Why We Exist

We are here to help the church deal biblically with gender issues.

This means...




Answering

Answering current challenges to biblical manhood and womanhood

God's design for manhood and womanhood is being attacked on many fronts. CBMW believes that at the heart of all of these challenges is a disregard for the authority, clarity, and integrity of God's word.

Gender confusion in the home

  • Husbands fail to exhibit humble, loving leadership of their family
  • Wives fail to exhibit willing, intelligent submission to their husbands
  • Motherhood and homemaking are often viewed as secondary responsibilities
  • Parents fail to be intentional in encouraging biblical masculinity in their sons and biblical femininity in their daughters

Gender confusion in the church

  • Churches divide over ministry roles of men and women
  • A subjective sense of calling is often used to set aside biblical criteria for ministry
  • Feminist ideology influences church theology and practice

Acceptance of homosexuality

  • Secular homosexual agenda influences church theology and practice
  • Confusion exists regarding maleness and femaleness

Revisions of the doctrine of God

  • Some evangelical leaders and churches encourage referring to God as "Mother"
  • Changes to the Trinity are being proposed in the areas of language and relationship

Gender-neutral language in Bible translation

  • Many translations systematically omit masculine-oriented details of meaning


Defining

Defining the issue

One of CBMW's primary contributions is defining the complementarian position and promoting its acceptance and application. CBMW currently...

  • Encourages adherence to the Danvers Statement, issued in 1987 to define the biblical position on manhood and womanhood
  • Influences the adoption of the Danvers Statement by churches, denominations, and parachurch organizations
  • Continues to articulate a unified complementarian position in contrast to unbiblical alternatives


Building

Building consensus among evangelicals

CBMW Council members are involved throughout the evangelical community. At various levels, CBMW has assisted representatives in organizations and denominations such as FamilyLife (a division of Campus Crusade), the Southern Baptist Convention, and the Presbyterian Church in America, which have all taken clear complementarian stands. CBMW regularly...

  • Serves as the evangelical voice for the biblical view of gender to the Christian community and the world
  • Informs the evangelical community through press releases and radio and television interviews
  • Provides private consultation and encouragement to evangelical pastors and other leaders
  • Initiates and coordinates responses to gender-related challenges
  • Participates in many evangelical forums and discussions


Persuading

Persuading the Christian leaders in the church and academy

One of CBMW's goals is to be involved regularly in engagement and debate each year, by attending various forums, private and public, to promote the complementarian positions as the most faithful to the biblical witness. CBMW is influencing the evangelical community by...

  • Providing access to books and articles (online and in print) by trusted and respected biblical scholars and pastors
  • Publishing the biannual Journal for Biblical Manhood and Womanhood
  • Encouraging and sponsoring public debates and printed debates in popular journals
  • Coordinating the presentation of papers at scholarly society meetings
  • Speaking at churches and conferences
  • Writing in evangelical publications


Contributing

Contributing to knowledge and practice

One of the ways CBMW best serves evangelicalism is engaging continually in the academic and pastoral responsibility of promoting the publication of complementarian resources and encouraging the embracing of God's good design for men and women. Each year CBMW assists local churches and individuals by...

  • Partnering with local churches to sponsor regional conferences
  • Sponsoring and promoting the writing and publication of books and articles
  • Helping over 500,000 people from 34 different countries who visit our website each year as they access the hundreds of books, articles, and audio resources we provide
  • Responding to the multitude of questions asked of our staff each day
  • Serving as a clearing house for complementarian resources


Partnering

Partnering with like-minded ministries

CBMW believes that like-minded ministries should cooperate and share resources and expertise as much as possible. Each year we partner with many different ministries that affirm the principles of the Danvers Statement.

CBMW also depends on the generosity of individuals and churches who resonate with our mission and who want to make an impact at the point at which the secular culture is pressing the church the hardest.