Not under compulsion:  Is submission voluntary?

One of the key tenants of complementarianism is that submission, especially the wife’s submission to the husband is voluntary.  In other words, she is not under compulsion to submit to her husband but rather, she may willingly choose to do so. Primarily when making the point, complementarians are seeking to address two groups of people.… Continue reading Not under compulsion:  Is submission voluntary?

Headship – what are husbands meant to do?

I mentioned the other day a friend who was asking challenging questions about headship, submission, complementarianism and headship. Here’s another of their questions. If the core characteristic of male headship in marriage is love not leadership, why do we focus on submission to a husband’s leadership instead of his love? They are thinking primarily of… Continue reading Headship – what are husbands meant to do?

If I stopped being a complementarian, what would I lose?

A friend asked this searching question the other day – not specifically of me. Rather, they asked men who hold to complementarianism what they would lose if they walked away from that position. It’s an interesting one. In a sense, there might be something to lose.  You see, for some pastors/leaders, it would involve losing… Continue reading If I stopped being a complementarian, what would I lose?

Headship is not about hierarchy

My friend, Steve Kneale has written a few articles about complementarian theology and practice. This follows someone misrepresenting his position in this article as being egalitarian not complementarian. I can certainly vouch for Steve as a fully paid up complementarian. It seems that what some people are doing is taking the term and narrowing down… Continue reading Headship is not about hierarchy

Food from around the worldwide web

From baby boom to missions boon – this one caught by eye as my own parents found themselves involved in cross-cultural mission, spending their 50s in China before continuing to visit regularly right up until 2019. You can build but it will crumble – Alistair Chalmers reflect on a visit to Ephesus Essentially significant –… Continue reading Food from around the worldwide web

Why I believe women should pursue degrees in theological AND pastoral studies

The other day, a Christian woman announced on twitter that she’d completed her BA in pastoral ministry.  This drew the following response from a US Theology professor. There has been an ensuing debate around the rights and wrongs of women studying at seminary particularly in a complementarian context.  Complementarians understand that men and women are… Continue reading Why I believe women should pursue degrees in theological AND pastoral studies

What are your culture wars leading you to say?

Have a look at this tweet.  Now think it through carefully. Is there any bit of it that we might consider true? The answer is “no.”  If a young person in your church said it, you’d pull them to one side and chat with them about the risk of attempting to put out provocative messages… Continue reading What are your culture wars leading you to say?

Why I’m still a complementarian

A little while back, Aimee Byrd wrote “Recovering from Biblical Manhood and Womanhood.”  The book was significant because Aimee was writing from a conservative evangelical perspective, she would have at least up until that point been identified as complementarian but in the book she went head to head with the dominant complementarian voices in the… Continue reading Why I’m still a complementarian

Jesus and Gender (book review)

Probably the single most divisive issue for churches during my life time has been the question of how men and women relate to one another in terms of marriage and in terms of church leadership.  I remember the controversy when Princess Diana used the wedding vows that omit a commitment to “obey.” Over just shy… Continue reading Jesus and Gender (book review)

Eve, deception and Doctrine

thought it might be helpful to dig a bit further into some of the things raised in my conversation with Elyse Fitzpatrick on last week’s podcast.  If you haven’t watched or listened in yet then I’d encourage you to do so via one of the links below. One thing that Elyse raised was the way… Continue reading Eve, deception and Doctrine