Dr. Kurt Fredrickson is the current director of the Doctor of Ministry program at Fuller Theological Seminary and a former Covenant Pastor.  We recently provided a link to his presentation at the 2012 CATS Women’s Association Gender Panel.  Dr. Fredrickson graciously agreed to provide the following blog post on Advocating for Women in Ministry.

Contributed by:
Kurt Fredrickson, PhD
Fuller Theological Seminary

I affirm the full participation of women in the ministries of the church. Women, just like men, are called and gifted to serve in the church. This affirmation emerges from the testimony of Scripture and has been lived out by the church in many ways throughout its history. Paul puts it this way in Galatians chapter three: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, nor is there male or female for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” Since 1976 the Evangelical Covenant Church has been ordaining women, recognizing that gender is not a barrier to a person serving in any capacity in the church. The Covenant states that “the biblical basis for service in the body of Christ is giftedness, a call from God, and godly character—not gender.”

Advocating for women in ministry was a significant struggle in the 1960’s and 1970’s. Great strides were made to affirm the service of women in all aspects of the life of the church. With the rise of the neo-Reformed movement, and the influence of fundamentalist leaning churches, it is vital to be intentional and deliberate about affirming the full participation of women serving in the church again. Continue Reading »

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As candidate for Associate Pastor at my first church out of seminary, I stood throughout the evening question and answer hour. After about twenty minutes, the chair of the church apologized, but said he had to ask for the church’s sake (over the microphone): “What were our plans about having children?” We had rehearsed the answer, but were surprised it came in a large official group and not someone driving us to a meeting. My husband stood and we both responded, saying “We have worked long and hard to get through seminary and medical school and look forward to finally being able to work in those professions!” Amidst some light chuckling a question was yelled out from the back row; “Well, but are you ever going to have children?”

As candidate for Interim at my most recent church, a 5 or 6 year old girl stood, took the microphone and asked, “Do you like animals?”

 *** Continue Reading »

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21st century moms are making their mark. Today we see moms planting churches, preaching, evangelizing and teaching just to name a few. We see them writing books, homeschooling their children, or working in corporate America. Moms are on boards, commissions, and executive leaders.  They are behind the scenes and visibly up front. Moms are bravely serving our country in all branches of the military. Continue Reading »

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Submitted by
Gary Walter, President
Evangelical Covenant Church

In the Covenant at our most elemental we are simply people of the Book who have joined together to do mission. So for us, these two questions are always paramount: What does the Bible say? And what does the mission need? These two questions are relevant to the work of the Biblical Gender Equality Commission.

As to what the Bible says,  as we read the entirety of Scripture, we are convinced the Bible normatively affirms women in leadership  throughout the pages of both the Old and New Testaments. Miriam, Deborah, Huldah, Esther, Anna, Rachel, Hannah, Abigail, Ruth, Tabitha, Lydia, Priscilla…the list of stories recounting women in leadership in Scripture goes on. Of particular interest to me is Romans 16, written by the Apostle Paul. He lists 27 people of importance and influence, 7 of them women. There appears to be no distinction in leadership roles based on gender, listing both for the same positions, notably Phoebe as a deacon and Junia as an apostle. Continue Reading »

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Doing ministry is hard work. It is especially challenging for women who have school age kids. Juggling schedules takes careful planning and good communication. Women do very well at multitasking. Ask any woman who is pastoring a church and they will tell you it involves collaborative efforts at every level.  It is refreshing to see more husbands who are not threatened by the gifts and calling of their wives. Godly men who are authentically advocating for women. Single women are also answering the call to ministry.

Many churches are learning that being a mom does not exclude women from being effective leaders. On the contrary, it empowers them. My sons have never known me not to be at some capacity of leadership in the church from Senior Pastor to Church Planter to Chairperson of several organizations. I have also preached before, during and after pregnancies. Being a mom has only served to enhance my leadership capabilities. Continue Reading »

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Written by Cindy Wu

Asian. Woman. Disciple.

As a disciple of Christ, I recognize that my primary identity is who I am in Christ. I find, however, that my ethnic, cultural, and gender identities actually serve as the initial filters through which I view my primary self. Sometimes my identity filters enhance the primary image; oftentimes they compete with it and I struggle to live out my identity in Christ to the full. Why should any identity ever have the opportunity to usurp my primary one? One reason is that as a second-generation immigrant, first-generation Christian, Asian-American female, I sometimes go through an identity crisis.

I am Asian.

I was born and raised in America to immigrant parents from Taiwan. Technically, that makes me “Taiwanese-American”, although I usually introduce myself as Chinese-American to emphasize my ethnic, rather than cultural or political, identity (sorry, Mom). As a generalization, “Asian-American” works pretty well, although as an insider to this label I still want outsiders to realize how much diversity resides within “Asian” without being too much of a stickler for nomenclature. I think we all understand the term “Asian” in this context to mean “East Asian”, or its outdated predecessor “Oriental”.  It is important to note that those terms are not monolithic. Among East Asians, we differentiate ourselves by our language, food, physical features, and culture. In a room full of black-haired men and women, I can often “Name that Asian” by distinguishing between Koreans, Japanese, Vietnamese, Filipino, and Cantonese based solely on appearance. (Of course, sometimes I get it wrong.)

I’m not just Asian, but Asian-American. Navigating between those east and west worlds sometimes gets my compass needles crossed. But that’s another story. Continue Reading »

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Hispanics are known for their passion for life. Being raised in a culture where family, food and friendship runs deep… it is passion that led me to reconsider more than just a superficial relationship with Jesus Christ. It was a desire for more than mediocrity that caused me to seek a passionate encounter. It was also pain and the need for inner healing that tipped the scale in my life.

I knew about Him through religion but not through the eyes of relationship. Raised in a very patriarchal household…God was more of a taskmaster than a friend. Women were inferior. It was passionate grace that led me to Christ and passionate grace that led me to become the first woman pastor in my family, even though women were non-existent in positions of leadership in my circle of influence. Continue Reading »

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Recently, on a road trip, I observed the road rage of two drivers. One had jumped out in front of another car, while oblivious on the phone. The other one almost hit him. The fight was on. The chase was brief with a few very choice words and crude gestures. (No, I did not hear the whole conversation, but the gestures gave me a vivid picture). Everyone was aware of the ludicrous sideshow except for the two vehicles giving the show and putting the rest of us in harm’s way.

As I reflected on what had just transpired, I thought about how each of those individuals would justify their very dangerous behavior. I can’t tell you how many times I have seen Christian symbols on cars that appear to be driven by the insane. It also made me reflect on my own driving skills. Ouch!

We are living in very stressful times. We are all vulnerable to denial and how it affects us and those around us. To add insult to injury we deflect and blame others for our bad or indifferent behavior. Why so much anger? We are living with constant, unrelenting and often unbearable pain. We feel misunderstood. No one seems to want to listen. We are addicted to the feel good, candy-coated experiences. We say yes when we should say…No way! Some of us have created such a thick fortress around us that no one dares tell us the truth. We make decisions without prayer and often without wise counsel. Denial also enables us to be unaccountable. We can create an illusionary world that includes only the things we want to believe. Denial allows us to see what we want to see. We are the heroes in this make-believe universe all our own. We believe our own press that we are always right. There is no room for error. Our way is the only way. We become intolerable, dogmatic, and legalistic. Creativity is crushed under these conditions. Continue Reading »

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