Friday, October 16, 2009

THE AMPUTATION OF CHRIST'S BODY

I'm constantly torn between things I have been told are true and learning Truth. Because I'm slower than most, I struggle more than most to both reach conclusions as well as voice ideas. Such is of what I write now.

The body of Christ has suffered amputation which has cost more than we can measure. Regarding government spending, media reports soaring numbers in the billions and trillions of dollars....and my mind can't figure higher than larger thousands. So it is (escalated, untrackable) great loss I believe we suffer due to a mistaken amputation in the church. The damage soars into the inability to calculate both height and depth.

I speak of women. I'm not a women's libber. I don't like the attitude for one thing. The body of Christ is not suffering due to failing to let strong-willed women participate. That's not my point. We are suffering because we won't let humble women serve.

Specifically, I believe churches are finishing in the loss column when we will not let our women pray in gatherings. We gather as brothers and sisters (we say); yet it seems to be a suit 'n tie affair. Such formality evidently discards women from this process. A shift from intimate and warm family to official organization seems to transpire.

Women are to keep silent....in that acceptable silence all know to be the Bible kind of silence...whatever that is.

Can they greet one another? Yes. Can they sing? Yes, we beg you. Can they lean over and ask if a friend has a pen she can borrow? Yes. But she can't say anything to God in prayer in front of people because she would be offensive? To whom?

Don't get me wrong. It would be a huge stretch for me if a woman went to the microphone to pray this coming Sunday. It would be my problem. But even this is not what I'm addressing. Our small group is a dynamic one. It is vigorous. One thing would wound it severely....requesting that only the men pray.

The church's power lies within its women. Women possess an inside track to the heart of God in ways men are clueless. It shows up in their tenderness as they pray. If I had to pick my druthers (one over the other), I would say the church would be more alive if the women were doing the praying and the men sat down and shut up.

That's an opinion. But since it is my blog...I felt I could get to say it. The body of Christ lives amputated because it has shut the women off from praying where men are gathered.

4 comments:

Stoogelover said...

I agree wholeheartedly, having had several years of small groups in our home and being led so much closer to the throne of God by the prayers of Godly women. In Long Beach we would often just ask the church to huddle in groups of 3-5 and pray over a situation. I was always humbled by the prayers of the women in the groups in which I found myself huddled. Often the praise team. And just when did leading a prayer become a position of "authority" anyway???

Steven said...

The problem does not lie in the inability or the permissiveness of allowing women to pray. The feminist movement has crept into the church. Women are pushing men aside and out of the homes and the worship is geared more to women. Now, let’s look at why.

Look at the congregations. What does it consist of: more men than women, more women than men or equal? Majority of congregations consist of more women than men. There are men lacking to serve. Why? The answer lies into the problems within the homes of Americans.

Women are being permissive in allowing their husbands to walk over them and allowing porn to be brought into the homes (as one example). Women excusing men’s behavior as to that is just how they are. Then when these problems escalate women just want out of the marriage and divorce. Then men wonder why and thought things were going well. They were going well for them because there wasn’t opposition to what was happening within the home.

Men need to stand up and take account of the spirituality. Men are to be spiritual leaders within the home. I am mindful and fearful of 1 Peter 3:7. If I don’t have the mutual respect for my wife, my prayers become hindered. Men need to learn to lead and have the women stand beside them. Not in front and not behind, but with them.

Eve stood in front of Adam. Thus, God gave the accountability to man to be the spiritual leader. Therefore, the example through out the Old Testament was for the High Priest to lead. The priests were to pray and to lead. Christ came and brought a better way. The apostles wrote through out the New Testament the church is the bride. Christian homes are compared to the bride of Christ.

In the home men should lead women in spirituality and prayer. I encourage women to pray with their husbands. I encourage husbands to pray with their wives. Men and women can learn from each other through their prayers. How does this relate into worship since our lives should worship him constantly and we are to pray without ceasing.

Pray without ceasing carries over into worship. It is a given men are to lead the congregation. How should the church handle women partaking within the worship service? A woman to keep silent doesn’t mean women are to be quite. The passage in 1 Corinthians 14 is in regards to women prophesizing. It doesn’t mean women are to keep silent through out the service. We are to sing to one another. Women can speak to the Father in prayer. Women can teach class.

It is part of biblical culture that women were choked out by men. Today the pendulum has swung the other way. All in all, we must be careful and get back not to the middle, but to the truth. Women need and should pray. I struggle with women leading a prayer, but to pray together is the key. Sometimes we get hung up on silent, and lead, when everything should be done in prayer and without ceasing. When we take the self out of the church and let truth reign then we will be of one mind through prayer. We can’t let the spirit be quenched. Women not praying as a help mate to men are quenching the spirit. Therefore, this also is hindering the prayers of men for not allowing women to come to Him in prayer.

Anonymous said...

Amen, Terry. I am very blessed to be part of a church family where women are not second class citizens and the difference it makes to the whole body is amazing! Everyone is blessed.

Anonymous said...

Your comments give me hope, I've been reading for a few months now. Am I a women chomping at the bit to lead a prayer? Nothing could be further from the truth.

I am a woman, brought up in a family (several generations) devoted to the legalistic church of Christ. It is cold and disheartening, which is the reason I left. I am quite certain my Father and Mother will die convinced that I will not be with them in Heaven because I refuse to continue down the same path.

However I want you to know your willingness to not just accept status quo is a breath of fresh air and one that is so needed in this world who needs to know God.

God bless you and may we all move forward boldly in God's work!