Over the years, many have objected to our stance that every home and church should be ordered in such a way as to honor the biblical mandate for men to lead in these two areas.  "That may be your conviction," they say, "but we see it differently.  After all, many good people on both sides of the debate disagree, so why not just let everyone choose for themselves a viable option that works for them?"  The sentiment is that as long as the church or married couple love God and are trying to reach the lost, why quibble over who is leading or who does the preaching?

I understand that many grow weary of doctrinal debates and theological challenges.  But the church has always dealt with difficulties in one area or another and it is important for every generation of believers to clearly defend and articulate the biblical message.  I believe it is possible for someone to be wrong on the gender issue, but still be a believer.  So being an egalitarian does not mean you are not a Christian, but it does cripple the discipleship process for that person for the rest of their life.  Being a complementarian cannot be merely a matter of personal conviction because the gender issue is tied to so many key areas of Christian theology and practice.  Much is at stake in this debate:

1. The authority of scripture is at stake.

The Bible clearly teaches that men and women are equal in value and dignity and have distinct and complementary roles in the home and the church.  If churches disregard these teachings and accommodate the culture, then the members of those churches and subsequent generations will be less likely to submit to God's word in other difficult matters as well.

2.The health of the home is at stake.

If families do not structure their homes properly, in disobedience to the teaching of Ephesians 5, 1 Peter 3, and Colossians 3, then they will not have the proper foundation upon which to withstand the temptations of the devil and the various onslaughts of the world.  This hinders the sanctification of married couples and also introduces confusion about basic parenting issues such as raising masculine sons and feminine daughters.

3. The health of the church is at stake.

Just like the home, if the church disobeys the teaching of 1Timothy 2, 1 Corinthians 11 and disregards the structure that God put into place for the community of faith from the beginning, then the church will be weakened.  If the church is weakened in its convictions, it will be less effective in accomplishing its mission.

4. Our worship is at stake.

Increasingly, members of the evangelical community, in the name of gender equality, are advocating calling God "mother" as often as we call him "father."  God has named Himself and for us to make changes to His self revelation not only undermines the written Word, but also undermines God's authority in our lives.  The very nature of our triune God is revealed in a biblically ordered marriage. God means to be seen and savored through the ‘lens' of complementary relationships between the sexes.

5. Bible translations are at stake.

There are many who are currently advocating for Bible translations that would essentially be "gender-neutral."  These translations, in hundreds of places, remove the words he, him, his, brother, father, son, and man.  While much more information can be found here, my concern is that in the name of gender equality, the Bible is undermined and the very words of God end up being revised.

6. The advance of the Gospel is at stake.

Ephesians 5 calls husbands and wives to relate to one another as a picture of Christ and the church.  The picture involves the humble, sacrificial leadership of the husband and the joyful, intelligent submission to that leadership by the wife.  Husbands and wives who model this improperly portray a distorted and false picture of Jesus Christ, the Head and Savior of His bride, the church.  Deviation from biblical teaching on manhood and womanhood distorts the picture of Christ and the Church, and hinders the advance of the gospel.

More precious realities of life and godliness hang on how one interprets and obeys Scripture on the issue of manhood and womanhood. Why is this issue so important? Because the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ cannot be severed from the methods he has authorized to spread it. Homes and churches in which manhood and womanhood are prized advance the Gospel and the glory of God more accurately than any other kind of home or church.

May it be said that, in this generation and by His grace, a winsome voice is heard joyfully "proclaiming God's glorious design for manhood and womanhood in the church and in the home" as a personal conviction and more: a pervasive achievement of grace.

Two months after the California Supreme Court struck down the ban on "gay marriage" on the Golden State, the same court on July 16 voted in favor of allowing a proposed constitutional marriage amendment to remain on the November ballot. This amendment will allow every citizen to speak out in favor of either gay marriage or in favor of a biblical design of marriage being the union of one man and one woman.

If passed, the amendment, known as "Proposition 8," would reverse the high court's 4-3 decision that made California the second state to recognize "gay marriage."  Michael Foust of Baptist Press gives a full report of a legal decision that could ultimately be a victory for traditional marriage. An excerpt:

Without comment the justices denied to hear a lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union, Lambda Legal and other liberal and homosexual activist groups that sought to prevent the initiative -- which easily qualified for the ballot with 1.1 million submitted signatures -- from going before voters.

Some of the legal arguments were viewed as long shots, but pro-family attorneys -- having lost confidence in the justices after the May ruling -- remained at least somewhat concerned about what the court might do. The liberal groups argued that the amendment would "revise" the constitution and take away constitutionally guaranteed fundamental rights; such fundamental revisions cannot be placed on the ballot via voter initiative and must be approved by two-thirds of the legislature.

Churches in the state seem to be getting behind the amendment. In late June more than 1,600 pastors and church leaders gathered at roughly 100 sites for a conference call to pray for and plan strategy for the amendment's success. Focus on the Family's James Dobson and the Family Research Council's Tony Perkins took part, as did David Jeremiah, senior pastor of Shadow Mountain Community Church in El Cajon, Calif., who is known nationwide for his television and radio ministry.

Arizona and Florida will also have marriage amendments on the ballot in November. Amendment supporters from the three states will convene by conference call on July 30 to focus on strategies to mobilize local churches.

Let us pray that California voters will exercise wisdom as they execute such an important stewardship as casting votes and that, if it would please God, the biblical view of marriage -- one man and one woman united in holy matrimony for a lifetime -- will carry the day.

In view of these opportunities, one hopes that thoughtful believers throughout the country will arise and speak with honor and boldness of the irrationality of 'gay marriage.'  There can be no such thing, for marriage is always the linking of two dissimilar persons into one new union. 1 Peter 2:15-16 urges us toward this kind of involvement: "For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God" (ESV).

May God-fearing Christians humbly call to account our legislatures and our culture for seeking to remake God's gift of marriage in their own image. After all, holy matrimony is God's idea and therefore God's to oversee, grant to whom he will, and cause to succeed. What is often called ‘gay marriage' in our land is neither holy nor matrimony.

We are now seeing, among my generation in particular, the many effects of a culture that increasingly normalizes sin. Lisa Miller recently published an article about the rise of homosexual clubs on Christian college campuses. The birth of these clubs is largely due to the influence of Soul Force, a self-proclaimed Christian group that travels to Christian colleges and universities in order to free homosexual and transgendered students from oppression — namely religious oppression.

What was most troubling about the article is not that students are starting homosexual clubs in a community that claims the name of Christ. The problem arose long before these groups ever formed, or even before Soul Force arrived on their property. For many of the schools these students are acting contrary to the doctrinal and lifestyle statements of the institution. And the arrival of Soul Force may only have encouraged these behaviors, not created them. Even though some of the schools mentioned in the article are not sanctioning the clubs, they are not stopping them. An unofficial club is merely a matter of semantics. These schools abdicated their roles as leaders and guides of the next generation long before the students "came out." And the issue is more a matter of discipleship than of discrimination.

While it could be said that a Christian college or university is not the "church" there is still a sense of shepherding on the part of leadership simply because they profess the name of Christ. They have rules and responsibilities of those who are members of the community, one being (on some campuses) that a student must be a believer. Miller gives several examples of students who are living contrary to these standards set by the institution, including a young woman biding her time until graduation day, who will then depart for her tour with the Soul Force bus openly declaring her lesbianism. How does she slip through the cracks? And what does it say about the institution?

Miller calls Christian colleges "the last bastion of traditional values — places where parents can continue, in absentia, to protect their children from the corrupting influences of the world." But she goes on to say that this is no longer a valid idea due to the cultural acceptance of homosexual behavior. In the wake of same-sex marriage acceptability, Christian colleges are losing their ability to condemn this behavior, especially when, as she says, "they are wedged between their genuine desire to support the students and their obligations to donors and alumni." This is when it becomes problematic for them. If we allow students to gather around homosexuality, what is to stop a "Gluttony Club" or "Pornography Club" from forming? Our hope is not in Christian colleges, and parents and students (and even the Church) should not treat it as such. And while our hope does not rest there, they still must function as members of the universal Church, one that never condones homosexuality, or any sexual behavior that deviates from what God has designed.

We have an obligation, as the Church, in a world increasingly confused about gender to speak boldly about what God says. Just because our culture views a particular behavior as acceptable does not mean that we turn a blind eye to it. Where will we be in 10 years if our Christian colleges, and our churches for that matter, do not teach and disciple people through their desires? It should also make us weep for these students. They are living out the darkness of Romans 1 — and this is where we would be without the sovereign hand of God on us. And while the "last bastion of traditional values" may be on its way to being given over to the world, we know that the Church never will. Our obligation is to seek and save what is lost and teach them about how God's glory is displayed in his creation of gender, perhaps even those lost on the Soul Force bus.

In perhaps the most famous sermon in history, Jesus juxtaposed two ways to live, two paths, one of which every human being will ultimately choose to travel:, "The gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction..." but "the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life..." (Matt 7:13-14)

The workers for EXODUS International surely comprehend that verse in a very tangible way. EXODUS is a nonprofit, interdenominational Christian organization that helps homosexuals to discover freedom from bondage to their sinful lifestyles through the liberating power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The EXODUS website gives clear articulation to that which has been the organization's mission for more than three decades: 

Since 1976, Exodus has grown to include over 120 local ministries in the USA and Canada. We are also linked with other Exodus world regions outside of North America, totaling over 150 ministries in 17 countries. Within both the Christian and secular communities, Exodus has challenged those who respond to homosexuals with ignorance and fear, and those who uphold homosexuality as a valid orientation. These extremes fail to convey the fullness of redemption found in Jesus Christ, a gift which is available to all who commit their life and their sexuality to Him.

Thus, EXODUS seeks to demonstrate grace and genuine compassion through the proclamation of truth that the Gospel possesses the power to liberate those who are shackled in the lightless dungeon of sexual sin. According to the website, EXODUS carries out its mission primarily through four means:

• Ministry referrals. EXODUS refers individuals who want to recover from homosexuality to local churches and Christian counselors who meet the organization's membership criteria. These members are spread across the world and, best of all, most are tied to local churches. EXODUS strongly advocates the local church as the primary venue for Gospel healing and liberation for homosexuals. Member ministries also provide support for the families and friends of those seeking to leave the homosexual lifestyle.
• Annual Exodus Freedom Conference. Each year, over 1,000 men, women, youth, pastors, therapists, spouses, parents and other interested persons come together for a unique gathering of instruction and celebration. Besides powerful worship and inspirational messages, dozens of workshops are presented on counseling, relationships, sexual struggles, societal issues, support for family and friends, ministry development, and various other topics. This five-day event is held annually in late July, in different cities throughout North America.
• Speaking engagements. EXODUS leaders speak in local churches across the world and conduct interviews with local, national and international news media.
• A monthly newsletter. Each issue includes a testimony of healing, current events in the national "ex-gay" movement, new book and video reviews, prayer requests for the month, and news of upcoming local, regional and national events.

Ministry of the type which EXODUS offers is fraught with difficulties, dangers, toils and snares. EXODUS and organizations with a similar focus such as PFOX (Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays and Gays) are often the targets of harsh verbal  and occasionally physical attacks by homosexual activists, many of whom deny that the category of "ex-gays" exist.

There is good news in the Gospel for homosexuals as for sinners of every sort. After listing a catalog of sins — including homosexuality and adultery — of which the Corinthian church had once been guilty, the apostle Paul concisely drove home this glorious gospel truth with what he wrote next in 1 Cor 6:11: "And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God."

We thank the Lord for His work of grace through ministries such as EXODUS and pray that, in the face of persecution that will surely only grow worse, God will give leaders the grace to press on boldly in contending for the Gospel that liberates sinners in a culture that desperately needs to experience the unfathomable transformation of God's mercy in Christ. Indeed, EXODUS is modeling Christ-like compassion, perseverance and courage, while ministering within the blazing-hot cauldron of persecution along the "hard way that leads to life."

The mayor of a small Connecticut town recently announced that his community is adding the first female chaplain to their corps of Police chaplains. The new chaplain, Dr. Helen F. Streeter, is a local ‘Apostle' of her church and cable television preacher. My earnest hope is that she will serve as a spiritual chaplain for the many females working in law enforcement as well as women of the community who find themselves in trouble with the law, or victimized or in the prison system.

Because I love the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and because I was for seven years a police and prison chaplain in a large U.S. metropolitan city, I can speak firsthand to the massive need for a gospel-rich message of hope in the lives of women in the civil arena.  Women officers, perpetrators, victims and victim's families desperately need Christ in the midst of what becomes one of the most traumatic and vulnerable episodes of their lives.

Female chaplains bring an understanding, an ability to connect with women, a spiritual insight and compassion that often surpass what male chaplains can offer. There are times when only a female chaplain will do. To whom Dr. Streeter will minister is unclear. It simply says Dr. Streeter will join the other male chaplains "in providing spiritual guidance and support to the members of the Stamford Police Department."  If this refers to an appointment of a female chaplain ministering to men, I am grieved at this news. Here's what I mean.

My first thought is this: Scripture makes it clear that a woman being placed in spiritual authority over men is forbidden. I Timothy 2:12 says, "I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercises authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet."  One cannot exercise the duties of a chaplain without significant spiritual authority. For a woman to take on this authority over men violates Scripture.

Along a similar line, if a spiritual leader reverses or ignores, for any reason, one text of Scripture, that leader's trustworthy stewardship of the entire remainder of Scripture is questioned. If one clear passage of Scripture governing the design of God in creation can be by-passed, texts with more nuanced meanings are in even greater danger of being misused or discarded. This erodes the trust that is so essential to spiritual leadership.

Another concern is that the exemplary role of spiritual leaders is marred.  Hebrews 13:7 says, "Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith" (ESV). To a woman's attempts at spiritual leadership, godly men likely will withdraw spiritually and women will understandably stall in their maturity as they experience spiritually mixed signals.

The Gospel itself will be muted. Chaplains are viewed by all they serve as having a pastoral role. That role cannot be divorced from the message it bears. The Apostle Paul likens marriage between a man and a woman to the Gospel of Jesus Christ in Ephesians 5:22-33. Specifically he calls wives to submit to their husbands as the church submits to Christ. To portray this truth, God calls men, and not women, to lead spiritually. This means that for a woman who loves the Gospel and wants to make it known, she will not seek the role of spiritual leader to men. Rather she will seek to model Christ in his gospel-rich acts of submission to those in authority over her. She will serve in the myriad of ways that bear witness to the saving power of God in Christ to the lost and confused community in which she lives.

Finally, for men to relinquish the role of spiritual leadership to women, results in dishonor to those very women.  She who is asked to lead men spiritually is placed under stricter judgment to teach the whole counsel of God who requires an account for the blood of those led (James 3:10; Acts 20:26-27). She is made vulnerable to an erroneous view of leadership that equates gifting with calling.  She is placed in a position of error in the eyes of all who read the plain sense of Scripture.

And all of this says nothing of the physical harm that could come to a woman who is asked to go late at night to the home of a stranger, in a seedy part of town to announce the death of a family member at the hands of an enemy gang. Shame on any man who lets a woman take his place knocking on that door.

It may be that Dr. Streeter will focus her service as a chaplain to women. I hope so. However, this sounds unlikely. I will pray for the Mayor of Stamford, CT, and many leaders like him, that he will not ask a woman to do what God says should be done by a man.