Women in the Kingdom of God
Introduction
This post is the third in a series on God’s kingdom women. Each one of these posts is meant to stimulate your thinking. If you go to a conservative church, some of these ideas may be new to you. I hope you will explore God’s truth about His daughters.
My contention is that those who hold a hierarchal view of gender (men must lead; women must submit) base their claims on grounds that are biblically inconclusive, historically inaccurate, theologically incoherent, philosophically inconsistent, and ethically irresponsible. During these few weeks the posts seek to answer the well-founded questions that are raised by those who observe the inequity between men and women in the church.
- If men are superior to women, then why doesn’t God say so in his word?
2. If men are in charge, then why have women gotten the blame historically?
3. If men desire to rule by privilege and domination, then why did Jesus become a servant?
4. If men are essentially equal to women, then why are women still forbidden to serve in leadership positions?
5. If men are effective leaders, then why is there still so much abuse in the church and the home?
God has always called and gifted women for service in his kingdom. Christians believe that God’s Word is eternal. I believe that what God has to say about his children is of the most importance, so we looked at what the Bible had to say about women in ministry first. The principles that the Bible contains are timeless so we will look at history this time. Since God is in control of history, we should expect to find evidence of the fulfillment of God’s plan for women throughout history. Since God gives understanding, we should expect theology to conform to God’s design. Since God give wisdom, we should expect to discover that philosophical pursuits will agree with God’s Word. And since God created men and women to love and serve in his kingdom, we will find that not following Jesus as our example will lead to ethical problems.
Throughout this series, we will illustrate the problems with a view that only men may serve God in leadership positions in the church by relating the stories of women who were clearly called and gifted by God for service. Millions of souls were touched by the ministries of these women.
Last time we related a story about a woman who was called to serve on the mission field. She served in every capacity of ministry. When she arrived home in the US she was forbidden to speak from the pulpit because she was a woman. We asked the question – if she was good enough to serve in a foreign country, why was she not good enough to serve in the US? It should make you think.
This week we will look at the true story of a woman who was prevented from having a ministry outside of her home. Her only desire was to bring the joy of Christ to others. Her husband believes that a wife’s ministry is to her husband and children exclusively. Men are allowed to lead in public; women are only allowed to help at home. She wondered why she could not also serve in her community and along with me asked the question:
If men are in charge, then why have women gotten the blame historically?
Those opposing women in leadership positions in the church cannot prove their claims conclusively from the Scriptures or from history. They mishandle God’s word not only in the misinterpreted verses, but by leaving out the rest of the Scriptures that support God’s calling and gifting of women for his service.
“Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned … Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam …” Romans 5:12-14.
For centuries men have blamed women for the evil in the world. The apostle Paul tells us something different. Right at the heart of the hierarchical understanding of the man-woman relationship is an appeal to tradition. Sadly, in modern conservative churches, where patriarchy is preached from the pulpit, the history of women is largely ignored. Assuming the inferiority of women, patriarchal pastors teach mainly the stories of men while neglecting most of the stories of women. One outcome of this notion that women have lesser tasks in the church, results in limiting their participation, especially in leadership positions.
Every time a girl opens a history book and finds only male stories, she learns that she is worthless. It is time to change that by telling the stories of God’s daughters.
Catherine – Denied Her Call to Ministry
It was late afternoon when Catherine moved wearisomely to the kitchen. She felt like she couldn’t keep up with the day-to-day grind anymore. She was very tired. Tom expected his meals on time and would take no excuses. Catherine looked at the pile of dishes in the sink and the scattered remains of the lunch preparation for her husband. Tom insisted that not only was cleanliness next to godliness, but routine was the way to spiritual sanctification. “I am really blessed to have Christian relatives,” Catherine thought as she labored through her chores.
Tom taught Catherine that her ministry in life was her husband and family. Catherine’s day had begun at 4:45 AM when she aroused each of their four children for family prayer time that had to start promptly at 5 AM. Catherine sometimes felt that Ton’s strict rules were hard on the children, but he was a good provider who came from a devout religious family. They had devotions and breakfast. Each of the children was drilled on their Bible memory verses. Tom left for work at 6 AM with his carefully packed lunch box. Catherine believed that her spirituality was measured in how faithful she was to her tasks at home.
Their homeschooled children were already doing their reading assignments when she entered the dining room ready to continue with their lessons. It was a typical day going from one child to the next for instruction. Phone calls, laundry, cleaning house and dealing with the problems of her in-laws filled every space between teaching the children. The boys had soccer practice at 3:00 PM. Afterwards, she had to get them home and get dinner in the space of an hour. The girls were on the local swim team and had practice every night. As soon as dinner was completed Catherine and the girls hurried through the cleanup and got ready to leave for swim practice.
One evening as I sat next to her on the bleachers at the pool watching our kids do laps, I noticed that she was really exhausted. She looked at least 10 years older than she was. I reached out to pat her on the shoulder and offer some sympathy but she flinched. “You do not know what kind of a day I had,” she said apologetically. I never saw her husband at these practices and couldn’t help wondering why he didn’t take a turn with the driving.
Our children were about the same ages and as the years went by we saw a lot of each other. I learned that Tom believed that there were strict dividing lines between his work and his wife’s work. His life was carefully planned out as the husband and head of the household. He rose early, had his own devotions and then guided the family during breakfast. He left promptly every day and by all accounts was a valued employee at his job. He came home at 5 PM expecting dinner to be served immediately. Then he retired to his office for his own studies and perhaps tasks he brought home from work. On the weekends he visited his parents or other family members. His parents and siblings were all devout Christians, homeschoolers, and churchgoers. The males all had offices at church. The women wore hats to show their respect for their husbands.
Some years later after the children had grown and moved on with their lives, Tom showed up at our home with their television. He wanted us to put it in our barn until he called for it later. He said that it was too much of a temptation for his wife. He believed she wasted too many hours in front of it. I was in the kitchen preparing some tea and cookies to serve and I couldn’t help overhearing my husband agree to keep the television. I couldn’t believe my ears. Of course, I could not say anything at the time. But, knowing a bit about Catherine’s daily routine that Tom had set up for her, I was wondering when she had time to watch television. I was furious but I waited for Tom to leave before I spoke with my husband.
My husband said that he was completely caught off guard. He’d learned by now that Tom had “control” issues, but even this was unexpected. We did not want to interfere in someone else’s marriage, so we just prayed about it. Later we wished we would have at least asked them to dinner to talk about it.
A few months later Tom came to get the television back. He said that Catherine had gone to live with her sister in California. Tom went to their church and had Catherine excommunicated. The elders at the church had agreed that Catherine had no right to go out from under her husband’s authority. Tom needed to maintain his status as an elder and could not have a disobedient wife. To our knowledge Tom never looked at his own behavior and asked whether or not he had a part to play in Catherine’s unhappiness. It was part of the patriarchal teaching of their church that when things go wrong, it is the wife’s fault. Men can never be wrong; women must learn to obey at all times.
After a few weeks Catherine returned. I was hoping she would look refreshed, but she was completely despondent. She walked around like a zombie going from chore to chore making sure Tom had no reason to complain.
Catherine cut off all her friends. I do not know what happened to her. I tried calling and leaving messages, but she never returned my calls. A mutual friend said that Catherine had given up. She did spend time with her grown children and relatives, but that was all. She was facing the rest of her life with only one purpose – make Tom satisfied with her.
Tom was basing his right to exercise absolute control over his family on tradition. Neither he nor Catherine realized that the interpretation of history that they learned from the pulpit is erroneous. People have not studied history very much. Most history books, and shamefully church history books, contain few or no stories of women. Tom’s pastor may or may not have taken a church history course in seminary, but that didn’t prevent him from teaching that men have always exercised complete authority over women.
One of the saddest things about this story is that while Tom kept his wife home to serve all of his needs exclusively, he was preventing her from using her gifts and willingness to serve others. The church and the community would have benefited from Catherine’s loving ministrations.
It’s time to change an unbiblical, harmful tradition. It’s time to let women serve God in the ways they are called.
