My wife posted what I think is one of her better post's on her blog last night. You can check it out at www.cynthiacullen.com The subject matter: her personal call to full-time church ministry and how that relates to the hot potato topic of the day of women being involved in the workplace and more specifically, the church. Her blog was both personal and tackled the issue in a non-divisive way. I loved the point she made about going to a different church if you don't like the fact that women are involved in leadership in your church. Leaving a church for those types of reason causes much less division than if you were to stay and grumble!
I have heard this topic discussed over and over again lately from a variety of viewpoints. It is one of those topics where I believe from Scripture an argument can be made either way. I'm just not sure why this particular topic has become so visceral and divisive in the church today. There are many other doctrinal stress points that we overlook in the church today. Why do we make one of a person's involvement in helping further God's Kingdom, or in this case that lack thereof, such a high priority?
Perhaps is that when a mom and/or dad abandon their home for church work, or any other work for that matter, then the home is in jeopardy. I can understand that discussion. Certainly any Christian home where the man and woman are working must be always ready to place boundaries and parameters on the schedule, involvement and lifestyle. We have those types of conversation regularly in our home and quite honestly I believe it make us both better parents.
The point that I would like to make is one of a balance between unity and controversy in today's church. At the end of the day, I look to "themes" in scripture to see where God's priorities lie. Salvation, sacrifice, love, money are all mega-themes; things that are talked about in great quantity in the Bible. I believe that God places a high value on those issues. Another one of those themes that Scripture focuses on with great frequency is unity among believers. A woman's place in the church or outside of the home is a topic in Scripture for sure, but it is mentioned with much less frequency than unity in the church.
So the question that we should be asking is: "Is our discussion of a woman's role in the church so dogmatic that we are causing division in the church and perhaps driving the unbeliever away as a result? I believe that with the tone of much of today's rhetoric, that answer is YES. I believe that we, as Christian leaders, have a responsibility to "tone down" these types of issues for the sake of unity of the Church and the Great Commission. I'm not saying don't discuss or debate, but the tone of this issues I believe is once again driving people away from the church.
When we all have to stand before God one day and give an account of what we did for Him, do you think He'll say: "Well done good and faithful servant. You were doctrinally correct when you caused so much division and drove so many people away from me?" I just don't think that God is going to reward being right (which is debatable anyway) over being one who promoted unity and drew people to Jesus.