(This question is a follow-up to “Charles In Charge?”)

What is the role of the woman in the church?  Is she supposed to just sit and give tithes and offerings, or is she supposed to be active in ministries of the church?  The church is Christ's body, so the church is the people, right?

Sincerely,
Want To Be A Worker

Dear Want To Be A Worker,

Just because women don’t lead in the public assembly, doesn’t mean that they just take up pew space and write checks!  The Bible is chock-full of examples of active and vibrant godly women.  Lydia was a christian who took Paul and gave him lodging, food, and financial support (Acts 16:14-15).  Priscilla and Aquila were a married couple that taught the gospel to Apollos (Acts 18:24-26).  That same Apollos went on to become a mighty preacher… something that would have never happened without Priscilla.  John Mark’s mother opened her home for a prayer meeting that saved Peter’s life (Acts 12:11-12).

Older women are supposed to be teachers and train the younger women to be faithful wives and mothers (Tit 2:3-5).  Younger women have the immensely important task of raising godly children… the next generation of christians (Tit 2:4).  Women have children’s classes to teach, women’s classes to teach, hospitality to provide, others to encourage, and evangelism to do.

On top of all those very important and pivotal roles within the church, during the worship services, women have the task of singing and praising God (just like the men – Col 3:16) and joining in the public prayer… just because one man leads the prayer doesn’t mean we aren’t all praying together.  When the church assembles, we all are worshipping God, edifying each other, and studying His Word (Heb 10:24-25).

And yes, the church is the people – not the building.  The word ‘church’ actually means ‘the called out’.  The church is composed of those who have heard the call of Christ and have come out of the world to serve Him.

(This is a follow-up question to “Women Preachers”)

We are to remain silent and ask our husbands?  What about women's Bible study groups where we ask someone other than our husband a question?  Aren't we also, according to John, to cover our heads?  Is this not just a cultural bias of the time in which this was written?  There is no precedence that has made it past the Nicene council as to what books are canonical and which are not.  Did Jesus not love Mary Magdalene (and kiss her on the ...?), that somehow got written off as a prostitute, so that males can continue to dominate?  Why should it be that because God chose to make me a woman that I am second class to a man?  Why should it not be that He created me to be just as smart, capable, and able to lead as a man?  Doesn't God only care about our spirit and not our anatomical parts?

Sincerely,
The Feminist

Dear The Feminist,

Before we address your question, let’s get one thing straight – the Bible is complete, and there aren’t any books left out.  Read “Books of the Apocrypha” to better understand that topic.  If we don’t at the very minimum agree that the Bible is written exactly as God intended, we have no common ground with which to have a sensible discussion.  There is ZERO reason to believe that Jesus had a relationship with Mary Magdalene… that is just apocryphal mumbo-jumbo.

Now, on to your question regarding men’s and women’s roles.  You have a lot of disinformation that is coloring your question.  God doesn’t treat women as second-class citizens – they are equal heirs of salvation (1 Pet 3:7).  Women don’t need to have their heads covered – their long hair is their covering (1 Cor 11:15).  Women are also welcome to ask questions in Bible studies – the command of 1 Cor 14:34-35 pertains to the church assembly, not individual classes.  Men and women are created different, but equal.  God has designed men and women to complement each other – Adam and Eve were a pair that were incomplete if separated (Gen 2:20).  God doesn’t care about our gender… He cares about whether we are willing to fulfill the role He has given us in this life.

I keep getting conflicting info on this, and I ache for clarification and truth.

God commanded His people to observe the Sabbath and Feast days (even Jesus and His disciples did), and whoever believes on Jesus' name are His people.  Jesus didn't come to destroy the law but to fulfill it and make it better (with His gift of the Holy Spirit and circumcision of our hearts), and so the law still stands.  Why do so many christians think it is okay not to observe them?

Because I am not a Jew, is it crazy/worthless for me to observe these days?  I'm only trying to follow Jesus' examples.  What is so wrong with that?

Sincerely,
Eaten Up By This

Dear Eaten Up By This,

Jesus fulfilled the Old Testament law when He died upon the cross (Lk 24:44-47).  The Old Testament law was a tutor to lead us to Christ, but now that Christ is here, we are no longer under that law (Gal 3:24-25). We are told to not worry about feasts and festivals in the New Testament (Col 2:16).  Jews kept the feast days; christians keep the New Testament, the law of Christ (Gal 6:2).

Why are there some churches that do not believe in serving communion?

Sincerely,
Where’s The Bread?

Dear Where’s The Bread,

There are lots of churches that don’t serve communion because there are lots of churches that don’t serve Christ.  False teaching is rampant in this world, and not all churches are equal.  Peter warned that there would be lots of false teaching in this life (2 Pet 2:1-2).  John said that it is our job to test all churches and teachings against the Bible (1 Jn 4:1).

The Bible teaches that the Lord’s Supper is to be taken every Sunday (Acts 20:7).  Any church that doesn’t do that isn’t paying attention to the Scriptures.

I belong to a Baptist church.  The pastor calls himself a “shepherd”… but don't care about his sheep.  He tells every one to hug everyone's neck but don't do that himself.  He do not shake anyone’s hand.  Don't even know the names of people and don't care.  It is not a big church, only three hundred members.  It is a fully-paid church with a capacity of 750.  Now he wants to buy a larger facility and wants every one to pay extra for it and told the congregation that those who do not wish to support him should leave the church!  He fired the associate pastor because he did not agree to his idea.  His wife is the music minister, and he gets a fabulous salary between the two.  He also sells his personal CD’s and his wife's music CD’s to make extra money.  We were paying for his luxurious house with swimming pool.  In this economy, people are struggling to make both ends meet.  There are people in our church who lost their homes to foreclosures and got their power cut off, but all he cares is for the people to contribute more money for his idea.  What can we do to get rid of this money and power-hungry preacher and his family, so that we will have a quiet place to worship?  We have contributed to this church heavily in the past but don't think we should do it any more.

Sincerely,
Fed Up

Dear Fed Up,

Our advice is to take this money-grubbing false teacher’s advice – LEAVE.  All you can ever do is work out your own salvation with fear and trembling (Php 2:12).  We get buckets of questions from people asking for help because every church they find seems to only care about money… it’s horrid what people have done in the name of religion.  Unfortunately, there is nothing new under the sun (Eccl 1:9).  Jesus rebuked the Pharisees for the same greedy behavior (Lk 20:46-47).

In the end, you want to be a christian – not a Baptist, Methodist, Calvinist, Lutheran, etc.  Baptist churches only make Baptists, Methodist churches only make Methodists, and so on.  You need to find a church that belongs to Christ, not men.  This preacher has warped and twisted the Scriptures to make religion all about him… and not about God.  Such men have a very strict judgment awaiting them (Jas 3:1).  We would be happy to help you find a faithful church that will teach the Bible and leave all the manmade garbage out.  E-mail us at askyourpreacher@mvchurchofchrist.org if you would like help finding a peaceful, faithful, and godly church to attend in your area.