Euless, Texas ? The Southern Baptists of Texas Convention recently named Rita Kirkland, director of media services at First Baptist Church, Euless, as state church library consultant. Kirkland will help SBTC churches with current library needs or help in starting new library ministries.
Kirkland has been a librarian since 1966, serving as the director of the church library at First Baptist Euless since 1979. Although this is a new consulting position for the SBTC, Kirkland is no stranger to helping churches with library ministry problems. When she isn’t enforcing the Dewey Decimal System at her home church, she’s takes her expertise on the road as one of only four media consultants for Lifeway Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention. Kirkland also speaks at conferences across the country in this capacity.
Before taking the position with the SBTC, Kirkland served the Baptist General Convention of Texas in library resources, a position she occupied since 1985.
Kirkland said she hopes to rid SBTC churches of the negative stigma attached to church libraries being musty-smelling converted closets containing a hodgepodge of unwanted books. The idea of an unused church library filled with books that nobody wants to read is a sore topic for Kirkland.
“We represent the Lord Jesus Christ,” she said. “We are not a ministry of castoffs and hand-me-downs.”
She believes that the church library should be considered a vital part of the ministry of the church. The books and resources in the library should show “that we reflect him in all that we do,” according to Kirkland.
Kirkland will seek to demonstrate to churches the vital ministry role the library can and should play in the local church.
“The library is an excellent form of evangelistic outreach to the church body and the community,” she said, adding that the library is the only organization that is capable of ministering to the entire church. From the preschoolers, who first learn about Jonah and the giant fish through popup books, to moms and dads who get advice on how to raise a child, the church library can touch the lives of all its members.
Kirkland has seen this impact the lives of many, including the unsaved. She tells the story of a woman ? a non-Christian ? who began attending First Euless. The woman wanted to find some Christian fiction to replace her Harlequin Romance novels. A transformation took place after Kirkland introduced her to wholesome books. The Holy Spirit used the words on the pages to introduce the woman to the Savior.
The Christian message can be found in almost every genre of Christian literature from inspiration, to books on parenting, to the growing field of Christian fiction, she said. There are books for almost any literary appetite on the Christian bookshelves today.
As an SBTC consultant, Kirkland will travel throughout the state helping churches establish library ministries and training those who will assist those ministries. She will work with individual churches as well as conducting conferences where other media ministers can network and attend specialized training.
Kirkland will immediately begin working toward her two main objectives for the church library ministries around the state: 1) For Texas to be the number one church library state, and 2) Helping church libraries become an evangelistic outreach tool to the local church and the community.
What can a local church do to help their library ministry succeed? Kirkland believes there are three key elements in creating a successful library ministry.
First, as with any organization, good communication is vital. Kirkland suggests the church staff communicate to the congregation what types of resources the local church library has to offer. Another suggestion is for a pastor to let the library staff know what topic he’ll be preaching about on Sunday mornings, so the library staff can display books and other resources pertaining to that topic.
Second, a church library must have a budget that reflects the size and people of the church. A church library must have the funds to keep the ministry current and relevant.
Third, a successful library must have a dedicated staff that sees the vision and understands how the library can benefit the church. There is no age requirement ? or restriction ? when it comes to who can serve in the church library. All it takes is individuals who care and want to make this ministry truly that?a ministry, she said.
What about the smaller church that can’t afford a large library?
“There’s no such thing as a small church,” Mrs. Kirkland said. She said every local church is in the business of serving God.
According to Kirkland, even if a church has just a few books that fit into a basket that are brought to the church each weekend, the library ministry can flourish.
Kirkland also believes a good library should be stocked with plenty of good books and other resources for the members. “The church library should be a place where a child can finish his homework,” she said. “We’re not in competition with the public libraries, but we would prefer to keep them out of the them
IRVING, Texas ? The story of Southern Baptist missions would not be complete without acknowledging the tireless work of Baptist women, particularly through the efforts of the Woman’s Missionary Union.
For over 150 years, Baptist women have helped define the Southern Baptist distinctive of carrying out the Great Commission task, shaping it into the cornerstone of the modern-day Southern Baptist Convention. Women like Mrs. W.B. Bagby, Miss Fannie Breedlove Davis of San Antonio and Mrs. T.P. Crawford stand beside B.H. Carroll and L. R. Scarborough as giants in the pages of Southern Baptist history.
The Woman’s Missionary Union (WMU) was founded at a 1888 meeting of 32 women in Richmond, Va. The organization was formed for the purposes of collecting funds for the Foreign Mission Board and the Home Mission Board and promoting a “missionary spirit” within the convention. Its impact on the SBC is seen in many ways, including providing for a corporate means of tithing with the introduction of tithe envelopes in Baptist churches. WMU is also responsible for much of the convention’s missions education efforts through such programs as Mission Friends, Girls in Action, Acteens, and Youth on Mission.
Despite a rich history in missions and missions education, WMU enrollment has experienced a slow drop in numbers. In her book, A Century to Celebrate, former WMU President Catherine Allen states that WMU recorded peak enrollment of about 1.5 million members in 1964. In 2001, ACP reports indicate that WMU recorded 857,680 members nation-wide.
Overall circulation for the primary WMU magazines and periodicals have also dropped with 27,101 subscriptions to Dimension magazine reported in 1995 to 13,910 reported in 2002. Missions Mosaic dropped from 227,365 in 1995 to 202,657 in 2002. And an even bigger loss can be seen in the circulation for Discovery, which dropped from 179,721 in 1995 to 73,943 in 2002. Newer publications such as Nuestra Tarea and Missions MatchFile have seen an increase, demonstrating an attempt by WMU to adapt to societal changes.
WMU’s courtship with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship (CBF), an alternative missions-sending organization, coincided with a drop in membership and circulation in the 1990s’.
In 1990, Larry Lewis of the Home Mission Board asked the WMU and other SBC agencies to refrain “from giving support, approval, promotion of and encouragement to alternate funding plans,” such as the giving plan of the CBF in order to save Southern Baptists’ historic Cooperative Program giving method. In James Hefley’s book The Conservative Resurgence, he records the response of the WMU board to the proposed giving plan of the CBF. The board issued a statement affirming the traditional giving method for missions through the Cooperative Program, yet also affirmed “the right of individuals, churches and state conventions to choose other plans for cooperative missions giving.” The action was endorsed by Helen Fling, Christine Gregory and Dorothy Sample (former WMU presidents) and Alma Hunt and Carolyn Weatherford Crumpler (both former WMU executive directors).
In an Oct. 6, 1992 article in the Indiana Baptist, Executive Director Dellanna O’Brien recognized that supporting the CBF by providing tailored missions education materials to the fellowship could alienate churches that relate to WMU. However, O’Brien emphasized that the WMU was committed to providing missions education support in every Southern Baptist church.
“Through the years we’ve been able to support missions in every Southern Baptist church the same way. Now we’re looking at how ? and if ? we can continue to serve all Southern Baptist churches,” said O’Brien at a missions festival at Ridgecrest in the summer of 1992.
Coping with losses in membership and readership, WMU launched a campaign to change its image seen in its 1997 annual report under the leadership of WMU Executive Director Dellanna O’ Brien. A pair of cat-eye glasses appeared on the cover of the report with the quote “If this is how you still see WMU try looking a little closer.” Currently, the WMU does not print CBF materials; however, a link to the CBF website is posted on WMU’s webpage.
In December 2001, SBC critics and WMU leadership of the 1990’s such as O’Brien helped found a new missions-sending organization called Global Women. The first annual meeting of the Mainstream Baptist Network in Feb. 2002, functioned as the debut for the group in which it identified itself as pro-feminist and anti-SBC. At the same meeting a booth for the Baptist Women in Ministry organization distributed information on “Mother God” worship. Working with other missions organization, the group currently supports one international missionary or “global associate.” According to the organization’s website, the group seeks “to unite women for action around common needs,” such as “malnutrition, illiteracy and polluted drinking water.”
Catherine Allen, former WMU president, serves as Global Women treasurer. Other WMU figures in attendance at the meeting were past WMU executive directors Carolyn Weatherford Crumpler and Alma Hunt. According to an article by Michael Clingenpeel posted on the website of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, other WMU leaders involved in Global Women include Dellana O’Brien, WMU executive director for 10 years, and Dorothy Sample, former national WMU president.
In December 2001 Wanda Lee issued a statement to distance WMU from the anti-SBC Global Women and past WMU leadership.
“Global Women has no affiliation with Woman’s Missionary Union, Auxiliary to the Southern Baptist Convention. While many of our former leaders are involved in the new organization, their participation is a personal decision and not one connected to national WMU,” Lee said. “While I was informed of their plans to launch Global Women two weeks prior to their formal announcement, the current leadership of Woman’s Missionary Union has not been involved in the planning nor the incorporation of this agency.”
Lee also noted that WMU would not be distracted by Global Women in pursuing its ministries and facilitating mission education.
IRVING, Texas ? For Baptist women excluded from the senior pastorate, why spend time and energy training for ministry in the local church at a Southern Baptist seminary? This question, often asked by critics of the Southern Baptist Convention, is being addressed by all six seminaries supported by the Southern Baptist Convention’s Cooperative Program.
The backlash against the article on the church in the Baptist Faith & Message 2000 engendered a feeling that Southern Baptists believe women do not play an important role in the church, said Heather King, one of two females that served on the committee to revise the historic confessional statement.
“In authoring the statement on women serving in the local church, the committee fully realized that both Scripture and the testimony of Jesus designates women as integral ministry initiators and coworkers,” said King, who was recently named women’s program coordinator at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, in Louisville. “That is why it is so important for women to be present in seminary classrooms, so they can be equipped for ministry.”
Critics of the confessional statement expected female attendance in Southern Baptist seminaries to drop in the post-convention meeting media blitz that labeled the SBC as misogynist. However, statistics from all six schools indicate female enrollment has remained the same or is growing. For example, in 1991 Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary reported 85 female students on its main campus. In 2002, the number jumped to 506, a 495 percent increase in total female student population at the Wake Forest, N.C., school.
The irony of this situation is not lost on Terri Stovall, women’s program director for Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth as female enrollment at SWBTS has remained steady, up from 670 females enrolled last spring.
“I have seen local churches opening the doors to women for all types of ministry opportunities. The BF&M 2000 affirms and empowers women to discover the gifts, talents and passion that God has given her and then seeking out where best to use those gifts in the local church,” said Stovall, who also serves as assistant professor of adult education and aging in Southwestern’s school of educational ministries. “I know of women and have friends who serve as church administrators, music worship leaders, educational ministers, student ministers, children and preschool ministers and yes . . . even women’s ministers.”
In the fall of 2002, 692 women were enrolled in classes on Southwestern’s main campus, 178 of which were pursuing the Master of Arts in Christian Education degree. This degree, which offers a concentration in Women’s Ministry, is comprised of 70 hours and has been in place at the seminary since 2000. The degree includes 14 hours of seminary core classes, 12 hours of theology classes and 32 hours of courses within the school of educational ministries. The concentration in women’s ministry includes courses such as women’s issues, adult development psychology, counseling with Scripture, and speech and oral interpretation.
Stovall, who helped design the curriculum for the women’s program at SWBTS, stated that the degree equips women to fulfill “a myriad of leadership roles” as a lay leader, church staff, denominational employee, or missionary.
“My vision is that the women’s ministry programs at SWBTS equips women to make a difference for the kingdom of God in whatever context they are placed,” Stovall said. “My dream is to begin to take this training to other states and even other countries. A number of my students are international women who want to impact the families from their home country and often the best way to do that is woman to woman.”
The seminary also offers a certificate program to train women currently ministering in the local church, but who are unable to attend classes full time. SWBTS also seeks to equip the wives of students to be partners in ministry with their husbands. This year, the Texas seminary established a leadership certificate in women’s ministry with new courses being added each year in the area of women’s ministry, teaching and counseling for women.
Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., is also creating new programs for women. In 2002, the seminary hired King as its first full-time women’s program director.
“The growing trend is toward large churches hiring both part-time and full-time women’s directors. Even more important, the next five to seven years will be pivotal in Sou
DALLAS, Texas – Four new ministry relationships with Texas Baptist Men, the Korean Baptist Fellowship and East Texas Baptist Family Ministries were approved by the Executive Board of the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention in their April 3-4 meeting. The board also approved a new cooperative agreement with North American Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention, affirming NAMB’s requirement that personnel conform to the Baptist Faith and Message, making it the only state convention in Texas to do so.
The TBM and KBF agreements came after each entity approved language affirming a high view of scripture in keeping with Southern Baptist doctrinal convictions. The new cooperative agreement defines the relationships and responsibilities of both SBTC and NAMB to jointly develop, administer and evaluate a strategic mission plan on a cooperative basis. The agreement will be reviewed annually.
NAMB will assist with funding and benefits for jointly supported personnel and will provide a coordinated processing service for endorsing prospective chaplaincy and national missionary personnel.
After an hour of discussion, the board also approved the affiliation request of East Texas Baptist Family Ministries (ETBFM), a non-profit ministry currently being started in East Texas Baptist Area. Gerald Edwards, president of the new ministry, said it will include a children’s home, a home for unwed mothers and a retirement community. The ministry will be designated under the human care and family division of the SBTC.
Edwards recently purchased a 4,000-square-foot home south of Garrison, Texas, which will function as the administrative headquarters for the ministry and also house Mission Service Corp volunteers who will staff the ministry. In total, Edwards has accumulated about 476 acres of land for future expansion of East Texas Baptist Ministries.
On Jan. 8, 2003, Edwards and his son Todd, who is a member of First Baptist Dallas and will serve as vice president and treasurer of the ministry, met with three others interested in beginning the ministry.
“We formulated our mission statement which is clearly stated – to be evangelistic and missionary in its intent to win people for Christ,” Edwards said. Although services are not yet being offered, Edwards said the ministry’s goal is to be on the property by the end of this year pending state approval with the first children’s home. In 2003, ETBFM will begin fundraising for $250,000 and in 2004 fundraising for a maternity home. By 2004, Edwards hopes to begin building a retirement village.
Board member Bill Sutton expressed concern over financial obligations the affiliation request would generate in the future although the motion presented to the board did not include a financial request. Edwards spoke to the concern detailing administrative infrastructure would include 35 board members of which the five would come from the executive board of the SBTC.
Committee Chairman Steve Cochran reminded board members that the request is in principle only and the human care task force created by the board last year would later submit the specifics of the agreement in regard to monetary support.
SBTC Executive Director Jim Richards stated that preliminary discussion with Edwards included an operating request of $37,000 from ETBM, which would be taken from the human care line item of $125,000 which has already been designated for such ministries by the board. Because a director has not been hired to facilitate this area of ministry and manage these funds, Richards said “not a dime” has been distributed from the line item.
“Our human care is under a director and we haven’t hired a director, so I’m administrating that until we have one,” Richards said. “These funds would not classify as institutional support unless East Texas Baptist Family Ministries becomes a part of the 15 percent restricted operating funds.”
Richards explained that it is necessary to partner with such ministries in order to remain true to the convention’s founding principle of not owning institutions which could later create financial burdens for the convention.
“We want to be good partners like we are to Criswell College in supplying them with a reasonable amount of money. Our desire is to build a network,” he said.
“I can envision having partnership ministries in southern Texas, west Texas and the metroplex,” Richards said. “From the desires of the convention and the board, we don’t want to own these ministries. We want to help them develop ministries so that the SBTC can have a place to confidently send children, unwed mothers and spouses in times of need.”
SBTC President George Harris shared his church’s philosophy of helping ministries after they have already started.
“If you feel like you need to minister to people who are down and out, then you get something started and then our church will come and put money in it and we’ll stand behind it,” Harris said, former pastor of Castle Hills First Baptist Church in San Antonio.
Mac Brunson, new board member and pastor of First Baptist Dallas, countered by reiterating the necessity of the SBTC involving itself in the beginnings of ministries.
“There was time when The Criswell College was not. There was a time when Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary was only a vision of B.H. Carroll on a train,” Brunson said. “This brother [Gerald Edwards] is asking for us to help him and not wait for him to start it and then us take the glory and credit for that. He has asked to partner with us. Any church that’s ever built somet
EL PASO, Texas ? With word that as many as 12 soldiers from the 507th Maintenance Company from Fort Bliss are missing following an ambush by Iraqi forces on March 23, Southern Baptists and other Christians near the Army post stand ready to minister to the families of those affected.
Pastor Rix W. Tillman of Exciting Immanuel Baptist Church in El Paso called his congregation to prayer at 4 p.m. Sunday to intercede for those deployed. “We have a tremendous amount of military people in our church, so there’s a very heightened awareness there,” he said. “Whenever there’s a need we address it.”
During fierce fighting near the southern Iraqi town of An Nasiriyah, the Iraqi militia captured the Fort Bliss soldiers. “We’ve just been praying all day and listening to the news,” Maria Cervantes said Sunday night in an interview with the El Paso Times. Families were called to the post Sunday afternoon where they were told that an officer and chaplain would come to the homes if death notifications had to be made.
Members of the group are a part of the 5th Battalion, 52nd Air Defense Artillery, 11th Air Defense Artillery Brigade that was deployed to Kuwait just over a month ago. Fort Bliss officials reported that the company was “involved in an incident while engaged in maneuvers with the 3rd Infantry Division.”
U.S. congressmen from the west Texas and eastern New Mexico region, both with military experience in Vietnam, praised the family support group at Fort Bliss for the manner in which they are addressing a difficult situation. The U.S. Army Community and Family Support Center, in conjunction with the Army Family Liaison Office, established a toll-free family assistance hotline at 1-800-833-6622 to give Army families information, resources and referrals. It is available only to family members of soldiers on active duty and those in the Army National Guard and the Army Reserve who are on active duty.
Iraq war commander Gen. Tommy Franks described the Fort Bliss logistics support troops who were captured as “highly trained” and “highly motivated” following a report on an Arabic television station showing the captured soldiers under interrogation.
The names and faces of some of those captured were broadcast Sunday through interviews with Iraqi television. Major U.S. networks refused to play additional footage of the captured soldiers, showing only still images of prisoners and obscured angles of four bodies.
Fort Bliss spokeswoman Jean Offutt admitted that morale is low at the post. “The mood of course is very tragic. We regret this,” she was quoted as saying to the El Paso newspaper. Another soldier stationed there described the reaction as “shock and disbelief” while adding that he is certain the post “will band together.”
A volunteer youth worker at Exciting Immanuel Baptist Church is currently stationed at Fort Bliss and has been assisting families dealing with the anxiety surrounding such events. Tillman said the youth team led the church in worship Sunday as they contemplated the anxiety many are facing and prayed specifically for those needs.
“They’ve got a lot going on at the base with the chaplains,” Tillman added, explaining, however, that a heightened alert status now prevented his participation in such ministries. The chaplain ministry teams of Fort Bliss offer a comprehensive program in support of commanders, unit ministry teams and the total Army community at the base through worship, pastoral care and community outreach. Chaplains emphasize the “ministry of presence” that is particularly crucial in such a time as this, according to officials at the base.
A volunteer staff member who coordinates the church’s prayer ministry has a son deployed with an infantry unit, Tillman said. Another member of the church’s praise team was recently deployed as part of a judge advocate general’s office. Many relatives of church members are serving with the Patriot anti-missile defense system in the Mideast.
When Tillman began his ministry in El Paso eight years ago, the church had 12 retired colonels. “There’s a higher level of awareness,” he said, prompting an increased focus on ministry to the military. As the church begins a “Forty Days of Purpose” emphasis, he said, “A lot of the small groups we are beginning will have military men and women and we’re going to be reaching out to them.”
Mountain View Baptist Pastor Gib Allen of El Paso broke the news of the capture of locally based troops to many in his congregation Sunday morning. Fort Bliss is only a 10-minute drive from the church, and two-thirds of the congregation are retired military, Allen told Baptist Press.
“There is a lot of fear, especially yesterday morning in our services in sharing that one of the Fort Bliss maintenance batteries had been captured and assaulted. People were really upset about the whole thing. Some
IRVING, Texas ? For Baptist women excluded from the senior pastorate, why spend time and energy training for ministry in the local church at a Southern Baptist seminary? This question, often asked by critics of the Southern Baptist Convention, is being addressed by all six seminaries supported by the Southern Baptist Convention’s Cooperative Program.
The backlash against the article on the church in the Baptist Faith & Message 2000 engendered a feeling that Southern Baptists believe women do not play an important role in the church, said Heather King, one of two females that served on the committee to revise the historic confessional statement.
“In authoring the statement on women serving in the local church, the committee fully realized that both Scripture and the testimony of Jesus designates women as integral ministry initiators and coworkers,” said King, who was recently named women’s program coordinator at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, in Louisville. “That is why it is so important for women to be present in seminary classrooms, so they can be equipped for ministry.”
Critics of the confessional statement expected female attendance in Southern Baptist seminaries to drop in the post-convention meeting media blitz that labeled the SBC as misogynist. However, statistics from all six schools indicate female enrollment has remained the same or is growing. For example, in 1991 Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary reported 85 female students on its main campus. In 2002, the number jumped to 506, a 495 percent increase in total female student population at the Wake Forest, N.C., school.
The irony of this situation is not lost on Terri Stovall, women’s program director for Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth as female enrollment at SWBTS has remained steady, up from 670 females enrolled last spring.
“I have seen local churches opening the doors to women for all types of ministry opportunities. The BF&M 2000 affirms and empowers women to discover the gifts, talents and passion that God has given her and then seeking out where best to use those gifts in the local church,” said Stovall, who also serves as assistant professor of adult education and aging in Southwestern’s school of educational ministries. “I know of women and have friends who serve as church administrators, music worship leaders, educational ministers, student ministers, children and preschool ministers and yes . . . even women’s ministers.”
In the fall of 2002, 692 women were enrolled in classes on Southwestern’s main campus, 178 of which were pursuing the Master of Arts in Christian Education degree. This degree, which offers a concentration in Women’s Ministry, is comprised of 70 hours and has been in place at the seminary since 2000. The degree includes 14 hours of seminary core classes, 12 hours of theology classes and 32 hours of courses within the school of educational ministries. The concentration in women’s ministry includes courses such as women’s issues, adult development psychology, counseling with Scripture, and speech and oral interpretation.
Stovall, who helped design the curriculum for the women’s program at SWBTS, stated that the degree equips women to fulfill “a myriad of leadership roles” as a lay leader, church staff, denominational employee, or missionary.
“My vision is that the women’s ministry programs at SWBTS equips women to make a difference for the kingdom of God in whatever context they are placed,” Stovall said. “My dream is to begin to take this training to other states and even other countries. A number of my students are international women who want to impact the families from their home country and often the best way to do that is woman to woman.”
The seminary also offers a certificate program to train women currently ministering in the local church, but who are unable to attend classes full time. SWBTS also seeks to equip the wives of students to be partners in ministry with their husbands. This year, the Texas seminary established a leadership certificate in women’s ministry with new courses being added each year in the area of women’s ministry, teaching and counseling for women.
Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., is also creating new programs for women. In 2002, the seminary hired King as its first full-time women’s program director.
“The growing trend is toward large churches hiring both part-time and full-time women’s directors. Even more important, the next five to seven years will be pivotal in Southern Baptist life as many state convention women’s directors are nearing retirement,” King said. “As women answer God’s call to serve and seek out specific programs to equip them for ministry, the pool of seminary-educated women grows. This not only benefits the local church, but the denomination as a whole.”
King is also working to implement 15 hours of academic courses to prepare women for ministry in the local church and church agencies. The women’s ministry courses are a part of the master of arts in Christian education degree or the master of divinity degree, allowing full-time students to receive “specialized preparation for woman-to-woman ministry.” Theology, communication and leadership skills, missions and evangelism, and the practical application of ministry skills are all emphasized in this program.
Another new development on the seminary’s collegiate level is the introduction of a Women’s Ministry Institute that will equip women unable to enroll as full-time students. Because courses will be held in three to five day workshops, King said the institute will benefit women who are currently ministering in their church but seek supplemental training. In 2001-2002, women outnumbered male students enrolled in Boyce College, 51 to 49 percent. Women enrolled in Boyce college also outnumbered other women enrolled in graduate degree tracks in the seminary such as theology, music, church ministry, and missions and evangelism.
When Southern Baptists adopted a revised confession of faith in June 2000, the debate was almost entirely centered on article one: the Scriptures. This is proper. Our interpretations of God’s Word make up our doctrinal distinctives. Our view of Scriptures is foundational to all other matters of faith and practice.
In an extension of that original debate other matters have been added to the debate, most notably the issue of the role of women in our families and churches. The divide is along the same lines as the debate on Scripture. Those who believe that portions of the Bible are more authoritative than others will naturally have a different opinion on church and family order than those who consider all Scripture inspired by God. One commentator maintains that his speculation on what Jesus might say on family order should trump what Paul actually said under inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Former Southern Baptist Jimmy Carter, then president, was more direct in saying that Paul (under inspiration of the Holy Spirit) was just wrong. Alrighty then. Everything comes back to your view of Scripture. A lower view will naturally put other standards in a higher place of authority.
The role of women at church and at home is an emotional issue. We are tempted to respond as we feel rather than according to what we know. Objections to the BF&M’s statement on male senior pastors may draw a question like, “What do you say to a young woman who believes she is called to pastor?” It’s supposed to be a difficult question because it calls to mind a bright, enthusiastic young person whose dreams we might crush. Difficulty and emotion should never obscure revealed truth, though. That is why we were given an objective standard (the Bible) to judge our feelings and impressions. The BF&M statements on women are carefully worded and tightly focused. The emotional nature of the debate is heightened by those who do not know what the statement does and does not say. Let’s look at that.
Two articles in the BF&M address the role of women and are sometimes questioned by those who reject our confession. Article six addresses the doctrine of the church. It includes the following statement: “While both men and women are gifted for service in the church, the office of pastor is limited to men as qualified by Scripture” Just that. Based on I Tim. 2:11-15, 3:1-7, and other passages, the article maintains that God has spoken clearly to this office. Note that not all men are qualified to pastor. The scriptural qualifications seem stringent and exclusive in our day. There are arguments from logic and emotion that might draw us for or against the notion of woman pastors. History, including New Testament history, underscores this understanding of Scripture. The bottom line, though, is the authority of God’s Word. He, not Paul is the ultimate source of Scripture. Some find it disappointing or insensitive but in reality even moderate churches have limited their commitment to woman pastors to talk. Very few have called a woman as senior pastor.
Article eighteen on the family says in part: “A wife is to submit herself graciously to the servant leadership of her husband even as the church willingly submits to the headship of Christ,” and, “The husband and wife are of equal worth before God, since both are created in God’s image.” This language is based on Eph. 5:22-33 and I Pt. 3:1-7, to name only two passages. Again, our own instincts may find this order puzzling but our own tendencies often lead us astray.
Notice what the BF&M does not say on these subjects. The articles do not specifically address any position of church leadership except senior pastor. We are not told for example, that women should not be deacons, education ministers, seminary professors, seminary presidents, missionaries, journalists, evangelists, preachers, or Sunday School teachers. We can argue about that as we wish but the convention did not include such interpretation in our statement of faith. Our seminaries do and should encourage women to prepare themselves for an expanding number of ministries. This preparation is bearing fruit around the world. As can be seen elsewhere in the Texan, a wide range of Christian service is open to and occupied by our God-called sisters.
No one has suggested that men are smarter, more gifted, or more spiritual than women. Not even experience or instinct would suggest such a thing. In fact, the confession does not claim any spiritual difference in rank or nature. Those who infer a claim to essential superiority of men over women from our statement of faith are hearing something not said.
Our confession does not even say that men are right more often than women. If men are leading the church and the home, right or wrong, they will answer to God for their stewardship. Those under their authority will answer for their own submission to God and those placed in roles of authority.
Why so much attention on this subject? Obviously it is timely. If earlier ages had faced the confusion and contradictions regarding male-female relationships that our generation faces, earlier confessions would have addressed these problems. Our day sees staggering failures of marriages and families as a legacy of this confusion. Many, including some in the church question the need or superiority of two-parent (male-female) families for the nurture of children. Some today suggest that five (don’t even ask) separate sexual identities should be recognized in our society. Our churches are affected by this civil war. We are pressured to conform to prevailing opinions rather than to revealed truth. Conformity is no more a righteous option now than it was in the days of earlier persecution.
For now we’ve done what we should. We have clearly stated our commitment to revealed rather than consensus truth. We have prayerfully and carefully applied biblical precepts to contemporary issues. In doing so, we have clearly affirmed the significant gifts of each member of God’s kingdom–women no less than men. Those who still hate our message are not attacking a man-made document so much as inconvenient revelation.
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