{"id":1316,"date":"2014-03-07T23:00:16","date_gmt":"2014-03-07T23:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/bge\/?p=1316"},"modified":"2014-03-07T00:46:50","modified_gmt":"2014-03-07T00:46:50","slug":"normal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/bge\/2014\/03\/07\/normal\/","title":{"rendered":"Normal"},"content":{"rendered":"

Submitted by:<\/em>
\nDavid Swanson<\/em><\/p>\n

I forget that it\u2019s 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 \u2013 Kelly Redmond and Markeyta Boone – and an Asian American woman \u2013 Esther Gallentine. Michelle Dodson, an African American woman, is our Associate Pastor; she and I serve the Lord\u2019s Supper together and pray for members of the church after the worship service. We\u2019re 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.<\/p>\n

Of course there are plenty of men who serve and lead our congregation, including me. That\u2019s our normal: men and women serving and leading together, responding to the gifts of the Spirit and the needs of the congregation.<\/p>\n

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\u2019 voices, experiences, and gifts wouldn\u2019t have been welcomed- not in the same normal way they are within our community.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m afraid this is beginning to sound as if our young church really has our act together. We don\u2019t. We\u2019re a pretty normal group of people learning how to be church together. It\u2019s just that that Gospel of the Kingdom is making the exceptional normal to us and for us. We can\u2019t imagine it any other way.<\/p>\n

David Swanson is the pastor of New Community Covenant Church in Chicago\u2019s Bronzeville neighborhood and the Director of Church Planting for the Central Conference. He blogs regularly at\u00a0davidswanson.wordpress.com\/<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

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Report This Post<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Submitted by: David Swanson I forget that it\u2019s 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 \u2013 Kelly Redmond and Markeyta Boone – and an Asian American woman \u2013 Esther Gallentine. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":128,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19328],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1316","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-testimoies-and-stories"],"yoast_head":"\nNormal - Commission on Biblical Gender Equality<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/bge\/2014\/03\/07\/normal\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Normal - Commission on Biblical Gender Equality\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Submitted by: David Swanson I forget that it\u2019s not always normal. 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