Tag: Biblical Womanhood

Mailbag

The Mailbag: Can women serve on the pastor search committee?

Michelle Lesley

Our church is currently searching for a new pastor. We have an advisory board (pastor search committee), appointed and led by our head deacon, which is comprised of six men and six women (individuals, not married couples) who have been instructed from Scripture about how to search for a pastor.

I don’t agree with women being involved because Paul speaks about women in the Bible (1 Timothy 2:11-15, 1 Corinthians 14:34, and Ephesians 5:23-27). Knowing that women can’t preach, why would there be women involved on this board! Also, the women on this board are not very active in our church.

I don’t feel like we can approach this as we would be basically run off from this church, since we’ve seen it done to one of our friends who went and spoke to our previous pastor about plagiarism. How do you think I should approach this situation?

I’m so sorry this situation is causing you angst, and I hope I can help alleviate some of it. There’s a lot going on here, so let’s take this step by step.

I’m familiar with pastor search committees. I’ve never personally served on one, but I know how they generally operate. The pastor search committee locates potential candidates for the position of pastor, sifts through all of them, finds the best candidate (or possibly two or three), and presents the candidate to the church to be voted on. You didn’t say how your church’s advisory board functions, so I’m just going to assume that this is the general way they operate.

May I take this opportunity to say I’m really glad the board at your church has been instructed from Scripture about finding a pastor and what makes a pastor biblically qualified or not. A previous church I was a member of had a pastor search committee that brought in some sort of consulting firm to train them that I surmise was light on (or possibly void of) Scripture, and heavy on more extra-biblical metrics like requiring a particular degree or level of formal education, charisma, pragmatic church growth methods, fundraising, etc. So the fact that your advisory board was trained with Scripture is something to be thankful for.

I don’t agree with women being involved because Paul speaks about women in the Bible (1 Timothy 2:11-15, 1 Corinthians 14:34, and Ephesians 5:23-27).

Yes, God, through Paul, does speak about women in the Bible, but does what He says in these passages apply to this particular situation of women serving on church boards and committees?

Ephesians 5:23-27 is about wives submitting to their own husbands and husband loving their wives as Christ loved the church. It is not applicable to women serving on church boards/committees unless one of these women has a husband who has told her he does not want her to serve on this committee and she has defied him and is serving anyway.

First Corinthians 14:34 is about keeping order in the worship service, not about women who have been asked by church leadership to serve on a board/committee (which is not a worship service) to offer their input and help search for a pastor. So this passage doesn’t apply, either.

First Timothy 2:11-15 is about as close as you’re going to come to a passage that’s applicable to this situation. Women are not to “exercise authority over a man”. (The “teaching” part doesn’t apply because the women on the board/committee aren’t teaching or preaching to the men, they’re working with them discussing candidates, reviewing resumes, etc.).

Now these women are not exercising authority over men merely by being appointed to this advisory board. If a woman were the head of the committee, or if there were more women than men on the committee, then you’d have an authority issue.

But the way things stand, the only ways I can think of that these women might attempt to exercise authority over the men on the board is by a) being bossy, telling the men what to do or not to do, insisting on their own way, etc., or b) forming a voting bloc to thwart a decision the men are all in favor of. (You did not mention whether the head deacon is included in the “six men” or whether he is the seventh man on the committee. If he’s the seventh man, and a voting member of the board, the women won’t be able to form a voting bloc.)

Furthermore, these women are not exercising authority over the men of the congregation merely because they’ve been asked to help find the next pastor. They are church members representing the congregation, sorting through pastoral candidates, and offering input.

Knowing that women can’t preach, why would there be women involved on this board!

Because they’re members of your church, representing your congregation, sorting through pastoral candidates, and offering input. There are men in your congregation who aren’t biblically qualified to preach, either, but that doesn’t mean they couldn’t serve on this board. Being qualified to preach has nothing to do with serving on this board. They’re two separate issues.

Just because God prohibits women from leading the church in some ways doesn’t mean He prohibits women from serving the church in every way. We have to be sure we’re not placing restrictions on women that go beyond Scripture. That’s legalism, and that’s a sin.

Just because God prohibits women from leading the church in some ways doesn’t mean He prohibits women from serving the church in every way.

When you get a new pastor, he’s going to be the pastor of the men and the women of your church. There’s nothing wrong with some of the church’s women offering input on the various candidates. There are often things women pick up on about people (such as the pastoral candidate, his wife, or his children) that men don’t pick up on, because God created women to be generally more intuitive about people, body language, tone of voice, facial expressions, and so on. Women’s input is valuable in a situation like this.

Also, the women on this board are not very active in our church.

This is problematic. (Or it could be, depending on what you mean by “not very active”.) The picture I get from the phrase “not very active” is a person who misses church a lot (without a good, biblical reason) and isn’t plugged in and serving. If that’s the case, these women shouldn’t be serving in any capacity, let alone a position of responsibility like this board, because they aren’t faithful and committed to the church. The same goes for any men on the board who “aren’t very active”. You don’t get to be “faithful in much” until you’re first “faithful in little,” because if you’re “unrighteous in little,” you’re going to be “unrighteous in much”. (Luke 16:10)

I don’t feel like we can approach this as we would be basically run off from this church, since we’ve seen it done to one of our friends who went and spoke to our previous pastor about plagiarism. How do you think I should approach this situation?

I’m not privy to the details about your friend approaching the previous pastor about plagiarism. Perhaps he was committing the sin of plagiarism, and your friend went to him humbly, lovingly, in obedience to Matthew 18:15-20 and expressed her concerns firmly but kindly, and the pastor was evil and kicked her out of the church when she did nothing wrong. Maybe that’s why that pastor isn’t there any more.

On the other hand, maybe your friend didn’t handle the situation biblically. Maybe she falsely accused the pastor, and sinfully left in a huff when properly confronted with her own sin.

I’m not saying either of those things definitely happened, I’m saying I have no way of knowing exactly what happened. But this isn’t about your friend. This is about you.

The first thing you need to do is to speak to your husband about the situation – because while Ephesians 5:22-33 doesn’t apply to the women whose husbands are OK with them serving on the advisory board, it does apply to whether or not your husband (if you’re married) is OK with you “approaching this situation” with anyone. If he’s a Believer and a member of the church, it might be best for him to handle things.

If he’s not OK with you approaching someone about this situation, don’t. Respect and submit to his decision, or you will be the one in violation of the Ephesians passage you cited.

If your husband is OK with you speaking to someone about the board, I would suggest setting up an appointment with the head deacon, maybe inviting him over for coffee with you and your husband or something like that, and – calmly, kindly, and rationally – express to him only your concerns about people who are not faithful members of the church serving on the committee. Because, as you’ve explained things to me, that is really the only biblical issue here.

Unless you have clear, concrete, irrefutable evidence that one or more of the women on this board are behaving in an obviously and verifiably sinful way, there’s nothing else to “approach”. These women have been asked to help find a new pastor and offer input according to Scripture, and there’s nothing unbiblical about that.

Because Scripture doesn’t prohibit women from doing the tasks required of pastor search committee members, this is an issue of Christian liberty. If you, as a woman, would feel uncomfortable serving on a pastor search committee, then by all means, don’t sin against your conscience and agree to serve. If you’re married and your husband doesn’t want you to serve on a pastor search committee, you should respect and submit to his decision and not serve. If a church wishes to make a policy that only men may serve on a pastor search committee, they are well within biblical parameters to do so.

That being said, the role of women on a committee that makes decisions impacting the church’s direction, policies, ecclesiology, etc., is that of helping and offering input. It would not be biblical for decision-making power in these matters to rest solely or primarily in the hands of women.

You might think of it like a marriage. In a healthy, godly marriage, husbands and wives work together. They discuss how to handle various issues, the wife offers suggestions and input, and she handles tasks that are within her jurisdiction. The wise husband listens to the wise counsel of his wife and uses it to make the most well-informed and godly decisions he can.

That’s how women should function on a church committee.

In order to facilitate that dynamic, here are some parameters for structuring a standing church committee that I believe would be wise (this is my opinion born of knowledge of Scripture and decades of church experience, not law; there could also be exceptions depending on the purpose of the committee):

  • Committees should be chaired by men
  • Committees should be comprised of less than 50% women.
  • Unless they have some sort of needed expertise uniquely related to the purpose of the committee, women should not serve on committees which oversee ministries, activities, or events comprised only of men (e.g. the men’s ministry, security team, the men who fix widows’ cars, do repair work for them, etc.)

With a little wisdom, women can biblically serve on church committees, conscience and church policy permitting.

If you have a question about: a Bible passage, an aspect of theology, a current issue in Christianity, or how to biblically handle a family, life, or church situation, comment below (I’ll hold all questions in queue {unpublished} for a future edition of The Mailbag) or send me an e-mail or private message. If your question is chosen for publication, your anonymity will be protected.

Complementarianism, Movies, Southern Baptist/SBC

Movie Time: Battle for the Minds

Michelle Lesley

Originally published May 21, 2019

Ladies- have you read my Mailbag article, Counter Arguments to Egalitarianism? If not, I would encourage you to read it before watching today’s movie. And if you’re new to the complementarian vs. egalitarian kerfuffle, I would encourage you to read, not only that article, but all of the articles in the “Additional Resources” section of that article as well.

Why?

Because today’s movie, Battle for the Minds, approaches the issue from the egalitarian perspective, and you need to be sure you’re firmly grounded in the biblical perspective so that “no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.”

Also, today’s movie is kind of like a homework assignment. How would you apply the complementarian apologetics you learned in the Mailbag article as well as your knowledge of Scripture to the egalitarian arguments and pronouncements being made in this movie?

Battle for the Minds was released on PBS in 1997. It presents the egalitarian viewpoint on the stage of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary’s transition from theological liberalism to biblical theological conservatism under the then-new leadership of Dr. Albert Mohler, and delves into a bit of the Conservative Resurgence in the Southern Baptist Convention around that time as well. (As an aside, I am not familiar with any of the people in the film presented as being on the egalitarian side except for Anne Graham Lotz. I’m only familiar with a few of those on the complementarian side: Albert Mohler, David Miller, and Paige Patterson.)

If you are Southern Baptist, I strongly encourage you to watch and carefully consider these events from our history in light of the battle we are now facing in the SBC concerning the role of women in the church and in the Convention. Because what Nancy Ammerman says at the 37:04 mark is correct. Since all SBC churches are autonomous, many Southern Baptists only concern themselves with their own churches and don’t trouble themselves to worry about what’s going on at the national level. But when you do this, you fail to take into consideration that what’s going on at the national level trickles down to your local church in the form of what’s being taught to your next pastor or staff member at our seminaries; the authors, musicians, and other content creators being sold (and not being sold) at LifeWay; the theology in the Sunday School and VBS curriculum your church uses, etc. It also affects the theology and ecclesiology our IMB and NAMB missionaries and church planters use and teach. And finally, the leadership and issues at the national level are the face the Southern Baptist Convention presents to the world.

But even if you’re not Southern Baptist, you will probably still find this movie informative to the way your own church or denomination is responding to the issue of the biblical role of women in the church.

A couple of things to be on the lookout for, and give consideration to, as you watch Battle for the Minds:

•Notice the amount of Scripture presented in the movie. Is any Scripture presented that backs up the egalitarian view? Is egalitarianism vs. complementarianism presented as a biblical and spiritual issue or an “our position vs. their position” issue?

•Note the sex of each person on the egalitarian side and the sex of each person on the complementarian side. Are any complementarian women presented? Do you think there were absolutely no women on the complementarian side of the issue when these events were transpiring? Do you see how the exclusion of complementarian women in this film gives the subtle illusion that a) all women are egalitarian, and b) the reason men are complementarian is because they’re sexist and trying to protect their power and position – the same argument people like Beth Moore are attempting to make today?* Do you think it was sexist to exclude women from the complementarian side?

*(Screenshot 1, 2)

Holidays (Other), Reformation Day

A RefHERmation Day Study

Michelle Lesley

Originally published October 31, 2018

Reformation Day is Friday, October 31.

This article is excerpted from my Bible study
Imperishable Beauty: A Study of Biblical Womanhood.

What better way to celebrate Reformation Day and biblical womanhood than to combine the two? Today, we’re going to take a look at some women in Reformation history and in biblical history who exemplified biblical womanhood by influencing others toward godliness.

Choose any of the women below and read their stories (click on their names). Then consider the following questions:

1. In what ways did this woman exemplify biblical womanhood in her culture, context, circumstances, family situation, or church?

2. Which godly character traits or Fruit of the Spirit were especially obvious in her life, words, and actions?

3. Which Scripture passages come to mind as you read this woman’s story? In what ways did she live these Scriptures out (or fail to live them out)?

4. Are there any instances of sin in this woman’s story? If so, how can you learn from what she did wrong and avoid this sin in your own life?

5. How does this woman set a godly example that you can apply to your own life?

6. In what ways did this woman point someone to Jesus, serve the Kingdom, or help God’s people?

Women of the Bible

Esther

Ruth

Abigail

Deborah and Jael

Miriam

Mary

Priscilla

Lydia

Dorcas

Women of the Reformation

Catherine d’Bourbon

Jeanne D’Albret

Marguerite de Navarre

Katharina Schutz Zell

Anna Adlischweiler

Anna Reinhard

Katharina von Bora Luther

Christian women, Church, Holidays (Other), Reformation Day

8 Theses for Women of the Modern Day Reformation

Michelle Lesley

Reformation Day is Friday, October 31.

Originally published October 20, 2017

October 31, 2017, marked the 500th anniversary of the beginning of the Protestant Reformation, and because I’m all theme-y and whatnot, I’m in the midst of a fantastic book called Reformation Women by Rebecca VanDoodewaard who I dearly wish were on social media so I could shamelessly fangirl her and make a general nuisance of myself by asking too many questions.

Get this book. Now. You’re welcome.

Normally, when we read about the Reformation, we’re reading about great preachers and leaders like Luther, Calvin, Zwingli, and Hus, but preaching was not the only work of the Reformation. And that’s one of the things that captivated me about Rebecca’s book. All of the women included therein were strikingly courageous, tireless laborers, who contributed greatly  to the success of the Reformation, and they did it all while coloring inside the lines of biblical womanhood – doing vital work godly women are uniquely equipped by Christ to do. They opened their homes as a refuge to scores of Protestants (often including those aforementioned notable preachers and other integral leaders) fleeing for their lives from Catholic marauders. They set up prison ministries and fed and clothed the poor. They nursed their communities through the Plague. Those who were queens and princesses used their power to protect Reformers and change persecutory laws. Those who were married to pastors and leaders helped in their ministries and edited their books and papers. And they wrote. Poetry. Position papers. Booklets. Letters. What a happy discovery (for me, anyway) to find sisters of the quill from so long ago.

All of these women were strikingly courageous, tireless laborers, who contributed greatly  to the success of the Reformation, and they did it all while coloring inside the lines of biblical womanhood.

But these great ladies were not our only foremothers in the faith. For as long as God’s people have been God’s people, God’s people have rebelled and needed to be reformed. In fact, that’s the entire, overarching theme of the Old Testament- the need for Israel to reform from its idolatry. And all along the way we see faithful women like Deborah, Jael, Esther, Jehosheba, Jedidah, Huldah, Samson’s mother, and others willing to buck the trend of sin and rebellion and point the way back to God and holy living by their deeds and the example of their lives.

The New Testament gives us extraordinary examples such as the women who ministered to Jesus during His earthly ministry, stood by Him at the cross, and were the first ones at His tomb. Priscilla, Lydia, Dorcas, Eunice, Lois, Phoebe and other believing women soon followed, all lending their aid in their own unique ways to reforming dead, legalistic Judaism into biblical Christianity.

All of these great women of God, serving Him through thousands of years as only godly women can, laying the foundation with their blood, sweat, and tears, for the church we know today.

But have we “arrived”? Is the need for women to work for reform in the church a fast fading dot in the rear-view mirror of modern day evangelicalism? Judging from the articles I read and the e-mails I receive about the problems in the church, the answer to that question would be a big, fat “no.”

Perhaps armies of the Catholic “church” no longer hunt down fleeing Protestants. And, maybe Nero isn’t using Christians as torches for his garden parties any more (although there are certainly areas of the world where our brothers and sisters in Christ face similar threats every day). But the stealth, guerrilla warfare Satan has been waging against the Western church in recent decades might be even more damaging. Certainly, it’s more diffuse and wider spread. Instead of raping the bride of Christ, Satan has chosen instead to seduce her. Why forge an enemy when you can woo a lover?

Instead of raping the bride of Christ, Satan has chosen instead to seduce her. Why forge an enemy when you can woo a lover?

False teachers. Word of Faith heresy. The New Apostolic Reformation. Abuse in the church. Biblical illiteracy. “Lone Ranger” Christians. Idolatry. Irreverence in the sanctuary.

It is easy to see why the heart of the Protestant Reformation was Semper Reformanda– “always reforming.” The work of fighting for sound doctrine, biblical worship, and pure hearts and hands never, never, never ends.

So what does it look like to be a woman of the modern day Reformation? What can we church ladies do to help turn the tide of apostasy in Christendom? Permit me to nail eight theses to the door of your church.

What does it look like to be a woman of the modern day Reformation? What can we church ladies do to help turn the tide of apostasy in Christendom? Permit me to nail eight theses to the door of your church…

1.
Realize You Can’t Change the World

None of the women named earlier in this article changed the world or the entire church. Not a single one of them. In fact some of them brought about great changes in their locales that were overturned in the years after their deaths.

The problems facing the church today are overwhelming. You’re one person. You can’t fix everything (and God doesn’t expect you to). Maybe you can’t even fix everything in your own church. But what you can do is determine to be faithful to Christ and His Word in your sphere of influence. Bloom where you’re planted. “Brighten the corner where you are“, as the old gospel song says. You can’t do everything, but what’s something you can do?

2.
Color Inside the Lines

One of the major problems plaguing the church today is Christian women who rebel against God’s Word by stepping outside the boundaries God has drawn for women in the family and the church. Don’t shoot yourself in the foot by following suit in your zeal to reform. There’s plenty of work to be done by godly women – work that we’re better equipped for than men – without violating Scripture.

3.
Mind Your Demeanor

No, we shouldn’t be wishy washy milksops or mealy-mouthed shrinking violets. But we also shouldn’t be loud-mouthed harpies, brashly marching into hell with a water pistol (just trust my own failures on this one). We need to be velvet-covered bricks: soft on the outside, firm on the inside. We should attain to all the Christlike virtues of demeanor: patience, kindness, compassion, mercy, and grace mingled with an unyielding stand on Scripture and an uncompromising commitment to Christ. For some of us, the former comes easier. For some of us, the latter. But we must seek that godly balance as we go about the work of the Kingdom.

4.
Serve the Local Church

If you have rejected the mere idea of local church membership and think you’re going to bring about change from the outside as an unchurched (or functionally unchurched) writer, speaker, or Christian celebrity, you’re part of the problem, not part of the solution. The church is God’s plan for Christianity, not evangelical gurus. Do whatever you have to do to find a doctrinally sound one, join it, and get to work serving.

The church is God’s plan for Christianity, not evangelical gurus.

5.
Pray

When it comes to the church, fixing what’s broken doesn’t rest on your shoulders. Spiritual problems require spiritual solutions, and only God can bring those about. You can defend Scripture til you’re blue in the face or explain all day long why someone is a false teacher, but only God can lift the veil and enlighten the eyes of the heart. Be faithful in your efforts, but be more faithful in prayer. Like the persistent widow, grab hold of the Lord on behalf of the church and don’t let go.

6.
Teach Other Women

In my experience, the number one way false doctrine enters the church is through women’s ministry and women’s “Bible” study. You want to work for reform in the church? Work on reforming your church’s women’s ministry. Explain to your sisters why that divangelista is a false teacher. Request Bible study classes that study the actual Bible. Volunteer to organize the next women’s conference or retreat and schedule doctrinally sound speakers. Teach a women’s or girls’ Sunday School class. Transform the church by transforming the hearts and minds of women.

Transform the church by transforming the hearts and minds of women.

7.
Help

The book of Exodus tells the story of Israel’s battle with Amalek. When Moses held up his arms, Israel prevailed. When he let down his arms, Amalek prevailed. Eventually, Aaron and Hur came alongside Moses and held up his arms for him so that Israel could win the battle. Who was more important to Israel’s victory in this story- Moses or Aaron and Hur? If you answered “both,” you’re correct. Israel couldn’t have won without Moses holding up his hands, but Moses couldn’t have held up his hands without Aaron and Hur. Most of the women of the Old Testament, New Testament, and Protestant Reformation who effected godly change among God’s people were not Moseses. They were Aarons and Hurs. What can you do to hold up the arms of your pastor, your elders, your husband, your church?

8.
Stand

Make sure you know your Bible backwards, forwards, and upside down in context. Know right from wrong, the biblical from the unbiblical. Learn what God’s word says, and stand. Don’t back down. Do it with a godly demeanor, but do it. Refusing to budge from the truth of Scripture might cost you your “church”. It might cost you your family and friends. It might cost you your job, your reputation, and your finances (as we’ve seen in recent years with Christians in the business world who have refused to cave to the homosexual agenda). But as our brothers and sisters who went to the fiery stake, the dank prison cell, and the gallows would tell you, fidelity to God’s Word is worth it. Loyalty to Christ is worth anything it might cost you. Stand.

As our brothers and sisters who went to the fiery stake, the dank prison cell, and the gallows would tell you, fidelity to God’s Word is worth it. Loyalty to Christ is worth anything it might cost you. Stand.

Whether your women’s ministry is using a book by a false teacher, there’s a faction of backbiters in the church that needs to be quelled, or your pastor is overwhelmed and needs some help, there’s something in your church that you can pray about, help with, or work on to help it move toward spiritual health. The church needs discerning, biblically knowledgeable, mature Christian women to step up and fight ungodliness whenever and wherever we’re able. Will you be a courageous laborer in the modern day Reformation?

The church needs discerning, biblically knowledgeable, mature Christian women to step up and fight ungodliness whenever and wherever we’re able. Will you be a courageous laborer in the modern day Reformation?

Christian women, Ministry

Mary and Martha and Jesus and Women’s Ministry

Michelle Lesley

Originally published March 11, 2016

You remember the story. Jesus comes to Mary and Martha’s house. Martha’s Pinteresting up the place while Mary sits at Jesus’ feet to listen to Him teach. Martha gripes to Jesus that Mary should help her and Jesus says no because it’s better for her to listen to Him than fold napkins into the shape of swans or whatever. Moral of the story- Martha needs to relax and not let other things distract her from Jesus.

That’s a good, true, and important takeaway from this passage, and one that we would all do well to heed.

But did you ever stop to think that Mary and Martha aren’t the main characters in this story? Jesus is. Jesus is the main character in every Bible story, so our primary focus should always be on Him: what He said and did and was like.

Did you ever stop to think that Mary and Martha aren’t the main characters in this story? Jesus is.

What was Jesus teaching that day at Mary and Martha’s house? The passage doesn’t tell us the topic He was speaking about, but we are privy to a very important lesson He imparted through the scenario with Mary and Martha. A lesson about the way God loves and values women.

Remember how women were generally regarded at that time? They didn’t have much more value than livestock, furniture, or a man’s other possessions. They were considered intellectually inferior, they weren’t formally educated, and their legal and social standing were often tenuous at best. They could not go beyond the Court of the Women at the temple for worship. There was even a traditional prayer Jewish men recited in which they thanked God for not making them a woman, a Gentile, or a slave. Women were low man on the totem pole, so to speak.

And that’s where we find Martha. She wasn’t doing anything wrong that day. In fact, in her culture, she was doing everything right. If anything, Mary would have been the one viewed as being in the wrong because the teaching was for the men, and it was the women’s job to bustle around taking care of all the hospitality duties. Martha knew this. Mary knew this. Jesus knew this. Everyone else present knew this. Martha must have wondered why someone hadn’t yet shooed Mary out of the living room and into the kitchen. So her statement to Jesus in verse 40, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me,” was probably not just, “I need another pair of hands,” but also a bit of, “Mary is forgetting her place. This isn’t what proper women do.”

Oh yes, it is.

Whatever else He might have been lecturing about that day, that was one of the lessons Jesus taught Mary, Martha, the rest of their guests, and Christendom at large.

Women aren’t second class citizens in the Kingdom of God. We are precious and valuable to Him. He has important, worthwhile work for us to do – His way – in the body of Christ. And He wants us trained in His Word in order to carry out that work.

How did Jesus teach that lesson?

First, He allowed Mary to stay and receive His teaching (39). (We see this echoed in God’s instruction to the church in 1 Timothy 2:11: “LET a woman learn…”) It hadn’t slipped Jesus’ mind that she was sitting there. He could have told her to leave, but He had no intention of doing so. Jesus wanted Mary there. He wanted to teach her and to have her learn God’s word from Him.

Next, when someone tried to take Mary away from hearing and being trained in God’s word, Jesus – God Himself – answered with a resounding NO. This “will not be taken away from her,” Jesus said. Mary, and Martha too (41), could arrange centerpieces or turn a cookie into a work of art any time or never. But this, the teaching of God’s Word, was urgent. Vital. Jesus didn’t want either of them to miss it by focusing on the trivial things they thought they should be pursuing.

And He doesn’t want us to miss it either, ladies.

Jesus pulled women out of the craft room and into the study. Is the women’s ministry at your church trying to pull them back?

Jesus pulled women out of the craft room and into the study. Is the women’s ministry at your church trying to pull them back?

Is the women’s events page on your church’s web site filled exclusively with painting parties, fashion shows, ladies’ teas, and scrapbook sessions?

Does your women’s ministry do canned “Bible” studies authored by women who offer nothing but personal stories, experiences, and false doctrine?

Are the Marys in your church who want to sit at the feet of Jesus and hear His word rightly handled and taught being scolded by the Marthas for not staying in their place and embracing the banality the women’s ministry is doling out?

Are the Marys in your church who want to sit at the feet of Jesus and hear His word rightly handled and taught being scolded by the Marthas for not staying in their place and embracing the banality the women’s ministry is doling out?

Is this it? Is this all women are good for in the church- fluff and false doctrine?

Jesus didn’t think so.

Let’s have our women’s ministries train women in the full scope of biblical womanhood. Let’s be serious students of God’s Word by picking it up and studying it like mature women. Let’s get equipped to teach and disciple other women who are babes in Christ. Let’s share the gospel with the lost. Let’s learn how to train our own children in the Scriptures and be the ones to raise the bar for what the kids at our church are being taught. Let’s roll up our sleeves and get our hands dirty ministering to those who are ill, in prison, lonely, poor, elderly, considering abortion, experiencing crisis; who have wayward children, problems in their marriages, a parent with Alzheimer’s, or have lost a loved one.

Is this it? Is this all women are good for in the church- fluff and false doctrine?

Women are worth more and capable of more than the bill of goods they’re being sold by “Christian” retailers suggests. More than cutesy crafts and fairy tales masquerading as biblical teaching. Let’s put the “ministry” – ministry of the Word and ministry to others – back in “women’s ministry.”

Women are worth more and capable of more than the bill of goods they’re being sold by “Christian” retailers suggests.