Equally Called, Equally Sent

Women and men are equally created, equally fallen, equally saved, equally called, and equally gifted to serve in the Kingdom of God.

As I was struggling with my call to the pastoral ministry and my views on feminism and the church, I ran across this statement in a book and it was if I had a mass epiphany. I finally got it! In Scripture both men and women were created, both sinned, both were given salvation through the blood atonement of Christ, both empowered with the Holy Spirit to do the work of the Lord, and both gifted to serve the church. The fruits of the Spirit are not gender based, neither are the gifts of the Spirit.

Things seemed to clear to me, except I was in a struggle again. If this is the case, why is it that my church was not affirming of my call to the pastoral ministry? Why were they stuck on one passage written to a particular church? There came a point where I decided that my call to follow Jesus was greater than what a church congregation said. After all, I was going to have to answer to Christ, not my church. With that said, I found a congregation that would affirm me.

I was very proud of my church yesterday. I witnessed something that gave me a glimpse of hope and brought tears to my eyes. After eight long months of anticpation, prayer and searching, our church decided to call a pastor to our church. Putting aside all tradition and imaginations, our church listened to the voice of God. Not to make a big deal out of it, we chose a woman. This is the only time I will choose to make her gender an issue. As far as I’m concerned, her gender is not an issue. She has a wodnerful resume, many giftings and I believe she is truly a good fit for our church. I can’t help but get excited however that this little central texas Baptist church I attend broke aside from tradition to possibly face scrutiny and choose the best candidate for our church regardless of gender. I cried and cheered with glee because it gave me hope. Maybe people are starting to listen to the voice of God. Maybe the role of women is beginning to change in the Baptist church. I’m ecstatic.