I am under the personal conviction that a woman can teach any class that she is called to teach and can lead the congregation in singing and can bring a devotional or bible study from the pulpit as long as she is under the umbrella of authority of the pastor.
If he feels led by the Lord to ask her or appoints his staff members to ask her, then she is free to do so under his direction.
I used to teach a co-ed class (ages 30-50) for Sunday night discipleship training. I was asked by three men to do so who served as deacons, Sunday School superintendent, and staff members. This was during a time when we had an interim pastor and were looking for a new pastor.
And yes, I taught from the bible. And no, I wasn't struck with leprosy.
When the new pastor came, we were just beginning to organize a women's bible study to meet on Thursday nights. There was already a men's bible study and a men's prayer breakfast already in place. He told us that we would NOT be having a women's bible study at his church because "the women here will just turn it into a big gossip session."
I was shocked.....and hurt.
I felt convicted that even though I was an established teacher, that I should still be in line with his authority even though he was the new guy. So I asked him about my teaching the class. He said and I quote, "Well, somewhere in the bible, I don't exactly know where, it says something about women not being teachers in the church.....".
I was speechless.
He asked the Sunday School superintendent to tell me that a man would be taking my place....no one knew who it would be, but it would be a man.
I said nothing....
...and I stepped down.
Do I think my pastor was wrong? Dead wrong.
Did I obey his authority? Definitely. Without hesitation.
Has he changed his hard-heart towards women. Quite a lot, actually. He means well, but I can tell by the way he treats his own mother that he was raised in a home by a very, very hard man and he never learned to appreciate the calling of women to the Lord's service.
Do we have a women's bible study now? Yes, and he gets all excited when we have conferences and attend other church's conferences and minister to the community at large.
Do we have women in the pulpit sometimes? Occassionally. He doesn't call it preaching, and it really isn't, but he has called a couple of women who have extremely joyous testimonies to come a speak at our church. One particular woman had been in prison camps in Germany and had a blessed testimony of how God protected her and her mother.
Has he stopped preaching on submissive women on Mother's Day? No. I do so wish that he would preach on the great mothers of the bible on Mother's Day, but he always takes that opportunity to preach on a woman's "place" as a mother. Again, he was raised in a environment where the appreciation of a wife and mother was not there.
He did preach one of the best sermons that I have ever heard him preach a couple of weeks ago. It was on Leah and what to do if you feel unloved. It was so moving. I could tell by the stillness of the congregation that both men and women and teenagers alike were stunned by her story and appreciated his words of wisdom in translating her unfortunate life into something we can apply to ourselves when we feel unloved and unworthy.
Is he OK now with women serving on committess? Overwhelmingly, yes. In fact, I am now on the nominating committee and this year, it is an all female committee. It wasn't planned that way, it just happened. He doesn't care that it turned out that way.
Has he "let go" a little on that tight rein on women in places of leadership? Shocking so! We now have a woman who is our Minister of Education. She is in her mid-40's and is a seminary graduate. She is doing a great job with Sunday School.
Has he approached me to teach a co-ed class again? No. And because he has made such personal strides in other areas towards women, I will never mention it to a living soul, except the people at the BB. He has literally asked me to do just about everything else and places his confidence in me, so I can't and won't complain.
I feel like he has opened up to women having value in the church because the women whom he hurt when he initially came here, "took it" with grace and dignity (oh, there's more I could tell you, but I won't) and simply allowed him to observe our worth and did not try to cram it down his thoat.
He's changed....we've changed.....we've ALL grown spiritually speaking. It's been tough, not just as a woman. We've lost some very good people, both men and women. But this man, despite his flaws, has a burden for lost people that transcends any pastor I have ever known. He preaches the truth of the bible, whether it steps on your toes or not.
And he really is a sweet and good man.
So, I don't know all of the facts about this elderly lady who was "fired" from her position. But even if the pastor was wrong, so what. Let it go....move on....and pray for him daily.
There are lost people dying and going to hell every single solitary moment that we debate things that we will never come to a concensus on.
Enough rambling from me........
