How
would you feel, if someone gave you a gift, but then forbade you to use it?
“Enjoy
this _____________. But don’t you dare use it.”
What sort of giving is
that?
What
would we think of someone who gave a gift that way? But isn’t that exactly how
we regard God, the giver of all great gifts (see James 1:17), if we set countless
Heaven-gifted Christians on the shelf?
Most
Christians have some degree of understanding about the many gifts of God’s Holy
Spirit. How many sermons or Sunday school class lessons have we heard about the
variety of spiritual gifts God gives to believers? How many books have we read
on this topic? We may even have identified which gifts we have and begun
exercising them.
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NOTE: If you have not yet figured out which
spiritual gifts you have, you can find many free questionnaires online that
help with that question.
Since
I was a teen, I have completed countless spiritual gift inventories, and the
top results have always been the same. Teaching tops my inventory results list
every time – by a significant margin. That all sounds well and good … until I
recall the many occasions when I have been forbidden to use it.
“You can work in the church nursery.”
“How about teaching elementary-aged kids?”
“We have just
the spot for you: women’s ministry.”
“How about serving as a greeter on Sunday mornings?”
Please
understand: I am not knocking nursery, children’s, women’s, or welcome ministries.
Those are essential elements of any congregation’s ability to survive and
thrive. Over the years, I have willingly done my time in all of those areas.
And I enjoyed it … mostly. (OK, that's not the point.)
All
that doesn’t make me any less frustrated by the exclusion of women from so many
ministry opportunities. I’ve seen men walk out of Sunday services, when female
evangelists or missionaries or even fellow church members stepped up to the
microphone to speak. I have to believe our loving Lord is grieved by such
behavior.
Many
of the churches I have attended in my lifetime have blocked women from
exercising the spiritual gift of teaching, except to teach other women or small
children. I’ve even read church by-laws that stated that women would be allowed
to teach boys, but only until they reached puberty. (Don’t you wonder what
committee is supposed to monitor that stage of life for the youngsters?)
This has always frustrated
and puzzled me.
Throughout
my Christian life, I have been blessed to learn from several wise and gifted
Christian teachers, both men and women. I’ve also sat under some that made me
shudder. Clearly, the best ones are spiritually gifted and yielded to God’s
direction. What does gender have to do with that?
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Here’s an analogy.
Let’s
suppose God gives a man and a woman each a truck with a plow. Then a giant
blizzard sweeps through town. The man garbs up in his winter gear and grabs his
truck keys to go out and clear the neighborhood.
But
let’s just say (for the purpose of this illustration) that the church leadership
says women are not allowed to plow snow.
“Only men can
do that.”
If
the woman remains in her cozy home, while her neighbors are stuck in their
snowbound states, will God not hold her accountable for the unplowed snow?
After all, she holds the title and the keys to a fully equipped and functional
snowplow. And the need is great.
But
those church leaders put words in God’s mouth, so to speak. So people are
stranded in the storm. Some may even face medical emergencies or food
shortages. But they cannot get out – at least, not until the man gets around to
them with his snowplow.
Teaching
God’s truth clears away clutter that blocks people from knowing Him. It’s a
little like snowplowing, in that it helps to make an unobstructed way for individuals to get to where
they need to be.
The need for solid
teaching is great in our time.
Why
do so many churches bar half (or even much more) of the body from using powerful
God-given gifts?
Some Bible scholars like to cite verses that talk about women speaking in
church (see 1 Corinthians 13:33-35) or having authority over men (see 1 Timothy
2:11-12). Others explain these passages in historical and cultural ways.
Several point out examples of honored female judges, prophets, and teachers in
the Bible.
A
few are willing to question honestly why women may be lauded for serving the
Lord as missionaries and church planters overseas, but not permitted to teach
in churches on our own shores. (This unfair reality sounds more situational
than Scriptural to me!)
Some
Christian leaders (and followers) even go so far as to blame Eve (and
subsequently all females) for the fall of mankind. They claim the serpent
approached Eve in the Garden of Eden (see Genesis 3) because she was presumably more
fallible than Adam.
Bible
experts argue whether Adam was close at-hand during Eve’s temptation, or if he
simply joined the dreaded apple eating afterwards. If he was there all
along, why didn’t he contend with the serpent? And if he happened to stroll in
after the serpent departed, why did he go along with the whole shebang?
Some say Eve was deceived,
and Adam partook willingly.
Now,
we could blow this up into a whole argument to compare the apparent "worseness"
of Eve's gullibility or Adam's deliberate disobedience. Even if we did, how could we assume those
character traits transfer to all women or all men?
And
what does that have to do with teaching roles in the church?
Spiritual gifts cannot be
denied.
I’ve
been dragged around the farm multiple times on this one. Although the
conversation hasn’t always been this direct, it has sort of gone something like
this:
“What is your
primary spiritual gift?”
“Teaching.”
“Well, you can’t
teach here. And shame on you for even suggesting such a thing.”
Um, I’m pretty sure the
teaching gift wasn’t my idea.
So many of those those times I took and re-took spiritual gifts inventories, I was trying to come up with a
less-labor-intensive gift. Teaching takes preparation – and lots of it. It’s
homework. Many of the other spiritual gifts sound more like
show-up-and-let-the-Spirit-step-in. Frankly, that sounds a lot simpler. (OK, I know I am oversimplifying. And I don’t
mean to sound flippant or comical about it. Just go with me here for a moment.)
But the teaching gift remains,
whether I asked for it or not.
Many
other women are in the same proverbial boat. What is a woman teacher supposed
to do (according to the naysayers): Stop and pause, while instructing a women’s
group or children’s Sunday school class, just because a random man happens to
walk into the room? What if he overhears the content and learns something? And
what if that man happens to be a pastor?
Oh
my!
I’ve
encountered such resistance to female leadership in much of the church-at-large
that I have occasionally questioned my gifting.
But God is bigger than
that. And He is not threatened by our questions.
God
is sovereign. He gives as He pleases for His heavenly purposes. And He calls us
to use what we have been given. Who are we to argue with that?
Doesn’t
the great cloud of witnesses (see Hebrews 12:1) that cheers us all on include Deaconess
Phoebe (see Romans 16:1), Judge Deborah (see Judges 4), Prophetesses Anna (see Luke 2:36-38) and Miriam (see Exodus
15:20), Queen Esther, Teacher Priscilla (see Romans 16:3-5), and so many other
gifted lady leaders?
I
think the Lord mourns the longtime put-down of His beloved and gifted daughters,
who long to step up and do His work.
Hierarchical
Complementarianism (a high-falutin’ word for distinctly dictated gender roles in the
church), in its effort to prescribe what women can and cannot do in Christian ministry
(regardless of their spiritual gifts), is anything but complimentary.
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The
harvest stands ready, but the workers are few (see Luke 10:2). Let’s not let human
preconceptions get in the way of the work to be done by gifted people.
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