The ‘fudge’, the football and women elders
Over the last 20 years, Kerith has been on a big journey regarding the role women play as leaders in the life of our church.
We have moved from a position where women could only lead either children or other other women (hard complementarianism); to a place where women could lead and teach anywhere in the church, but not serve as elders (soft complementarianism); to last year affirming that women could now serve as elders (egalitarianism).
For more on this journey, see the paper I wrote laying out my understanding of the Bible passages which informed this decision.
My observation is that most churches we relate to have been on the same journey as us in terms of moving from hard to soft complementarianism, but not many have yet taken that final step of affirming women elders.
So I thought I’d write a bit on why I think that is, and why I think it’s important we made the decision we did to take that final step of affirming women as elders.
A ‘fudge’ kind of leadership
Most church leaders I speak with who are currently in the ‘soft’ position, describe it as a ‘fudge’.
A ‘fudge’ kind of leadership allows churches to promote female preachers and leaders, as well as forming senior leadership teams comprising both men and women, where women are effectively acting as elders but aren’t recognised as such, while also having a group of male only elders who are effectively there to rubber stamp the decisions of the senior leadership team.
From conversations with these leaders, most do this because either:
a. They and their teams are divided or unsure over what they believe on this issue, so they are sticking with the status quo. The ‘fudge’ allows them to keep both sides at least somewhat happy.
b. Or they and their teams do believe women can serve as elders, but they would not be allowed to stay in the movements they are part of if they acted on their convictions. They embrace the ‘fudge’ out of a desire for unity.
As a church, we were encouraged to go with the ‘fudge’... but we respectfully rejected it.
Why we rejected the ‘fudge’
As I have studied this issue I have come to two realisations:
The ‘soft’ position is -in my opinion at least - hard to justify and defend Biblically.
As one example when Paul writes that women shouldn’t teach or have authority over men (1 Timothy 2:12), it is relatively straightforward to argue that this was either a command for all churches at all times (the hard position), or that Paul only meant it to apply to a particular church at a specific moment in history (the egalitarian position).
What is much harder to argue is that it applies everywhere, but only disqualifies women from certain sorts of teaching and certain positions where they have authority over men. It seems very hard to get that from the passage, and even harder to discern which sorts of teaching and positions of authority women can and can’t engage in.
I have seen the damage that the ‘soft’ position does to women.
The message “you can teach, but not everything”, and “lead, but not everywhere”, is incredibly disempowering - especially when there is little clarity over when and where any of those boundaries apply.
I say this from conversations with women, in churches which are doing their very best to empower women in a ‘soft’ environment, who have told me at length about the opportunities they feel they have been denied… the ways they have been overlooked… the times they have performed a role without being given the title, the pay or the recognition a man would have received in the same position, and therefore the pain this has caused them.
For me, the decision to affirm women serving as elders is both a theological issue and a justice issue.
Wrestling with the Bible
On the theological front I want to encourage us to continue to wrestle with what the Bible teaches.
For me, a helpful way to do that is to read what others are writing.
Some time ago, my friend and theologian Andrew Wilson wrote a blog arguing that only men should be elders or pastors, based on the ways in which men and women complement one another.
I agreed with quite a bit of what he wrote, especially in terms of the need for us to affirm that God did create male and female as two distinct groups within humankind - a diversity which should be celebrated and without which we can’t fully express the image of God in us.
We, our children, and our society need to hear us express that message with love but also with confidence.
But I totally disagreed with his conclusion where he tried to argue that based on this complementarity only men should be elders or pastors.
I addressed his argument a little bit in my paper, but am very grateful that recently theologians Ian Paul and Andrew Bartlett have written a much more detailed critique, which in my opinion comprehensively dismantles Andrew’s arguments in a respectful manner.
I’d really encourage you to read both articles and let me know what you think.
I also think that engaging with this issue will help us to learn how to engage with the Bible on other issues such a same sex marriage or the transgender debate – vital skills for us to learn and to teach the next generation.
Gender should not be a barrier
On the justice front, I write this shortly after the England’s women’s football team beat Germany 2-1 to win UEFA’s Women’s Euro 2022.
A nation rightly celebrates that finally ‘it has come home’.
In the light of this it seems unbelievable that from 1920-1971 women were banned from playing football on League grounds, with the FA arguing that “the game of football is quite unsuitable for females and ought not to be encouraged”.
I believe we are seeing a similar revolution in the church. Virtually every church I know which, like us, would have taken a ‘hard’ position 20 years ago has become softer and softer. Women are now preaching, leading worship, leading ministries, on senior leadership teams and even leading sites. But I believe that revolution will stall without a recognition that there are no roles in the life of the church where gender should be a barrier.
I pray that all women, particularly those who are part of Kerith, with a desire to teach like Priscilla (Acts 18:26), to be a missionary church planting apostle like Junia (Romans 16:7), to lead a nation like Deborah (Judges 4:4-5) or to take up any other position in the church or the world will see their gender not as a barrier to God using them, but as a part of what may make them uniquely gifted for the role God is calling them to.
So I’m delighted that as a community, we made it all the way to embracing women serving as elders.
I pray that we will soon see many other churches take the same step.
Photo Credit: Connor Coyne on Unsplash