On Supporting Women in Advent Christian Churches

You may be aware, but there has been some conversation and discussion around the topic of women in ministry lately on Advent Christian Voices. 

Luke Copeland and I both published a series of articles centering around the complementarian/egalitarian debate. Specifically, women preaching, or holding positions of spiritual authority. 

Luke presented his case for complementarianism, and I presented mine for egalitarianism. We discussed further on a podcast, and then published a few articles of rebuttal against each other’s argument for either side. 

It’s been fun, but I’m ready to wrap it up for now. 

This article is a follow up with more of a practical consideration in terms of women in ministry, and specifically on supporting women in our own Advent Christian churches. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

How are Advent Christian churches supporting the women in their pews?” 

Upon writing the penultimate part three article, the first of the rebuttal to complementarianism, this question crossed my mind. 

Previously, I’ve written an article titled “On the Inconsistency of Women’s Ordination in the Advent Christian Denomination,” and that article opened the floodgates, so to speak. From that article, the discussions began. 

I started having discussions with various Advent Christian pastors, leaders, and friends. Questions were being asked, ideas were being suggested, and plans were being made for further discussion. I’ve never used Facebook Messenger so much before. 

In that initial article calling out the inconsistency of women’s ordination within the Advent Christian denomination, I touched on some themes that I’d like to explore further here. 

How are we ministering to the women in our churches? All the women? 

Here are some thoughts, presented in the form of inquiring questions. 

No matter your convictions, how are you responding to the requests of the women in your pews who want to be more involved? 

Say that you’re a pastor of an Advent Christian church, and you hold a complementarian position in terms of women in ministry. 

A woman in your church makes it known to you that she would like to be involved in church leadership in some way, so that her gifting of teaching and shepherding can be utilized for the whole church. 

What do you do? Do you say, “Well, our children’s ministry needs more leadership.” Or, “You could lead a women’s group.” Or, “Would you like to write a devotion for the women’s retreat?” Or, “The youth group can always use more chaperones.” 

None of these are bad ideas. But they may not be answering the woman’s request properly. She wants her gifts to be utilized for the whole church. 

There is a chance that the women in your pews are yearning to be utilized in a more fulfilling way in the church. There is a chance that they are not. But are you offering the option? 

No matter your convictions, what is your church leadership communicating (directly and indirectly, intentionally and unintentionally) to the women in your pews? 

If you as a church make it known that you support women in ministry, and female leaders, does your leadership reflect that? Do you have female deacons? Female elders? Do you allow women to preach from the pulpit occasionally? 

If you as a church make it known that while you support the women in your churches to fulfill their callings, but you do not support women preaching, does your leadership still reflect that? Don’t give false hope. 

How are you making your convictions known? How is it displayed in your policy? How is it addressed from the pulpit? Is it addressed in a new members class? How are you communicating the convictions that you and your church leadership have agreed upon? 

No matter your conviction, how are you supporting the women in your pews who are pursuing education or training that may result in their potential ordination, or teaching of the Bible? 

The women in your pews are driven, ambitious, smart, capable women. If they desire to seek out education or training that may result in their possible ordination or teaching of the Bible, how do you support them? How does your church as a whole support them? 

This one is, admittedly, a little more personal. I was the woman in your pews who wanted to get an education in the field of biblical studies so that I could one day teach the Bible. There were many who supported me in wonderful ways. There were some who engaged in conversation with me about my dreams and goals and just listened. There were some who allowed me to preach from their pulpit. There were some who had me lead adult Sunday School classes. 

There were some who didn’t think I should teach the Bible to anyone but other women or children. 

That’s fine, but how are those people supporting me? 

How are you supporting the women in your pews who are moving toward the pastorate or ordination? How are you supporting the women in your pews who want to teach the Bible professionally? Do you smile and nod? Wave them off? Support them financially? Pray for them? Give them opportunities to preach from your pulpit? Direct them to other opportunities away from your pulpit due to your convictions, so that at least they have opportunities? 

How are you supporting them? 

No matter your convictions, how are those convictions impacting some of the more practical aspects of your ministry?  

Believe it or not, no matter your convictions on women in ministry or women exercising spiritual authority, those convictions on either side of the argument impact the practical aspects of your ministry. 

Why? Once you begin to think about this larger issue of women in ministry, you begin to inch into the territory of women in the church in general. 

It affects how you counsel women. Do male pastors counsel female members of church? Do they have boundaries and policies in place for when they do? How do you talk with your female church members? Would you be ok with a female pastor counseling you? Would you refer your church members to a female counselor? Do you reference female speakers/communicators/pastors/counselors when you speak with your female church members? 

It affects how your Sunday School classes are organized and run. Do you allow women to teach your Sunday School classes? If so, do they teach all ages and genders? Do they teach only to women and children? Do you gravitate toward female Sunday School teachers? Do you have male Sunday School teachers? If your conviction is more complementarian and you are hesitant to allow women to teach the Bible to men, do you use curriculum or material created by women? Do you allow women in your church to create a Sunday School class curriculum? 

It affects how the sacrament of communion is administered. Are elders the only church office permitted to administer the sacrament? Do you allow women to be elders? If so, how does that work with communion? Do you have a male and female team administer the sacrament? If not, have you ever asked a woman to assist in administering the sacrament? Does your theology of the sacrament of communion stand up to that? Does it not? 

It affects much more than you may realize. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

These are just some thoughts as I wrap up this little series of articles. I hope you enjoyed these articles, no matter your convictions. I doubt I convinced anyone otherwise of their already predetermined convictions, but I hope I made you think. It was not my goal to convince you, but it was my goal to make you think. 

I’ll leave you with this. 

Don’t forget about the women in your pews. No matter your convictions, there are women in your pews who may have different opinions than you, who may have big dreams of preaching and teaching, or who may hope to be a bible college professor one day. No matter your convictions, you’re also ministering to all of the women in your pews.  

Thanks for reading. 

-Catherine