After talking with a friend I am wondering this: Can Christian/Church communities who hold “complementarian” views, and Christian/Church communities who hold “egalatarian” views, come together and work, and minister, and evangelize, and glorify God?
I would hope so, but I’m wondering if this issue keeps many communities from working together as they struggle over how that looks.
A wise professor once commented regarding sectarianism as follows, “Hopefully one day the wheat will grow so high that the fences will no longer be seen.”
I would say that there are many of us that are “centrists” on this issues, meaning that there is not comfort in either side. I see validity to a lot of the arguments on both sides and it is true that there are legitimate disputes on every single passage of scripture.
All that to say I think that most parishoners are more open minded than their leaders. If leaders want to work together, it can happen!
It seems to work allright at our church. The church is complimentarian. However, our small groups pastor, children’s director, and a few other staff members here at Grace are Egalitarian. We just joke about it a lot, respect each other a lot, and talk about Jesus and the gospel a lot.
I am also learning that it is one thing to support a position, and another to participate in it. We can talk about women in ministry, but sometimes when given the chance, we don’t often support them because of the pressure, or the newness of it in many situations.
Our church is PCUSA….but just because women are allowed to be pastors, I am finding still that maybe not everyone is completely on board.
Thaks for the discussion.