Women and Ministry
In the story of Jesus and the Woman at the Well
(John 4:5-30), there are three attempts at avoidance -
three issues brought up to distract from the important
person - Jesus, and His message.
1. The Ethnic and Gender Issue - "You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman."
2. The Tradition Issue - "Are you greater than our father
Jacob?"
3. The Worship Issue - "You claim we must worship is in
Jerusalem."
But Jesus doesn't allow this woman to avoid the more
important issues, and forced her to focus on her own situation and her need.
Today there are many distracting and disruptive issues in the church. Much to the delight of Satan, there's a lot of infighting, and the unity Jesus prayed for has been compromised. One of those issues has to do with the place of ministry for women in the church. We offer these points:
1. Women participated in ministry in Jesus day (Luke 8:3)
2. Women were used by God to announce the resurrection of Jesus - they were the first to proclaim the most important message of the Christian church. (Matthew 28:7)
3. Paul included and acknowledged women in the ministry. (Phillipians 4:2,3)
4. There were women who served as "ministers".
(Romans 16:1,2)
5. In the New Testament, there were women who prophesied. (Acts 21:8,9; I Corinthians 11:5)
Let's lay the argument about the women's role aside,
and rather than focusing on the messenger, let's focus on the message of Jesus and His love, His sacrifice and
promise. Remember He said, "You will know them by
their fruit", not their appearance, or their gender.
So women let's get to work !! |
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