Monday, February 9, 2009
confussion....
In my bible class on the old testament we where talking about 1Timothy. It was a great class but I left more confused about what I want to do with my life! Youth ministry is what i want to go in to and feel let to. So i was going to go you Youth pastor. Well we talked about The Authority of Women.(1Timothy2:11-14) And The Church and Its Leadership. Well i dont think i have ever questioned anything more than this now. It says a womans job teach. However acording to 1Timothy a woman is not allowed to be a pastor. So how would you even get a job in a church working with a Highschool youth group full time with out having the title of "Pastor"? I mean just because i have this passion and desire and i have been following through with my commitment I dont want to end up with an empty heart over this. I am trying to follow where God is calling but This class is giving me things to dig deeper in and try to get through. I have done a mentorship last year with a youth pastor and it was a woman youth pastor but I don't want to go against what God has said. So its a big ball of yarn to unwind. If anyone could help on this topic Please let me know. I am going to talk to some pastors and see what they think.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Syd, you will find many strong opinions on this topic.
As a child of a mother who was called a Youth and Children's pastor by our home church, you probably expect me to have strong feelings about this. I have looked at both sides of the coin.
Some thoughts.
First of all the early christian church needed to stand out from other religious teachings. Especially those that were similar to the Jewish leaders, if the church didn't they might have been lumped with Jewish beliefs. Was God then molding His church with specific requirements (do's and dont's), as stated by Paul in 1 Tim 2, much like he molded the Israelites through specific laws, rules, etc? The "architecture" of the early church was establishing itself. It's not like you could go to cities and find churches with the hierarchy that we experience today of pastors, deacons, elders, etc.
Some of the references that I read seem cultural or rather directed away towards accepted cultural habits. Do I believe men have been given specific roles and strengths? Yes. Do I believe women have been given specific roles and strengths? Yes. But some could argue that women should stay home and not work (outside the home), not wear jewelery or braid their hair. If a woman can never teach or preach to a man, than she should not be allowed to teach a church class to men in any manner, much less be a pastor. That is taking this chapter in Timothy exactly as you read it.
I myself believe there is room for interpretation. If I didn't, I would never braid my hair or teach a cell group class where men are present. And, as I see how God worked through my mother as she Pastored children and teens over the course of 20 years, do I say that she was breaking God's rule? Will she be punished because of it? I don't believe she was.
My feeling is that these rules given by Paul were for as a guidepost for everyone, including us. For the early church they were specific, expected to be adhered so that Christ followers would stand out from the rest.
This may be something that you will have to decide for yourself.
Post a Comment