Commission on Biblical Gender Equality

Brian Wiele is Lead Pastor at River Ridge Covenant Church in Olympia, Washington, and serves as Chair of the Commission for Biblical Gender Equality for the Evangelical Covenant Church, which exists to equip the church to articulate the truth about Biblical equality regarding gender; and to advocate for women in ministry and leadership in all possible venues within the church. The following was first posted at The Junia Project (click here to visit site). It is re-posted today with their permission.

“… no one who drinks the old wine seems to want the new wine. ‘The old is just fine,’ they say.” Luke 5:39 NLT

You Drink What The Host Is Pouring

I’m not much of a wine drinker, and will admit to being a lousy judge of quality.  But I do know that you drink what the host is pouring. To politely refuse what is provided is reasonably understandable.  But to insist on being served a different blend – one that you prefer, and definitely aged longer – would be incredibly rude.

Yet that’s exactly what the church has done and continues to do to Jesus, the host of the table where believers sit which we commonly call the Kingdom of God.

A Familiar Parable

The parable from which Jesus’ statement comes is familiar fare. In response to a question about fasting, Jesus spoke of the folly of putting an unshrunk patch of cloth on an old garment.   Carrying the illustration further, he added that new wine must be poured into new wineskins; the fermenting process of a new spirit would cause an old leather wineskin to break apart.  Only in Luke’s version do we have his added statement about the tendency to reject the new wine over one that is well aged.

We’ve generally interpreted the parable to refer to religious actions such as fasting, Sabbath observances, or acceptable foods. But there are many ways in which Jesus was pouring a new spirit into the wineskin of his church. One of those areas has to do with power and position. Continue Reading »

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Danais is originally from Vieques, Puerto Rico. She currently studies Speech and Language Pathology at the graduate level. Her passions include linking the emerging research of the human microbiome and communicative disorders, as well as honoring God’s perfect design through gardening, creation care, and a great appreciation for whole foods. She recharges by hugging and kissing her toddler, spending time with her husband, reading, dancing and watching series on Netflix

It has long been my contention that the Church is the only place that can simultaneously hurt me and heal me. As someone who grew up in Vieques Puerto Rico, I longed for the church to be a sanctuary, a safe haven where we could discuss and counteract the injustices my community witnessed: racism, classism, environmental exploitation and the confiscation of our land. All of these injustices resulted in many deaths, including two of my family members’. In my most vulnerable moments, I oftentimes find myself wondering if my being a female Puerto Rican hurt my chances of recruiting church allies for my family and homeland. What if I were a man? What if I were a United States American, as opposed to a Puerto Rican with U.S. citizenship? Would Christian, justice-oriented evangelicals, have been enamored with my male eloquence (what if I were eloquent?) in a way that mobilized them around these causes? Would my voice have been heard and respected in a way that would have prompted a great multitude to stand in solidarity with our brothers and sisters in Vieques?

It took me a long time to reconcile the fact that the same place that prevented me from standing up and raising my voice against oppression became the place that taught me how to boldly proclaim that we worship a God who hates injustice. However, the restoration that I found within the church, did not occur before the church broke me. I left, yet I found myself back in the one place where I later found genuine healing. Continue Reading »

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Jo Ann Deasy is an ordained pastor in the Evangelical Covenant Church currently serving as a director at the Association of Theological Schools in Pittsburgh, PA.  She came to faith in a Covenant Church plant in Northern California and is grateful for those who nurtured a call to ministry in her as a new believer.  She has served as a youth intern, a Minister of Christian Education, a Dean of Students, and most recently as a solo pastor.

Have you ever seen healthy anger in a woman? Anger. Righteous indignation. The expression of hurt. A rational response to something that is wrong. I hope your answer is yes, but I know that for many of you, you may have had to think about it. Healthy, rational anger is not a response that we expect from women. And when it does happen, we rarely recognize it. We interpret it as something else. We marginalize it by calling the woman names or describing her as “hysterical” or “overly emotional.”

As part of my doctoral research, I interviewed several young women about identity and ministry. The interviews happened to be taking place as Hilary Clinton was running for president. One of the women in the group confessed that she did not think Hilary would make a good president, because she would probably be too emotional when crisis situations occurred. This was a strong young woman who considered herself a feminist, but she couldn’t imagine a woman president getting angry in a way that would serve her well as a leader. Continue Reading »

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Evelmyn Ivens was born in Mexico and moved to the United States during her teenage years. She graduated from North Park Theological Seminary in 2013 with a MA in Theological Studies and is currently a Curriculum & Resource Development intern at the Christian Community Development Association (CCDA) in Chicago. Evelmyn has lived in Los Angeles, CA, Washington, DC, and Chicago, IL, enjoys traveling and learning about other cultures. She’s passionate about issues of immigration, hunger, poverty, and human trafficking.

Having lived in Mexico until my teenage years gave me some good understanding of the gender roles in that society. In my extended family for example, gender roles were very evident and for me this was very common and natural. I grew up seeing women do the cooking and cleaning of the house, taking care of the children, etc. That was their responsibility as wives. It was very rare to see husbands do the same. Culturally, that just wouldn’t look good. If men would do all these “jobs” that would mean that they didn’t have “good wives”, men were seen only as the providers. However, when I moved to the United States, and as I began to interact with people from different cultures, and having committed my life to Christ, some questions began to arise. Is this how God intended it to be? Somehow, something seemed unfair. As a woman, did I have to decide whether to have a family or to have a career? Continue Reading »

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Nilwona Nowlin recently graduated from North Park University and Theological Seminary where she earned an MA in Christian Formation, a Masters in Nonprofit Administration and a Certificate in Justice Ministry. She currently serves as the Administrative Specialist for Governance for the ECC and is an active member of the Christian Community Development Association. In her “spare time,” Nilwona teaches workshops about living successfully as an introvert. She also randomly blogs about random things at http://thedreamerspeaks.com/

I recognized and accepted a “general” call to ministry over 15 years ago. What I mean by a general call is that I came to understand that God was calling me to a lifetime of using my gifts and skills to build up the kingdom, whether that was as a volunteer or a paid staff person. Over the years, God has revealed more specific aspects of my call in bits in pieces. While I was in seminary, it became clear to me that God’s call on my life would include preaching. For the most part, I accepted the other aspects of my call without much hesitation. However, accepting the call to preach was a longer process because, well, I was scared. Preaching requires one to proclaim God’s Word with some sense of authority, and I was intimidated by that thought. In the end, my trust in God was bigger than my fear of preaching. My first sermon was a ten minute homily, preached in the seminary chapel to the rest of my preaching class. My preaching gift was affirmed, and I was able to breathe a sigh of relief – but not for long. Continue Reading »

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Rev. Kelsey Rorem is Ordained to Word and Sacrament in the ECC. She currently serves as the Program Manager in the Center for Biblical and Theological Education at Seattle Pacific University, where among other things she oversees the Murdock Discipleship Fellows, Community Bible Study, and the Women in Ministry initiatives of the School of Theology. She is an avid fan of the Kansas Jayhawks, and is in total denial that this beautiful Seattle summer is ever going to end.

There was a time when “egalitarian” was not part of my regular vocabulary. In fact, for at least two thirds of my life I probably could not have even defined the word. Despite not knowing the proper terminology, I pejoratively classified those who supported women in all forms of ministry and leadership as “liberals” who clearly didn’t believe in the authority of Scripture. So you can imagine my surprise when I could no longer deny the sense that God was calling me to serve the church through vocational ministry. Throughout high school I wrestled with the difficult texts. I bargained with God about doing anything else other than ministry. I searched in vain for mentors to walk alongside of me in this journey, but to no avail. I felt discouraged and unsure of how to proceed. How could God possibly ask me to be a pastor when I had never so much as seen a female usher in my church?

It was not until college that I finally met a woman who embodied the pastoral call that I had long struggled against. She was my undergraduate advisor, a seasoned professor who had served in church and para-church settings around the world. And while I couldn’t have said so at the time, today as I look back over my journey I recognize the critical importance of this relationship in helping me to own and understand my calling. Without this woman’s modeling, challenge, and affirmation in my life I wouldn’t be where I am today. Continue Reading »

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Jo Ann Deasy is an ordained pastor in the Evangelical Covenant Church and holds a Ph.D. from Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in congregational studies.  For the last four years she served as the pastor of Sojourner Covenant Church in Evanston, IL and recently moved to the Pittsburgh area to serve as the Director of Institutional Initiatives and Student Research at the Association of Theological Schools.  When she is not working she spends most of her time with her two passions, her almost two-year old son Declan and photography.  Yes, she has a lot of photos of Declan!

I recently finished an article for an upcoming book that suggested that perhaps our emphasis on male images of God was hurting the potential of young women to develop a pastoral identity.  I wasn’t challenging churches that clearly consider God more male than female, who refuse to use any feminine images for God, who believe that being male means you are a step closer to God and therefore allowed to serve as pastor.  I was talking about those of us who believe that women can serve as pastors, but still primarily use male language and images for God.  It is easy to do.  “Father” is, of course, a biblical title for the first person of the trinity.  And Jesus was a man.  Literally.  Not just human, but God incarnate in male form.  And trying to use gender neutral language for God can be some cumbersome when you are first learning how.  You end up repeating the words “God” and “God’s self” a lot.

I spent weeks agonizing over the article.  Not because I couldn’t make my case.  I had done a lot of research on the matter.  Interviewed young women who were so gifted and talented, but couldn’t fathom becoming pastors.  Not because they didn’t believe in themselves.  Well, actually they didn’t believe in themselves, not any more.  Most of them had when they were younger, but then life got in the way.  And as they grew older, they couldn’t imagine a life that wasn’t structured around men taking care of them.  Even if men had never taken care of them, they still longed for a world where men took care of them, husbands, fathers, pastors, God.  And our consistent use of male language for God only furthered this idealized world. Continue Reading »

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Jean Cheng Gorman recently resigned as Associate Pastor at Covenant Grove Church in Modesto, CA and will soon begin serving on staff for the Pacific Southwest Conference, focusing on promoting health in ministry for pastors, spouses and staff. She also serves as Vice-President of Advocates for Covenant Clergy Women.

So many important ideas about ways to advocate for women clergy have been shared in this blog recently. Among them are:

• Providing visibility and opportunities for women in leadership
• Facilitating the training and ordination of women
• Developing mentorship pathways for girls and women
• Exposing others to women preachers
• Fostering partnerships among men and women in ministry

These steps are sorely needed, as is another– advocacy through excellence. A seasoned leader whom I greatly respect recently told me, “The best way to advocate for women clergy is for you to be the best pastor you can be.” He then shared how his own theology on women in ministry changed after experiencing the ministry of a gifted woman pastor.

My story is the same. Having heard traditional interpretations of biblical texts as prohibiting women in leadership, I had always believed women could not be pastors. Then we began attending a nondenominational church whose associate pastor was a woman. She was a gifted preacher. More so, in fact, than the men on staff. Experiencing God work in my life in powerful ways through her preaching was the beginning of a theological journey that has brought me to where I am today.

Excellence in ministry speaks volumes to those who doubt that God calls women as pastors, teachers and leaders. It is hard to deny the calling of God when you see it in action.

Sisters, be the best pastors you can be. Preach the word with boldness and faithfulness. Lead and serve the church with humility and fearlessness. Equip and empower the Body of Christ to spread the Kingdom of God. As you strive for excellence and passionately serve the Lord with all gifts He has given you, know that the Lord Himself will advocate for you.

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