1 Timothy 2

Whoa Nelly does this chapter wreak havoc on the church! This is the keynote speech for the conference about not allowing women to lead in ministry. I heard Nancy Beach, a fabulous teacher, speaker, leader, and author speak about this subject in April at the Orange conference. Her extremely moving message centered on one point. She did not take sides, she simply told her own compelling testimony of God calling her and using her as a leader in the church. She didn't ask the church leaders in the audience to take sides with her, only that they make it their top priority to truly seek God about what stance to take. So many churches just go with whatever decision has already been made for them and sweep the whole thing under the rug. Often this results in benching half of their team.

Even as a woman who has been given an influential role in an influential church, I still struggle with this on a personal level. I don't take the decision already made as a given even though it's in my favor. I have sought God at several points in my career about what it means to me and my family and my team. I don't know why God calls some women to raise their children from home and others to juggle both work or ministry and family. Don't think I haven't had numerous heated arguments with Him about it. But the bottom line is, all church politics and provocative scripture aside, I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that I am in the role God has called me to. So there's really nothing left to say or do about it.

(With all that being said, now I'll tell you what I really think about this chapter! Whenever you can convince me that braided hair, jewelry, and expensive clothes don't mean something completely different in their culture than in ours, then we can talk about the keeping quiet and not teaching part. In the first century world of male-only education, women still got many shout-outs from Paul for their roles in the church. So today, even with education for all, I'd still prefer that people ignorant of God's Word not be given a platform to teach their own shallow opinions to new believers. Also, because I have such a strong children's ministry bias, I get livid when people are OK with women teaching kids and not adults. Kids are even MORE impressionable and important to teach with clarity.)