A sister in Mid-America writes that she loves her minister and his family but that the man is simply lazy. Wouldn't it be better, she asks, to divert the considerable sum of money paid in salaries to preachers every year to needy people or other good works? * * * Neither Scripture nor common sense encourages people to support someone who will not work, whether that individual stands behind a pulpit or sits quietly in a pew (2 Thes. 3:10-12). Since preachers are normal people, they manifest all the traits of human beings in general, both good and bad. While larger churches of most varieties … [Read more...]
WOMEN TEACHING MEN
A gracEmail subscriber writes, "Paul said he didn't allow a woman to teach a man (1 Tim. 2:12). What do you think Paul meant?" * * * In making this strange statement, the apostle was undoubtedly correcting some specific misbehavior at Ephesus, for it is inconsistent with the rest of the New Testament if taken as an absolute and unqualified rule. Two of Timothy's own most significant teachers from infancy had been his Grandmother Lois and Eunice his mother (2 Tim. 1:5; 3:14-16). However, women's teaching was not directed solely to little children, for Priscilla (as well as her husband Aquila) … [Read more...]
POLITICALLY CORRECT?
A gracEmail subscriber in California writes: "I would appreciate your comment on why Jesus did not select any women as Apostles. I have noticed that you do not interpret scriptures literally when there is a need to comply with contemporary tradition. I assume that you are being politically correct." * * * I do not know why Jesus chose only male Apostles, or only Jews, or so many fisherman, or only Galileans (except possibly Judas), and it would be presumptuous for me to speculate beyond what Scripture reveals. We may be certain that it was not because God automatically rejects women in … [Read more...]
FEMALE ‘COVERINGS’ AT CORINTH
A gracEmail subscriber asks about Paul's instruction to the Corinthians that women be veiled in public worship (1 Cor. 11:2-16). * * * When I was growing up in the Churches of Christ in North Alabama in the1950's, many preachers taught and many women believed that this text required the sisters to wear a hat or veil on their head whenever they were "in church." If asked why, these Christian women would explain that it was a symbol of their submission to men, or at least to their husband if they had one. On the other hand, these particular sisters never said a word aloud "in church" (except … [Read more...]
‘AUTHORITY’ ON HER HEAD
A Christian sister asks, "Please explain the passage which says, a woman should have 'authority on her head because of the angels'" (1 Cor. 11:9). * * * This passage in 1 Corinthians 11 has always held a special fascination for me because I grew up among churches whose women wore hats or veils of some sort whenever they "went to church," based on this text. What is Paul saying here? Numerous interpretations have been offered, but the following one makes the most sense to me. 1. Paul writes to a largely messianic-Jewish audience which assumes that women are subordinate to men (at least … [Read more...]
WOMEN ON CHURCH BOARD?
A gracEmail subscriber asks whether I think church "boards" should include only elders and deacons, or also chairpersons and ministry leaders. Elders and deacons only, in his church, would mean an all-male board. He prefers that because he believes it "God's will that men should run the church," and because he thinks "men are more capable of making the decisions without getting too cluttered with our emotions." * * * I suspect that Jesus and his apostles would be far more concerned about our notions of "running" things than with the gender of those who do it (Mk. 10:42-45; 1 Pet. 5:1-4). The … [Read more...]
PREACHERS AND PATTERNS
A gracEmailsubscriber in Australia writes: "There's a movement afoot (house churches are part of it) that claims that preaching and teaching to Christians in a congregation is to be done by the elders, and that any paid full-time evangelist ought to be evangelizing the lost. These folk say the idea of a located pulpit minister was a second century invention of men." [Today's questioner serves within the Churches of Christ, one part of a larger movement to achieve Christian unity through a "restoration" of "the New Testament church.] * * * If we view Timothy and Titus as models for a paid … [Read more...]
QUESTIONING HIS MINISTRY
A preaching brother says that he "entered the ministry" a few years after his conversion at the prompting of his own spiritual leader and other Christians. Years later, he "left the ministry," exhausted and feeling himself to be an unworthy sinner. "Did I correctly hear God's call originally?" he asks. "Did I do wrong by leaving?" * * * Before speculating whether you did the right thing by going into career ministry, or by leaving it, I would want to explore some other related questions. Did you enter ministry merely because others thought you should, or because you felt at your deepest … [Read more...]
FINDING ONE’S MINISTRY
A gracEmail reader says: "I understand that every Christian has some kind of ministry. How can I discern what mine is supposed to be? I want to make sure I am listening to God, and not just to my own desires." * * * That is a wise question and a holy ambition. God does not expect you or me to do everything that needs to be done. He has many people through whom to work, and he uses each one as he sees fit (Rom. 12:4-8). But God has prepared good works for each one of us, even before we came to know him as our Savior and Lord (Eph. 2:10). As a general rule, we can recognize a divinely-given … [Read more...]
MINISTRY IS MORE THAN CAREER
A gracEmail reader is considering leaving church ministry as a career but he feels paralyzed by the fear of making a wrong choice. Some friends are pressuring him to remain as he is. Would it be right for him to take some time away from work to seek God's guidance and settle his mind concerning it? * * * God invites us to seek his guidance and he promises to direct our path as we trust and obey (Psalm 37:3-7; Prov. 3:5-6; Isa. 30:19-21; John 10:3-4, 27-28; Rom. 12:1-2; Heb. 13:20-21). I have done that myself more than once when facing decisions -- sometimes with fasting, always with prayer … [Read more...]