Commission on Biblical Gender Equality

Submitted by:
Valeri Chow Tao

I grew up in a church that does not believe that women should pastors, and accepted that as a reality. My first class at North Park Theological Seminary was New Testament 2. It was the first time that I heard biblical rationale for women in ministry. When we talked how the New Testament supported women in ministry, I understood that and my paradigm shifted. While I do not agree with those that understand the Bible as being against women in ministry, I can see how they might come to that conclusion and know many faithful Christians who take that position. The commonality between both sides is that each is committed to faithfully understanding the Scriptures and living accordingly. The Evangelical Covenant Church believes that there is a biblical basis for men and women to serve in ministry. While there are other churches and denomination do not hold this belief, we are all still part of the body of Christ, the Church. Women in ministry is only one of many issues that not only divide the Church, but keep followers of Christ from fully loving their neighbor as themselves and fully loving God who created their neighbor and themselves.

May we strive to love God and love our neighbors, especially those with whom we may disagree.

May we not let differences of opinion prevent us from seeing those we disagree with as fellow brothers and sisters who are created in the image of God and loved by him.

May we seek community with brothers and sisters with whom we may disagree, so that by learning from and with those created by God and in in his image, we may more fully understand and love God who created us all.

May we as the Church be a witness of the good news of Jesus Christ to the watching world by modeling the ability to disagree well and love one another in the midst of difference.

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Submitted by:
David Swanson

I forget that it’s not always normal. In our 4 year old church the leadership team chairperson, Sonia Wang, is an Asian American woman. We are led by three different worship leaders: two African American women – Kelly Redmond and Markeyta Boone – and an Asian American woman – Esther Gallentine. Michelle Dodson, an African American woman, is our Associate Pastor; she and I serve the Lord’s Supper together and pray for members of the church after the worship service. We’re joined in the preaching task by Ramelia Williams, an African American woman and seminarian at North Park. They are both, I suspect, stronger preachers than myself and I learn about preaching from them even as the Spirit forms me through their preaching.

Of course there are plenty of men who serve and lead our congregation, including me. That’s our normal: men and women serving and leading together, responding to the gifts of the Spirit and the needs of the congregation.

I can forget that our normal is exceptional for others until I overhear someone mentioning how grateful they are for the women who lead our church. They are remembering times and places where these leaders’ voices, experiences, and gifts wouldn’t have been welcomed- not in the same normal way they are within our community.

I’m afraid this is beginning to sound as if our young church really has our act together. We don’t. We’re a pretty normal group of people learning how to be church together. It’s just that that Gospel of the Kingdom is making the exceptional normal to us and for us. We can’t imagine it any other way.

David Swanson is the pastor of New Community Covenant Church in Chicago’s Bronzeville neighborhood and the Director of Church Planting for the Central Conference. He blogs regularly at davidswanson.wordpress.com/

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Submitted by:
Lisa Olsen, member, CBGE

I had not heard of this before. Have you? For 27 years there exists a foundation called
Women’s Sports Foundation. Here is an excerpt from their website (www.womenssportsfoundaation.org):

From Capitol Hill to hundreds of cities and towns across America, 2014’s National Girls and Women in Sports Day (NGWSD) is one to celebrate women’s and girl’s participation and excellence in sports. While NGWSD started in 1987 as a single event in our nation’s capital to honor Olympic volleyball star Flo Hyman, the day has since grown into a nationwide commemoration spanning all 50 states.

NGWSD is marked annually with events around the country and on Capitol Hill to commemorate the achievements of girls and women in athletics. It is also an important day to promote the continued expansion of opportunities for girls and women to play sports and live physically active lives. Continue Reading »

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Submitted by:
Ramelia Williams, member, CBGE

As my birthday month, February has always been very special but mostly because it is Black History Month and celebrates my sun-kissed skin and my ancestors who fought for my civil, political and human rights freedoms. This is the month that the nation takes notice of African-American she’ros and heroes. As we settle into this month of celebration it only makes sense to reflect on the role of African-American women in the Church. This short video incites the voice of church patriarchs to celebrate the unsung role of specifically African-American women and their impact on the Church. Today let us celebrate African American women in ministry.

To view the video, click here

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Submitted by:
Brian Wiele,CBGE Chairperson

Several weeks ago, my wife Linda noticed that a street sign by our home was bent. How did that happen, we wondered? ? It’s bent in the wrong direction to have been hit by a car. Could it have been the strong winds just a day or two before? It’s hard to believe, but that was our best guess, and we’re sticking with it.

We get uncomfortable with the idea of signs being blown about by the wind; those are supposed to be secure and firmly established – like many other dimensions of life, including believers in their faith. Jesus encourages us remain strong in the face of trials. Continue Reading »

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Submitted by:
Pastor Jan Bros, Abbey Way Covenant Church

Part of my personal work as a member of the Commission on Biblical
Gender Equality has been to become more aware of the conversation that
is happening within the Evangelical Covenant Church and among
Christians elsewhere concerning the understanding of the roles of men
and women in the church and in particular church leadership. There is
much written conveying multiple viewpoints. I can get easily
discouraged when I read literature that uses mean spirited or unkind
words to convey meaning. In these moments, when my soul is sad, it is
important for me to remember the truth we hold together as the body of
Christ even when we do not agree on the particulars.

Here is a post I wrote a number of years ago in reflection and review
of Miroslav Volf’s work on repentance and reconciliation. I think it
is important we do not forget the essentials in the work God calls us
to do. Continue Reading »

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Submitted by:
Valeri C. Tao

I grew up in an immigrant church in the Washington DC metro area. In 7th grade, I entered the youth group and over the next six years and beyond it became a great influence on the formation and growth of my faith. While officially, my church did not believe that women should hold the office of a pastor, we had two youth directors, one male and one female. I saw both of them preaching, teaching, mentoring, leading Bible studies, hanging out with the youth….all things that a pastor would do. While I did not realize it at the time how unique this was within the immigrant church, it was normal to be growing up. Through the lens of hindsight, I can see how having gender balanced leadership in my formative years has affected me today. However, the whole issue of gender equality in ministry is not something we talked about at all in my immigrant church.

I was introduced to the Evangelical Covenant Church through my enrollment at North Park Theological Seminary. It was strange at first to be in a place where men and women were seen as equally in ministry. I have had many roles in leadership and serving in church and non-profit ministry. I’ve never explicitly thought I could not do pastoral ministry, but I never explicitly though I could either. Through my studies, I was able to hear, understand and own for myself the biblical basis for gender equality in ministry.

Seeing gender equality modeled in my youth and the biblical foundation I gained in seminary, have allowed me to understand the issue from both an experiential and theological point of view. How can we both teach and model for the young people of the church today what biblical gender equality looks like?

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