This week in my practicum we talked largely about the scripture passage out of 1 Timothy 2 where it talks about this idea of women in ministry. For myself this used to be a very hot issue in my mind and i thought that no women could be in ministry because of passages like this. However, this passage isnt really about that, it is a very cultural passage (according to the sermon and many other resources). We talked about if we have had experience with this discussion in our lives; i have, my mentor in high school came from a more baptist side of theological thought, and he told me that no women should be in ministry because these verses were to be taken literally in our time as well as in that time. But at the same time i was going to a wesleyan church where they largely said that women in ministry was a normal thing and that it was part of life for some women.
I had to deal with this problem in my mind my first year going to iwu. I would go to my pastor classes and there would be women in the class... this was a problem in my mind, but i eventually just decided that it really wasnt worth fighting because who am i to argue that God really wasnt calling them to be in ministry? who am i to say that their call is a lie? I cannot do that, so i kind of became ignorant of it; then later on i was able to do some reading and thinking and talking to people i was able to come to the decision that women in ministry is a good thing, because it is still a call from God.
That is what we talked about in sunday school; what the bible says and what we think ourselves. The group was primarily girls though, so of course they didnt fight it. haha.
What an interesting topic. i agree with the comment made that the passages about women involvement in the church made in 1 Timothy 2 are cultural, but what else did you personally get out of this class. Are you convinced that women can be ministers or are you just comfortable with it? Did the high population of women in your class persuade you to think that women can be ministers? I am just curious as to where you stand on the issue today. Overall though, I am throughly impressed that your class discuss controversial issues in the church.
ReplyDeletewell im a girl, and im in ministry. so obviously I don't have a problem with women in ministry. Actually we talked much about this in my intro to pastoral ministry classes, from both ends, and also decided that when we receive God's call, it is real, and there is no reason for us not to respond to that. Actually, growing up catholic, that was totally not allowed, the only thing that women could do was like children's ministry... really young children's ministry, and that always drove me kind of crazy. I believe that God can call anyone to ministry!
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