Hot under the collar...

I've spent a lot of the morning raising my blood pressure over the inane and moronic teachings of the SBC, posted about by Kristen over at the McCarty's and at The Parish. I was reminded of when I was 18 years old (Wow, 8 years ago) and a member of the SBC church, and the convention declared that women weren't fit for ministry. At that time, I was so irate, having just experienced a call into the ministry and getting only sideways glances and absolutely no support from my pastor, the congregation where I had grown up, and even from some family members.

So, I wrote a diatribe about it then. Then I went forward during the end of the Sunday evening church service and read it aloud to the church. No one said a word about it to me. They acted like I hadn't said anything at all. I think that was worse than fighting me. It confirmed what I already knew...that relationship no longer existed there..if it ever did at all.

Below is the diatribe I did write and subsequently read to the congregation. God has since transformed a lot of my ideas about "perfect will" and other theological concepts, but the spirit of the speech is the same.

The Southern Baptist Convention has “spoken clearly its conviction that while both men and women are gifted and called for ministry, the office of senior pastor is limited to men as qualified by Scripture."

I stand at the brink of entering my career in the ministry, a decision that took great concessions and submissions on my part. Just as I'm ready to jump, the Southern Baptist identity that I ascribe to my faith is pulled out from underneath me. I am a Christian first, and in the end, God will only care if one is called by His son's name not by some petty denomination, an invention of man.

To me, Southern Baptist is more than just an institution to which I am connected. It is also a label. Two words, spoken to an informed individual, and that person is aware of my beliefs, my moral convictions, and the largest part of who I am. I no longer feel qualified to say those two words so quickly when asked to identify myself.

The first aspect that concerns me is this: Where does the job of pastor end and "regular Christian" duties begin? Does this include pastors of youth, music, children, etc.? What makes one a pastor rather than a minister? Where is the line? Are we delegating technicalities into the statement of our faith and message? Isn’t gender is a moot point when it comes to the glorious and true conversion of a lost soul to Christ?

Secondly, as a denomination, we must consider the image we portray to the outside world. While we may not be concerned what the world believes, it is our concern to consider our portrayal to the world. As a Christian organization, we are under constant scrutiny. When we quarrel about an issue that affects less than one percent of our ordained ministry staff, then we are far from the scriptural teachings.

Timothy 14-15 reads:
"Warn them before God against quarreling about words; it is of no value and only ruins those who listen. Do you best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth."

Also in v. 23-25:
"Don’t have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments, because you know they produce quarrels. The Lord's servant must not quarrel; instead, he must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful.”

These verses tell me that arguing such a point is futile. It also tells me that we are boxing up God and shipping Him to the world via UPS. The world is getting a boxed version of Christianity from our convention rather than the entirety of the Awesome God we worship. At the rate we're going, we’ll be lucky if even a small portion get through the packing peanuts to the real package of salvation. If we believe that salvation is a personal relationship with Christ, we should see that one repercussion of that is a personal calling to the ministry of Christ.

We talk of the perfect Will of God and what He would have us do with the short time we each walk this earth. Only a minuscule number of us stay close to the wishes of God. We all fall down, some of us more than others. When we fail to fulfill our place in His Will, God calls someone else to fill the spot. Having women pastors may not be God's perfect plan, none of us can really know with our finite minds. However, I'm sure that somewhere there's a church where a woman is filling the shoes of a Jonah that's cooling his runaway heels somewhere in the belly of a big fish.

So what about me? As a woman, I feel the need to stand up for myself and others who feel called into the ministry. However, I realize that God doesn't need me to defend him. No matter what obstacles the world may construct, God won’t allow them to overcome His Will. If that Will is placing a woman in the position of pastor, He'll do it. I also know that he will move mountains, seas, and Baptist Conventions if they get in the way of His Will for me or any other of his children, male or female.

I’m not going to focus on technicalities but on letting Christ live in me. If the convention leaders want to spend time arguing theology at conventions, let them. I can’t even begin to comprehend the Will of God, much less put myself in a position to delegate it to an entire denomination. Because of this, I resolve myself to simply pursue a closer relationship with Christ and let Him take care of the rest.