McKnight Crossings – Gender Summary (Fall 2014)
We have spent significant time in prayer and discussion regarding women’s roles in the church, including an in-depth study and discussion this past summer. Jesus tells us that the greatest commandments are to love God and to love people. It is important to remember the goal of scripture is to help us love God and love people better. This must remain “core” to our mission at McKnight Crossings. All healthy teaching must support these priorities and outcomes, including our understanding of gender and practice of ministry.
Our differences regarding what the Scripture teaches on matters of gender stir deep feelings. Therefore, we wish to be sensitive to those with strong thoughts, feelings, and values on these matters. Of course, not all will be pleased with our conclusions. So, we pray that our differences be used as opportunities for God’s grace, acceptance, and brotherly love. Our desire is that our disagreements lead to a love for one another that testifies to the power of Christ.
We, the leadership, have asked ourselves whether or not we want to be among those contributing to the benefit of the next generation? If so, how? Our answer is that we would like to do our part to strengthen the body of Christ and the mission of God, by allowing women every role our current understanding of the Scripture will enable. We do not want to be like those who used Scripture to resist change and the freedom of slaves in the 1800's. We recognize our need to dig deeper, appreciating Biblical context, history, and culture, seeking God’s full intention for his Kingdom, as part of the new creation.
God created humankind as equals, “male and female he created them.” Sin shattered Eden, and the Christian faith holds that the course of biblical history since has been the re-creation of the connections between God and human beings. Likewise, God’s creation is called to oneness; oneness that encompasses all creation, ultimately to be taken up again by God. This call to oneness is why, over the course of history, barriers have slowly fallen in accord with Paul’s summary in Galatians 3:28: “There is no such thing as Jew and Greek, slave and free, male and female; for you are all one person in Christ Jesus.” The issue, therefore, is not about the “rights” of anyone, but recognizing the redemptive will of God.
In regards to gender, “What would Jesus do?” is always a question given priority. We see in Jesus a remarkable ministry that recognized women, their identity, and their valuable roles in the kingdom of God, seriously shifting traditional views. We believe the proclamation of the gospel is by a priesthood of all believers, regardless of gender. After the resurrection, Jesus appeared first to Mary Magdalene and instructed her to tell the apostles that He was risen from the dead. We believe the Spirit of Jesus continues into the early church with Peter quoting Joel, saying,“I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy.”
Two passages of scripture most often referred to on this topic in regard to the public assembly are found in 1st Corinthians 14 and 1st Timothy 2. We believe these passages are to be understood in the context of their communities. The writers of the New Testament had specific concerns when they wrote the letters to those building the church; and where the circumstances are not replicated today, the commands do not hold, any more than the command for women to wear veils in worship, or the command to refuse to recognize a widow who is not more than 60 years old, or the command for men to raise holy hands in prayer.
Scripture specifically offers these examples:
• Women lead worship through prayer and prophesy (I Cor 11:5)
• Women host the church (Acts 12:12, 16:40)
• Women actively teach (Acts 18:26)
• Women serve as deacons (Rom 16:1-2)
At the same time, the collective MX leadership struggles with what this vision of oneness set forth in Scripture looks like in practice in our time and place, particularly our reading of texts for the selection of elders and ones emphasizing male-headship, like 1 Tim. 3, Titus 1, Ephesians 5. Does gender equality necessarily mean equal roles? Can we be equal, but different? How do we rightly apply Scripture to questions of gender? While not definitively knowing God’s will in this area is unsettling, we are united even if not uniform in our views; and our trust remains in the Lord, not our ability to get it right. So to be as clear as possible for MX in 2014:
It is helpful to differentiate between our principles and our practices to implement them. It would be disingenuous to believe something and not ever put it into practice. However, determining what we believe and how we implement it are different. It may take a long time to implement some values. It has helped us to think more objectively to first focus on our principles - what do we believe God is saying to us based upon the Word, our experiences, prayer, and the Holy Spirit's leading?
On this issue of gender, the leadership at McKnight Crossings believes:
1. We believe there is tremendous opportunity for women’s roles to expand in our faith community. We believe God expects women to be encouraged and trained to use their gifts to build the body of Christ.
2. We believe that teaching and leadership qualifications are based upon one’s commitment to Christ, giftedness by God, and empowerment by the Holy Spirit, not by one’s gender.
3. Yet, at this time, we do not believe a woman should serve in the role of an elder. This indicates our current understanding of what God desires. Or, we might say it is indicative of our struggle when certain passages of Scripture, particularly for instance, the equality of Genesis 1 and the apparent male headship of Genesis 2, point in seemingly different directions.
If these principles allow women to use their gifts more fully than we have been accustomed, what settings enable this?
a. We will continue in KidsCrossings to teach both girls and boys that God desires all of us to develop and use our gifts to love and honor Him and love and serve others.
b. We will continue this in the Student/ Teen program.
c. We will encourage and build upon an inclusive use of gifts in the Gym worship, including leading worship and preaching a sermon.
d. We believe qualified women should lead and teach small groups and Bible classes.
e. We will encourage gift-usage in the many ministries that serve throughout the week.
For the foreseeable future, we will keep changes to the Auditorium worship to a minimum. There are some with long time convictions about male leadership and almost any change will be viewed as a retraction of our commitment at the time of the merger to minimize change in the traditional worship.
We will continue with two worship services offering different styles. However, at times, we will have one worship assembly. We will switch off the style or the location, or both. One time we will use the Auditorium style worship, the next time we will use the Gym style of worship for these combined assemblies. We will rotate the schedule in the bulletin so members know inadvance where the worship will be located and what to expect. During these joint assemblies, some will not agree with the worship style. However, we believe these times provide opportunity for us to joyfully express our oneness, not based on uniform thinking, but based on a common unity in Christ Jesus.
We will offer public affirmation of both women and men who lead ministries, identifying them as “Ministry Leaders” in the bulletin and other media. They are modern deacons and deaconesses.
While we appoint male elders, we will often refer to the leadership as “Elder Couples” or “Shepherding Couples.” We realize that we need the insight, service, and assistance of our wives to be effective in our roles.
The “answers” we have today may change tomorrow, or they may not, as we learn and grow. We believe that McKnight Crossings is a vibrant community of faith, claiming the best of our restoration tradition with a willingness to examine our faith and practices, and being open to change, not carelessly, but with study, reflection, and intention.
Thank you for your grace, desire for unity and sensitivity to God and His leading.