There’s a scene in the first Incredibles movie where the superhero Incredibles family is all together at their son Dash’s track meet. They finally let their son with the superhuman turbo speed try out for sports. And they comically cheer their son on in the race but then don’t want him to run too fast even though he is capable of blowing away the competition (and simultaneously blow their cover), but they also don’t want him to get beat by everyone when he is clearly talented. So they start cheering for him to shoot for second. And he gets second place and the rest of the crowd in the bleachers stares at the incognito superhero family completely bewildered by why they would root their son on the way they did. Why on earth would you want your kid with God-given talent to hold back and not be all they were meant to be?
This scene is at the forefront of my mind as I endeavor into part two of this shallow dive into the topic of women in leadership in the church. Important that you take the time to read part one before jumping into this section, but in part two, I want to get into a few of the “Yeah, buts” that I have had personally and that others who wrestle honestly or who have grown up surrounded by the Complementarian (men and women are equal but have different roles that complement each other based on their gender ) paradigms and structures of church have had.
It seems like the church has often played the role of the Incredibles family, cheering on the women of the church, but then asking them to restrain or scale back or make sure they don’t overstep or speak from the stage or lead too much or have too much influence. We are cheering for them to run the race well, but not too well. We say they are equal but the role they play is different. It just so happens that role is often voiceless, powerless and behind-the-scenes.
“Just shoot for second.”
So it would do us well to hang out here and consider how we got to this place that can be bewildering for people both inside and outside of the church.
Remember, I have strong conviction that we are living in more of a Post-Pentecost world than a Post-Fall world. So everything is about moving back to the MUTUALITY and ONENESS of Eden rather than the fractured world of HIERARCHY and OTHERNESS that the Fall is obsessed about. This is a question all Christians must answer and be accountable to in their theology. For far too many for far too long, we have let Fall and Sin be our primary paradigm rather than Redemption and Restoration.
So here’s a few of the “yeah buts”. It should be noted that I am not an expert or a biblical scholar. I am just a pastor trying to lead others to follow Jesus faithfully.
1. “Yeah, but Jesus chose 12 disciples. All males. They become the 12 apostles. Males are meant to lead. “
Sure, the work of Jesus calling 12 people to himself is a big deal. That they are all men is worth considering. But why do we stop there? We emphasize gender as if that is the primary thing in common for these 12. What about the fact that they are all Jewish? Or the fact that they are all uneducated men? (according to Acts) Apprentices in trades because they did not make the cut to be selected for rabbinical training? It is faulty logic to build a case for who to choose as leaders and pick gender but not ‘Jewishness’ or ‘uneducated’. Secondly, women are consistently mentioned as traveling with Jesus and the disciples. They are part of the entourage, present for teachings, miracles, and as previously mentioned they are funding the ministry of Jesus. You cannot say that women were not leading the way in the Jesus movement.
2. “Yeah, but look at church denominations. Most churches that are growing do so because of male leadership.”
Are we sure about this? A study done by Gordon Conwell found that of the largest denominations in the United States, 18 of those denominations were categorized as Complementarian (meaning there was a strong stance against women being ordained and holding leadership roles over men) and 27 Denominations who were Egalitarian (meaning that women are ordained and have leadership over men.) Yet even with the fact that more of the largest church groups in the country are “for” empowering women in all facets of leadership based upon their Spiritual gifting rather than their anatomy, it is a complicated world for women to pursue ordination right now. They are most often the minority in the classroom. They most often have male professors. They most often have textbooks written by men. And they frequently enter into denominations where men still hold positions of power and authority in the hierarchy of church structure.
3. “Yeah, but what about that Bible verse? If you let women preach or pastor or elder, aren’t you failing to take God’s Word seriously?”
This is the one argument that kept me in the complementarian camp the longest. A high view of Scripture is of central importance to me, my life and my ministry. To compromise that or to enter into the world of slippery slopes was something I did not want to do.
So let’s take a second to look at the passages in question sometimes known as “the silencing passages” because of their emphasis on the quiet submission of women in the public life of the church.
1 Corinthians 14:33-35
Women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission, as the law says. If they want to inquire about something, they should ask their own husbands at home; for it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church.
The question we have to ask here is “Does Paul, the writer of this letter in the Scriptures mean that all women for all time in all churches should not be allowed to speak in church?” The answer is three chapters earlier in 1 Corinthians 11 where Paul gives specific instructions for how a woman should speak when they pray and prophesy in the church.
Pretty straightforward here. Either Paul is remarkably inconsistent with his gospel message from one chapter to the next or he is getting at something specific in this passage. Best guess at face value there are women in the Corinthian Church who are interrupting the service asking questions and inquiring about what was going on. Paul says, ask those questions on your own and don’t disrupt a worship gathering.
1 Timothy 2:8-15
Therefore I want the men everywhere to pray, lifting up holy hands without anger or disputing. 9 I also want the women to dress modestly, with decency and propriety, adorning themselves, not with elaborate hairstyles or gold or pearls or expensive clothes, 10 but with good deeds, appropriate for women who profess to worship God.
11 A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. 12 I do not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority over a man; she must be quiet. 13 For Adam was formed first, then Eve. 14 And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner. 15 But women will be saved through childbearing—if they continue in faith, love and holiness with propriety.
Couple things going on with this passage. First, ‘woman’ and ‘wife’ as well as ‘man’ and ‘husband’ can be used interchangeably in the Greek language this passage was originally written in. So translation might be a factor here. Are we talking about women as a rule of thumb or a wife stepping on a husband’s toes? Hard to say for sure. Either way the instruction is for women to be quiet…and Paul seems to point to a creation hierarchy…Adam first and Eve second…and don’t forget…Eve screwed all this up for humanity! (no wonder some women are frustrated with Paul!)
Second, if we are going to be serious about verse 11 as a hard and fast rule for all time, then we had better be equally as serious about verses 8-10 being hard and fast rules for all time as well. Men lifting hands when they pray…absence of anger and argument…women plain clothed and hair cuts at Great Clips. These things are very frequently not true in the very churches that make such a fuss about women knowing their role and shutting their mouth.
Third, Paul is writing to Timothy. Timothy is in Ephesus. Ephesus is where the main temple for the goddess Artemis is located. (Check out Acts 19:23-41). Many who became Christians in Ephesus would have previously been involved in worship at this temple. Goddess worship was facilitated in part by women who were priestesses and cult prostitutes who performed sexual acts as part of temple worship.
We cannot say for certain, but this seems likely to be why instruction would be made in Ephesus for women to scale it back a notch. If they were formerly accustomed to leading the worship and engaging in things sexually that were not part of the Christian ethos, then it would make sense for Paul to instruct women to be submissive learners rather than outspoken leaders in that context. You don’t see this instruction in a letter, say for instance, to the church in Philippi (which was founded and likely pastored/led by Lydia, the first Christian conversion on the European continent, who housed the church in her home, and was a very successful businesswoman…its all in Acts 16…read your Bible!)
1 Timothy 3:1-7 and Titus 1:5-9
Here we have what many have deemed as evidence against female eldership. Overseer or elder depending on our English translation, is always in the male form. He must be the husband of one wife, hospitable, not a drunk, not quarrelsome, not consumed with money…must be a bunch of other things…and he must make sure his children obey him.
So again, we have made anatomy of primary importance over and against the list of virtues. So we take literally the presence of a male pronoun but then we are liberal with the rest. It says husband of one wife. So can a single man be an elder? What about a widow? What about someone who has been divorced and remarried? Based on a literal biblical approach, all of these men should be excluded from eldership. What about the guy whose kids have walked away from the faith or who haven’t obeyed his parenting? Excluded.
If you obsess about literal interpretation of the Scriptures, you may just end up creating a church structure where Jesus and Paul would not be qualified as elders in your church!
The indictment I have personally received from a number of folks on this topic is that I am not being biblical.
But that is the irony of this whole journey: that in fact it has been guided, informed and transformed BY THE BIBLE! It wasn’t politics or feminism. It wasn’t the #metoo movement. Though lets be honest, all these things are prevalent because of a world clinging to hierarchy and otherness. My view of Scripture has only elevated as I have studied it!
———
So there you have it. These are the primary biblical texts that have been used to enforce hierarchy and otherness between men and women in the church for centuries.
If only the Bible would have been a little more radical for its day and actually highlighted some women who were key influencers in the Way of Jesus. That would really have sealed the deal for why a Post-Pentecostal Lens is the appropriate lens for the Jesus people to see the world.
Oh wait! Elizabeth, Mary, Anna, Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Susanna, Mary, Martha, Junia, Phoebe, Lydia, Euodia, Syntyche, Philip’s daughters, Priscilla, Nympha, Apphia, just to name a few, many who are named by Paul himself. 12 out of 30 names in Romans 16…names Paul emphasizes as worth a specific mention because of their role and leadership in ministry are women!
There is no male or female. There is no Gentile or Jew. There is no slave or free. There is no young or old. This is the message of Paul.
There is good news, freedom, sight and favor...available for all. This is the message of Jesus.
And if we are indeed a royal priesthood, a priesthood of all believers, all capable and called, grown and gifted by the Spirit who has fallen on us…if it is true that women are daughters and sisters and coheirs with Christ in this new family God has created, then it is time to let the tiger out of her cage, let her preach and prophesy and sing and teach. Let her lead and love as the Spirit enables. And by God, let us not merely get out of her way but let us follow and learn, let us empower and invest, let us run along side rather than sit in the stands. Let the kingdom come. Let the kingdom come. Let the church not stifle but strengthen the role of her people.
And together, let us curiously and beautifully shoot for second, following Christ where ever he leads his church to go.
Tuesday, August 13, 2019
Thursday, August 8, 2019
The Church and My Unbiblical View of Women
“So what is your stance on women in leadership in church?” she asked. “I am the CEO of an international company and I have a real problem with being able to lead people around the world and then being told in the church that my leadership is not welcome. And you’re planning to plant a church with a group who typically only lets men lead.”
“I don’t know. I just don’t think that is the hill I’m supposed to die on. I want to make it about Jesus. He’s the hill I want to die on.” That was my response 8 years ago when I was asking my friend to invest financially in this church we were dreaming of but had not even moved to Columbus to start yet.
Truth be told I had strong convictions on this topic. But, if I shared those, I knew they would have negative consequences to whether my friend would feel like City Campus Church was a place she could invest in. I did not want to leave hundreds or thousands of dollars on the table that could help us start this new work, so I categorized it as a secondary hill.
Those strong convictions are that the biblical ethos and instruction is that men and women were both loved by God, but that by God’s design men and women were wired to fulfill different roles in the church. A theological separate but equal, if you will. The fancy scrabble word for this is Complementarian. Men and women were largely the same in God’s eyes, but fulfilled different roles that complemented each other.
In my mind, you could not remain true to the word of God without upholding this view. Women shouldn’t lead the church, preach in the church, serve as elder over the church. And I had an arsenal of texts and thinking that supported my convictions. (1 Corinthians 14:33-35, 1 Timothy 2:12, 1 Timothy 3:1-7, Titus 1:5-9, Ephesians 5:21-33.)
And think about it. Jesus picked 12 disciples. Hand selected. All men. The Levitical priesthood from the older testament? All men.
Instructions for elders in the church were explicit in one place, the husband of one wife. So, pretty clear if we take the Bible seriously…Leadership is most often, most godly and most effectively male.
And experientially, the few women I’d experienced in leadership roles in the church spent most of their time defending why they should have a seat at the table rather than centering on why Jesus was such good news. They seemed to spend their time defending their calling rather than living in light of and with the authority of their calling.
It just confirmed in my mind that they were out of step with God’s design for leadership and church.
And don’t even get me started on the dangers and pitfalls of men and women leading together. That’s why Billy Graham famously would not even get on an elevator alone with a woman and infamously why Bill Hybels became a cautionary tale of the #churchtoo movement. He reportedly had inappropriate relationship with women who were on staff with him.
And so I linked arms with like minded pastor celebrities, guys who got paraded on stage in front of the masses at conferences and who held to this complementarian worldview that I held to.
And then something happened.
I kid you not it was a completely innocent thing. I was doing what I was supposed to do as a Christian. I was reading my Bible. Preaching through Luke and then through Acts. And the more I studied, the more disorienting everything became.
Luke began his origins story with a woman struggling with infertility named Elizabeth. Then jumped to a young woman named Mary and the ones who speak and act and pray and praise in the origin stories of Luke are these women and an angel. Interestingly the one guy who does speak does so without faith and the Almighty hits the mute button on him until everything God promised would happen happens. It was men who were to be silent as this new movement of God was birthed.
Then it jumped to poor and marginalized keepers of the sheep. Then the old, widowed and largely forgotten ones in Simeon and Anna. And it shocked my system a little bit. But I could certainly justify it and explain it. These were exceptions, not the rule. After all, these women did faithful things but they were not leading over men. So I continued to read Luke and then Acts with the lens I had always had. But it got increasingly complicated to read the Scriptures and preserve that lens. The first miracles in Luke are a leper, a paralytic and a sick mother-in-law. Not exactly a power play to garner a following and build a platform. Exactly what was Jesus’ good news?
Well he seemed to answer that question. Luke 4. He heads to synagogue, grabs the scroll of Isaiah and says “The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,
19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
Good news, freedom, sight, favor to the least the last the lambasted and the lost.
And the Scriptures started jumping off the page for me like I was reading it for the first time. The widow and the sinful woman in Luke 7, the dead girl and the sick woman in Luke 8, the women who funded Jesus’ ministry and followed him (mentioned by name-Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Susanna and many others also in Luke 8), Mary and Martha in Luke 10, the crippled woman in Luke 12, persistent widows, generous widows, women as the last at the cross and the first at the tomb, the very first Easter message of Resurrection, given by a woman.
And it continued in Acts. And these corrective lenses I was seeing the Scriptures through came to a head with a revisit to Genesis of all places. In re-reading the origins story of Genesis 1-2, it was interesting to see that male and female, He created them in His own image and that this creation was very good. The picture in Eden is one of MUTUALITY and ONENESS, both with God and between man and woman. They occupied the same space, shared the same world and were deeply connected feeling seen, safe and satisfied in the garden.
Then Genesis 3. Rebellion. Sin. Fallenness. And the result of that is that the Mutuality and Oneness are replaced with HIERARCHY and OTHERNESS. Hierarchy, "the man shall rule over the woman" and banishment from the garden and from oneness with God. Otherness, distinct punishments for the man, the woman (and the serpent).
This is at the root of the fallen world ever since isn’t it? Hierarchy. Who has power? How does one obtain power? Sustain power? Utilize power? Increase in power? Otherness. Who is in? Who is out? What divides us, differentiates us, distinguishes us? Winners and losers. Chosen and not chosen.
And then Jesus stands up in a synagogue and unrolls that scroll and says Good News, freedom, sight and favor have arrived.
And he heals who he heals, hangs out with who he hangs out with and loves who he loves.
Jesus Christ is God’s action to begin the RETURN to MUTUALITY and ONENESS. He goes after hierarchy. He confronts otherness. He continually provokes people toward considering there is more room at the table than their lenses have permitted to this point. The leper can belong. The paralytic can belong. Yes even your mother-in-law can belong.
And then Acts 2. Jesus has gone away, ascended to be with the Father and tells the disciples to wait for the Helper that is coming. That Helper, the Holy Spirit arrives and some crazy and powerful stuff happens and all the on-lookers are trying to get a clear grasp and explanation of what the flip is going on and Peter stands up in front of all those assembled and gives the first sermon of the church (if you don’t count Mary’s announcement that Jesus was no longer in the tomb as a sermon).
And Peter, much like Jesus, quotes the Hebrew Bible. This time Joel. Don’t miss this! It’s Peter’s debut in leading this new thing called Church and he quotes Joel saying,
“In the last days, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, (God will use male and female to advance His kingdom), your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams (God will use young and old to advance his kingdom), even on my slaves, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit(God will use slave and free and again emphasizes both male and female to advance His kingdom)…And EVERYONE who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” (Parenthesis and All Caps are my commentary/emphasis.)
Peter is telling this newly formed church that the road back to MUTUALITY and ONENESS and back to Eden and Shalom was begun by Jesus and was to be fulfilled by His bride the Church.
And this fundamentally is what the Good News is all about. That we would all be restored mutually to the place where God’s image was equally on display on each of us and that there would be a level of connectedness with each other where we could be seen, safe and satisfied in relationship with each other as humans and with our creator, God.
And the crisis of belief for me was formulated around one central question: Are we in a post-fall world or a post-Pentecost world?
If it is the former, then hierarchy and otherness is the operating system we are designed for. We need the structure. We need the control. We need the order that is created when certain people have power and authority. There will inevitably be some otherness. Some us and them. But that’s just the nature of things in a fallen and broken place.
But if it is the latter, then, wow do I have to do some major re-alignment. Can I be a part of a church that says women are limited in what they can offer not because of skills and gifting but simply because of anatomy? Can I live in a community of privilege that mostly resembles me, behaves like me, has income like me and insulates from others who don’t look like me, are ‘sketchier’ than me, and don’t behave like me? If Jesus is my north star and mutuality and oneness are truly His guiding maxims for a return to Eden, then what does this mean for how I engage my city, the friends I have, the church I am part of?
This is the tension I am squarely in right now. I’ve realized that all my seminary books and pastors I’ve listened to and followed are white, educated men. It is seemingly one voice of power at the top of the hierarchy and I can no longer in good conscience or even in good faith believe that this is the good news Jesus announced in Luke 4, lived out and embodied, then ultimately gave his life for.
I’ve watched a number of people leave C3 as we have gone through this process of wrestling with the Scriptures and discerning what the wise counsel for the church is, as we have installed both male and female elders and unleashed women to lead Missional Communities and empowered women to preach.
They have strong convictions that the lens which they read and believe Scripture (the same lens I am deeply familiar with and deeply held as true) is the only way to really understand and align ourselves to the Bible. They have made strong, presumptuous and sometimes hurtful statements about how I no longer believe and live out the Scriptures or have strayed from orthodoxy.
I understand where they are coming from. But I have dipped my toes into the world that is post-Pentecost rather than post-Fall and it has felt immensely freeing and has led me to experience God and His Word in profoundly beautiful ways.
And I have begun to be formed deeply by the teaching and wisdom of women who are richly following Jesus and living out their calling as authors and preachers, pastors and prophets.
There is more to say. So a part two will come about what to do with “that passage” and with Paul and with church tradition and elders and pastors.
Suffice it to say for part one, this is no longer a hill I am avoiding in order to fix my eyes on Jesus. I believe now that this is precisely the hill of Calvary that Jesus gave his life on. To make us one.
As for that friend who I pitched on investing in C3? She took a higher road than me and invested in this church and kept us rolling despite our theological disagreement. She owned mutuality and oneness and chose Good News even when I would not. Might be time for me to drop her a note.
“May the church be unleashed from its traditions that have denied more than half its members the full use of the gifts God himself may have poured out by His spirit.”
“I don’t know. I just don’t think that is the hill I’m supposed to die on. I want to make it about Jesus. He’s the hill I want to die on.” That was my response 8 years ago when I was asking my friend to invest financially in this church we were dreaming of but had not even moved to Columbus to start yet.
Truth be told I had strong convictions on this topic. But, if I shared those, I knew they would have negative consequences to whether my friend would feel like City Campus Church was a place she could invest in. I did not want to leave hundreds or thousands of dollars on the table that could help us start this new work, so I categorized it as a secondary hill.
Those strong convictions are that the biblical ethos and instruction is that men and women were both loved by God, but that by God’s design men and women were wired to fulfill different roles in the church. A theological separate but equal, if you will. The fancy scrabble word for this is Complementarian. Men and women were largely the same in God’s eyes, but fulfilled different roles that complemented each other.
In my mind, you could not remain true to the word of God without upholding this view. Women shouldn’t lead the church, preach in the church, serve as elder over the church. And I had an arsenal of texts and thinking that supported my convictions. (1 Corinthians 14:33-35, 1 Timothy 2:12, 1 Timothy 3:1-7, Titus 1:5-9, Ephesians 5:21-33.)
And think about it. Jesus picked 12 disciples. Hand selected. All men. The Levitical priesthood from the older testament? All men.
Instructions for elders in the church were explicit in one place, the husband of one wife. So, pretty clear if we take the Bible seriously…Leadership is most often, most godly and most effectively male.
And experientially, the few women I’d experienced in leadership roles in the church spent most of their time defending why they should have a seat at the table rather than centering on why Jesus was such good news. They seemed to spend their time defending their calling rather than living in light of and with the authority of their calling.
It just confirmed in my mind that they were out of step with God’s design for leadership and church.
And don’t even get me started on the dangers and pitfalls of men and women leading together. That’s why Billy Graham famously would not even get on an elevator alone with a woman and infamously why Bill Hybels became a cautionary tale of the #churchtoo movement. He reportedly had inappropriate relationship with women who were on staff with him.
And so I linked arms with like minded pastor celebrities, guys who got paraded on stage in front of the masses at conferences and who held to this complementarian worldview that I held to.
And then something happened.
I kid you not it was a completely innocent thing. I was doing what I was supposed to do as a Christian. I was reading my Bible. Preaching through Luke and then through Acts. And the more I studied, the more disorienting everything became.
Luke began his origins story with a woman struggling with infertility named Elizabeth. Then jumped to a young woman named Mary and the ones who speak and act and pray and praise in the origin stories of Luke are these women and an angel. Interestingly the one guy who does speak does so without faith and the Almighty hits the mute button on him until everything God promised would happen happens. It was men who were to be silent as this new movement of God was birthed.
Then it jumped to poor and marginalized keepers of the sheep. Then the old, widowed and largely forgotten ones in Simeon and Anna. And it shocked my system a little bit. But I could certainly justify it and explain it. These were exceptions, not the rule. After all, these women did faithful things but they were not leading over men. So I continued to read Luke and then Acts with the lens I had always had. But it got increasingly complicated to read the Scriptures and preserve that lens. The first miracles in Luke are a leper, a paralytic and a sick mother-in-law. Not exactly a power play to garner a following and build a platform. Exactly what was Jesus’ good news?
Well he seemed to answer that question. Luke 4. He heads to synagogue, grabs the scroll of Isaiah and says “The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,
19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
Good news, freedom, sight, favor to the least the last the lambasted and the lost.
And the Scriptures started jumping off the page for me like I was reading it for the first time. The widow and the sinful woman in Luke 7, the dead girl and the sick woman in Luke 8, the women who funded Jesus’ ministry and followed him (mentioned by name-Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Susanna and many others also in Luke 8), Mary and Martha in Luke 10, the crippled woman in Luke 12, persistent widows, generous widows, women as the last at the cross and the first at the tomb, the very first Easter message of Resurrection, given by a woman.
And it continued in Acts. And these corrective lenses I was seeing the Scriptures through came to a head with a revisit to Genesis of all places. In re-reading the origins story of Genesis 1-2, it was interesting to see that male and female, He created them in His own image and that this creation was very good. The picture in Eden is one of MUTUALITY and ONENESS, both with God and between man and woman. They occupied the same space, shared the same world and were deeply connected feeling seen, safe and satisfied in the garden.
Then Genesis 3. Rebellion. Sin. Fallenness. And the result of that is that the Mutuality and Oneness are replaced with HIERARCHY and OTHERNESS. Hierarchy, "the man shall rule over the woman" and banishment from the garden and from oneness with God. Otherness, distinct punishments for the man, the woman (and the serpent).
This is at the root of the fallen world ever since isn’t it? Hierarchy. Who has power? How does one obtain power? Sustain power? Utilize power? Increase in power? Otherness. Who is in? Who is out? What divides us, differentiates us, distinguishes us? Winners and losers. Chosen and not chosen.
And then Jesus stands up in a synagogue and unrolls that scroll and says Good News, freedom, sight and favor have arrived.
And he heals who he heals, hangs out with who he hangs out with and loves who he loves.
Jesus Christ is God’s action to begin the RETURN to MUTUALITY and ONENESS. He goes after hierarchy. He confronts otherness. He continually provokes people toward considering there is more room at the table than their lenses have permitted to this point. The leper can belong. The paralytic can belong. Yes even your mother-in-law can belong.
And then Acts 2. Jesus has gone away, ascended to be with the Father and tells the disciples to wait for the Helper that is coming. That Helper, the Holy Spirit arrives and some crazy and powerful stuff happens and all the on-lookers are trying to get a clear grasp and explanation of what the flip is going on and Peter stands up in front of all those assembled and gives the first sermon of the church (if you don’t count Mary’s announcement that Jesus was no longer in the tomb as a sermon).
And Peter, much like Jesus, quotes the Hebrew Bible. This time Joel. Don’t miss this! It’s Peter’s debut in leading this new thing called Church and he quotes Joel saying,
“In the last days, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, (God will use male and female to advance His kingdom), your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams (God will use young and old to advance his kingdom), even on my slaves, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit(God will use slave and free and again emphasizes both male and female to advance His kingdom)…And EVERYONE who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” (Parenthesis and All Caps are my commentary/emphasis.)
Peter is telling this newly formed church that the road back to MUTUALITY and ONENESS and back to Eden and Shalom was begun by Jesus and was to be fulfilled by His bride the Church.
And this fundamentally is what the Good News is all about. That we would all be restored mutually to the place where God’s image was equally on display on each of us and that there would be a level of connectedness with each other where we could be seen, safe and satisfied in relationship with each other as humans and with our creator, God.
And the crisis of belief for me was formulated around one central question: Are we in a post-fall world or a post-Pentecost world?
If it is the former, then hierarchy and otherness is the operating system we are designed for. We need the structure. We need the control. We need the order that is created when certain people have power and authority. There will inevitably be some otherness. Some us and them. But that’s just the nature of things in a fallen and broken place.
But if it is the latter, then, wow do I have to do some major re-alignment. Can I be a part of a church that says women are limited in what they can offer not because of skills and gifting but simply because of anatomy? Can I live in a community of privilege that mostly resembles me, behaves like me, has income like me and insulates from others who don’t look like me, are ‘sketchier’ than me, and don’t behave like me? If Jesus is my north star and mutuality and oneness are truly His guiding maxims for a return to Eden, then what does this mean for how I engage my city, the friends I have, the church I am part of?
This is the tension I am squarely in right now. I’ve realized that all my seminary books and pastors I’ve listened to and followed are white, educated men. It is seemingly one voice of power at the top of the hierarchy and I can no longer in good conscience or even in good faith believe that this is the good news Jesus announced in Luke 4, lived out and embodied, then ultimately gave his life for.
I’ve watched a number of people leave C3 as we have gone through this process of wrestling with the Scriptures and discerning what the wise counsel for the church is, as we have installed both male and female elders and unleashed women to lead Missional Communities and empowered women to preach.
They have strong convictions that the lens which they read and believe Scripture (the same lens I am deeply familiar with and deeply held as true) is the only way to really understand and align ourselves to the Bible. They have made strong, presumptuous and sometimes hurtful statements about how I no longer believe and live out the Scriptures or have strayed from orthodoxy.
I understand where they are coming from. But I have dipped my toes into the world that is post-Pentecost rather than post-Fall and it has felt immensely freeing and has led me to experience God and His Word in profoundly beautiful ways.
And I have begun to be formed deeply by the teaching and wisdom of women who are richly following Jesus and living out their calling as authors and preachers, pastors and prophets.
There is more to say. So a part two will come about what to do with “that passage” and with Paul and with church tradition and elders and pastors.
Suffice it to say for part one, this is no longer a hill I am avoiding in order to fix my eyes on Jesus. I believe now that this is precisely the hill of Calvary that Jesus gave his life on. To make us one.
As for that friend who I pitched on investing in C3? She took a higher road than me and invested in this church and kept us rolling despite our theological disagreement. She owned mutuality and oneness and chose Good News even when I would not. Might be time for me to drop her a note.
“May the church be unleashed from its traditions that have denied more than half its members the full use of the gifts God himself may have poured out by His spirit.”
Tuesday, January 23, 2018
5-4-3-2-1 This is Church
City Campus Church has some simple, yet unique DNA that we are consistently aligning ourselves to. It's our ethos for where we are going and how we are trying to get there. It's as simple at 5-4-3-2-1.
5 VALUES
We are a values driven church, which means that these values direct our thinking and actions on a micro (individually) and macro level (in community). Based off Acts 2:42-47, our five values as a church are
Celebration...a win for you is a win for me and it is right to give thanks.
Community...we are better together than we could ever be apart.
Change...God doing a transforming work in us and doing a transforming work through us.
Generosity...We give more than we take.
Replication...Multiplying at every level. Disciples making Disciples who make disciples. Communities making communities who make communities. and Churches making churches who make churches.
4 RHYTHMS
Each of our Missional Communities have 4 rhythms that help us to live out a Gospel centered life.
Substance. This is where we share God's Word together and apply it in meaningful ways.
Social. Jesus found himself sharing meals and enjoying people frequently. We want to do the same. Have fun and build relationships.
Serve. Each community partners with a specific cause in our city. One supports foster parents and their kids, one supports the under-resourced on the West side, one partners with chronically and terminally ill children and their families and one partners with single mothers on the East side. Our serves are about fostering relational capital (not just doing nice things but being connected with the people we serve) and kingdom impact. We want to do things that are close to the heart of God.
Sabbath. In a culture that goes with reckless pace, we choose to live an alternative story and catch our breath and slow down.
These rhythms are all to be done at least once each in a 6 week window. We are low control (each community determines where they are heading) but high accountability (they have to own our 4 rhythms and our 5 values).
3 VEHICLES
We think that discipleship happens in three vehicles and encourage our folks to hop in the right vehicles at the right time in their faith journey.
Celebration...It's our Sunday morning gathering. There you will experience music and teaching and communion and prayer and baptisms.
Missional Community...Groups of 15-40 people doing life together (family) and serving a specific context (mission). We are a family on mission.
Huddle...Groups of 3-8 folks who go through a very intentional process of learning how to consistently lean into the Most Important 2 Questions (see below)
2 QUESTIONS
We believe that every person who is following Jesus can answer the two most important questions:
What is Jesus Saying?
What am I Going to Do About It?
1 GOAL
People being change(d) in the city of Columbus. If we really matter and make a difference in this city then if we closed our doors or stopped our missional communities, who in the city would be upset or miss our presence? If the answer is no one, then this DNA isn't really taking root.
This way of church isn't for everyone. But we consciously and consistently seek to choose presence over polish, development over delivery and low control with high accountability as the way to live out this story. We have seen God do some pretty amazing things in these first 5 years as a church and now we are beginning to look toward the next five with hope and expectancy of how He will move! Hope you'll join us for the ride!
5 VALUES
We are a values driven church, which means that these values direct our thinking and actions on a micro (individually) and macro level (in community). Based off Acts 2:42-47, our five values as a church are
Celebration...a win for you is a win for me and it is right to give thanks.
Community...we are better together than we could ever be apart.
Change...God doing a transforming work in us and doing a transforming work through us.
Generosity...We give more than we take.
Replication...Multiplying at every level. Disciples making Disciples who make disciples. Communities making communities who make communities. and Churches making churches who make churches.
4 RHYTHMS
Each of our Missional Communities have 4 rhythms that help us to live out a Gospel centered life.
Substance. This is where we share God's Word together and apply it in meaningful ways.
Social. Jesus found himself sharing meals and enjoying people frequently. We want to do the same. Have fun and build relationships.
Serve. Each community partners with a specific cause in our city. One supports foster parents and their kids, one supports the under-resourced on the West side, one partners with chronically and terminally ill children and their families and one partners with single mothers on the East side. Our serves are about fostering relational capital (not just doing nice things but being connected with the people we serve) and kingdom impact. We want to do things that are close to the heart of God.
Sabbath. In a culture that goes with reckless pace, we choose to live an alternative story and catch our breath and slow down.
These rhythms are all to be done at least once each in a 6 week window. We are low control (each community determines where they are heading) but high accountability (they have to own our 4 rhythms and our 5 values).
3 VEHICLES
We think that discipleship happens in three vehicles and encourage our folks to hop in the right vehicles at the right time in their faith journey.
Celebration...It's our Sunday morning gathering. There you will experience music and teaching and communion and prayer and baptisms.
Missional Community...Groups of 15-40 people doing life together (family) and serving a specific context (mission). We are a family on mission.
Huddle...Groups of 3-8 folks who go through a very intentional process of learning how to consistently lean into the Most Important 2 Questions (see below)
2 QUESTIONS
We believe that every person who is following Jesus can answer the two most important questions:
What is Jesus Saying?
What am I Going to Do About It?
1 GOAL
People being change(d) in the city of Columbus. If we really matter and make a difference in this city then if we closed our doors or stopped our missional communities, who in the city would be upset or miss our presence? If the answer is no one, then this DNA isn't really taking root.
This way of church isn't for everyone. But we consciously and consistently seek to choose presence over polish, development over delivery and low control with high accountability as the way to live out this story. We have seen God do some pretty amazing things in these first 5 years as a church and now we are beginning to look toward the next five with hope and expectancy of how He will move! Hope you'll join us for the ride!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)