As those who follow my Twitter account know, I chaired two meetings this week: the Governors Meeting at our local primary school and the Members' Meeting at church.
I turned up to chair the school Governors' mMeting moments after it had been announced that the Church of England had voted against women Bishops. This therefore became a point of animated discussion among my fellow governors, as we waited for 7pm to arrive and the meeting to start.
I confess, I kept my head down and my mouth shut. The sense of outrage was clear.
For someone like me, who has a 'complementarian' view regarding the role of women in the church (which means that I believe women can do everything in church except be an Elder and preach/teach to a mixed congregation), this was not a discussion that I wanted to dive into just before chairing the meeting!
So imagine my horror, when one of the governors asks me point blank: 'Richard, you're a Pastor, what do you think about women bishops?'
If those around you know you're a Christian, the odds are that you will be asked (or will already have been asked) your opinion about the decision of the Synod of the CofE not to proceed with women bishops.
How can we respond in a way that commends Christ?
If we're honest, I suspect that many of us who have a complementarian view of the sexes (especially us blokes) feel very vulnerable when this subject comes up with non-Christian friends. Like my 'on the spot' moment at the Governors Meeting, we don't usually get the time to go into detail about the biblical reasons for our view. We're often reduced to a one sentence response that - if we're not careful - can kill further opportunity for witness and sometimes terminally undermine our credibility in the eyes of others.
And even if we are given the opportunity to give a fuller answer, most non-Christians still don't get why we're so committed to following an ancient book in the modern age.
One contributor, responding to an article on the 'no vote' on the BBC website on Wednesday, referred contemptuously to those who had 'medieval views' about women. So often the debate about the role of women in the church is wrongly reduced to one of discrimination and inequality, with those who disagree being labelled as outdated and sexist. This is a totally unfair caricature, revealing the increasing intolerance of our supposedly 'tolerant' liberal society. But hey - let's be honest - sometimes us complementarians have only ourselves to blame! When we're asked what we think we can sometimes find ourselves expressing our opinion in such a clumsy way that it feeds that view!
So how should we respond when asked 'the question' point blank?
Let me suggest three possible short responses, each of which has the potential to lead on to gospel discussion. My hope here is to provoke you to think about how a potentially door-closing question can be turned around into a potentially door-opening gospel opportunity. I'm sure you can come up with much better responses, if so please get in touch and I'll compile the best one-liners in a later post.
As a friend of mine is fond of saying: 'The best form of spontaneity is planned.'
So, here goes...
Q: What do you think about women bishops?
A1: 'As someone who believes in the independence of local churches and doesn't agree with the concept of Bishops at all - whether they're male or female doesn't really make any difference to me. Jesus calls the shots in my life. The real question is 'who should be King of my life' not 'who should be the bishop of my parish.'
A2: 'Surely what matters most is what God thinks, rather than what I or the CofE or popular culture says. The only way we know what God thinks is by reading the Bible. Have you ever thought about doing that?'
A3: 'Jesus lived in a society where women were marginalised, however time and time again, he went out of his way to honour women and elevate them. I think we should stop talking about what the CofE thinks about women and remember that Jesus came to save men and women.'
A4: 'The problem with this whole debate is that it has confused value with role. The Bible teaches that God values men and women equally, however that doesn't mean they should have the same roles. This is self-evident in some areas, after all men can't have children, that's a women's role! In a similar way, God created men and women to be different and I think we should celebrate and enjoy that. Ultimately we are not fulfilled by the role we fulfil, but whether we're in a relationship with God. Is that something you'd be interested in exploring?'
Which response did I give?
For what it's worth A1 - although not quite as concisely!
There have been some excellent resources/articles on the web this week about the issues raised by the women bishops debate. If you want to explore the whole issue of complementarity and the role of women in the church, here are the three best ones I have come across:
I haven't engaged with the issue of the biblical role of women in the church in this post. If you want to explore that further I commend the FIEC's 'Women in Ministry' statement that you can find HERE.
The Good Book Company published an excellent article on Wednesday: The Women's Bishop Debate: Debunking a Few myths, which is well worth a read, and answers many of the arguments used in favour of women bishops. You can read it HERE.
- Mary Kassian has written a superb (and very funny) article addressing the 'straw women' that are often used by those who attack complementarians: 'Dora the Doormat' and other Scary Straw Women of Complementarity. As well as being very entertaining, it also deals with the objections brilliantly. Mary Kassian was at the gathering of theologians 25 years ago where the term 'complementarian' was coined so she speaks with a wealth of experience and insight. You can read her article HERE.
Direct Links:
FIEC 'Women in Ministry' statement: http://www.fiec.org.uk/resources/article/women-in-ministry-statement
'Women BIshops: Debunking a Few Myths': http://www.thegoodbook.co.uk/blog/debunking-a-few-myths
'Dora the Doormat' and other Scary Straw Women of Complementarity: http://www.girlsgonewise.com/dora-the-doormat-and-other-scary-straw-women-of-complementarity/
While it requires discipline and resolve, there is no substitute for reading the Bible cover to cover, because we're forced to read even the bits that we might naturally avoid and discover treaures we might otherwise miss. So often, I have also found that my reading for a particular day has been uncannily appropriate for a situation or struggle I have been facing.
