Women Leading Women

The Biblical Model for the Church

Jaye Martin, Terri Stovall

• Publisher: B&H Academic
• Year: 2009
• ISBN:
  9780805463866
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Ministry

Based on the precept that a biblical paradigm for women's leadership must occur under the authority of the local church, Women Leading Women fills the void of research-based textbooks that address academic requirements for the core women's leadership course curriculum and guide pastors n how women can help fulfill the church's purpose. Women will be encouraged to lead and train other women, to engage the culture to reach women for Christ, to involve women in ministry, and much more. Anticipated for primary use in colleges and seminaries, this book is designed for a fifteen-week semester and will include a link to a Web site where teaching outlines and PowerPoint notes for each chapter are provided.

Part One:
The Biblical Foundation

Why Women Leading Women?

For the time will come when they will not tolerate sound
doctrine, but according to their own desires, will accumulate
teachers for themselves because they have an itch to hear
something new. They will turn away from hearing the
truth and will turn aside to myths. But as for you, keep a
clear head about everything, endure hardship, do the work
of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry (2 Tim 4:3-5).

We live in a changing world with diverse cultures and a constant exchange of ideals, belief systems, and worldviews. The church today has not remained immune to these changes, and the attacks on biblical truth are constant, many succumbing to the whims of the world, an experiential hermeneutic, and a feel-good theology. Additionally, the rise in evangelical feminism has begun to affect the sight, sound, and taste of the church. Women are leading where women should not lead, men are left sitting on the sidelines (if they are even there at all), and pastors are struggling to figure it all out. It is time to make a stand for the sufficiency of Scripture and God's plan that it teaches for men and women and for the way they serve in the church.

This first section will begin with a look at women as God sees them, women who are created in His image and can be used by Him to make a difference in this world. Having understood who we are in Christ, the second chapter will examine what we are to do and how we are to do it. God has given specific plans and guidelines for women best to be used by Him. Last, we will present the biblical paradigm for a women's ministry in the local church.

The biblical foundation lays the groundwork for the remainder of the text. It is our map and compass for the who, the what, and the how. God's Word is inerrant, infallible, constant, and sufficient. If we are to be true servants and leaders in God's work, then it is time to return to the biblical model for the church.

Chapter 1

Women Through the Eyes of God

Terri Stovall

So God created man in His own image; He created him
in the image of God; He created them male and female. … God
saw all that He had made, and it was very good. Evening
came, and then morning: the sixth day (Gen 1:27, 31).

We were just closing our women's Bible study for the evening when it happened. She asked the question. We were studying the difficult story of Tamar that night. It is a heart-wrenching story of a woman who lost two husbands, was banished to return home to her parents, and finally prostituted herself with her father-in-law in order to become pregnant and bear a child. The women in the Bible study group were uncomfortable with Tamar's story as well as many of the experiences of women in the Old Testament. Like the proverbial elephant in the room, a question was hanging thickly in the air. Julie took a deep breath and asked what each woman in the room was thinkingthat night. “Why are women treated so badly and have it so hard if God loves us so much?”

I knew that this was not just a question about accounts of lives lived centuries ago. In this room were women who had experienced heartache, hard roads, and pain that ran deep. Many had lived lives parallel to those we were studying and were asking the question, “Do I matter to God?” It is so easy to begin to view ourselves and those around us through the lenses of the world. We seek validation, credibility, and value from those in our lives and the people we encounter. The difficulty with these lenses is that they are flawed and scratched by a sinful and fallen world. Rather than looking through the eyes of the world, we must see women and ourselves through the eyes of God.

Women are highly valued and loved by God. He has used women to impact the lives of families, communities, and the church. This chapter will visit the lives of women in the Old Testament, women in the life of Christ, and women in the New Testament church. Through the stories, challenges, and faithfulness of these women, we will see why God looked down on His newly created woman and said, “It is very good.”

WOMEN IN THE OLD TESTAMENT

The Old Testament paints a clear picture of women through God's eyes. From the creation story where God Himself reached down and formed woman in His image, to women leaders who were used by Him for His purpose, to women who remained faithful to God through everyday life, the Old Testament is where the journey begins.

In the movie classic The Sound of Music, Julie Andrews' character finds herself struggling to teach her young charges how to sing for the first time. That is when she stops and sings, “Let's start at the very beginning, a very good place to start.” When trying to understand and fully grasp the meaning of something, going back to the very beginning often sets the foundation and helps to provide clarity. Let's go back to the very beginning, when God first breathed the words that brought this world into existence.

GOD CREATED WOMAN IN HIS IMAGE

When God created man and woman, He created them both in His image. Yes, He created man first (Gen 2:7), but that does not diminish the value of woman. He created woman as a part of His original plan, not as a way to say, “Hmm, something's missing.” God specifically created man and woman in His image (Gen 1:27) and established the ontological equality of the two. Man was formed out of the dust, and God breathed life into him. Woman was created from man and thus from the same flesh, blood, and breath (Gen 2:22). This ontological equality, or equality in essence, should dispel any idea that one gender is superior to the other. Society today is so performance driven and focused on what a person does, that the being is often lost or dismissed.

God made both man and woman in His image. Man and woman are equal in who and what they are. God was personally involved in forming both man and woman. The focus should not be on who was created first; the focus should be on the fact that God said, “Let us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness,” and He did. As women understand that they are created in the image of God and according to His likeness, they can revel in the fact that God looks at each of us and says, “It is very good.”

GOD GAVE WOMAN A UNIQUE ROLE

What a woman does flows directly from who she is. She is created from the man and for the man. After God created Adam, God had Adam search for a suitable helper that would complement Adam anthropologically in likeness and his role as leader. Adam needed an 'ezer kenegdo, a helper that was comparable to him. Adam searched through all the animals and beasts, but found nothing suitable. It was at this point that God formed woman to be his 'ezer kenegdo (Gen 2:18-20). Man and woman are each given roles and jobs to do that flow directly from who they are. Both fulfill their divine purposes when they live as the people they were created to be and doing what they were created to do—Adam as the spiritual leader and woman as a helper to the man, together glorifying God and revealing God to the world.

GOD USED WOMEN TO LEAD THROUGH THEIR FAITHFULNESS

True leadership is not necessarily something that one seeks but is often a natural outcome of day-to-day faithfulness. There are many examples of women who were used by God out of their faithfulness. Miriam saved her brother, Moses, by being a faithful and attentive sister (Exod 2:1-10). Later she led one of the greatest times of worship for women when she recognized the faithfulness of the one true living God and that poured out on the women around her (Exod 15:20-21).

Huldah was a working woman, the keeper of the royal wardrobe. When Hilkiah found the book of the law and was trying to understand it, he sought out Huldah (2 Kgs 22:14; 2 Chr 34:22). Scripture is not clear about why the king went to her, but if she were not known and respected for her work, her faithfulness, and her walk with God, it is doubtful that she would have been his first choice.

Deborah, a wise woman who was faithful to serve her country and people as a respected judge and “mother to Israel,” found herself playing a significant role in battle. This leader of Israel was a strategist and an encourager. She was integral to the success of overtaking King Jabin by encouraging and challenging Barak, who was often insecure. When Barak placed so much hope for victory on Deborah's presence, she was quick to focus his priority on having God with him. Scripture leaves echoes of her faithfulness in the strains of her song proclaiming the works of God (Judg 4-5).

God used Esther, a young Hebrew girl, to save a people from annihilation. An orphan who found herself catching the king's eye, she only knew to do what she was taught to do. She was gracious yet confident, submitting to the authority of the king and her uncle. Esther accepted the fact that God had placed her in a position for just such a time when she could make a difference. Had she not been the courageous, creative, and willing woman that she was created to be, who was faithful to live how she was taught to live, her story could have had a different ending. Instead, God used her, one woman, to save a generation of people.

GOD USED IMPERFECT WOMEN TO CARRY OUT HIS PLAN

One only has to look at the women in the genealogy of Christ to recognize that God did not use perfect women to carry out His plan of redemption. Rather, God used women who, at the end of the day, recognized Him as the one true living God.

The first chapter of Matthew traces the genealogy of Christ, including five women, four of whom are found in the Old Testament. Three of the women (Tamar, Rahab, and Bathsheba) were involved in sexual sin, and two (Rahab and Ruth) were not even Jewish. Tamar, whose story was referenced at the beginning of this chapter, may have taken matters into her own hands. And yes, she was mistreated and wronged. While two wrongs do not make a right, God, in His grace, mercy, and omnipotence, did not allow the sinful actions of mankind to detour His plan. The seed of Israel continued through Tamar (Gen 38).

Rahab, a known prostitute and businesswoman, recognized men of God when she saw them. She risked everything in responding to the God of Israel. Rahab put feet to her faith by trusting that if she followed the instructions of these men of God, she would be saved (Josh 2; 6). Rahab was the mother of Boaz, and the seed of Israel continued.

Ruth, a Moabite woman, while not involved in sexual sin as were Tamar and Rahab, still had her share of pain and heartache. A young woman, widowed and far from home, she remained faithful to the family she had joined and listened to the wisdom of her older mother-in-law. God blessed her with a kinsman-redeemer when she married Boaz. Once again the thread of redemption continues to flow through the life of a woman who walked a difficult path but remained faithful.

Bathsheba's familiar story of adultery, murder, and the subsequent death of the son of David and Bathsheba speaks to the fact that all sin results in consequences. While the culture of that day may have made it extremely difficult for Bathsheba to refuse David's advances, it does not excuse Bathsheba's involvement in the tryst. However, Bathsheba and David's story speaks to God's forgiveness and reconciliation when, after a time of contrition, Bathsheba once again bore a son, who was named Solomon (2 Sam 11-12); and the house of David with the seed of the coming Messiah continued.

The women mentioned above are but a small sample of the women whose stories we read in the Old Testament. There are just as many examples of women who struggled, were mistreated, and may not have been considered leaders, but they were faithful. Each of these women recognized that because she was made in the image of God, God loved her, and she was so much more than what man or society might do to her. Although the culture of the day resulted in women being treated in an inferior, sometimes abusive way at times, this does not mean that those who did so were obeying the commands of Scripture. Neither does it mean that women have become damaged or unusable to God. Women are made in the image of God, they are deeply loved and used by God, and no one can change those facts.

WOMEN IN THE LIFE OF CHRIST

Jesus' public ministry on this earth occurred in a culture that was not always kind to women and placed women in a class below men. Many women were considered property to be traded. Jesus, however, made a drastic contrast in the way He treated women versus the way women were generally treated by the culture. From the Gospel accounts, Jesus' attitude toward women was startlingly new for that day. Some may claim that He was countercultural or revolutionary, and truly He was. However, a better description may be that Jesus was reintroducing and modeling God's culture to a world that had been drifting from God's plan since the time of the fall in the garden of Eden. As Christian leaders in the twenty-first century, we too will be seen as countercultural if we consistently live according to God's culture rather than the world's culture. Much is to be learned from Jesus and how He treated women.

JESUS RECOGNIZED THE VALUE OF WOMEN AS PERSONS

The fact that Jesus saw women as ...

Table of contents

• Foreword- Randy Stinson, President, The Council of Biblical Manhood and Womanhood
• Introduction
• Part One: Biblical Foundation: Why Women Leading Women?
• Part Two: Principles For Women Leading Women: Who Will Lead?
• Part Three: The Tasks Of Women's Ministry: What Do We Do?
• Part Four: Women's Ministry In Praxis: How Do We Do It?
• Suggested Resources and Bibliography
• Scripture Index
• Consulting and Instructional Information