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Cobblestone Teaching Forums, 2015 – Women’s Contributions to the Life of the Church
Who is the head of the church?
 According to Colossians 1:18, __Jesus___ is – And he is the head of the body, the church.
He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be
preeminent (Colossians 1:18, ESV).
Are the roles of men and women significantly different?
 Yes, in the family and in the church. See Genesis 2:25 – And the man and his wife were
both naked and were not ashamed (ESV).
o Between the man and woman there were obvious __differences_.
o They were aware of the differences and not __ashamed___.
o The shame only came after the __sin___ (see Genesis 3:7).
o Men and women do well when they try to recreate the pattern of humanity and
creation before the Fall.
 The differences between men and women are meant to __complement__ each other.
o Adam’s “helper” wasn’t given to do the things he didn’t want to do, but the
things he wasn’t __able___ to do (see Genesis 2:18).
o Imagine if God had said to Adam only, “Be fruitful and multiply” (Genesis 1:28)
without having created woman!
 As for complementary roles in the church, let’s borrow an example from our earlier
study on elders and see that while there are women who do the work of deacon, there’s
no biblical example of a woman serving as an __elder____.
o The central issue is headship (see 1Corinthians 11:3; Ephesians 5:23, 25;
1Timothy 3:4-5), which places primary responsibility on the man.
How did women contribute to the life of the church in Bible times?
 There were some women… who provided for [Jesus and the twelve] out of their means
(Luke 8:2-3).
 There were women (many of the same from Luke 8) who were devoting themselves to
prayer (Acts 1:14), together with the eleven remaining apostles, waiting in Jerusalem for
the promised __Holy__ __Spirit__.
 There was Lydia, who was among a group of women who __prayed___ down by the
river outside of Philippi (Acts 16:12-15).
o She responded to the teaching of Paul, was baptized, and prevailed upon (verse
15) the missionaries to begin meeting in her home (see verse 40).
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There was Priscilla (or Prisca), who, along with her husband Aquila, explained to
[Apollos] the way of God more accurately (Acts 18:26) before he began to __teach__
and debate in Achaia.
o Acts 18:18-28 makes a fascinating study on how brothers and sisters in Christ
come together to share and build upon one another’s knowledge of God’s ways.
o Priscilla and Aquila provided lodging for Paul in Corinth (Acts 18:3), traveled with
him to Syria and Ephesus, and risked their necks for [his] life (Romans 16:4).
o In Rome, they hosted a church in their home (Romans 16:5; 1Corinthians 16:19).
There was Phoebe, who was __commended___ as a servant of the church at Cenchreae,
and for being a patron of many, and of [Paul] as well (Romans 16:1, 2).
In the Corinthian church, women were praying and prophesying (1Corinthians 11:5).
In the letters of Peter and Paul, the greetings are fairly well _peppered_ with the names
of women who are working and serving to build up the church and promote the gospel.
o It’s not a stretch at all to say that their contributions were _essential__ to the
ongoing good health of the church.
How may women contribute to the life of the church now?
 Without question, every positive example of the New Testament (and the list above is
not exhaustive) can be _duplicated__ without running afoul of scriptural instruction.
o For the record, there were some negative examples. For instance, there was
Sapphira, who conspired along with her husband to lie to the Holy Spirit (Acts
5:3-10) – good luck with that!
 And the New Testament itself refers to worthy examples in the Old – Sarah and the holy
women who hoped in God, for example, in 1Peter 3:5-6.
 Remember that Christ’s church is __worldwide__ and enduring. Think, then, of some of
the countless unique opportunities afforded to the church, through the centuries, as it
has been “salt and light” to the world in times of hardship and in the ongoing call to
godliness.
o In all circumstances, whenever God’s people contribute to the life of the church,
whether men or women, wisdom and discernment must be exercised – with
responsibility for that going ultimately to the elders – to ensure that the
contribution is healthy and appropriate.
Are there any areas of service in the church to which women may not contribute?
 Yes. Elders in Christ’s church must be men – see our earlier study on eldership for the
why’s and wherefore’s of the subject. And related to the biblical mandate for male
eldership in the church and headship in the home, 1Timothy 2:12 instructs that a
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woman must not teach or… exercise authority over a man when the church is gathered
for corporate worship.
o Another key aspect of male headship involves placing the man in the front lines
of spiritual warfare – a position Adam should have taken in Genesis 3 (see
Genesis 1:28; 2:16; 3:1-6).
Keep in mind that Jesus’ take on leadership – and he pressed this point to his disciples –
is __opposite____ of the worldly take on leadership (see Luke 22:24-27).
o In worldly terms, leadership = __power_____ (see verse 25).
o In Jesus’ terms, and in the example he gave, leadership = _sacrifice__ (see John
10:11).
o Hence, it’s not that men get to lead Jesus’ church as his undershepherds, it’s that
they have to – qualified, godly men, that is.
The world would say that to deny any position to a woman is to practice discrimination,
but God defines it differently – to exercise male headship in the home and the church is
to __cooperate___ with Christ in the sanctification of his bride (see Ephesians 5:22-33).
What will Cobblestone’s practices be regarding women’s contributions to the life of the
church?
 Many of the scenarios have been studied, prayed through, and sorted out over the past
two years, and still, some of the “What-If’s” have yet to be discovered. As our church
grows toward the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ (Ephesians 4:13), your
elders commit to the following:
o To continue searching the Scriptures, and stay attentive to what the Spirit is
saying to our church.
o To continue to call men to their biblically mandated responsibilities.
o To value the essential contributions of women to the life of our church, and
encourage women to exercise their spiritual gifts.
o To act on what we do know in Scripture, as close to the biblical examples as we
can get, God enabling us.
o Where the Bible is silent, where there is latitude, or where we simply don’t know
yet, to not put more restrictions on God’s people than God himself does.
o To stay in touch with and value the input of the family of God called
Cobblestone.