{"id":1506,"date":"2011-07-15T21:14:37","date_gmt":"2011-07-16T03:14:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/?p=1506"},"modified":"2013-03-02T00:46:15","modified_gmt":"2013-03-02T05:46:15","slug":"what-do-you-think","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/2011\/07\/what-do-you-think\/","title":{"rendered":"“What do you think?”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today\u2019s post is written by Jo Anne Taylor, Director of Music and Worship at Bethlehem Covenant Church<\/a> in Minneapolis, MN.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Much of what we do as worship planners comes from asking, \u201cWhat do you think?\u201d of colleagues we trust.\u00a0 Those colleagues may be our pastors, members of our worship teams, or fellow worship leaders from the greater Body of Christ.\u00a0 Often, the question arises from the day-to-day context of serving our own congregations.\u00a0 Occasionally, the question springs from an event or new development in the broader Church.\u00a0 Asking \u201cWhat do you think?\u201d reminds us that we do not work alone, but in community with others whose calling and gifting complements our own, through the power of the Holy Spirit.\u00a0 When the question springs from the larger Church, we have an opportunity to reaffirm who we are as the Covenant, and how we participate in the whole Body of Christ.<\/p>\n

Early this week, a prominent non-Covenant pastor posted a remark on his Facebook page that caused quite a stir across the Internet.\u00a0 Other Christian bloggers immediately called him to task, and he eventually withdrew his original comment.\u00a0 As Covenant worship leaders joined the discussion, \u2018Freedom in Christ\u2019 became more than just a slogan: our unity in diversity was put to a test, as the discussion turned from \u201cpulpit bullies\u201d to complementarian\/egalitarian viewpoints and their implications for ministry.<\/p>\n

The Evangelical Covenant Church is unequivocally egalitarian.\u00a0There are plenty of resources available through the Covenant website that clarify the biblical foundation for the church\u2019s position. If you haven’t read Called and Gifted<\/em> yet, it’s time: click here to read<\/a>.\u00a0 Jay Phelan\u2019s All God\u2019s People<\/em> does a great job of explaining the call of women to ministry from a biblical and historical perspective.<\/p>\n

As the Better Together discussion veered in a surprising direction, its content struck me with double force: not only am I a woman serving a Covenant church, but I was also facing this very issue as part of a Covenant Orientation Theology class, meeting at North Park Seminary this week.\u00a0 As my classmates and I discussed a range of positions in the classroom, members of the Better Together community shared their views online.\u00a0 One wrote, \u201cThankfully, God has a standard of masculinity that is far different from the one our culture constantly shouts at us. \u00a0The true measure of a man is this: How much like Jesus is he?\u201d\u00a0 Another shared a\u00a0link to his own earlier post on the same topic (click here to read<\/a>).\u00a0One wrote, \u201cthe whole thing is just plain complicated \u2026 now there\u2019s<\/em> an oxymoron!\u201d and another added, \u201cSometimes, the culture needs to catch up with the freedom that Jesus gives us as people….\u201d<\/p>\n

What breaks my heart, as a woman preparing to answer God\u2019s call to ministry, is the wall that arises between my complementarian friends and me.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t matter how open I am to dialogue, how much I love my complementarian colleagues, or how willing I am to work alongside a complementarian pastor.\u00a0 As a woman seeking to follow God\u2019s calling into ministry, I present a barrier to others that I\u00a0am powerless to remove.\u00a0 I confess I have lost several hours of sleep as I pondered and prayed over this reality.\u00a0 Yet Scripture reminds me that I\u00a0must depend on the sufficiency of God\u2019s grace (2 Corinthians 12: 7-10). \u00a0It is here where I\u00a0must truly apply the Covenant understanding of freedom in Christ:<\/p>\n

Freedom in Christ is not a right we claim for ourselves, but a gift God offers to us.<\/em><\/p>\n

Freedom in Christ is not a right I claim for myself, but a gift I offer to you.<\/em><\/p>\n

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

Today\u2019s post is written by Jo Anne Taylor, Director of Music and Worship at Bethlehem Covenant Church in Minneapolis, MN. Much of what we do as worship planners comes from asking, \u201cWhat do you think?\u201d of colleagues we trust.\u00a0 Those colleagues may be our pastors, members of our worship teams, or fellow worship leaders from […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":118,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14503,46,8,18,19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1506","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-better-together","category-gender","category-leadership","category-theology","category-vocation-and-call"],"yoast_head":"\n"What do you think?" - Worship Connect<\/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\/wc\/2011\/07\/what-do-you-think\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\""What do you think?" - Worship Connect\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Today\u2019s post is written by Jo Anne Taylor, Director of Music and Worship at Bethlehem Covenant Church in Minneapolis, MN. 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