The Nitty Gritty Questions of Church Life: A Policy Statement on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood

Regularly CBMW receives inquiries concerning the proper meaning and application of biblical texts such as Ephesians 5:22-33, 1 Timothy 2:9-15, and I Corinthians 11:2-16; 14:34-35. The questions often get down to the nitty-gritty of church life. Ought women to teach or lead adult Sunday school classes, senior or junior high classes, or small group Bible studies? And when the people of God gather to worship Him where is the proper expression of the silence of women which our Lord commands? For instance, who ought to lead in prayer, to give testimonies, to read Scripture, to preside over worship, to preach, or to serve the Lord's Supper?

Tim Bayly and David Wegener serve as pastors at Church of the Good Shepherd in Bloomington, Indiana, and just recently Good Shepherd's pastors and elders adopted the following guiding statement. The church has not followed the sort of minimalist approach to Scripture's commands which seems to be predominant in the American church today. Instead, care has been taken to demonstrate in our worship of the Creator the nature and purpose of sexual differentiation as He created it. We believe such a public witness to sexual differentiation and male leadership will be a strong evangelistic tool here in Bloomington, a university community in which sexual anarchy and androgyny are so prevalent.

CHURCH OF THE GOOD SHEPHERD'S
UNDERSTANDING OF THE BIBLICAL ROLES
OF MEN AND WOMEN IN CONGREGATIONAL LIFE

1. All men and women are equally created in the image of God and therefore are equally worthy of our honor and respect (Gen. 1:26-28, Rom. 13:7, 1 Pet. 2:17).

2. All Christian men and all Christian women enjoy equally the benefits of being redeemed by Jesus Christ. They have eternal life, their sins are forgiven, they have been declared righteous by God, they have been adopted as His sons, they have received the Holy Spirit, who has given gifts to each one just as He wills (John 3:16, Rom. 3:21-31, 8:9, 1 Cor. 12:11, Gal. 3:26, Col. 1:13, 14).

3. The husband is the head of his own wife. This means he has authority over her and is to exercise this authority by leading her, protecting her, providing for her and loving her as Christ loved the Church (Gen. 2:15-25, Eph. 5:22-33, Col. 3:19).

4. That the husband is the head of the wife does not imply his superiority nor her inferiority. God the Father is not superior to God the Son though God is the head of Christ. The Father and the Son are coequal members of the Holy Trinity. They are equal in person, yet different and complementary in role and function. So in marriage, the husband and wife are equal in creation and redemption, yet they are different and complementary in role and function (1 Cor. 11:3).

5. The wife is to submit to her own husband as the Church submits to Christ. He is to have the final say in disagreements (Eph. 5:22-24, Col. 3:18).

6. In corporate worship it would be appropriate for women to join in congregational prayers, to read Scripture, to sing and to testify. Men should preside over worship and do the preaching, Scripture lessons and pastoral prayer. If there would be an occasion where a doctrinal, Scriptural matter was under debate in public worship, women should keep silent during such discussion. At such times, the pastor or elder presiding over the discussion will request the men of the church to be the participants in the discussion (1 Cor. 11:5, 14:15, 29-35, Col. 3:16-17, 1 Tim. 2:8, 11-12).

7. Godly, strong, humble men called by the congregation and the elders are to fill the offices of pastor and elder and deacon. Deacons should be assisted in their work by godly, mature widows and older women with spiritual maturity, selected by the elders. The adults in the Church should be taught by the pastors and elders and other mature Christians with the gift of teaching whom the leaders designate. Normally, men will teach classes containing men, starting with high school and continuing through adulthood. Also, small groups containing men will have a male leader who does the teaching (1 Tim. 2:9-15, 3:1-13, 5:1-16, Titus 1:5-9, 2:3-5). 8. The Holy Spirit has given many women the gift of teaching. This gift is properly exercised when women teach children and other women. Though much teaching goes on in the normal give and take of congregational life, women are not to teach men in the Church in any formal sense (Col. 3:16-17, 1 Tim. 2:12-14, 2 Tim. 1:5, 3:15).