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[Editor's note: The following post originally ran on Carolyn's blog, Radical Womanhood, available at
http://solofemininity.blogs.com/posts/biblical_femininity/]


My pastor, Eric Simmons, has been taking Redeemer Church of Arlington through the book of Titus for the last few months. On Sunday, he spoke from Titus 2. As a woman, I am used to hearing verses 3 to 5 expounded upon. But Eric's focus was on the congregation as a whole, underscoring how our beliefs should shape the way we live--and how we need each other to live godly lives.

So it was fortuitous timing that a friend sent me a link to the following article on the same day. This article, written by Tami Hagglund for the women of the Mars Hill Church (Ballard campus), emphasizes the Titus 2 perspective of how we need each other to reflect God's character in our church communities. I think she raises an excellent point. Here's what she wrote:

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Recently (last fall) I was meeting with a group of godly women, praying and seeking God's wisdom in forming a ministry to women at the Ballard campus. The topic of shepherding women ala Titus 2:3-5 was a central discussion point:

Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled.

You know those times where someone says something and God bursts his light into an area of darkness in your heart? I had one, big time! A dear friend responded to the above scripture with words that both convicted me and encouraged me to repent. For many readers, I trust they'll do the same for you. She said, simply:

"So many times I've read Titus 2, about the older women training the younger, and immediately thought, ‘So where's my older woman, God?' Never did I ask him who my younger woman was."

This, sadly, is how I have responded for most of my Christian life. I felt certain that some elusive, godly grandmother type (preferably a pastor's wife) needed to take me under her wing and teach me how to be godly just like her. If I'm really honest with you, I have often believed that I simply couldn't be a godly woman myself until that older woman appeared. What a tricky deception!

But in 1 Corinthians 12:12-31, Paul explains that we are one body united by Jesus through the Holy Spirit. As a body we are to care for individual members, using the gifts and abilities God has given us. We don't have to wait for the Christian Martha Stewart to come along and make us just like her. We have been adopted by God the Father through his Son, Jesus, and are now being made more like him (Ephesians 4:22-24).

An older woman training me to love and serve my husband and the sweet baby in my womb would be a lovely blessing. But right now, that's not someone God has placed in my life. But I can still be that older woman for someone else.

For example, I'm currently learning to pursue the younger women in my Community Group, particularly the unmarried or newly married women. Although I've only been married for three years, I have learned a lot in that time! How tragic would it be if I were so focused on "finding my older woman" that I didn't become that older woman and instead kept what God has done in me and my marriage to myself?

Ladies, who is your younger woman? Yes, you are a sinner, but Jesus has redeemed you. Yes, you need to grow and mature, but God has also given you a tremendous amount of wisdom and insight. True, you will never be perfect, but that doesn't mean you can't by God's grace be a loving, caring older woman to a younger woman.

Who knows, maybe if we all took that more seriously, your older woman would come along, too. But if not, what joy you will have in training your younger woman! Let's not allow Jesus' sanctification, the gifts for life and godliness that we each possess, end with us, ladies. Pray for God to put younger women in your life, who you can pursue and help point to Jesus.

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The Christian church has faced no shortage of challenges in its 2,000-year history. But now it's facing a challenge that is shaking its foundations: homosexuality.

To many onlookers, this seems strange or even tragic. Why can't Christians just join the revolution?

And make no mistake, it is a moral revolution. As philosopher Kwame Anthony Appiah of Princeton University demonstrated in his recent book, "The Honor Code," moral revolutions generally happen over a long period of time. But this is hardly the case with the shift we've witnessed on the question of homosexuality.

In less than a single generation, homosexuality has gone from something almost universally understood to be sinful, to something now declared to be the moral equivalent of heterosexuality-and deserving of both legal protection and public encouragement. Theo Hobson, a British theologian, has argued that this is not just the waning of a taboo. Instead, it is a moral inversion that has left those holding the old morality now accused of nothing less than "moral deficiency."

The liberal churches and denominations have an easy way out of this predicament. They simply accommodate themselves to the new moral reality. By now the pattern is clear: These churches debate the issue, with conservatives arguing to retain the older morality and liberals arguing that the church must adapt to the new one. Eventually, the liberals win and the conservatives lose. Next, the denomination ordains openly gay candidates or decides to bless same-sex unions.

This is a route that evangelical Christians committed to the full authority of the Bible cannot take. Since we believe that the Bible is God's revealed word, we cannot accommodate ourselves to this new morality. We cannot pretend as if we do not know that the Bible clearly teaches that all homosexual acts are sinful, as is all human sexual behavior outside the covenant of marriage. We believe that God has revealed a pattern for human sexuality that not only points the way to holiness, but to true happiness.

Thus we cannot accept the seductive arguments that the liberal churches so readily adopt. The fact that same-sex marriage is a now a legal reality in several states means that we must further stipulate that we are bound by scripture to define marriage as the union of one man and one woman-and nothing else.

We do so knowing that most Americans once shared the same moral assumptions, but that a new world is coming fast. We do not have to read the polls and surveys; all we need to do is to talk to our neighbors or listen to the cultural chatter.

In this most awkward cultural predicament, evangelicals must be excruciatingly clear that we do not speak about the sinfulness of homosexuality as if we have no sin. As a matter of fact, it is precisely because we have come to know ourselves as sinners and of our need for a savior that we have come to faith in Jesus Christ. Our greatest fear is not that homosexuality will be normalized and accepted, but that homosexuals will not come to know of their own need for Christ and the forgiveness of their sins.

This is not a concern that is easily expressed in sound bites. But it is what we truly believe.

It is now abundantly clear that evangelicals have failed in so many ways to meet this challenge. We have often spoken about homosexuality in ways that are crude and simplistic. We have failed to take account of how tenaciously sexuality comes to define us as human beings. We have failed to see the challenge of homosexuality as a Gospel issue. We are the ones, after all, who are supposed to know that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the only remedy for sin, starting with our own.

We have demonstrated our own form of homophobia-not in the way that activists have used that word, but in the sense that we have been afraid to face this issue where it is most difficult . . . face to face.

My hope is that evangelicals are ready now to take on this challenge in a new and more faithful way. We really have no choice, for we are talking about our own brothers and sisters, our own friends and neighbors, or maybe the young person in the next pew.

There is no escaping the fact that we are living in the midst of a moral revolution. And yet, it is not the world around us that is being tested, so much as the believing church. We are about to find out just how much we believe the Gospel we so eagerly preach.

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This article was originally published in the Friday, July 1, 2011 edition of The Wall Street Journal, reprinted by permission at www.albertmohler.com.

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Boundless magazine recently interviewed CBMW President Randy Stinson and Dan Dumas of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary on male leadership in the home and church. Stinson and Dumas are co-authors of the new book,
A Guide to Biblical Manhood.

The interview may be heard at:

http://www.boundlessline.org/2011/08/lead-on-episode-184.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+boundlessline%2Fblog+%28Blog%3A+Boundless+Line%29

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[Editor's note: The following post by Robert E. Sagers appeared on Justin Taylor's blog last week. Sagers is a PhD student in systematic theology at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, where he serves as Special Assistant to the Senior Vice President for Academic Administration (Russell Moore).]


Mark Chanski, author of Manly Dominion and Womanly Dominion and the pastor of Harbor Reformed Baptist Church of Holland, Mich., was kind to answer a few questions about what it means for men and women to be men and women of (biblical) dominion.

Robert Sagers: What does it mean to be a man of dominion?

Mark Chanski: A man of dominion seeks to boldly subdue and rule over the circumstances of his life, instead of passively permitting the circumstances of his life to subdue and rule over him. He dominates his environment instead of letting his environment dominate him.

The cornerstone passage is the Dominion Mandate found in Genesis 1:28, the Lord's first recorded words to his image bearing creatures: "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky, and over everything living that moves on the earth."

God had just taken the chaos of a formless and void world, and in the space of six days, fashioned it into an orderly and "very good" creation. An image bearing man of dominion imitates his God. He subdues (brings into bondage, makes to serve him by force) and rules (governs, reigns, and holds sway over) the spheres (earth, sea, sky) around him. A man of dominion is boldly active.

In contrast, a billiard ball is timidly passive. It allows itself to be acted upon and pushed around by cue sticks, fellow balls, and bumpers. Not so the billiard player. He assertively imposes his plans on the table configuration by the forceful thrusts of his cue stick. He subdues and rules.

On the table of life, many men today function more like passive billiard balls than like active billiard players. This is seen in family life where many men act like couch potatoes failing to husband, father, and rule; in vocational life where many are sluggards failing to plan ahead, labor, and drive to excellence; in church life where many are AWOL: failing to lead, direct, and serve; and in personal life where many are weaklings failing to exercise self control, kill sins, and manage priorities.

Whenever God speaks and assigns, the serpent slithers and whispers, "Yea, has God said?" And so, many of us believe his lies, and adopt a posture of helpless victimization instead of bold dominion. One says, "I'm a genetic victim with bad DNA, and that's why I'm obese, an alcoholic, or tranquilizer dependent. I can't subdue and rule." Another says, "I'm an emotional victim who's been badly treated by significant others, and that's why I can't hold a job, control my sexual life, or stay off of drugs." Still another, "I'm a circumstantial victim whose boss, wife, or government makes it impossible for me to succeed." So instead of exercising dominion, we give excuses.

When faced with a daunting challenge (i.e., losing weight, disciplining our children, organizing our day), our motto should be: "I can, and so help me God, I will!" But at many times it becomes: "I probably can't, so I won't even try!" I confess my own struggles here.

But the Bible is full of men who were given daunting assignments, and found a way get them done. Noah built a freighter-sized ark in the face of a laughing world, with a 500 year-old body, in a pre-Home Depot era. Joseph overcame abusive brothers, a seductive temptress, and depression-provoking disappointments to become the prime minister of Egypt. Nehemiah fought through backbreaking rubble piles and sinister enemy conspiracies to finish the Jerusalem wall in 52 days. Paul endured brotherly rejection, Jewish persecution, and Roman incarceration to finish his missionary race.

The mightiest of all men of dominion is Jesus Christ Himself. Though he had poor parents, was called illegitimate, was ridiculed, entrapped, betrayed, scourged, and even crucified, he stayed at his post until he was able to shout regarding his epic errand, "It is finished." Hallelujah, what a Savior!

A man of dominion seeks to imitate his Lord and Savior in every life assignment, whether it's in school, at work, in marriage, in parenting, in churchmanship, or in personal godliness. So help him God, with no excuses, he seeks to subdue and rule in every sphere to the glory of his Maker and Redeemer.

RES: What does it mean to be a woman of dominion?

MC: Women have received the same dominion mandate as men. "And God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. And God blessed them; and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful, multiply and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule . . .'" (Genesis 1:27-28).

So women too need to fight off a sinful propensity toward timid passivity, and put on a dominion mindset of bold activity. Women are faced with daily life challenges just as daunting as men's:

-Shall I apply for acceptance in the university's highly competitive nursing program, or passively concede failure without even trying?
-Shall I surrender under the crushing pressure of term papers and final exams, or find a way, so help me God, to study my way through, and pass these classes?
-Shall I get romantically involved with a man of poor character because I'm afraid of becoming a spinster, or shall I faithfully stay the course and wait for a true man of God?
-Shall I permit my family's home to fall into chaotic disarray, or resolve to labor diligently to maintain an orderly household?
-Shall I passively watch my children be swallowed up into the vortex of a godless culture, or valiantly fight the good fight to raise them in the fear of the Lord?

Godly women, made in the image of God, must daily tell themselves to subdue and rule, to the glory of God.

But women, unlike men, are faced with an additional fierce life challenge. They've also got to "play their position." Coaching our daughter's soccer teams found me constantly shouting to my players, "Play your position!" If I have a goalie who's not convinced of the importance of guarding the goal, but is convinced that the only important contribution is scoring goals, that roaming and undisciplined player will do great harm to the team. Imagine the damage done when a girl assigned to play goalie leaves her post to make a long and exciting dribble run up the field, only to be stripped by an opponent who's able to dribble back and to score into a goalie-less net! I'd shout, "Jessica, you're a goalie, not a forward. Play your position! Everybody's counting on you! Play your position!"

On the field of life, women not only have to play boldly, but they've also got to play their position. God hasn't positioned women in such "forward" positions as Family Leader, Breadwinner, and Pastor. Eve was positioned by her heavenly coach as a "helper suitable" (Genesis 2:18), a child nurturer (Genesis 2:16), and a submissive learner (1 Timothy 2:11-15). But women hear shouts from unprincipled sideline voices telling them to leave their God-assigned posts, much like a misguided parent might tell his goalie daughter: "Get the ball, honey, and try to score!"

-The army recruiter at the high school tells her that women are well suited for military combat.
-Her college professor insists that she should pursue a Ph.D. and not let her pursuit be derailed by the patriarchal institution of marriage and childbearing.
-Her magazines tell her that her husband has no right to expect her to abandon her career to stay home with the children, while he continues to climb the corporate ladder.
-Her own inner voice tells her that selflessly serving her husband and her children is a thankless waste of a life.
-And her neighbor friend tells her that her spiritual maturity merits her being recognized as an elder in her church.

Godly women, made in the image of God, must daily tell themselves: "Play your position! Stay at your assigned post, to the glory of God."

So a woman of dominion must have "a gentle and a quiet spirit" (1 Peter 3:4), as she must play her position. But that's not the whole story. She must also boldly subdue and rule in her challenging assignments.

The Bible is full of bold women. Zelophehad's daughters boldly brought their grievance to Moses and won their case, and God's commendation (Numbers 27:1-7). Deborah "quit herself like a man" when passive billiard ball Barak refused to do his duty (Judges 4). Abigail saved her family by virtuously outmaneuvering Nabal and deftly advising David, to the admiring delight of the latter (1 Samuel 25). The lady of Proverbs 31 is a lovely subduer and ruler par excellence. Priscilla, whose name precedes her husband Aquila's, helped teach the great Apollos the way of God more accurately (Acts 18:24-28). And Phoebe is saluted as a strategic and influential helper of the church at Cenchrea (Romans 16:1-2).

Such female heroes rightly brighten the eyes of Christian women!

So a woman of dominion is more than a gentle and quiet spirit. She boldly subdues and rules in her God-appointed positions to the glory of God.

RES: How can the church best equip its members to be men and women of (biblical) dominion?

MC: First, by being unapologetically countercultural in our teaching of the Scriptures. Our people are daily the targets of high octane media propaganda that promotes relativism, liberalism, feminism, and excuse-ism. The faithful declaring of the whole counsel of God should perceptively expose the subtle lies of the journalist, therapist, panelist, novelist, artist, feminist, etc.

Second, by modeling biblical manhood in church life. For example, men should:

-make their families' consistent attendance a principled priority, not a feeling-driven option.
-step up to the plate in Sunday School classes and prayer meetings in such a manner that their verbal contributions lead the way, and not leave a void, provoking the women to take over.
-engage in spiritually-minded conversations that spur each other on to love and good works.
-go home, and throughout the week lead their families in consistent family devotions.
-work hard and with excellence at their vocations, enabling them to support both their own families and kingdom endeavors.

Third, by modeling biblical womanhood in church life. For example, women should:

-relish their God-honoring roles as submissive learners and followers.
-take up their strategic opportunities as strategic teachers. The church is teeming with needy women and children, and a wise Apollos will hear a discreet Priscilla.
-extend hospitality in its countless forms. A Christlike, foot-washing, servant-hearted woman is a mighty kingdom weapon. Think of Edith Schaeffer at L'Abri. Women are the church's infantry.
-go home, and boldly mother their own children. The hand that rocks the cradle is the hand that rules the world.
-commit themselves to being passionately dedicated helpmeets to their own husbands.

Fourth, by praying with dependence on the Spirit. We can't subdue and rule over anything apart from our Savior's power. Apart from him, we can do nothing (John 15:5).

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At a time when women have more advantages and opportunities in churches than ever, more organizations devoted to women's equality and liberation within the Church, a recent poll seems quite surprising. In the past 20 years, the percentage of women attending church during a typical week has decreased by 11% and is now 44%, the Barna Group reported August 1 , 2011.

Along with a decrease in attendance, women have stopped volunteering at their churches. The poll also found that only 40% of women read their Bibles each week, whereas two decades ago, 50% of all women did.

The survey also found that women are stepping away from congregations and a 17% increase in the number of women who have become "unchurched."

"For years, many church leaders have understood that ‘as go women, so goes the American church,'" wrote Barna Group founder George Barna, on his website. "Looking at the trends over the past 20 years, and especially those related to the beliefs and behavior of women, you might conclude that things are not going well for conventional Christian churches."

They found that the percentage of women who strongly believe the Bible is accurate in all it teaches declined by 7% to 42%. And those who view God as "the all-knowing, all-powerful and perfect Creator of the universe who still rules the world today" dropped to 70% from the previous 80%.

"Women used to put men to shame in terms of their orthodoxy of belief and the breadth and consistency of their religious behavior," wrote Barna. "No more; the religious gender gap has substantially closed."

Women are no longer being consistent in their religious commitment or having more depth in their beliefs. Women have been the majority of the devoted and faithful attenders.

In a day and age where women have more leadership opportunities within the Church, more opportunities for theological education, and are more liberated than ever within religious circles, why are there now less women in those churches? Why are they reading their Bibles less, volunteering less frequently, and believing less in the accuracy of Scripture?

(Diane Montgomery is a regular contributor to Unlocking Femininity at www.unlockingfemininity.com where this post first appeared)