Women in the Church: An English professor wrote the words “A woman without her man is nothing” on the blackboard and directed the students to punctuate it correctly.
The men wrote: “A woman, without her man, is nothing.”
The women wrote: “A woman: Without her, man is nothing.”
Punctuation is everything! So theologically and practically, which punctuation would best represent your experience of Church, and what impact did/does that have? All of us come to the conversation of women in the church out of our own context and culture.
The invitation today and in the coming weeks is for us to discern how we as a local church in the 21st century can best live out the gospel in our day to the glory of God – particularly in relation to women in the church.
And I begin with my own personal journey, because I can’t speak as to what your experience has been, and it includes the churches I grew up in, my theological training, my pastoral experience and my questions as a pastor and father of a daughter. This conversation flows out of a spiritual journey over my lifetime.