Woman from Glad Tidings and Women in Ministry
Greetings to my instructor who reads my posts,
Last week we got to be visited by a woman on staff at Glad Tidings Assemblies of God with her husband who I believe was the children's pastor at the very large church. I admit that I was a bit disappointed from the presentation given. I can't for the life of me remember the woman's name. I'm glad that we finally had a woman come to speak at the class and I think it was fitting for her to come after the look Steve Defrain gave when asked about a woman being senior or youth pastor. First, let me give my five cents on that topic and then I'll give the likes and dislikes i personally had from the female speaker. First, I am a strong advocate for women being in ministry. My own mom is truly a shepherd and a gifted preacher/speaker and i've seen first hand the kind of reception she has gotten from the male leadership common in most churches we have been involved in. She was originally raised Baptist so you can imagine the kind of rejection she has felt from that back ground, however while Pentecostal churches have been a little more open to her and women in ministry i've noticed a common thread: While several Fundemantalist churches won't even talk about allowing women in ministry, for the most part Pentecostal churches including the AG TALK about how open they are, b ut their actions do not truly back up their words. Not in all instances, but in a majorty sense. The "out of Box" reaction from Steve Defrain's face at the thought of a woman being in a Pastoral setting for ministry truly showed that. Comments were made that night that I defintely take issue with. The idea that perhaps, over time, the church will open more doors for women is simply dodging the issue. Things will not change UNTIL men of God rise up and make changes. Slavery and Civil rights are a perfect example of this fact. For hundreds of years slavery was an accepted "cultural" practice even among Christians. It took the aftermath of America's worst war to officially change that and then a hundred years later blacks were still unqual and it took the CHANGES made by Martin Luther King jr. and the Civil rights movement to bring about the cultural changes we now have. Christianity owes its biggest apology to women in my humble opinion and I will do everything in my power God willing to bring change to that.
As for the female speaker, the cool thing was that she was the more head leader in the church and her husband was the Children's pastor. My compliments to the Instructor for inviting that kind of couple to speak. However, I was disappointed by the constant talk about Glad Tidings and less about the woman herself. I wanted to hear more about her personal testimony as well as her struggles as being a woman in ministry. She only briefly talked about these things and I also wanted to hear from her husband and hear his take on his wife and their marriage. I was defintely a bit let down. Also, I was just wondering if we will ever hear speakers from other denominations. Obviously Valley Forge is an AG school, however one thing Ii defintely wish would change from our chapel speakers to class speakers is have more men and women of God from other Bible believing churches of different denominations, even non-denominational speakers. Just a thought. Well, I think that about does it on my thoughts for this week. God bless
Last week we got to be visited by a woman on staff at Glad Tidings Assemblies of God with her husband who I believe was the children's pastor at the very large church. I admit that I was a bit disappointed from the presentation given. I can't for the life of me remember the woman's name. I'm glad that we finally had a woman come to speak at the class and I think it was fitting for her to come after the look Steve Defrain gave when asked about a woman being senior or youth pastor. First, let me give my five cents on that topic and then I'll give the likes and dislikes i personally had from the female speaker. First, I am a strong advocate for women being in ministry. My own mom is truly a shepherd and a gifted preacher/speaker and i've seen first hand the kind of reception she has gotten from the male leadership common in most churches we have been involved in. She was originally raised Baptist so you can imagine the kind of rejection she has felt from that back ground, however while Pentecostal churches have been a little more open to her and women in ministry i've noticed a common thread: While several Fundemantalist churches won't even talk about allowing women in ministry, for the most part Pentecostal churches including the AG TALK about how open they are, b ut their actions do not truly back up their words. Not in all instances, but in a majorty sense. The "out of Box" reaction from Steve Defrain's face at the thought of a woman being in a Pastoral setting for ministry truly showed that. Comments were made that night that I defintely take issue with. The idea that perhaps, over time, the church will open more doors for women is simply dodging the issue. Things will not change UNTIL men of God rise up and make changes. Slavery and Civil rights are a perfect example of this fact. For hundreds of years slavery was an accepted "cultural" practice even among Christians. It took the aftermath of America's worst war to officially change that and then a hundred years later blacks were still unqual and it took the CHANGES made by Martin Luther King jr. and the Civil rights movement to bring about the cultural changes we now have. Christianity owes its biggest apology to women in my humble opinion and I will do everything in my power God willing to bring change to that.
As for the female speaker, the cool thing was that she was the more head leader in the church and her husband was the Children's pastor. My compliments to the Instructor for inviting that kind of couple to speak. However, I was disappointed by the constant talk about Glad Tidings and less about the woman herself. I wanted to hear more about her personal testimony as well as her struggles as being a woman in ministry. She only briefly talked about these things and I also wanted to hear from her husband and hear his take on his wife and their marriage. I was defintely a bit let down. Also, I was just wondering if we will ever hear speakers from other denominations. Obviously Valley Forge is an AG school, however one thing Ii defintely wish would change from our chapel speakers to class speakers is have more men and women of God from other Bible believing churches of different denominations, even non-denominational speakers. Just a thought. Well, I think that about does it on my thoughts for this week. God bless
posted by Stephen Mitchell-Def. of Cool at 11:45 AM
1 Comments:
You are correct that Gil has been my only non-AG speaker.
However, judging by some of the other blogs, several keep hammering away at how non-AG they are.
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