Month: February 2011

June Richards Scholarship to benefit women at SWBTS

In a gentle voice true to her northern Louisiana upbringing, June Richards said she was humbled by and grateful for the establishment of a scholarship that will bear her name at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. The seed money for the June Richards Endowed Scholarship came from Dorothy Patterson, who wanted to honor Richards for her commitment to the Lord’s work as exemplified in her life as wife, mother and selfless partner in the work of her husband, SBTC Executive Director Jim Richards.

“I am so grateful. I just teared up,” Richards said when she recalled Patterson privately telling her of plans for the scholarship during the 2010 SBTC Annual Meeting last November.

Somewhat taken aback by the recognition, Richards asked, “Who am I?”

But Patterson, professor of theology in women’s studies and wife of SWBTS President Paige Patterson, already had an answer. She was at the SBTC meeting to address the annual women’s luncheon. Knowing her audience was filled with pastors’ wives and women serving their churches and communities, Patterson seized the opportunity to encourage them by recognizing their often behind-the-scenes work?as typified by June Richards.

In a January letter addressed to Jim Richards, Patterson expounded upon her reasons for singling out his wife.

“She is the epitome of what I am trying to teach in my student wives class. ? I have attempted to prepare young women to be helpers and partners with their ministry husbands in the work of the Lord. Your June has certainly done that.”

Paige Patterson concurred: “June Richards embodies all those qualities that the Bible features as the classic understanding of biblical womanhood. As a consistent support and encouragement to her husband, a magnificent mother and a woman who walks close to the Lord, June Richards’ exemplary lifestyle is one that we honor here at Southwestern. Indeed, Mrs. Patterson has so profited from June’s life and witness that she really felt that we needed to honor June and help students in this way. Hopefully, Southwestern will graduate an army of young women who will follow in June Richards’ steps.”

The role of wife, encourager and prayer partner is a life Richards seemed to seamlessly assume after a “whirlwind” romance that began her first day of school at Baptist Christian College (now Louisiana Baptist University). That was the day she met Jim Richards. And, after just three dates, she accepted his proposal of marriage.

It was during those early days of marriage, school and childrearing that June said she would have appreciated the financial support of scholarships like the one being offered in her name. Especially gratifying is knowing the scholarship will help women called to ministry or wives of pastors, she said.

As her husband worked toward his advanced degrees, pastored for 21 years in Louisiana, preached revivals, and traveled to all 50 states and 19 countries, Richards readily took on a variety of roles to support and enhance those ministries.

She recalled serving as pianist, children’s director, bus captain (“When we had such things,” she said.), and Sunday School teacher?all while raising their three children and maintaining their home. Richards set aside her career as a grade school teacher to commit to full-time work as a mother and the wife of a pastor.

The role is not one that can be planned like a career after college.

Richards said if women “focus and die to self” they can discern the will of God. “I’m not trying to be pious or super spiritual. She will be able to say, ‘Yes, Lord’ and prepare herself. [She] will have such a servant’s heart,” she said.

Two women who most influenced and encouraged Richards were her mother, Ruth Swain, and mother-in-law, Betty Richards.

It was her mother who showed her, through example, how to be a lady and how to take her petitions to the Lord.
“She would speak out loud to the Lord,” Richards recalled.

As her mother was her spiritual mentor, Richards’ mother-in-law instructed her in the more practical matters of how to run a house and home. With the foundation of prayer and the framework of organization, Richards established a home that is a “haven from the rest of the world.”

Though she cannot speak individually to all those who will be recipients of the scholarship, Richards wanted to convey the very crucial nature of the role a woman accepts when she marries a pastor.

“A woman can make or break a man,” she said. Richards has had to keep many things private, especially any criticism she might have of her husband. Being publically critical of a pastor-husband can harm not only the marriage relationship but the husband’s relationship with his congregation. Even in private, Richards urged wives and wives-to-be to temper their criticism with kindness.

More often than not, Richards said, taking her concerns to the Lord in prayer first solved an issue before it became a problem.

For children brought up in a pastor’s home, Richards said, prayer cannot be overemphasized. Citing Job’s prayers and offerings to the Lord on behalf of his children, Richards said she prays God will protect her three adult children, her two sons-in-law, and her grandchildren from the distractions of this world.

It is through prayer that Richards most simply and dramatically assists in the ministries of her husband?ministries that she has made her own. Jim Richards has been the SBTC executive director since the inception of the convention in 1998. And though not a staff member, June Richards has taken on the job of praying for every convention staff member by name. She prays through each department, calling for God’s provision as they seek to do his work.

Knowing it will be wives and single women who will benefit from the June Richards Endowed Scholarship, Richards entreated all to seek God’s face, submitting their lives to him and the role God would have them play in the lives of others.

Mike Hughes, SWBTS vice president for institutional advancement, said in an e-mail statement: “The formulation of the June Richards Endowed Scholarship, as in many of our scholarships for women, is a unique way to honor the life and influence of the women in our lives while at the same time investing in the lives of tomorrow’s women who will continue that legacy.”

Once the endowed fund reaches $10,000, the scholarship will be awarded to women studying within Southwestern’s biblical homemaking program. If there is not a qualified applicant in that track any given year, the scholarship will be awarded to a woman studying in any other field at SWBTS.

Southwestern, Hughes said, welcomes all contributions to this endowed scholarship or the creation of new scholarships in an effort to honor the lives and legacies of others.

A call to prayer: Former Muslim, others plead with Christians to pray for Egypt

GARLAND?”We need to pray that God will influence the process of delegating the power of government in Egypt away from the military and into the people’s hands so they can elect a civilian government,” said Abdul, an Egyptian Christian now ministering to Muslims in the United States, and whose identity is protected in this story. “We’re talking about big stuff here,” he said. “This is very important.”

“Many American and European friends have told me they are praying for Egypt and the Mideast. They have been praying for an open door, and that door is now open. The walls of resistance are collapsing. God is moving in Egypt,” Abdul told the TEXAN during a visit to Texas Feb. 14-15 for a conference on missions to North Africa hosted by New Life Baptist Church in Garland.

Since Hosni Mubarak’s resignation, Egypt’s constitution that once restricted freedom of religion and evangelism is now void, Abdul said.

“All Christians should pray that the new constitution will offer complete freedom of religion without harassment, and that the people can experience real democracy,” he said.

Though Egyptians previously enjoyed limited religious freedoms, they have faced severe persecution from the country’s secret police force, which is now in custody, Abdul said.

Abdul also estimated the number of Egyptian converts from Islam to Christianity at 100,000, but noted that number is difficult to know because thousands of converts remain underground for fear of persecution in a culture that deems abandonment of one’s traditional religion as treason, or worse.

John, a Christian aid worker who once lived in Egypt and whose identity is also protected, told the TEXAN that quantifying the number of Muslims-turned-Christians is exceedingly difficult because of the “broad seed-sowing of the gospel” that dates from Presbyterian efforts in the 1800s to the variety of current, out-of-country media efforts by numerous Christian ministries still proclaiming the gospel. John also underscored that, though Egypt does have some religious freedoms, the cultural pressures are such that converts from Islam must either go underground or face possible severe harassment, and sometimes, deadly persecution.

“Any time you are among a small minority in a sea of change, it’s a scary place to be,” John said. “So, Christians in that situation are facing a lot of uncertainty and they don’t have a particularly loud voice at the table. While the world jumps up and down with glee that Mubarak is gone, the Christians don’t know how to feel.”

Abdul added: “Those Muslims who came to Christ are still underground. Please pray that they will come on stage in Egypt as disciples of Jesus Christ because that would lead to an incredible movement for Christianity and God in Egypt.”

According to Abdul, Coptic Orthodox Christians and members of the Evangelical Church in Egypt are, as business owners, responsible for approximately 40 percent of Egypt’s economy. As such, they can wield significant political power, he said.

“If they would, they could have a huge influence in the process of gaining more democratic rights for all Egyptians. Pray that they will stand up and make their voices heard,” he said. “They need to stand for themselves for the sake of citizens’ rights and for the sake of the gospel so Christians can be free to evangelize without fear.”
Abdul also asks for Christians to pray for the Muslim Brotherhood.

“The Muslim Brotherhood has a political agenda in that they want to turn Egypt to radical Islam,” Abdul said. “I want Americans to pray that will never happen.”

“Contrary to media reports that tout the Muslim Brotherhood as sweet, loving people, they have a definite agenda to radicalize Egypt,” said John, who suspects the Muslim Brotherhood was behind the assassination of Mubarak’s predecessor, Anwar Sadat. “They were Islamists, however, who killed Sadat,” he added.

“I want to challenge Christians not to take media at face value, but determine what recent changes in Egypt mean for the gospel and for Muslims who are prevented from hearing the clear gospel by their culture and, to some extent, the government.”

“The Muslim Brotherhood is already telling the international media that they are for rights for everyone. But they are lying,” Abdul said. “They do this so they don’t have to answer questions about Islam.”

In a Muslim nation the only religious freedom one has is to be a Muslim, he added.

“Pray that God will keep the Muslim Brotherhood from influencing the political process in my home country,” Abdul said. “But also pray that God will influence the Muslim Brotherhood so they can see him at work. I want to see God touch the Muslim Brotherhood so they are influenced by what God has done and is doing in the lives of others.”

Abdul also asks for prayers for his parents still in Egypt, who, despite declining physical health, participated in recent protests there.

“To Christians around the world, I ask them to pray that God will move in Egypt in a mighty way, and that my people will not only find political freedom,” Abdul said, “but will be free from the spiritual darkness of Islam.”

Regarding Christians who see such events in the Middle East more from a perspective of the biblical End Times, John said: “I don’t claim to know the hour of Jesus’ return, but I don’t think it’s that soon, really. Jesus said he’d return when the gospel had been preached to all peoples, and we haven’t done that yet.” Instead of focusing on eschatology, he said, Christians should “get on with the task of taking the gospel to those who have yet to hear.”

Redemptive History
“From a biblical perspective, Egypt has always played a big role under God’s sovereignty in redemptive history,” said Tony Maalouf, associate professor of missions and director of the Islamic studies program at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth.

“‘Out of Egypt I called my Son’ (Hosea 11:1) means that Messiah’s salvation has a universal outlook, and Egypt is highlighted as a primary beneficiary of this universality,” he said. “If we keep this end-time purpose of God for Egypt in mind, we cannot but be optimistic as history unfolds in that country and freedom is appropriated once again by the people.”

Maalouf told the TEXAN he is “optimistic that some sort of democracy will take place in the country of Egypt. The success of the revolution of the people is only the beginning of the process. It will be a long process of reform on many levels.”

“From a Christian perspective, I hope and pray that this will eventually affect positively religious freedom as well,” said Maalouf, author of the book, “Arabs in the Shadow of Israel: The Unfolding of God’s Prophetic Plan for Ishmael’s Line.”

Regarding evangelistic opportunities related to the revolt, Maalouf said many Egyptians living in America have family ties in Egypt.

“Therefore, whatever affects their family members overseas will eventually have an impact on them as well,” Maalouf said. “A potential turning to the Lord of family members in Egypt will mean a greater witness and influence on Egyptian-Americans here. A freer church life in Egypt and a bolder church witness will for sure impact Egyptians in the U.S.A. as well.”

IMB presidential candidate offers experience as missionary, pastor, denominational leader

WILLIAMSBURG, Va.–Tom Elliff of Oklahoma City is the unanimous nominee for the president of Southern Baptists’ International Mission Board, according to information released Feb. 17 by search committee chairman Jimmy Pritchard, pastor of First Baptist Church of Forney, Texas.

The full board of trustees will consider the recommendation when they come to Dallas March 15-16 for their next meeting.

Noting that Elliff emerged as the committee’s clear and unanimous choice in January, Pritchard said in an IMB statement: “Throughout the process, we talked to some great and godly men, but we just could not get a sense of God’s peace about any one of them. When Dr. Elliff’s name came before us, we had a subtle sense of God’s Spirit speaking to our hearts. That may sound mystical, but that’s really what happened. … Every one of us senses that God spoke and said, ‘This is the moment you’ve been praying for. Here is your man.'”

One year out from having served as a senior vice president at IMB, Elliff has focused on a writing and speaking ministry centered on spiritual awakening, while continuing to do field personnel orientation for missionaries.

Throughout the 16-month search, the selection of a candidate with missions experience was presumed to be a given. Not only did Elliff serve as a Southern Baptist missionary in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, he focused his last church on sending a steady stream of volunteers overseas and personally led crusades in 16 countries.

Elliff’s pastoral experience further strengthens his resume and marks a return to historical precedent. The board’s first six presidents, spanning the first century of its ministry, were pastors without overseas missionary experience, though two had been home missionaries. The next four–M. Theron Rankin, Baker James Cauthen, R. Keith Parks and Jerry Rankin–had served as international missionaries. Of these only Cauthen had pastoral experience.

Elliff served as president of the Southern Baptist Convention from 1996 to 1998 and was an early leader in the SBC’s conservative theological resurgence. A longtime advocate for strong families, Elliff chaired the SBC’s Council on Family Life and appealed for passage of an amendment to the Baptist Faith and Message in 1998 to include a biblical definition of the family. Many of the nine books he has authored focus on themes related to marriage and family.

He also participated in associational and state convention ministries and served as president of the SBC Pastors’ Conference.

If approved by the board next month, there will be no administrative learning curve for Elliff in succeeding Jerry Rankin, who retired last summer. Elliff served under Rankin as senior vice president for spiritual nurture and church relations from 2005 to 2009, teaching Baptist theology to missionary candidates.

In 1993 Elliff was identified by a Richmond reporter as the choice of a presidential search committee filling the vacancy after Parks resigned. Months later they recommended Rankin, who was then elected and served for 17 years.

Elliff’s pastoral experience includes two Arkansas churches in Warren and Little Rock before completing his bachelor’s degree in history at Ouachita Baptist University in 1966, and two Texas churches in Dallas and Mansfield, Texas before completing his master of divinity degree at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in 1971. He also pastored Eastside Baptist Church in Tulsa, Okla., which quadrupled in attendance during his decade there, served two years at Applewood Baptist Church in Denver, and most recently First Southern Baptist Church of Del City, Okla., from 1985 to 2005.

A native of Paris, Texas, Elliff was saved in the summer of 1951 during an outdoor crusade in Fordyce, Ark., and baptized the next fall at Bethany Baptist Church in Kansas City, Mo. A third-generation pastor, both of his brothers also serve as ministers.

He earned a doctor of ministry degree from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and received two honorary doctorate degrees?the Doctor of Sacred Theology from Southwest Baptist University and the Doctor of Divinity from Mid-Continent Baptist Bible College. Southwestern Seminary gave him the distinguished alumni award in 2008.

While praying about goals for the growing Tulsa church, Elliff sensed God calling him into missions, he told Baptist Press in 1981. His wife Jeannie shared a similar conviction days later. “On the logical side it might seem that this is foolish,” he shared with BP. “But when God says do it, you do it, especially if you’ve preached that all your life.”

The Elliffs moved their family of four children to southern Africa to fulfill his assignment as a general evangelist. After two years of ministry, his service was cut short when an automobile accident involving his wife and children resulted in critical injuries to one daughter and required extensive reconstruction surgery.

In his more recent assignment at IMB, he was asked to nurture missionary families and encourage their spiritual growth in U.S. conferences and in overseas settings; teach ecclesiology and Baptist doctrine to new missionaries in training; promote missions involvement among Southern Baptist pastors and churches; train and equip overseas Baptist leaders, advise in IMB mobilization efforts and mentor the board’s administrative leadership team.

Elliff’s wife has partnered alongside him since their marriage in 1966 and has ministered as a Bible study teacher in churches where he pastored.

Remarking on God’s leadership when first called missionary service, Elliff stated, “If any man could get to the place in his life where all he wanted for his life was simply all God wanted for his life, then all his life he’d have all he wants.”

Pritchard said Elliff has lived in “many different worlds” in Southern Baptist life.

“He has heard God’s call to missions as a field missionary. He has pastored some of our best churches. He was president of our convention for two years. He worked at the vice presidential level with IMB. So he is uniquely prepared, his integrity is unquestioned, and I believe that he will be able to help connect all of our entities together. He has a great relationship with our seminary presidents and with the North American Mission Board.

“We just see so many indicators that he is God’s choice. Through the process God has spoken to him also, and we are enthusiastic. We are standing with complete and total unanimity. We are very confident that God’s hand is on Dr. Elliff at this time to lead IMB. We’re excited, and we can’t wait for March to get here to make our presentation to the full board.”

Reached for comment, Elliff asked Southern Baptists to pray for him, his wife and family—and for IMB trustees as they consider his nomination.

“Both Jeannie and I were incredibly humbled when the search committee approached us,” he said. “Obviously, we would not have moved forward to this moment had we not spent a great deal of time in prayer seeking the face of the Lord. Now we feel humbled once again that they are going to present us to the board. Along with all the members of the board, we would just encourage people to pray with us during these days.”

Elliff said his discussions with the IMB presidential search committee initially came as a surprise.

“We love missions and we’ve given our hearts to it, but this was not on our radar screen,” he said. “It has just driven us to our knees in prayer. We certainly couldn’t do this if we didn’t sense the Lord’s leadership to do it. But we recognize that God speaks not only to individuals but to groups of people. We’re confident that he will have his way as the board deals with this.”

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‘Between God & Me’ guides girls through Proverbs

Every day young women are faced with making choices. Some choices may be simple and seem inconsequential, but now more than ever, young women face choices that will significantly affect their futures. How will they know the right choice? What will determine their priorities as adults? What will influence their view of womanhood?

Young women need to know where to look for wisdom and direction in making daily, God-honoring choices. In order to develop these patterns early in life and be equipped to face adulthood, they must be directed to the source of wisdom: God’s Word. Vicki Courtney’s “Between God & Me: A Journey through Proverbs” provides an opportunity for young women to seek the wise counsel found in Scripture through a study of Proverbs.

Courtney’s study is geared for pre-teen and teenage girls and includes 31 lessons, one for each chapter of the book of Proverbs. It is adaptable for personal study, group Bible study or for a young woman to study with a mom or dad. Each lesson focuses on key scriptures and a theme found in each chapter of Proverbs. The lessons also include an article relating each theme to real-life situations with questions and activities designed to help girls apply these verses to their own lives.

As a study for a parent and child, “Between God & Me: A Journey through Proverbs” is a great starting point to engage in spiritual conversations and develop a pattern in a child’s life of looking to Scripture in decision-making. The study addresses issues like responding to instruction, honesty and being a hard worker, and it incorporates fun, interactive quizzes for parents and their children to answer to determine how they “rate” on these issues.

As honest thoughts are shared, this study allows for parents to discuss relevant topics that pre-teens and teens face and provides opportunities for open and honest communication.

Children and youth workers could also use this study in their teaching time.

Throughout the study, a section titled “Say What? Understanding Some of the Strange Sayings of Proverbs” identifies words or examples used in Proverbs that may be difficult to understand. These extra insights and explanations help clarify what the Scripture is teaching for younger readers. Another section of the study called “Lies to Wise” gives girls the opportunity to test worldly wisdom against God’s wisdom found in Proverbs.

“Between God & Me: A Journey through Proverbs” will provide parents and ministry leaders a biblical tool for developing girls into godly women.

Dorothy Patterson: Theologian, practitioner, wife, mother

FORT WORTH?Dorothy Patterson couldn’t appear more at home than when she stands before women teaching truths of Scripture. Whether in a classroom at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary preparing women for ministry, traveling to overseas mission fields to encourage former students or speaking to a ladies session of the upcoming Empower Evangelism Conference, she remains focused on helping women discover their God-given roles.

Her own theological training began in a room full of men, the only female in the school of theology at the time when she and her husband Paige were pursuing master of theology degrees at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. At the time of her graduation, the women’s liberation movement was in full swing across America, encouraging women to find fulfillment beyond traditional homemaking.

While her seminary training and additional doctoral studies would serve her well in defending what was later tagged a complementarian view of gender roles, it was in the more practical laboratory of parenting preschoolers that Patterson began to apply her studies.

“My theological training seemed a waste for the task of motherhood before me,” she recounted in the book “Where’s Mom?” “In the midst of this frustrating time, I turned to the Lord.” She began reading through the Bible systematically, determined to find God’s message for her as a woman, wife and mother. That experience became the catalyst for her life and ministry. “My life, goals, and perspective were forever changed.”

When her husband served as president of Criswell Bible Institute (now Criswell College), Dorothy Patterson found new opportunities to encourage women to rediscover “the genuine freedom they enjoyed for centuries to oversee the home, rear the children, and pursue personal creativity.”

Kristi Sberna, a pastor’s wife from Houston, shared that her life was transformed while observing Patterson in relation to her family and ministry. Sberna served as Patterson’s intern while a student at Criswell College, observing, “the focus of her work and passion always seemed to be dedicated to complementing and enhancing the ministry and life of Paige Patterson, her husband, using her energy, time and talents cooperatively with him.”

“It was as if she was a direct extension of him, sharing the same vision and passion in ministry, yet never nullifying her own individuality and personality,” Sberna recalled. “Their marriage and ministry together was appointed with love, respect, excellence, cooperation, friendship and trust.” As a young woman engaged to a ministerial student at the time, Sberna said the Pattersons modeled the kind of marriage and ministry she desired.

It was during those years at Criswell that Dorothy Patterson began fashioning a curriculum of academically challenging studies with a focus on woman-to-woman ministries in keeping with the pattern of Titus 2.

Patterson was swimming against the tide of feminism that had begun to influence some Southern Baptist seminaries where women who professed a call to the pastorate were not only accommodated, but encouraged. In June of 1988 she presented a paper at the request of the Southern Baptist Convention Historical Commission when asked to respond to proponents of women’s ordination. She placed her focus on the lack of scriptural support for women holding teaching/ruling offices within the local church, making the case for ordination of women holding such offices a moot point.

“When a woman ‘feels called’ to do a work that on scriptural grounds is both beyond God’s design in creation and in violation of his written Word, that work must be judged by the church,” she argued.

The egalitarianism of the 1970s and ’80s, which rejected any distinction in gender roles, was rejected by the Conservative Resurgence in the decade that followed. In 1998 Southern Baptists embraced a new article of faith in stating that both men and women have equal worth before God, are created in God’s image with distinct, yet complementary roles.

Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission President Richard Land served with Patterson and five other members on the committee tasked with drafting that statement. Referring to her contribution as “one of the guiding lights,” he said it was a time “to speak to that issue and speak definitively.”

Patterson later shared in an interview with the journal of the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood: “We were told to set forth in a clear, brief and understandable way what the Bible says about the family and relationships therein. We weren’t trying to adapt our statement to today’s culture. We were simply trying to state clearly what the Bible says about the family.”

That same year she earned her doctorate in theology from the University of South Africa, writing her dissertation on “Aspects of a Biblical Theology of Womanhood.”

“Just because the world determines that women in the home are in confinement does not make it so. A far more important concern for each of us is what the Bible says about one’s respective position and duties,” she wrote in a journal article for Southeastern that outlined the proposed women’s studies track she had developed.

From Titus 2:3-5, Patterson related Paul’s admonition for “the older or spiritually mature women to teach the younger women, those fresh or new in the faith, a specific curriculum that is centered around the home and family, including such assignments as that they are to be ‘lovers of their husbands,’ ‘lovers of their children,’ and ‘homemakers.’ Such explicit language certainly leaves no room for misunderstanding what is important in a woman’s life from God’s view.”

The preparation of women for ministry was embraced early in the history of Southwestern Seminary. The school’s second president related during his inaugural address, “Our purpose is to do for women in their work what we are doing for men in theirs?give them trained workers, thus reaching the fields opening to Christian womanhood for service. Our aim is not to turn out women preachers, but to give the world trained women in all the teaching, missionary, and soul-winning activities of Christ’s coming kingdom.”

Nearly a century after L.R. Scarborough voiced that priority, Southwestern has its most committed advocate for giving women biblically grounded training with the presence of Dorothy Patterson in the school of theology.

As the eighth president, Paige Patterson drew upon his wife’s experience to develop M.Div., D.Min., and Ph.D. degrees in theology with a concentration in women’s studies. Similar to the other Southern Baptist seminaries, the school also continues to offer certificate programs for women and wives of ministers.

Lauren Johnson, a pastor’s wife in Ozona, remembers Patterson using her skills of persuasion to convince her to be fully prepared for ministry by completing the M.Div. in women’s studies. “Her love for the Word of God further encouraged my love for the Bible and showed me that more than anything, women need the truth of the Word of God taught and exemplified.

“Mrs. Patterson helped me to see that being a wife and mother is a noble calling and not one of which to be ashamed or devalued,” added Johnson, noting her gratefulness for Patterson’s example, leadership and sound guidance. “She showed me what it is to live and breathe hospitality.”

In addition to serving as editor of the “Woman’s Study Bible” published by Thomas Nelson, and co-editor of “Women’s Evangelical Commentary,” Patterson addresses the scriptural roles and responsibilities of Christian women in numerous publications, including: “Where’s Mom? The High Calling of Wife and Mother in Biblical Perspective,” “A Woman Seeking God,” “A Handbook for Minister’s Wives,” “A Handbook for Parents in the Ministry,” “The Family: Unchanging Principles for Changing Times,

Theological educators, books offer help for genders ministering together in local church

Two resources produced by theological educators present a framework for successfully navigating the potential minefield of biblically ordered gender roles in the local church.

Southern Baptist seminary professors Jaye Martin and Terri Stovall teamed up to write “Women Leading Women: The Biblical Model for the Church,” a book purposed to “paint a picture of what women’s ministry should look like based on Scripture.” And from the halls of Dallas Theological Seminary comes “Mixed Ministry: Working Together as Brothers and Sisters in an Oversexed Society,” a book compiled by DTS faculty and alum Sue Edwards and Kelley Mathews urging men and women to view each other as siblings in Christ.

Women Leading Women
Written from a clear complementarian stance, “Women Leading Women” encourages women to serve other women in the local church primarily though women’s ministries. The book offers a framework for approaching women’s ministries grounded in a woman’s identity as an equal image-bearer of God found in Genesis 1 and woman’s helping role found in Genesis 2. The authors trace this helping function through Old and New Testament examples of feminine service to God and family. Their model for women’s ministry concludes with the parameters exemplified in the life and ministry of Christ and explicit Pauline instructions for local church ministry.

And while co-authors Martin and Stovall spend much time outlining the biblical foundations and principles for “women-to-women” ministry, they also offer practical tips for both the woman’s minister serving on a church staff and her pastor.

Martin, director of women’s programs at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., authored a chapter on serving with men. Having previously served with the North American Mission Board and as a staff member at Houston’s First Baptist Church, Martin said many of the tips she includes in this chapter have proven helpful in her own ministry.

In an interview with the Southern Baptist TEXAN, Martin echoed some of the book’s more practical admonitions to women ministering alongside men.

  • Discuss things with other women before you discuss them with men. This helps to get your points to a minimum.
  • Speak in bullet points?not in paragraphs.
  • Don’t take things personally.
  • If they are paying you, then they are supporting you?don’t expect to be affirmed. Realize that decisions are made at the game or during outings. They are not leaving you out intentionally.
  • In working with men, leadership is lonely. Find a network of other women to socialize with and to learn from.
  • Get to know the families of the men your work with. They need to trust you.

Martin also noted it was important for women to work within the system rather than going around it. “This is a huge problem with women. We tend to do whatever it takes (go around people) to make things happen,” she said. “Most men work within the team structure.” Martin also reminded women to “work as unto the Lord. It is the Lord you are serving.”

Mixed Ministry
Equally based on Scripture, the book “Mixed Ministry: Working Together as Brothers and Sisters in an Oversexed Society” urges men and women to view one another as brothers and sisters in Christ as a means to successful co-ministry. Written by Sue Edwards, DTS assistant professor of Christian education, and Kelley Mathews, DTS alum and women’s ministry leader, the book also includes various contributors such as Christian author Henry J. Rogers and long-time DTS professor and author Howard Hendricks.

Deliberately choosing not to enter into the debate over women’s roles in the church and home, the authors instead center their framework for mixed-gender ministry on Christological and Pauline examples of ministry found in the Gospels and the epistles.

The authors believe that the example of “brotherly love” toward ministry partners found in the New Testament safeguards against sexual temptation and the segregation of any sex from appropriate ministry roles.

“Fear of mixed-gender friendship is understandable in an over-sexed society like ours,” the authors contend. “Women are not veiled; instead they are publicly undressed?also dehumanizing. It’s no wonder Christian men and women put on blinders in an attempt to honor God with pure hearts and minds. But Jesus did not respond to women in fear. He knew that this wall of fear would exclude women from the public square of faith, and it has.”

As a stop-gap to segregating women from ministry positions, the authors plead with believers to follow the example of Christ and Paul and create a “family ethos” by viewing women as sisters in Christ.

“The Bible uses familial imagery to describe ministry relationships,” the authors write, noting Paul’s frequent descriptions of the church as adelphoi (brothers) and his designation of women co-laborers as sisters. “When Paul describes the ethos he created in the Thessalonian church, he paints a picture of a caring family.”

And while the authors concede that the family ethos model of navigating the pitfalls of gendered ministry is more difficult to maintain, several benefits can be gleaned including: physical and emotional protection, help, insight, conflict management, and unity.

This family ethos, the authors contend, begins with the leader and trickles down to co-laborers. To this end, the authors urge leaders to focus on the “one another” passages in Scripture as a means to fostering healthy sibling relationships among ministry partners:

  • Be devoted to one another in brotherly love (Romans 12:10)
  • Encourage one another and build each other up (1 Thessalonians 5:11)
  • Greet one another (Romans 16:16)
  • Serve one another in love (Galatians 5:13)
  • Accept one another in order to bring praise to God (Romans 15:7)
  • Bear with one another in love (Ephesians 4:2).

Edwards and Mathews also provide chapters written for each gender in ministry, combining Scripture’s more generic prescriptions for Christian conduct and gender-specific ways to apply these admonitions. Women in ministry are called to pray for their brothers and their families, develop relationships with the families of their brothers in ministry, refrain from bashing their brothers, and encourage them with appropriate words. Likewise, men in ministry are called to drop demeaning language, value their sisters’ contributions by inviting them into the conversation, and even speak up for their sisters.

“Ethos is invisible?but it can make or break a ministry,” Edwards and Mathews write. “When we do [create a family ethos], we will also create a place where men and women love one another and serve together as brothers and sisters?a radical transformation that just might turn the world upside down for Jesus.”

Challenges to applying biblical parameters for the genders play out in local church

While the Baptist Faith and Message expressed the convention’s opposition to females serving as pastor, it did little to delineate parameters for other leadership roles within the general ministries of the church.

Susie Hawkins, women’s author and speaker, was one of two women to serve on the committee to revise the confessional statement. Even while SBC messengers overwhelmingly approved the 2000 revision to the BF&M and all six SBC seminaries function in agreement with its position to limit the role of pastor to men, Hawkins noted there is an ongoing discussion about women in ministry, particularly concerning those who teach or serve on church staffs.

“Even within theologically conservative circles, there are differences of interpretation of the ‘women passages,'” said Hawkins, referring to Scripture’s more controversial passages regarding women’s roles in the church and home, such as 1 Timothy 2.

For example, Southern Baptist churches are seeing a trend in women teaching mixed Sunday School classes, particularly with the growth of home-based Bible study or small groups, according to Randy Stinson, president of the Council for Biblical Manhood and Womanhood. He sees Sunday School and Bible studies are the biggest battleground for applying complementarianism in the local church.

“Many of our churches are allowing women to teach Sunday School classes where there are both men and women present,” Stinson told the TEXAN. “The rationale is typically that the BF&M only prohibits women from being the senior pastor. But the BF&M is not exhaustive,” he said.

Rather, Stinson said passages such as 1 Timothy 2:12 do not merely prohibit an office, but also a function.

“Regardless of office, a woman should not be asked to do the things that 1 Timothy 2:12 prohibits, even if she is a Sunday School teacher and not a pastor,” stated Stinson, dean of the church ministries school at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

At Travis Avenue Baptist Church in Fort Worth, pastor Michael Dean looks to Acts 13:1, 1 Corinthians 12:28-29 and Ephesians 4:11 to conclude “that there are teachers who are called and gifted by God, and who are recognized by the church as having authority in doctrine and biblical interpretation.” However, he sees the Ephesians reference as indicating that the office of the teacher is either closely associated with or entirely synonymous with the office of the pastor. “If that is the case then the position must be held by a male.”

Dean said the New Testament permits and encourages women to teach in other settings, citing Titus 2:3-4 as an example of women teaching women and 2 Timothy 1:5 and 3:15 as examples of them teaching children. “Acts 18:28 states that Priscilla, in tandem with her husband Aquilla, taught Apollos ‘the way of God more adequately,'” he noted.

While he does not find in Scripture the circumstance of a woman teaching a mixed class, Dean said, “In those instances the woman must only teach under the authority of her husband and of the pastoral leadership of the church.”

He reiterated the need for men to serve in the capacities of spiritual leadership in the local church as well as in the homes. At Travis, he said women are encouraged and enlisted to teach in a variety of different settings, but in the case of a mixed gender class, “a woman may teach if she does so in tandem with and under the authority of her husband.”

Acknowledging that women’s roles in the church has historically been “a thorny issue,” Ron Holton, pastor of RockPointe Church in Flower Mound, said, “We allow women to teach as long as they are under the authority of a pastor or elder. We allow them to teach with a man. We allow them to speak on Mother’s Day in the service, to share testimonies as God leads us, to read Scripture, to sing, to teach our children and teenagers, and to be used by God under the authority of leadership.”

However, “women are not permitted to exercise authority over or disciple men,” he added.

Stressing context, Holton said, “Timothy seems to be dealing with specific issues at hand. If Paul’s command is uniformly applied throughout all time and in every situation without regard to context, should we not also apply the same standard to verses 9-10 of 1 Timothy as well as verses 11-12?” Citing 1 Corinthians 11:5, he noted, “Paul seems to indicate in some situations that women pray and prophesy openly in the context of worship.”

“The timeless application in verses 8-9 seems to be the adornment of Christlike modesty combined with good works,” Holton added. “In verses 11-12, using the same principles, the central message seems to be that women are not to exercise final authority in the congregation.”

Holton said ministerial leaders at the church attempt to interpret Scripture as faithfully as possible within that historical context, drawing out the theological meaning before applying it to their church. He believes there is room for differences of interpretation and practice when evaluating the “different representations of women’s roles and contextualized instructions regarding women in specific circumstances.”

DECORUM OR CONVICTION?
Stinson believes many Baptist churches hold to the traditional views of gender roles out of a “sense of decorum” rather than “clear biblical conviction.”

“This means that their level of resolve over this issue may not be as strong and we very well could be more egalitarian in 10 years than we are now.”

Stinson added: “Churches are largely failing to train men to be the leaders of their homes. When this happens, wives and mothers end up having many burdens that should not be theirs. This distorts the Christ/Church picture of the marriage and consequently hinders the furthering of the gospel.”

Terri Stovall, dean of women’s programs and associate professor of women’s ministries at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, added, “The statement that ‘there are no men to step up’ is never a valid excuse to violate the teaching of Scripture. “Rather, maybe we need to emulate the examples we have in Scripture. We need our Deborahs to encourage, challenge and affirm the Baraks. We need our Priscillas to teach and redirect our Apollos. We even need our Eunice and Lois to nurture the next generation of leaders.

“In some cultures, this can prove challenging, but we must trust that what God teaches through his Word can still be applied today in whatever culture we serve.”

Some believe local churches would be better served had the BF&M study committee utilized the exact wording of Scripture instead of interpreting the positions of Scripture.

One such proponent of this view is Southwestern Seminary student Katie McCoy, who charged in a white paper delivered in a symposium on the seminary campus last year that Southern Baptists have inconsistently applied complementarian rhetoric in the local church.

“I hope that my generation will be vigilant and discerning as we test cultural trends and church practices against God’s perfect Word,” McCoy said. “I also hope that our convention will eventually change the Baptist Faith and Message’s wording on women in the church to say what the Bible does in 1 Timothy 2:12, rather than only stating that women should not be pastors. If our standard reflected what the Bible said, we would not have as much room for misinterpretation in applying it.”

Regarding this criticism, Hawkins said the study committee sought to use “contemporary conversational language” in its articles on the church and family.

“Numerous scriptural references are given to support each article,” Hawkins added. “The committee sought to clarify what Southern Baptists believe and practice in our contemporary culture. Our chairman, the late Dr. Adrian Rogers, wisely led us in staying focused on our charge, whic

Despite perceptions, younger women seek seasoned mentors

PORTER?”Older women either have retired from ministry with women, or they think the younger women do not want to hear from them. But the younger women are saying just the opposite. They strongly desire for older women to just be friends with them and share experiences they have had that the younger are about to face.”

Chris Adams, the senior lead women’s ministry specialist for LifeWay Christian Resources, offered her observation in a recent interview with the TEXAN, having addressed the future of women’s ministry at last year’s Women’s Ministry Forum hosted by the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention.

The collaborative work of the generations has been one of the most challenging and rewarding elements of fostering women’s ministry within Southern Baptist churches. Adams is convinced the different generations can work together toward a common goal.

To facilitate the inter-generational cooperation, this year’s Women’s Ministry Forum will feature a panel discussion featuring younger women and how they interact with the women in their churches.

“In years past, boomers made up the large majority of women’s ministry; however, that has changed,” Moses said. “As I travel around our state, I find more and more that women’s ministry is attracting all ages. I’m so pleased to say that our older and younger women alike are finding a place together in women’s ministry.”

The panel discussion addressing “Leadership Realities” is a feature she is especially looking forward to as the issue has been on her heart for some time.

“Older women are excited to hear what these younger women have to say about women’s ministry,” Moses said. “My goal is to promote a seasoned leader who will mentor a younger woman.”

She models this priority by having younger women on her state leadership team. “We have seen a real growth in the number of younger women coming to our training.”

Just as women’s ministry today differs from what it was a generation ago, Adams said it continues to transition, reflecting the influence of an up-and-coming generation.

From a single-faceted focus on missions and service to a multi-faceted approach that includes Bible study, ministry, outreach, missions, evangelism, worship, and other elements, Adams sees women’s ministry evolving again as the younger generation steps up.

The goal of women’s ministry?to harness the gifts, skills, and resources of women to advance God’s kingdom?does not change with the evolution, she said, but the means to the end does.

At the local church level, Adams has observed that those in the decision-making roles are between the ages of 35 and 55. Instead, she encourages having all ages represented in leadership positions to ensure “we are not missing a pocket of women who need to be ministered to and who need to minister to others.”

There have been struggles within local church ministry to women, Adams and Moses admitted. Relinquishment of leadership roles by older generations, misinterpretations of motives, and poor communication are leading causes of setbacks. But, for the most part, Adams and Moses agree that there is a desire within the generations to work together for a common goal and establish meaningful relationships along the way.

“We still need to help women in leadership understand the younger women and bring them along,” Moses said, “but I’m very encouraged by what I hear from the hearts of those in leadership.

“There is a real movement taking place among the boomers (and the generation before) to reach out to the younger women. I see a desire in the older generation to find and walk with younger women. I believe, with all my heart, that we need to educate women about the different generations and provide many opportunities to bring the younger and older leaders together,” said Moses.

Both women see the role of women in the church and community outlined in Titus 2, calling on women of all ages to encourage and hold one another accountable. And though more women are seeking post-graduate degrees from seminaries to enhance their knowledge of Scripture and its application in the church, the older women of the church have a great deal of life experiences and wisdom to share as well. And they are eager to do so, said Adams and Moses.
The tenets of Titus 2 should be the foundation for all that women do, Adams said.

“God has instructed more experienced women to pour into the lives of younger women. We don’t have a choice since this is God’s mandate to us! It needs to be a lifestyle we model and teach to women. It can be a formally developed ministry as well. But it’s not optional.”

Moses added: “I think both groups of women are coming to understand that the younger woman desires a deeper level of friendship. It is encouraging to me to see these two groups of women moving toward this kind of relationship. It is for this reason that I encourage my [Boomer] age group to find those younger women and take them by the hand and journey with them.”

Adams and Moses said the women’s ministry conferences and forums hosted in Texas and around the nation provide the perfect setting for women of all generations and from churches of all sizes to share ideas, and encourage and challenge one another.

“Leaders love being challenged, inspired and equipped to do what God has called them,” Adams said. “They love to worship together. Also they find it helpful to network with others who are or have been where they are. They love sharing and hearing ideas and challenges. Most of all they love the practical help they get from a leadership conference.”

No shortcuts to biblical faith and practice

All confessions of faith will leave some arguments unsettled. Our Baptist Faith and Message certainly does and you see it reflected in this issue’s discussion of women in local church ministry. You’ll notice that the participants all sought to base their beliefs and practice on what the Bible says, even though they found different nuances within the same verses. Perhaps a person can escape those quandaries within the bounds of his own head but certainly not in a broader dialog. God has not chosen to settle every debate and curiosity that arises within his people.

Our confession of faith affirms, for example, the personal and visible return of Christ but does not specify the order of the events. Some are more certain of the details and order of things, according to their favorite eschatological views and might wish that we would corporately “take sides.” But would doing so truly define the doctrine and practice of Southern Baptists? I think it wouldn’t.

Regarding the role of women in the church, the BF&M tries to say as much as the Bible does say and as little as possible of what the Bible does not. Our statement says nothing about ordination of deacons or ministers. It says nothing about deaconesses or lady youth ministers. It refers only to the role of pastor. We know who the pastor is. He’s the one who preaches from your pulpit or live video feed each Sunday. He’s the spiritual leader of your congregation. He’s the husband of not more than one wife. Southern Baptists have said that this person should not be a woman because passages like 1 Timothy 2 indicate this. That’s it, and I think that’s enough to say. It’s apparently enough to raise the ire of other evangelicals and some Southern Baptists, though they very rarely have women pastors either.

You see, we weren’t trying to define “nice” or “Christian” or “orthodox” or even “Baptist” in this document; our goal was to describe, within the bounds of what is also Baptist, orthodox, and Christian, the doctrinal and practical consensus of autonomous Southern Baptists, specifically as it relates to the various para-church ministries we’ve built together.

We should keep trying to understand God and his Word more completely, but we avoid shortcuts that settle things that he has not. God has not told us all he knows or all that we think we’d like to know.

It is in the taking of shortcuts that we make one of our most persistent mistakes in the settling of hard questions. Our desire to succeed should not trump biblical authority as we decide what we should do. My biggest concern related to those debates of our age that will not be settled by a useful confession is pragmatism. The temptation to solve difficult puzzles by means other than biblical rots the core out of many well-begun ministries.

Doing things “because they work” rather than from conviction or biblical interpretation may be fine when you’re picking a lawn service but it rarely leads a church to a better form of governance, to name one example. A primary explanation that some denominations give for an episcopalian (bishop-led) form of governance is practicality. I can see that. How much simpler some things might be if someone with authority over both pastor and congregation could mediate disagreements. Doesn’t it sound tempting to have an experienced professional find your next pastor for you? The more top down our governance is, the more potentially efficient it can be. After all, didn’t the apostles have that kind of authority relationship with churches? And it can be inconvenient to seek biblical guidance regarding the doctrines that lead us to local church autonomy. Do all redeemed and Spirit-indwelt people have access to the holiest place or is it just the highest ranking religious professionals? We shouldn’t ask, “does it work?” until we are confident that we’ve discerned what is right. They can be vastly different things.

Pragmatically based faith and practice can also be contextualization run wild. The “why” we do things often becomes temporal or rooted in one subculture. If that happens, we’ve gone from timeless principles leading to contemporary practice, to temporary principles leading to enculturated priorities. This situation is behind churches or denominations for whom the most important thing they do is based on what’s on the cover of Newsweek this week (e.g. nuclear proliferation, global cooling, overpopulation, women’s liberation, homelessness, global warming, world famine, climate change, homosexual rights, etc.)?they scamper from one cause to another, solving nothing.

Following our own wisdom also tempts us to draw universal principles out of good things we’ve seen happen in our own very unusual places during unusual times. We write a book, other people who desire to lead such an exciting ministry attempt to apply these newly timeless principles in their settings and we all wonder why it doesn’t turn out the same. Inappropriately pragmatic churches, liberal or successful, are always behind the ball in their pursuit of what others declare relevant.

Proverbs 14:12 warns us that there is a way that makes sense to us but doesn’t turn out well. If we only do what seems right or what works in theory, we’re a merely human organization, no better and actually worse than any other civic group. I say we are worse because we claim to be more by calling our group a church. Apart from the headship of Christ and aside from his revelation in Scripture, we’re just a group of well-meaning guys who sing too much.

There’s a sense in which we’re all tempted toward a too-human ministry. We preach or teach as though we know what will work in the lives of individuals, families, churches and communities. We just don’t know that; neither do we know what they need. God knows that and his Holy Spirit regularly uses biblical preaching to do work where the preacher never knew the need.

Our ministry is mostly pragmatic if we pursue perceived needs. We’re missing something if we only do those things that a club full of lost people could have figured out just the same. If we preach the Word and seek God’s will in the whys and hows of our ministries, we’re ahead of the ball because God knows where it’s going.

Interim IMB president answers strategy questions

Editor’s note: The Jan. 31 edition of the Southern Baptist TEXAN featured a book review of “Reaching and Teaching: A Call to Great Commission Obedience,” by Southern Seminary missions professor David Sills. The book mentioned the International Mission Board at points, but without directly addressing IMB strategy. So the TEXAN asked Clyde Meador, interim president of the International Mission Board, to answer a few questions related to how the board carries out its worldwide mission. The search for a new IMB president is ongoing.

TEXAN: Explain how the IMB employs the “2-percent reached” figure in evaluating where to distribute/redistribute its people and resources?

MEADOR: A generally accepted (by the evangelical missions community) definition of an unreached people group is a people group in which fewer than 2 percent of the population are evangelical Christians. That is one among many data that are used to determine priority in placing personnel. The reason that datum is important is that, if 2 percent of a population are evangelical Christians, there is reason to think that those believers can pick up the responsibility to continue to evangelize that people group. Of course, that is only one of many factors to be considered in prioritizing the assignment of personnel.

Currently, just over half of the people groups with whom IMB personnel are working are classified as unreached, while just under half of the people groups with whom our personnel work have more than 2 percent evangelical Christians among their population.

TEXAN: Do you foresee changes to how the 2-percent figure is used in determining reached and unreached people groups?

MEADOR: No, for we see this as an important factor to consider in determining the placement of personnel. Again, this is by no means the only factor considered.

TEXAN: What is the discipleship strategy for new converts won by IMB missionaries?

MEADOR: The strategy for discipleship varies greatly from place to place, depending upon the resources and situations peculiar to that place. In every circumstance, there is a desire and effort to see that believers are discipled. More than a million believers are being discipled currently in ongoing Bible studies related to our work, while about 57,000 are reported as being personally mentored.

Discipling and training opportunities are continually being developed, with a clear realization that a church planting movement can just as well be called a leadership training movement. The approach to discipleship that is probably being used more than any other by our personnel at this time sees 18 months as the targeted, intentional discipleship involvement time with a new believer. A basic emphasis of discipleship is teaching believers to obey?knowledge without obedience does little.

TEXAN: What benchmarks does the board use to consider an international convert equipped for carrying on the ministry?

MEADOR: We take what we understand to be the approach of the New Testament, where a person is expected to be a witness immediately after he comes to faith. As that person is discipled, and practices what he is taught, he grows in being able to minister to others.

TEXAN: How has the belief by some that Jesus cannot return until all people groups hear the gospel influenced the IMB’s strategy?

MEADOR: The emphasis on taking the gospel to every people group on earth is based upon the clear command of our Lord that all peoples are to be discipled, baptized, and taught to obey; the consistent testimony of Scripture that Abraham and those following him will be a blessing to all peoples; the clear word of Revelation that believers will come from every tribe, tongue, people and nation.

The urgency to make the gospel available to every people group has much to do with the fact that a large number of people groups still do not have real access to the gospel; that at least 60 million people will die this year; that many, many millions of them will have had no opportunity to hear the gospel. How long can we leave those people groups without the gospel? How many times must others have an opportunity to hear before we give opportunity for those to hear the first time?

We do not see that what we do or don’t do controls the return of our Lord. The words of our Lord in Matthew 24:14, Mark 13:10, and Luke 24:47 are intriguing, but not the foundation of strategy.

TEXAN: If a discrepancy arose between the board’s statement on what a local church is and an instance on the field where church planters were skirting that (none is known; this is hypothetical), what is the IMB’s protocol for such a scenario?

MEADOR: The personnel involved would be corrected by their leadership, and expected to respond to that correction. Also, anytime there is any question whether a “church” is really a church, that group is not included in any statistical reporting that we do.