Tag: complementarianism

Wanted -church mothers

For some time, I’ve been arguing that both complementarians and egalitarians alike have been letting the church down by failing to give proper place to women in the church.  For complementarians, the failure has perhaps been more obvious.  The focus has been so much on saying “this is what women cannot do” that the result… Continue reading Wanted -church mothers

The Complementarian compass

When we think about questions relating to the relationship between husbands and wives in the home and the role of men and women in the church, we tend to think of the debate being primarily between complementarians and egalitarians with a binary choice.  I want to suggest that there are good reasons for not seeing… Continue reading The Complementarian compass

Let’s get the complementarianism/ egalitarianism debate in perspective

I wrote my MTh dissertations on pastoral ethics relating to marriage. My current work is focused on raising up leaders to plant churches in urban contexts. This combined with another factor means that a particular topic comes up from time to time and you will find me writing about it here. The third factor is… Continue reading Let’s get the complementarianism/ egalitarianism debate in perspective

Pastoral and unpastoral pastors?

The Southern Baptist Convention has recently made waves by deciding to add to its rules that associating churches must not include women pastors on their staff. This links in part to the decision by Saddleback Church to appoint female pastors and Rick Warren’s change of mind on complementarianism.  However, the decision has caused consternation not… Continue reading Pastoral and unpastoral pastors?

First and second things

At the weekend, the Keswick Convention put out a statement on social media as follows.  It seems that the convention has been subject to a bit of a protest about their stance on women speakers. It’s not the first time that Christians have decided to protest Christian events. In fact, back when we attended Keswick,… Continue reading First and second things

The ideal wife?

Sometimes in discussions about the roles of men and women, especially with regards to the debate about complementarianism and egalitarianism, Proverbs 31 is cited as significant.   How relevant exactly is this passage to the debate? That will depend on the purpose of the passage. There are three options. Different commentators have made their case in… Continue reading The ideal wife?

What is contemporary complementarianism responding too?

One of the reasons why we might see both continuity and discontinuity in a thought is because we see contextualisation at work.  This means that we react to and engage with the thinking of the world around us. This can work for both good and ill.  We contextualise for good by considering how to shape… Continue reading What is contemporary complementarianism responding too?

Complementarianism, Egalitarianism and the messiness of arguing from history/tradition

This is kind of a long footnote to what I wrote the other day about the supposed novelty of complementarianism.  In some respects, you could sum up my response as “it’s more complicated than that.”   More complicated than the claim by some (not all) egalitarians that complementarianism is the novel usurper. It isn’t for the… Continue reading Complementarianism, Egalitarianism and the messiness of arguing from history/tradition

Is Complementarianism novel?

This question crops up from time to time on my social media feed. It’s there at the moment I presume because the Southern Baptist Convention is meeting and in the light of developments at Saddleback Church where it’s former pastor, Rick Warren has now reversed his position and apologised to women, the topic is a… Continue reading Is Complementarianism novel?

Women and church leadership

I wanted to say a little bit more here about church leadership and my previous comments about churches needing both mums and dads.  I’m a complementarian which means that I believe men and women are created equally in God’s image and are co-heirs in Christ.  It also means that they bring different perspectives, gifts, roles… Continue reading Women and church leadership