Turning Biblical Convictions into Practical Expectations: One church’s journey towards clarity
At the end of 2021, Suellen Milham was feeling unsettled. As the Women’s Ministry Worker at Orange Evangelical Church (OEC), there was a lot of change happening in her ministry space. The Covid years had meant she felt some disconnection with the women; there had been virtually no opportunities over the previous couple of years for large gatherings in the women’s ministry context; the church was just about to transition into their new building; and there were 3 new ministers on the staff team.
One of the tools that Suellen devised to tackle this unease was to hold a number of Women’s Focus Groups - just to see where the women were at, spiritually, and to pull women together after this period of disconnection. So, over two weeks in June, 2022, she gathered women together in small groups.
Amongst the questions that she asked were: do you feel valued as a woman at OEC; and do you see yourself working with the men in our church for the Kingdom of God?
A very small proportion of women responded that they felt that women were not respected at OEC because women were not permitted to preach; the largest proportion had no real issues to report. But there was a significant group that reported confusion and a lack of clarity about the roles and responsibilities of women at OEC. This was particularly from younger women, and those who had joined OEC from other churches who had different ways of doing things.
For example questions like, “Why don’t women preach or lead services at OEC?” ; or “Can women lead a mixed Bible study here?” could elicit 10 different answers depending on who answered them!
Suellen went back to the position paper titled Men, Women and Ministry at OEC written within the first year of the church being planted… 28 years ago!
The paper was very comprehensive in its theological and Biblical parameters but offered virtually no guidelines or principles on how complementarianism worked itself out in the ministries on the ground.
It was at this point that Suellen encountered two resources that would eventually shape her next move.
The first was Embracing Complementarianism by Graham Beynon and Jane Tooher (see the review here). The book is not a comprehensive treatment of the Biblical and theological issues around the men/women question (although they are well-canvassed), but rather a call to think through those principles and how to put them into practice. It is an immensely practical book with lots of examples of how different churches have given expression to these principles. One of the Appendices (No 4) outlines some ways that a church eldership could go about canvassing the views of their women and then writing a position paper on ministry that was Biblical, practical, positive and clear.
The second was a paper written by The Village Church in Texas, found here. Called The Role of Women at Village Church it seemed to do what Beynon and Tooher were recommending - ie taking Biblical convictions and attempting to turn them into positive, practical ministry expectations that fitted their church.
With the support of Ed Springer, her Senior Minister, Suellen purchased 14 copies of Embracing Complementarianism - one for each of the 6 staff, the 5 Overseers and the 3 members of the Women’s Ministry Team. As well, the ministry wives borrowed their husbands’ copies of the book and read it together. Initial discussions involved the Women’s Ministry Team and then discussions were held at the staff meeting level.
In December, Suellen spoke at the Overseers meeting, presenting a report from the Women’s Ministry Team. It included reflections of women’s ministry at OEC, feedback from the focus groups and a request for the Overseers to update and clarify complementarian ministry at OEC.
“We think there is a place for an update to the ‘Men, Women and Ministry’ paper… a paper that begins with what we are convicted of from God’s word, clarifies our practices at OEC, and that helps us as a church to press on together in kingdom work.”
As well as the Beynon/Tooher book, she had previously given each of the Overseers a copy of the Village Church position paper, both of which they had read and appreciated.
The Overseers were very receptive and committed to working with the women and men of OEC to improve the clarity on how we make disciples of Jesus in Orange and beyond together. Suellen was keen to assure them the Women’s Ministry Team was not in an urgent hurry; that the process was worth doing well; and there was a need for it to be carefully considered, and distributed for consultation and feedback before the position paper was finalised.
The thing that I noticed as I listened to Suellen was that her own approach to addressing the needs of the women was a demonstration of complementarian ministry. She used the gifts God has given her to think about the ministry God has given her (and other women) and then worked alongside the male leadership, recognising their particular responsibilities, to find a way forward to serve the church better.
This process is now under way! May the final result be a great resource to other churches. Could your church do something similar?
Lesley Ramsay has been in local church ministry with her husband, Jim, for 47 years. After university she trained as a teacher and then raised four children. Over the past 30 years she has worked as a Bible teacher and evangelist across Australia and overseas. She has written and edited several books and training packages that are sold and used internationally. She now works at Moore College in Sydney, in pastoral care to the students. To relax, she enjoys a good coffee and a good book and hanging out with her grandchildren.