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| Q: | After looking at some of the responses under the LC-MS posting about the role of woman in the church I am now even more confused than I was before. If the men of the church are not taking their role serously then why can't the women come to the meeting and take an active role in at the meetings? You state that women are not supposed to be in positions where they are over men, but if you look at WELS as a whole there are more single parent families as of late that are run by the mother. The WKW has told the chapter's that they can allow women on the board but not in the chairman spot. I think that if we were to allow the women to vote it would increase the attendance as well as we need to promote that women are allowed to come to the meetings as it is not done in the church. Please help me understand if or when will this position change? | ||||||
| A: | It is very difficult to know how to approach your question because you never address the one essential starting point--the point without which all other discussion of the topic is meaningless. What does Scripture say about the roles of men and women in the church? You need to go to Scripture and find the answer to that question before you try to analyze cases. The Bible class "Man and Woman in God's World" recommends spending five or more hours discussing the passages before beginning to address cases. The first thing that you have to resolve in your mind is what does the Bible say about this. Then you are ready to begin evaluating church practices in that light. The Bible says women should not exercise authority over men in the church. This is the principle we try to practice. The voters assembly is the authoritative body in our church. For this reason women should not vote in it. It does not make any essential difference whether participation in a governing body is by membership or as chairman. In some bodies both members and chairman may be exercising authority. In some bodies neither may be. In some groups one may be and not the other may not. A simple differentiation of chairman and members does not cover all cases. It may be valid in some case, but not in others. Each case must be evaluated by the scriptural standard. Does participation in a given role or office violate the principle of 1 Timothy 2:12 and the other relevant passages? Among your arguments you state "if you look at WELS as a whole there are more single parent families as of late that are run by the mother" and "if we were to allow the woman to vote it would increase the attendance." I do not understand the relevance of either of these points to the decisions we must make about who is to vote in authoritative actions of the church. The church is to serve the needs of all its members, but it is to do this by obeying what God says about who should serve as pastors, elders, and so on. We have to base our decisions on what God's Word says not on other considerations. There could be cases in which the men neglect their duty to such a degree that women have to step up and do their job, but this is not the normal case. We can't establish principles from exceptional cases. If the principle "I do not permit a woman to teach or have authority over a man" is God-given and binding on the church, it cannot ever be changed, except sinfully. Our practices and the way we arrange things may be changed as long as the changes do not violate the principle. There is, for example, no law about whether or not women can attend the meetings. It is not we who establish the principle "women are not suppose to be in positions where they are over men." This is what Scripture says. The first thing you have to do in wrestling with this issue is to formulate on the basis of study of all the relevant passages of Scripture what the biblical principles about this matter are. Is 1 Timothy 2:12 a valid biblical principle which directs our actions? On the basis of careful study we believe it is. | ||||||
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