imago dei community
Introduction
The elders of Imago Dei have been working for months to create a new document to guide our church. The document is called Women in Ministry. The elders would like to thank Heather Thomas and The Imago Dei Council of Women who helped to shape this document and met with the elder in charge of writing it. This council speaks wisdom to the elders for each major decision. They have helped make this document that will guide us and reflect God's heart. The document is complete. We are very thankful to God for helping the church work this document through. Most churches fight over this issue. We know that on any debatable issue not everyone will agree, but we intend to show grace and acceptance to those with differing views and act out our best understanding of Scripture.
We are thankful that the Imago Dei community has not allowed the role of women in the church to be a contentious issue. Our culture is fighting around us for power, rights and prominence. Unfortunately, the evangelical community is also fighting over the gender issue. Sometimes, both sides seem to be angry and power hungry to win the argument.
Two main views have emerged among evangelicals. Egalitarians believe that women can qualify for any position in the church. Complementarians (formerly, hierarchialists or traditionalists) believe that men and women are equal in worth, but that God has created role differences that limit women from some ministry positions. Neutrality is impossible since every practice reflects one or the other of the two views.
We are convinced that:
(1) The issue of women in ministry is significant and must be addressed.
(2) We will not allow this issue to degenerate into divisive behavior or speech.
(3) Both viewpoints have biblical and reasonable arguments.
(4) This issue is one of the debatable issues (Rom. 14) where believers must accept each other with their differing viewpoints.
Since this is a debatable issue, our church welcomes believers of both persuasions. We will not condemn either side. We are committed to respectful discussions that edify and oppose angry arguments that divide. We recommend the book Two Views: Women in Ministry for an irenic and balanced interaction. Two evangelical organizations have formed: Christians for Biblical Equality and The Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood. Their websites are filled with excellent literature that is biblically based.
Our Position
We want our policies to be based upon our theology, but like the church, our elders do not necessarily have a uniform understanding on this issue. So, we must all agree to promote unity (John 17: 23) with our differences and willingly follow our church guidelines.
We believe that both men and women are equally made in the image of God (Gen. 1:27) and equal partners in Christ (Gal. 3:28). As in the Trinity, there is equality of persons, but diversity in function. There is a relationship between the equal persons of the Trinity that includes leadership and submission. God the Father sends the Son and the Spirit (Isa. 48:16; John 5:23-36; 14:26; 15:26). The Son and the Spirit submit to the Father, but each is equally God. All believers must joyfully submit to the triune God. Imago Dei's position is sometimes called "soft complementarian." It is represented by Craig Blomberg's essay in Two Views: Women in Ministry.
History has clearly shown that men often use their leadership to oppress. Many Christian men have not sacrificially loved their wives. Great harm has been done to women in the name of church leadership. Our example is Christ who used His authority to lead with love and empower the Church.
In each age God has designated men to fulfill the primary role of spiritual leadership: Old Testament priests, the twelve apostles and elders/overseers in the church. 1 Timothy 2:12 can be understood as combining the two ideas of teaching and authority. Thus, Paul limited women only from the position of "authoritative teacher," that is, the role of elder/overseer.
The scattered biblical examples of women teaching or leading men are appropriate since they were not fulfilling the role of Old Testament priests, apostles or elders/overseers. Paul's appeal to creation (1 Tim. 2:12-15; 1 Cor. 11:2-4) and God's pattern of choosing men (priest, apostle, and elder), point to male leadership as trans-cultural. Christ's gifts are equally given to men and women to build up His Body (Eph. 4:12). A woman with the gift of pastor will find many expressions, but the role of elder is limited to men. The position of deacon is for qualified men or women (1 Tim. 3:11).
Christ's leadership of the Church models and prescribes the role of loving leadership for the husband. Wives are to submit voluntarily to their own husbands (Eph. 5:22-24; Col. 3:18; 1 Peter 3:1-6). Because of the fall, the husband's loving leadership has often been perverted into domination and the wife's willing submission into improper servitude or a power struggle.
Women in general are not required to submit to men in general (1 Cor. 11:2-4)
Our Practice
We designate qualified men to the role of elder/overseer and to the main leader of a home community group whose responsibilities are most elder-like. In all other positions, qualified women and men are appropriate. We encourage women to lead or teach in our School of Theology, home communities, interest groups, and ministry teams. We especially encourage husband and wife teams to shepherd home community groups.
Elders/overseers are responsible for the whole flock, but they are not the only ones who shepherd. The gift of pastor (Eph. 4:11) involves shepherding, but is different from the office of elder/overseer. We use the term "pastor" for some of our ministry directors whether men or women. They shepherd part of the flock under the elders' authority. We use the terms "deacon/deaconess" for those who serve under the elders to meet practical needs in the church.
When the whole congregation gathers, elders will normally teach, but occasionally, they will select other men or women to teach under their authority. Having final authority, the elders may correct such teaching if it is not in harmony with Imago Dei's doctrinal position.
Our Commitment
Those who hold our position have often overlooked or undervalued the wisdom and gifts of women. So we will seek to empower women in ministry and actively listen to their wisdom. We will be advised by our wives and by a council of godly women who regularly communicate with the elders. We will admonish husbands to lead their families with godliness and love their wives sacrificially. We will seek to protect our women from abusive husbands. We will seek to honor, value and respect our women as equal heirs of God's grace and gifted partners in the church's ministry. We will seek to use gender language that reflects the equal value of women and men
Our Unity
To those convinced of a different view, we value our relationship with you. We welcome continuing dialogue within the Imago Dei community asking only that no one cause division but rather love those who differ. We desire to be a church where believers of both views work in harmony. We expect everyone to keep our bond of unity in peace and love. If anyone finds that they cannot do so, we request that another fellowship be sought where those views can better serve the community of Christ. We must all hold our viewpoints humbly and appreciate the biblical arguments of both egalitarians and complementarians. This issue gives us the opportunity to show the power of living in love while holding differing viewpoints.
Comments:
Thank you for the thoughtful way you present your position on this controversial issue and the ministries and messages that you put forth on this site. It is inspired, thoughtful and God centered. I am sending the link to your site to some of my friends in ministry so that we may learn more about your ministry and how we can use some of your models in our own. God bless you in reaching others for Christ
On December 02nd,Anonymous said: