{"id":2844,"date":"2017-12-14T14:04:34","date_gmt":"2017-12-14T14:04:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/bge\/?p=2844"},"modified":"2017-12-14T14:06:33","modified_gmt":"2017-12-14T14:06:33","slug":"four-more-commitment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/bge\/2017\/12\/14\/four-more-commitment\/","title":{"rendered":"Four More Commitment"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Pastor Devyn Chambers Johnson’s “Four More Commitment” Facebook Challenge has gone viral in the past week. If you haven’t heard it yet,\u00a0here is a link to the Facebook video.<\/a>\u00a0 If you would like to respond, sign up here.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

The challenge’s transcript is below…<\/em><\/p>\n

My name is Devyn Chambers Johnson, co-pastor at Community Covenant Church in Springfield VA.<\/p>\n

I am forever grateful for the Evangelical Covenant Church for affirming the calling of the daughter of a Southern Baptist preacher. Long before I could admit my calling to preach and proclaim God\u2019s word, others saw it in me and encouraged me to follow Christ into unfamiliar territory.<\/p>\n

Because of individuals at Interbay Covenant Church, professors at North Park Seminary, and my current congregation, I have been able to claim God\u2019s call on my life as right and good. I can stand confidently at this pulpit because individuals not only advocated for me but made space for me.<\/p>\n

The Evangelical Covenant Church has ordained women for 40 plus years, and while the number of women ordained has risen steadily, the number of women regularly in the pulpit as lead or co-pastors is still shockingly low. The denomination has invested in education and advocacy but the place associated with \u2018power\u2019 in our churches\u2014the pulpit–is still inhabited largely by men.
\nI applaud the men in our denomination who have advocated fiercely for my right to be here. But it is time to stop advocating. It\u2019s time to start sharing. It\u2019s time to make room.<\/p>\n

Because when we advocate we speak on someone else\u2019s behalf. When you make room, you let them speak for themselves.\u00a0You see advocating, however noble and good, is still an exercise in power. And of course I\u2019d rather people use their power for good than for evil but the radical gospel of Christ actually calls us to give up our power. If we take the radical gospel of Jesus seriously then it\u2019s time to do more than advocate. It\u2019s time for men, and particularly pastors in the ECC, to let go of their power. It\u2019s time to make room, to make space for women.<\/p>\n

And I know at this point some men are recoiling\u2014because when you are accustomed to privilege, equality feels like oppression.<\/p>\n

But step back. Think about the kingdom. There\u2019s enough work in the Kingdom for all of us.<\/p>\n

But some of you are thinking: how? What does it mean to make room? Listen first and talk Less.<\/p>\n

We can apply this to all sort of places: ministerium meetings, staff meetings, pastoral counseling and social media.<\/p>\n

But let\u2019s talk about the pulpit. Make room in the pulpit. Share the pulpit.<\/p>\n

Talk less and listen to your sisters preach the word.<\/p>\n

So if you make decisions about who fills the pulpit in your church, you can do one simple thing: commit to filling your pulpit four more times in the coming year with a woman. Maybe you already have women preach, but if your pulpit is filled by men more than 50% of the year you can still do four more.<\/p>\n

Not four times when you are on vacation. Four times when you, along with your congregation, can hear the gospel of Jesus proclaimed by called and gifted women.
\nAsk your leadership for $500 to fund four additional honorariums. And if they can\u2019t or won\u2019t take a $500 pay cut.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s what making room looks like in a small but tangible way. It\u2019s time to do more than advocate. It\u2019s time to let go of power, position, and the pulpit and make room for women.<\/p>\n

This is not official denominational appeal. I\u2019m just a pastor who believes we can do better. Commit to four more. Four more women in the pulpit this coming year.<\/p>\n

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

Pastor Devyn Chambers Johnson’s “Four More Commitment” Facebook Challenge has gone viral in the past week. If you haven’t heard it yet,\u00a0here is a link to the Facebook video.\u00a0 If you would like to respond, sign up here. The challenge’s transcript is below… My name is Devyn Chambers Johnson, co-pastor at Community Covenant Church in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":172,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19328],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2844","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-testimoies-and-stories"],"yoast_head":"\nFour More Commitment - 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\/2017\/12\/14\/four-more-commitment\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Four More Commitment - Commission on Biblical Gender Equality\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Pastor Devyn Chambers Johnson’s “Four More Commitment” Facebook Challenge has gone viral in the past week. If you haven’t heard it yet,\u00a0here is a link to the Facebook video.\u00a0 If you would like to respond, sign up here. The challenge’s transcript is below… My name is Devyn Chambers Johnson, co-pastor at Community Covenant Church in […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/bge\/2017\/12\/14\/four-more-commitment\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Commission on Biblical Gender Equality\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-12-14T14:04:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-12-14T14:06:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/bge\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/96\/2017\/10\/Devyn-Chambers-Johnson-200x300.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jan Bros\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jan Bros\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/bge\\\/2017\\\/12\\\/14\\\/four-more-commitment\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/bge\\\/2017\\\/12\\\/14\\\/four-more-commitment\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Jan Bros\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/bge\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/331f951ef34d0c273fe2d8481dc3d6aa\"},\"headline\":\"Four More Commitment\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-12-14T14:04:34+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-12-14T14:06:33+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/bge\\\/2017\\\/12\\\/14\\\/four-more-commitment\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":646,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/bge\\\/2017\\\/12\\\/14\\\/four-more-commitment\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/bge\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/96\\\/2017\\\/10\\\/Devyn-Chambers-Johnson-200x300.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Testimonies and Stories\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/bge\\\/2017\\\/12\\\/14\\\/four-more-commitment\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/bge\\\/2017\\\/12\\\/14\\\/four-more-commitment\\\/\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/bge\\\/2017\\\/12\\\/14\\\/four-more-commitment\\\/\",\"name\":\"Four More Commitment - Commission on Biblical Gender Equality\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/bge\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/bge\\\/2017\\\/12\\\/14\\\/four-more-commitment\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/bge\\\/2017\\\/12\\\/14\\\/four-more-commitment\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/bge\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/96\\\/2017\\\/10\\\/Devyn-Chambers-Johnson-200x300.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-12-14T14:04:34+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-12-14T14:06:33+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/bge\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/331f951ef34d0c273fe2d8481dc3d6aa\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/bge\\\/2017\\\/12\\\/14\\\/four-more-commitment\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/bge\\\/2017\\\/12\\\/14\\\/four-more-commitment\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/bge\\\/2017\\\/12\\\/14\\\/four-more-commitment\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/bge\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/96\\\/2017\\\/10\\\/Devyn-Chambers-Johnson-200x300.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/bge\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/96\\\/2017\\\/10\\\/Devyn-Chambers-Johnson-200x300.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/bge\\\/2017\\\/12\\\/14\\\/four-more-commitment\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/bge\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Four More Commitment\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/bge\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/bge\\\/\",\"name\":\"Commission on Biblical Gender Equality\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/bge\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/bge\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/331f951ef34d0c273fe2d8481dc3d6aa\",\"name\":\"Jan Bros\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/80e11614ddeae2ba505a82aaa9851edabeb2ab1ccc584b9f5ba1e399ea7a6f3c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/80e11614ddeae2ba505a82aaa9851edabeb2ab1ccc584b9f5ba1e399ea7a6f3c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/80e11614ddeae2ba505a82aaa9851edabeb2ab1ccc584b9f5ba1e399ea7a6f3c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Jan Bros\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/www.abbeyway.org\"],\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/bge\\\/author\\\/janbros\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Four More Commitment - Commission on Biblical Gender Equality","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/bge\/2017\/12\/14\/four-more-commitment\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Four More Commitment - Commission on Biblical Gender Equality","og_description":"Pastor Devyn Chambers Johnson’s “Four More Commitment” Facebook Challenge has gone viral in the past week. If you haven’t heard it yet,\u00a0here is a link to the Facebook video.\u00a0 If you would like to respond, sign up here. The challenge’s transcript is below… My name is Devyn Chambers Johnson, co-pastor at Community Covenant Church in […]","og_url":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/bge\/2017\/12\/14\/four-more-commitment\/","og_site_name":"Commission on Biblical Gender Equality","article_published_time":"2017-12-14T14:04:34+00:00","article_modified_time":"2017-12-14T14:06:33+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/bge\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/96\/2017\/10\/Devyn-Chambers-Johnson-200x300.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Jan Bros","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jan Bros","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/bge\/2017\/12\/14\/four-more-commitment\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/bge\/2017\/12\/14\/four-more-commitment\/"},"author":{"name":"Jan Bros","@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/bge\/#\/schema\/person\/331f951ef34d0c273fe2d8481dc3d6aa"},"headline":"Four More Commitment","datePublished":"2017-12-14T14:04:34+00:00","dateModified":"2017-12-14T14:06:33+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/bge\/2017\/12\/14\/four-more-commitment\/"},"wordCount":646,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/bge\/2017\/12\/14\/four-more-commitment\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/bge\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/96\/2017\/10\/Devyn-Chambers-Johnson-200x300.jpg","articleSection":["Testimonies and Stories"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/bge\/2017\/12\/14\/four-more-commitment\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/bge\/2017\/12\/14\/four-more-commitment\/","url":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/bge\/2017\/12\/14\/four-more-commitment\/","name":"Four More Commitment - Commission on Biblical Gender Equality","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/bge\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/bge\/2017\/12\/14\/four-more-commitment\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/bge\/2017\/12\/14\/four-more-commitment\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/bge\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/96\/2017\/10\/Devyn-Chambers-Johnson-200x300.jpg","datePublished":"2017-12-14T14:04:34+00:00","dateModified":"2017-12-14T14:06:33+00:00","author":{"@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/bge\/#\/schema\/person\/331f951ef34d0c273fe2d8481dc3d6aa"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/bge\/2017\/12\/14\/four-more-commitment\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/bge\/2017\/12\/14\/four-more-commitment\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/bge\/2017\/12\/14\/four-more-commitment\/#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/bge\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/96\/2017\/10\/Devyn-Chambers-Johnson-200x300.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/bge\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/96\/2017\/10\/Devyn-Chambers-Johnson-200x300.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/bge\/2017\/12\/14\/four-more-commitment\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/bge\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Four More Commitment"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/bge\/#website","url":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/bge\/","name":"Commission on Biblical Gender Equality","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/bge\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/bge\/#\/schema\/person\/331f951ef34d0c273fe2d8481dc3d6aa","name":"Jan Bros","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/80e11614ddeae2ba505a82aaa9851edabeb2ab1ccc584b9f5ba1e399ea7a6f3c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/80e11614ddeae2ba505a82aaa9851edabeb2ab1ccc584b9f5ba1e399ea7a6f3c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/80e11614ddeae2ba505a82aaa9851edabeb2ab1ccc584b9f5ba1e399ea7a6f3c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Jan Bros"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/www.abbeyway.org"],"url":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/bge\/author\/janbros\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/bge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2844","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/bge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/bge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/bge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/172"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/bge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2844"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/bge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2844\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2858,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/bge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2844\/revisions\/2858"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/bge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2844"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/bge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2844"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/bge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2844"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}