Women in Ministry Not Women's Ministry

When I was growing up my parents taught me a lot of things. However, the most important thing I can remember learning from them was that everyone was created equal. Everyone was created equal, and this meant that I grew up believing specifically that men and women were equal. I was raised to believe that being a woman didn't disqualify me from anything, as long as I set my mind on something I could achieve it. And my brother was also raised to believe that he could achieve anything he set his mind on. 

My church had a very heavy hand in this belief as well.

The church I was raised in was a foursquare church, so obviously I grew up believing that women in ministry wasn't anything out of the ordinary. Much to my surprise that when I began attending Life Pacific College I found out that our denomination was one of the only ones that actually believed in women in ministry, who knew? Let's just say that it was a huge change to attend LIFE where women in ministry was mentioned in every class and I came from a place where it was just ministry. It was hard to grasp that people actually believed that women shouldn't be leading in the church, let alone talking, with the exception of women's ministry of course. Because only women can lead women. 

This Sunday, Pastor Scott busted the myth that women shouldn't speak up in church. By taking one of the most commonly misinterpreted passages where people find the fuel for their arguments against women in ministry, and tearing it apart. 

By taking 1 Timothy 2:8-15 and bringing in background and the context of the letter as a whole we see that Paul isn't telling Timothy that women can't be involved in ministry or speak up in the church. But rather Paul is encouraging the women to learn in quietness and submission (to their teachers). Rather than spreading false teachings, Paul wants the women to learn the truth first before speaking up in the church. 

Ironically, I never argued people on this issue.

Yes, I believed that women should not only be allowed in ministry, but encouraged in it. However, I never knew the facts. I never took the time to actually read through it and figure out the truth about what Paul was saying. Because I didn't know the truth behind the text, I never put myself in a position to debate on it because I wouldn't have been able to back it up. 

I think this is what Paul was trying to avoid. 

He didn't want to silence the women in the church, he wanted to make sure that when the women weren't silent, what they were speaking was the truth.

I wonder what Paul would do today if he knew that the correction he gave Timothy for the false teachings was now being taught about falsely. 

Silence

I was in one of my classes this morning and like normal my mind was elsewhere. 

My teacher mentioned one thing and then off my mind goes on some other trail that ended with me thinking about the silence in the pauses a preacher makes. 

I thought about how those silences are sometimes awkward and I pictured the congregation awaiting patiently the words that would soon leave the preachers mouth. 

I thought of the type of preacher I would be. I think I would find comfort in the silence. It would be a type of pause for me to gather myself. I would want the congregation to be comfortable in the silence with me. 

I don't think a lot of people know this about me, but I like silence. 

Even if the silence is awkward, a lot of the time you will find me smiling through it. 

Silence is where I find solace.

I am an internal processor. Usually I only process things verbally after I have given it an extreme amount of thought. 

I like silence because it's soothing for me. 

I love music, and talking and watching movies. 

But there is something about sitting down with a book in silence and reading for hours on end. 

Something about just sitting there in silence. 

I like silence because it makes me feel alone. It helps me recharge. 

So as I sat there in my class wondering about what kind of preacher I would be, I sat silent, processing my thoughts. 

This, for me, is how it is. 

I like silence. 

I like solace.

I like myself this way. I'm comfortable with the silence, even if other people aren't.