.”
The evil one loves to see the dichotomy of the separation of Christians into two subclasses, one male, the other female, which the unbelieving world has spawned, and encouraged as a “fight”..
“There is ONE body and ONE Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— ONE Lord, ONE faith, ONE baptism, ONE God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all”.
The Leader, our Lord, Jesus Christ, promised to build it, and He is. It’s His work, by His Spirit, and He uses women, and men, who function from the position of the weakness of a servant, not the power of the leader. He set the example for us to follow, both women and men!.
just for clarity if you were referring to my post….. whenever I use the word fight, battle, skirmish, war…. it’s never about women vs. women or women vs. men or men vs. women but about all of us vs. what binds us. all of us in the Bride vs. the enemy! This battle to free women is just a symptom of the major spiritual war going on in our hearts!
Totally agree
P.S. and I agree with you that it’s all about Jesus and being under Him and focusing on Him….like I said in my comment, the way we “fight” is by surrendering to the Lord!
Aussiejohn, I agree with almost all of what you say. It is all about following Jesus, and thank you for the example that you live. I especially agree that it’s about living as a servant (not even a servant leader). However, as a woman, I’ve found it hugely encouraging when men support and stand with me, which is what I believe you live and what I mean by “championing.” For example, my husband, Tony, is a “Barak.” He is a gifted speaker but he often opens the door for me to speak instead of/as well as him. Other men have deliberately included me in on what would otherwise have been an “all male” team, not as the “token woman” but in my own right. That to me is huge.
Have you heard of the Sacred Friendship Gathering? While not it’s direct focus, it’s happening there as a result of aiming for friendship between men and women. Friendship -> equality -> lack of hierarchy -> opportunity for women, and men supporting women.
I haven’t heard of it but it sounds great. Is it in any way based on the book by Dan Brennan, Sacred Unions, Sacred Passions?
Yes. Dan is the one who organizes the conference. There have been a lot of great people there.