FUTURE CHURCH: WOMEN IN MINISTRY

 

FUTURE CHURCH: WOMEN IN MINISTRY

Have you ever heard of a movement called the ‘FUTURE CHURCH’? It was started by a group of women who dreamed about having a more active role in their church.

What is a ‘future church’? This is a church that does not promote misogyny or gender-based discrimination. Therefore, in a ‘future church’, all believers, regardless of gender, are free to serve God. Serve Him as priests, reverends, ministers, pastors or whatever. Just serve God.

But I have a message for the women of future church. Ladies- stop dreaming and start restoring! Did you know that the future church that you are dreaming about is actually the church that God and Christ intended you to have?

Today’s article explains how the church deviated from the purposes of God. How did the practice of forbidding women from having an active leadership role in the church originate? Let’s examine the Bible to get our answer.

 
IN THE BEGINNING- GOD’S VIEW OF WOMEN IN THE OLD TESTAMENT
In the Old Testament, there were three important positions of leadership and authority- Kings, Judges and Prophets. Would it surprise you to learn that both women and men shared these high honours?

In Judges 4 and 5, we learn that Deborah was a Judge and a Prophetess over Israel. We also know that four other women were anointed by God to be Prophetesses:

        § Miriam (see Exodus 15:20)

        § Huldah (see 2 Kings 22:13-20 and 2 Chronicles 34:20-28)

        § Noadiah (see Nehemiah 6:14)

        § Isaiah's un-named wife (see Isaiah 8:3)

Therefore, with this brief study, we can conclude that God did not object to women having leadership roles and authority over men!

CHRIST’S VIEW OF WOMEN IN THE NEW TESTAMENT
And what of Jesus? What was His view of women in the ministry?

Did you know that the first missionary in the New Testament was a woman? After the Samaritan woman was converted by Jesus, she went to her community and evangelised and many believed (see John 4:4-42)! The unnamed Samaritan woman is the New Testament’s first missionary!

We also know that Jesus choose to reveal His resurrected being to women first before He had even revealed Himself to His Apostles (see Matthew 28:1, 9, 10 and John 20:14-17).

But you would never learn about this high honour, bestowed on Mary Magdalene and the other Mary, from Paul’s epistles! In fact, Paul completely ignores the presence of the women at this miraculous event! Consider what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:3-5 (KJV):

        3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;

        4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:

        5 And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve:

Are we surprised that Paul does not even mention the women? No!

Therefore, we can conclude that Christ did not object to women having leadership roles or prominence over men!

PAUL’S VIEW OF WOMEN IN THE NEW TESTAMENT
So what is Paul's position on women in the church? Simple and straightforward. Remember what he wrote. Paul:

        § Forbids women to speak in the church!

        § Forbids women to teach in the church!

        § Forbids women to have any authority over men in the church!

Please confirm this by reading two Pauline passages- 1 Timothy 2:12 and 1 Corinthians 14:34-36!

Paul is misogynistic. In Paul’s view, women are second class citizens. And as a result of the church ruling the world for so many centuries, this misogynism has become the acceptable dominant view in the general public at large.

KEEPING IT REAL!
People often forget that studying the Bible MATTERS! Understanding the differences between conflicting doctrines matters. And understanding how these differences arose matters.

        § Real women have lost their lives as a result of domestic violence.

        § Real women have suffered economically because they haven’t benefitted from a policy of equal pay for equal work.

        § Real women have been prevented from serving God to their fullest capacity.

Gender based violence and gender based inequality in the workplace are social ills. Their origin can be directly traced back to Paul’s misogyny and his false teaching. Because the Pauline writings have been falsely described as inspired scripture- misogyny has been institutionalised as a cultural norm by the church and by society. The Pauline writings are the cause of this situation!

FINAL WORDS!
Jesus warned us against using the commandments of men as if they are Biblical doctrine (Matthew 15:9, KJV, emphasis mine).

        9 But in vain they do worship me, TEACHING FOR DOCTRINES THE COMMANDMENTS OF MEN.

But this is exactly what some churches have done! Did you know that over 50% of believers (approximately 1.5 billion people today) belong to a church that has followed Paul and, therefore, will not allow women to lead the church as a minister, reverend or pastor?

Today, I have a message for the supporters of the ‘FUTURE CHURCH’ movement. Return to God and return to Christ! Their doctrines are NOT misogynistic! Paul was the misogynist.

Unfortunately, this teaching about a woman’s role in the church is not the only instance of Paul’s false doctrines! There are many others. As a result:

        § Paul’s writings continue to divide the House of God and the people of God.

        § So, reject Paul!

        § Promote Restoration Christianity 2.0! (In ‘RC 2.0!’, the false doctrines of the Pauline writings have been removed).

For those of you who are interested in learning more, read my earlier blog posts or any of my Bible study books (visit our website).

(NB. This is an updated version of an article that was originally published in Easter 2020 as part of a Bible study series which was entitled: A House Divided.)

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‘HARVEST TIME Prophecies’ is the blog post site of TNG Academy. Our blog post site gets its name from Matthew 13:30- the separation of wheat and tares that occurs at harvest time (i.e. the endtimes). Remember, the ‘wheat’ symbolises the things of God and the ‘tares’ symbolise the things of the devil.

The purpose of this blog is threefold.

1. Some of the posts are written to help the reader develop a deeper understanding of the theology of Christ’s core message- i.e. the ‘gospel of the kingdom’.

2. Some of the posts are written for the reader’s personal discipleship journey. We need to understand what God expects from us. After all, all believers should be on a journey of ‘becoming’ our best selves, capable of impacting and changing the world!

3. Finally, some of the posts are written to answer this question:

    What would our faith look like today IF we had fully embraced Christ’s doctrines, as recorded by His Apostles, and rejected the doctrines of Paul and the other false apostles?

If we are sincere about our desire to restore Christianity to its roots, i.e. a return to Christ’s original message, then we must start by admitting that ‘while men slept’ (Matthew 13:25) the enemy planted false teachings (tares) into the New Testament!

Visit our website- WWW.TNGACADEMY.ORG, to see our Bible study books. Which books would I recommend for you to read first? Start with these three-

• WHAT IS THE KINGDOM OF GOD?
• MENE MENE TEKEL UPHARSIN!
• THE APOSTOLIC SCRIPTURES.