Women and the Eldership Question. Again.

I have been approached by a few people over the last few months asking for some resources on the question of the Bible’s teaching on the role of women in church leadership. This, of course, is one of the most contentious issues in today’s church so I understand the urgency of the question when it it posed to me. I thought it might be a good idea to link to a number of articles and books that outline the position I think is most Biblically defensible. So, here goes…

(All the books mentioned below are available in the Northview Online Bookstore under the subheading of “Women & The Eldership Question”)

Kevin DeYoung, Freedom and Boundaries.

DeYoung’s book is great mostly because it is accessible. If you want a concise presentation of the complementarian view on this issue (which is the view I believe the Bible teaches), this is a great place to start. He’s also an excellent writer with a good sense of humor.

Wayne Grudem, Evangelical Feminism and Biblical Truth.
Wayne Grudem, Countering the Claims of Evangelical Feminism.

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Why Powerpoint is Worse than Your Bible

This last weekend I announced that I won’t be putting the Bible verses on our screens anymore during our weekend services. The references, yes, but the verses themselves will need to be read out of your own Bible that you bring with you or that you get from the seat in front of you. I didn’t really have too much time to explain the deeper reason why we are making this change, so I thought I would have a go at it here…

My reason can be summarize in a phrase - “The Medium is the Message.” If you ever study communication theory, this is one of the first slogans you will learn. A Canadian communication theorist named Marshall McLuhan was the author of the slogan and by it he meant that every method we use to communicate necessarily influences the content of the communication. For example, years ago the great philosopher Socrates was concerned about his Greek society moving from the spoken to the written word.

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Have Yourself Committed

I was listening to a fantastic lecture yesterday. The speaker was talking about 2 Samuel 9 where David shows kindness to Jonathan’s son Mephibosheth even though every person in his kingdom would have been advising him to do the opposite. Kings in that day stayed in power by usually eliminating the entire family of their predecessors.

As Saul’s grandson, Mephibosheth would have had a rightful claim to Israel’s throne and thus the reason why he was hiding out in Lo-Debar, hopeful that David would never know about him. David did find out about him, though, but not because he wanted to kill Mephibosheth. Rather, he wanted to be true to his commitment to his friend Jonathan – that he would care for his family.

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All Flesh is Like Grass…

I was sitting in my office yesterday afternoon when I heard one of my co-workers loudly announce that Michael Jackson had died. I didn’t really believe her, so I looked online to find that he had not actually died, but was in a coma at UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles. CNN had a helicopter hovering over the hospital (presumably in case Michael Jackson awoke from his coma and came moonwalking out the front door) and they had another helicopter over his house. A crowd had gathered outside the gates of his rented home and was collectively distraught at the thought of Michael Jackson’s potential demise. Wolf Blitzer broke into that scene with the announcement that several news organizations were now reporting that the pop icon was dead. It was a truly sad moment.

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Meaning of Life

As I was waiting in a parking lot for an appointment, a young man strolled by with head hanging, arms stiff at his side, and clothes that hadn’t seen water in many days. His only stop in the 300 meters in which I saw him, was at the pay phone checking for change. He hardly turned right or left but instead vacantly watched his feet move forward one step at a time. Hopelessness and meaninglessness walked with him.

And my heart broke… What would it be like to see no meaning in life? I’m sure some of you could tell me. In fact I have my own story of 15 years of despair which I never want to relive.

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