Written By Pastor Joseph Spurgeon
A FB friend recently commented that they only hear about what women can’t do in church then what they can do. Here is my response:
The Bible has both prohibitions and affirmations. The negatives – I do not permit a woman to speak or exercise authority- actually serve several purposes.
One, they protect the God-created order for family, civil, and ecclesiastical life. Two, they protect the woman. Three, they enable men and women to do what they have been designed for, which leads me to what the positive is next.
Women have an extremely valuable role in God’s economy. They are the mother of the living.
Before you go “so they are just baby-making machines,” why do you think the birth of a human being created in the image of Christ is something to be denigrated like this? Secondly, mother means more than just child birth. The work of mothering only begins at child birth.
Furthermore, this work of mothering is a work all women are called to regardless of whether or not they are single and without kids, have children of their own, or are empty-nesters.
There are myriads of ways that women are mothers in the church. The older women give themselves to teaching the younger women how to live godly lives by being discreet, chaste, workers at home, loving their own children and husbands and submitting to their husbands. There is a lifetime of teaching to be taught there.
This work is industrious work. Dorcus was an older woman who was a mother to many poor. She sewed clothing and taught others to do so to provide for the needy. The church needs mothers who will take up hard work and industrious work to care for the orphan and widows.
Many in the early church were mothers to new converts because through their hard work in building up their homes, they made profit which they used to finance many of the missionary labors of the apostles. Women have been some of the greatest givers to missionary work in the history of the church.
Young women who are not married can learn from this. Rather than pursing a career and corporate ladder, what if they gave themselves to carrying for the other families of the church and also used whatever work they might have to give money to the work of the church? The ways are endless and none of it requires stepping out of the God-given sexual role or trying to compete with men. All can be done with a quiet and gentle spirit. All can be done while upholding femininity. All is needed.
Strength and honour are her clothing; and she shall rejoice in time to come. She openeth her mouth with wisdom; and in her tongue is the law of kindness.
Proverbs 31:25,26
https://thetransformedwife.com/what-can-women-do-in-the-church/