Great article that speaks to Paul's position on women in the ministry.

http://www.churchplants.com/articles/3850-was-the-apostle-paul-for-or-against-women-in-ministry.html

4 Reasons Jesus is My Favorite Feminist

Here is a good link.
"4 Reasons Jesus is My Favorite Feminist"!

http://sojo.net/blogs/2013/03/11/top-4-reasons-jesus-my-favorite-feminist

And I direct you to a post...

"Women in Church Leadership – Disappointed But Not Despairing"

http://slingshotgroup.org/women/

Excerpt from
Christians for Biblical Equality Arise Newsletter

Baptist Women Pastors Reach Milestone

The number of women called as pastors or co-pastors of moderate Baptist churches has reached 150. Up from 102 in 2005, this growth is "phenomenal" says Pam Durso,  executive director of Baptist Women in Ministry. The numbers include the Alliance of Baptists, the Baptist General Convention of Texas, the Baptist General Association of Virginia and the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.

www.cbeinternational.org

"The “new woman” was not an invention of second-wave feminism either. Betty did not start the “woman movement”; Christians did. Motivated by the belief that men and women were made in God’s image to “rule the earth” together, these pro-woman, pro-justice believers sought to right wrongs for those who had less social power.

Isn’t it time we reclaimed our own story?"

Sandra Glahn, ThM,

http://inamirrordimly.com/2012/02/16/womens-history-give-credit-where-its-due/

"The “new woman” was not an invention of second-wave feminism either. Betty did not start the “woman movement”; Christians did. Motivated by the belief that men and women were made in God’s image to “rule the earth” together, these pro-woman, pro-justice believers sought to right wrongs for those who had less social power.

Isn’t it time we reclaimed our own story?"

Sandra Glahn, ThM,

http://inamirrordimly.com/2012/02/16/womens-history-give-credit-where-its-due/

"So when Paul says that he and his fellow apostles were present among the Thessalonians like a nurse or mother, perhaps we should understand that there is something distinctly “feminine” about leading the church of God. And, that this femininity is part of what it means to bear the image of God and manifest the presence of Christ.

Who is the Father of our Bible? Who is the Son? It is not only the king and conqueror, but the nurturer and nourisher, the one who cares for and holds close. Not only (I should say, stereotypically) “masculine” but also the (stereotypically) feminine.

It is the God who is only rightly and fully imaged as male and female. Together."

J. R. Daniel Kirk

http://www.jrdkirk.com/

Liberian Women

Very interesting article on the Christians for Biblical Equality site.

http://blog.cbeinternational.org/2011/10/exciting-news

Tell me what you think of this definition of feminism. Does it counter your understanding of what is Christian or does it reinforce it?

A Feminist is “a person who is in favor of, and who promotes, the equality of women with men, a person who advocates and practices treating women primarily as human persons (as men are so treated) and willingly contravenes social customs in so acting.” Leonard Swidler

Authenticity--

1. Research on the attributes that we associate with "being feminine" tells us that the most important qualities for women are:

- Thin

- Nice

- Pretty

If you want to play it totally safe, you have to be willing to stay as small, quiet, and attractive as possible.

2. In my own decade-long research on authenticity and shame, I found that speaking out is a major shame trigger for women. Here's how the research participants described the struggle:

- Don’t make people feel uncomfortable, but be honest.

- Don’t upset anyone or hurt anyone’s feelings, but say what’s on your mind.

- Sound informed and educated, but not like a know-it-all.

- Don’t say anything unpopular or controversial, but have the courage to disagree with the crowd.

3. #2 applies to all issues, not just politics. When "being liked" is more important than "being real", we'll need to be very careful everywhere - at work, church, at our children’s schools, and on the soccer fields. It's exhausting.—Brene Brown

Do you find this to be true in your church work? If so, how do you overcome the tendency to try to be liked at the expense of being real?

The Eternal Subordination of the Son?

Until the twentieth century Christians universally spoke of the “superiority” of men and the “inferiority” of women. After the 1970s, with the advent of “women’s lib,” Christians had to abandon this language, and, in addition, most abandoned the idea that women were subordinated to men. Conservative evangelicals, without exception, gave up this language as well, although some sought a new way to uphold male hegemony with more genteel wording. They affirmed that men and women are equals, yet God has given them different roles. This sounds fine, but when unpacked it means women have the “role” of obeying and men the role of leading; no other “role” is in mind. What is more, this “role” is permanent since God ascribes it in creation. Since God established this social hierarchical order before the Fall, it cannot be changed. It is the ideal. As this difference in “role” (in plain speak, difference in authority) is the one essential difference between men and women, to deny the permanent subordination of women is to deny male-female differentiation as such. This novel case for women’s permanent “role” subordination raises exactly the same problem as their novel case for the Son’s eternal “role” subordination. If women are permanently subordinated in role, and their subordinate role can never change, then they are the subordinated sex. They do not merely function subordinately. Their God-given subordination defines their person or being. They are the subordinated sex. Kevin Giles

The ' eternal subordination of the Son' argument is one of the issues that women face as they consider and enter the role of pastor or minister. It is the basis of the complementarian argument for the role of women and men. If you read the article you will see that he argues against the permanent subordination of the Son. In fact, he wrote a whole book on the subject called, The Trinity and Subordinationism: The Doctrine of God and the Contemporary Gender Debate (InterVarsity, 2002). It is worth the read!

Christianity challenged the primacy of politics

Elshtain points to Augustine, Aquinas, and Luther in particular as Christian thinkers who challenged the classical elevation of the public realm that had as its necessary corollary the exclusion of women from political life.

Elshtain writes, "Christianity challenged the primacy of politics. It did not relegate secular power to silence and shadows as secular power had formerly relegated the private, but the claims of the public-political world no longer went unchallenged. Caesar now had to confront the formidable figure of Christ." Christianity bequeathed to the individual qua human being irreducible worth and dignity, and placed independent value on "the realm of necessity" inhabited by women. In so doing, it turned Aristotle "on his head." The Greeks had excluded women from the highest expressions of human life, action, and thought; Christianity smashed the distinction between higher and lower forms of human existence, with effects that reverberated through to the present.

BeautyTipsforMinisters.com

BeautyTipsforMinisters.com
Just take a look. The site may not be to your taste and it might offend you, but the author does speak to some interesting clothing issues that women in the ministry face.
Beware...Not Yet Rated

Biblical Equality

What is Biblical equality? It is the belief that people are equal before God and in Christ. All have equal responsibility to use their gifts and obey their calling to the glory of God. God freely calls believers to roles and ministries without regard to class, gender, or race. We believe this because the Bible and Jesus Christ teach it to us. That is biblical equality.--ALAN G. PADGETT

John Wesley's support of women in leadership

The heartbeat of the whole [Wesleyan] movement was personal religious experience and its power to transform both the individual and society. Wesley was ready to adopt and adapt any idea that might further this cause. His chief purpose was to help the Church proclaim the gospel more effectively. The spirit of the movement and the vision of the founder contributed both to the acceptance and encouragement of female leadership. Wesley pioneered and sustained the revival. Women, as well as men, were allowed to express themselves freely.

She Offered Them Christ: The Legacy of Women Preachers in Early Methodism, Paul Chilcote. (Abingdon, 1993, 24)

Women-in-Leadership Scale

You might want to take a look at Keith Drury's Women-in-Leadership Scale. Sorry, I was unable to embed the URL, but try copying and pasting the URL below to take a look. Let me know what you think.

http://www.drurywriting.com/keith/women.as.leaders.scale.htm

From the The Wesleyan Church Position Statement on Women in Ministry:
However, we believe that all pertinent Scriptures need to be interpreted in the light of their immediate contexts, as well as in the context of Scripture as a whole. We also believe that no passages of Scripture clearly prohibit women from holding positions of authority. The passages that on the surface appear to do so are often twisted by interpretations stemming from biased readings of the text. In some cases there are faulty or biased translations. And in others there is evidence of localized situations that required special treatment that was not intended for general application. We believe that God has progressively revealed in the Scriptures His purpose to call, equip and empower women for full opportunity of ministry in the church. Galatians 3:28 states that in the Christian era "There is neither . . . male, nor female." This is a general principle of Scripture. Any Scriptures that at first appear to contradict this general statement must be understood in light of the general principle of Galatians 3:28. Clearly the spiritual and heavenly identity proclaimed in Galatians 3:28 has precedence over the earthly, administrative identity.
http://www.wesleyan.org/em/women_ministry

The discussion regarding whether Scripture allows for women to be leaders in the church always centers around how we interpret Scripture. If one supports Women in Ministry, then he or she is accused of using Scripture to support their position. The assumption is that to not support Women in Ministry is the correct interpretation of Scripture. Those who oppose women in leadership assume they do not bring their own belief or pre-conceived idea with them as they search Scripture as well.
Often the assertion is made that women who respond to God's call interpret Scripture to their advantage. It would seem that men who oppose Women in Ministry might also interpret Scripture to their advantage and it could also appear that this interpretation might be self-serving as well.
Just a thought for discussion…

Separate Authority?

Equality in ability does not mean equality in authority. An attorney may be twice as qualified as any one of the partners in his firm, but this does not mean he determines the strategy with which the most important cases are handled. A physician may be skilled in surgery far beyond her chief of staff, but this does not always result in her choosing the procedures of the hospital. To say separate authority has been given to men and to women does not demean either
gender.

Do you think this is a legitimate argument as to why women should not be ordained ministers in The Wesleyan Church?
If women cannot have access to the same level of authority as men, does that not demean them?
Please let me know what you think.

A successful woman preacher was once asked what special obstacles have you met as a woman in the ministry? Not one, she answered, except the lack of a minister's wife. Anna Garlin Spencer

Trafficking and Exploitation of Women and Children

I just returned from a conference 'enlightening' us on the reality of Human Trafficking. It is surprising to learn how much goes on here in the United States. Of course, those trafficked are mostly women and children. I believe that one of the reasons it is so commonplace to traffic young girls and women is that there is such a low value placed on the female person. One of the chapters in our study guide was on the biblical foundation for the church's response to this evil. Another was on the biblical basis for valuing women. Although I found the text helpful for discussion, I found it also somewhat disturbing that such a chapter would even be necessary. It, of course, makes me think about how the low valuation of women is also a reason why people oppose Women in Ministry. Another interesting thought to contemplate don't you think?