Missing the Point: Women in Ministry

I'm sorta over preparing for a discussion I am going to be having on Women in Ministry next week. Our church's young adult (35 and under) bible study, probably my favorite group of people in the world right now, is going through Adventures in Missing the Point by Brian McLaren and Tony Campolo and we're on the "Women in Ministry" chapter. This could be the first truly controversial discussion we've had together so far. In past chapters we've all shared relatively similar viewpoints. Until now, we have not had any discussions with real disagreement but I fear that this could be the week. It's not a bad thing to disagree but I am never comfortable with it... especially on this subject. Women in ministry is one of those discussions about which I feel quite passionately drawn to one conclusion and find myself struggling to show grace to people with whom I disagree. It's hard for me to see keeping women out of the pulpit and out of pastoral ministry as anything less than oppression... so I tend to get a bit defensive of my view and of my sisters who are called to pastoral ministry.

To prepare, I plan to do more than just read (and by the way, I plan on re-reading V.P. Furnish's "Women in the Church" chapter in The Moral Teaching of Paul as well as Campolo's chapter), I plan to pray... a lot. I plan to pray that God gives me the grace I need to facilitate/be part of a healthy dialogue. I am excited about this week's topic.