Thoughts on women...

I'm back with more (personal!) thoughts on Elders. This time about 1 Tim 2:13 "For Adam was formed first, then Eve". See my previous post here focusing on 'Pronouns and Traditions'  based on 1 Tim 3:1-12. I think for some who have a complementarian stance, the linguistics of the passage in 1 Tim 3:1-12 are not so relevant an argument, it's more about what they see as the original principles of male headship, ergo male only elders. So if you truly believe that male headship is correct, then of course the linguistics of chapter 3 are irrelevant because you'd only see the explicit language as confirming the male bias. So headship. First up two things, I think it's interesting that male headship is not mentioned until Ephesians 5:23 (when Paul first used the term 'kephale'). I also think it's interesting that Jesus didn't mention headship at all and when he did talk about marriage, he said it in the context of the Eden blueprint of a husban

Let me first start by saying that the only skin I have in this particular game is that I love to pick away at threads where I feel that patriarchal systems have sought to supress and 'keep women in their place' through an interpretation of the scriptures. I don't personally want to be an elder, nor do I think I necessarily fulfil all the requirements regardless. I do however believe that the church family and wider church is poorer for this prohibition and that is my motivation for this whole blog really.  That off my chest, for this post I wanted to put down in writing some of my thoughts on this so far. Also, they are just that, my thoughts so far and for this post I've landed on 'pronouns' and 'tradition'. I've come on a journey from a complementarian stance to a mutualist/egalitarian stance and I hope I am still learning and developing all the time. I've talked to MANY people about this and funnily enough it was a recent discussion about the

On the recommendation of a number of people I've just finished listening to the podcast "The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill" ( listen here on Spotify ). It's difficult to know where to start really but I can say that I am left with an enormous sense of disquiet, as well as the sense that the podcast should be required listened for all current and aspiring pastors.  What can be learnt from Mars Hill? It would be easy to land the whole blame at the feet of Mark Driscoll and he certainly was a driving factor. However the whole 'bus' (if you listen you'll get the pop reference) could have been stopped in it's tracks early on if good people had stood up and called him to account. Driscoll may have planted the seeds of the culture but the people who surrounded him watered, tended and cultivated it to the extent that he was enabled to buy into his own hype. He was young when it all started and his elders failed him. Don't get me wrong, I believe that Driscoll

Read this here too on Life Church Seaford blog. When I read the bible, my eyes and heart are always drawn to the women in the text. There is so much to be learnt from them, and at Christmas, Mary's story is no different. Her story of how she came to be the mother of Jesus is told in Matthew 1:18-25, Luke 1:26-56 and Luke 2:1-40 but this is not the last we hear of her. As you would expect, as his mother, Mary was one of Jesus greatest human advocates here on earth, tending to him his whole life, confident in who she knew him to be. In this reflection I'd like to take a closer look at the character of Mary and see what we can learn from her. Early on in our journey with Mary we get an insight to who she really was. She was probably young, perhaps around 14 years old and betrothed to Joseph, a descendent of David. She was a young woman who feared God and knew the stories of her peoples ancestry. This is evidenced by her response to the angel Gabriel who appeared in her home and t

Well. I had every intention of continuing to blog throughout the 16 days however life overtook me. Drama with my roof, steadily escalating family busyness as we barrel towards Christmas too. I wrote a blog post for my church's blog which captured many of my feelings about the challenge of the work. You can read it in situ here , and it's captured below too. **************** 25th November marked the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against women. It triggered 16 days of worldwide activism to raise awareness of the many atrocities and oppressions suffered by women and girls globally. Organisations around the world have raised their voices to shine a light not only on the darkness shrouding violence against women and girls, but also on the good work happening to ease suffering and make real and sustainable changes. If you read the recent post about the Jubilee+ social action conference, 'Standing in the Gap' ( read again here ) you will have see some of th

A short post today. The care of pregnant women is at the core of my role as a midwife. Therefore the fact that pregnancy is a time in a woman's life when she is more likely to be affected by domestic violence is even more heart-breaking. It is both more likely to start and more likely to increase in frequency and severity. It is mind-blowing to me that this is even possible, and I am a person who is well informed and not altogether optimistic about the actions of men toward women. The consequences of violence against pregnant women include growth restricted babies, pre-term birth, haemorrhage and spontaneous abortion (miscarriage and stillbirth). The psychological impact is far reaching to women including a multitude of mental health disorders. The impact of children caught up in domestic violence include physical harm, poor self esteem, higher incidences of adverse childhood events, drug abuse in teenage, eating disorders, depression, self harm and suicide. Womens Aid published a