BLOODLINES
By: JOHN PIPER (desiringgod.org)
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Tabernacle DNA: Living By Faith
7 FebTabernacle DNA: Living By Faith
By: JOHN VERMILYA (Lead Pastor)
WE ARE BARBARIANS – Living By Faith
We trust God & take risks, fearlessly living for the King; rejecting religion, apathy, and the safety of the American dream. In other words, we strive to live by faith without which it is impossible to please God.[1]
Faith is the key ingredient for accessing the Grace of God,[2] but many Christians seem to settle for a safe, passionless and civilized brand of faith. The drudgery of self-preservation, sin management, and the distractions of this world dull them into religious conformity. This is tragic because Jesus expects a dangerous, all-or-nothing brand of faith from His followers.
Jesus calls followers to leave everything, sacrifice everything, and give everything for His sake and His kingdom. Jesus invites us to join a worldwide insurrection against sin, death, and the spiritual forces of evil. Jesus calls us to action, so the Tabernacle challenges people to follow Christ with all the passion, risk, and adventure that it entails. Far from “safe,” it’s a barbaric lifestyle.
Barbarians are uncultured, uncivilized members of a tribe or community not belonging to one of the great civilizations of this world. Jesus is not of this world,[3] His Kingdom is not of this world,[4] His followers are supposed to live as “strangers & aliens” in this world,[5] and are not to conform to this world’s patterns.[6] By faith, Christians live with different priorities, values, standards and objectives then the cultures of the world.
Our faith is, “confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.”[7] We confidently hope for Jesus’ return, and the establishment of His not-of-this-world-Kingdom. As barbarians we, “are not welcome among the civilized and are feared among the domesticated. The way of Jesus is far too savage for their sensibilities. The sacrifice of God’s Son, the way of the Cross, and the call to die to ourselves, all lack the dignity of a refined faith.”[8]
Personally we bet everything on Jesus, no matter what the cost. Corporately, as a church, we dream big and risk big to see more and more lives changed – believing that a growing church is alive, and that a safe, passionless and shrinking church is dead.
CHANGE IS COMING; ARE YOU READY?
3 FebCHANGE IS COMING; ARE YOU READY?
By: Chris Emery (Teaching Pastor)
One of my favorite TV commercials that I’ve seen recently involves individuals who are excited to purchase some new piece of technology, only to realize that a new, better one has already been released before they even got home. It’s a funny way to present the reality that technology is changing faster than we can possibly keep up. What this has done for the technology companies is force them to identify the main groups of consumers. They fall into two main categories; Early Adopters and Late Adapters.
Early Adopters are those that are not only ready for the change, but are watching anxiously for it. They read the reports and blogs and try to educate themselves on what is possibly coming out next. They want to know the specific details and technical information about the newest thing. When the new product comes out, they are more than ready to make the change. Not long after receiving the newest gadget, they are already watching for the next one. Change comes easy.
Late Adapters are the complete opposite of this. They are more than willing to wait and watch. They are not looking for change nor are they all that excited about it. They find comfort in the fact that they understand what they already have and do not enjoy the thought of learning something new. Therefore, technology companies must use emotion to get them excited about the new products. The Late Adapters will wait and watch how the new product is received before making a decision to change. They are not looking for change and would actually be just fine with out it. They like what they have and the way things are. Once they see how good the change is and how other people are adopting it, then they will take a step forward.
It is not too difficult to transfer the ideas behind these two groups to the people that make up a church. For anyone who has attended the Tabernacle for any length of time, you know that change is a common occurrence for us. Whether we are adding a service, changing times, repainting, and even changing locations, it seems as though there is always another Change on the horizon.
For the Early Adopters, this is no big deal. They love the change. The newness and excitement give them energy. They love being part of the planning and brainstorming. They can envision what the change may look like and are anxious for it to get here. This group adapts to the new surroundings and times with great ease. If it means getting up earlier, parking somewhere different, or sitting in a new place, they are in.
The Late Adapters most likely don’t enjoy all of this as much. You have stuck with us and you have continued to support the mission and vision of the Tabernacle, but it exhausts you. Frankly, you enjoy things the way they are. This isn’t to say you don’t get excited about the life change and new people, you just want to sit, park, and arrive at the same time and place you have gotten used to. You like the comfort of knowing what to expect and when to expect it.
So, there is some good news and bad news for any Late Adapters out there. First, the Good News. We NEED YOU. You are every bit as much of an important part of the body of believers as anyone. We need your gifts and talents and support. You are valuable and indispensable to us.
Now the Bad News, change is going to keep coming and coming. It is who we are and to be honest, who God is calling us to be. When a church is growing, reaching people, and lives are being affected, change is inevitable.
We have a big one coming this Spring, the launch of our new campus. This is a big change. There will be a new location and times. You won’t see some of the same people you’ve been seeing. You’ll be challenged to get involved in areas you haven’t been involved in before. You may even have to sit somewhere different and park somewhere new. There isn’t anything I can say to just make you “feel better” automatically. However, there are some things we would love for you to consider.
Change isn’t just for the sake of Change. I truly believe that there are a few individuals who have considered the idea that we change things up just to mess with them, like we get enjoyment from making things tough on them. Any of the changes we make are driven by one thought, “Changed Lives”. That’s it. Exposing hurting, searching people to the Love of Jesus Christ so that He can bring about the radical transformation in they’re life. God is leading the way, we are just trying to keep up.
Just because it feels different, doesn’t mean it’s wrong. Years ago the church I was on staff at built a new sanctuary. It was significantly larger than our previous one, seating over 2,000 verses 700. Not long after we made the change to the new facility we started getting some negative feedback. The common problem was that some people didn’t feel like the Holy Spirit was really there during our worship. They longed for the days in the old building where they really felt God’s presence. Now, was God really absent from our new building? Did we fail to notify the Holy Spirit of our new address? Of course not. It was the same people, the same Worship Leaders, in the presence of the same God. The only difference was simple, a higher ceiling. It makes since that the voices didn’t seem as loud and that it didn’t sound the same, but it wasn’t because God wasn’t there, it was because there was a whole lot more space above their heads. It wasn’t spiritual, it was science. Change sometimes feels wrong, but in reality, it’s just different.
Give it a chance, you’ll probably find you like it. How do we know that, because it’s the same ingredients. I love coffee, good coffee. Over the years I’ve been able to learn a lot about what makes a good cup of coffee. The right beans, the right roaster, the right water, and even the right coffee pots. You know what I’ve never had affect my coffee, the color of the mug I drink it out of. Some days I may use a white mug, some days a silver to-go mug, and other days a brown mug. You know what, my coffee always tastes the same because IT’S THE SAME COFFEE. Just because the package is different doesn’t change what’s inside. A different time, building, or chair doesn’t change the ingredients of our church.
Is Change coming? Yep! Do we expect that it will be easy for everyone? Nope! For those Early Adopters this will be exciting. For those Late Adapters it will be challenging. However, when it is all said and done, we will all be moving together in same direction, toward Changed Lives.
POINTS, WHY, AND OUR SHAME-BASED RELIGION
20 JanPOINTS, THE WHY, AND OUR SHAME-BASED RELIGION.
By: JOE VERMILYA (Worship Leader)
A man dies and finds himself standing at the gates of Heaven. St. Peter greets him there.
The man asked St. Peter, “So, did I make it into Heaven?” and St. Peter responded, “Well, how many points do you have?” The man surprisingly responded, “Points!? I didn’t know I needed points to get into Heaven?” St. Peter responded, “Yup, you need 100 points to get in.” The man thought for a second and said, “Well I went to church every Sunday, and read the Bible probably 50 times.” St. Peter smiled and looked at him and said, “Ok, I’ll give you a point for that.” The man replied, “One point! That’s it? Well, I also served at a homeless shelter for 15 years , does that count?” Peter responded, “Sure, I’ll give you a point for that too.” The man looking stunned said, “Well, I became a Pastor and served faithfully for over 30 years! What about that?” St. Peter calmly replied, “Eh, ok. Another point.” Just then a businessman, with slicked-back hair, approached and St. Peter quickly opened the gate for him, saying, “Come on in Phil, welcome to Heaven!” The first man was stunned. He said, “Hey! How come he got to go in?” St. Peter said, “Oh him? He’s not playing this game.”
This old joke should do more than just give us a laugh. The truth is that we so easily get caught up in our own self-righteous, performance-based religion and faith, that we fail to lose sight of the heart of God. We hear about God’s grace, forgiveness, and deep love for us, nod our heads in agreement, and still go on living as if there’s more we can do to “earn” it. The shame-based society that we live in teaches us that “being a good person” and “doing the right thing” will somehow improve our standing and self worth. Unfortunately this same mentality has seeped into our churches and our understanding of God. Our shame-based religion teaches us that going to church every Sunday, tithing, volunteering, or joining a small group will surely improve our “Godly Performance Grade” at the end of our life, gaining us a better standing with God. They at least make us feel better about ourselves, or at least we are doing better than average “Joe-Schmo Sinner”. We ourselves then begin to climb this kind of shame-based ladder, in turn placing shame and judgement on others who we think are on a lower rung than us. I’m not saying things like going to church, tithing, or serving are bad, or that you should stop doing them necessarily. But it should cause us to investigate why we might be doing them.
God looks at the heart. He is far more concerned with WHY you are doing the things you are, as opposed to simply WHAT accomplishment or deeds you are adding to your list. Are we doing these things to impress others? Or out of some sense of “Godly guilt?” Are we doing them to make us feel better about ourselves? Are we doing them out of a genuine love and gratitude for a God and Savior that we long to bring glory to? Only individually do we know the motive and state of our own heart and actions. Those of us who are uneasy with the simplicity of God’s grace, feeling we need to do more to obtain it, or somehow pay it back, should be cautious of Pride. The inability to graciously accept God’s sacrifice and love for us, points to a deeper issue within ourselves.
We all know John 3:16, but keep reading. “For God did not send His son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him. Whoever believes in Him is not condemned” Then verse 19 says “And this is the judgement: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.” It’s interesting that Jesus is saying this to Nicodemus, a religious leader and teacher. Jesus doesn’t have this type of exchange with the adulterous woman, tax-collectors, prostitutes, or others that we may perceive as the “really lost sinners.” He is explaining this to the religious guy. This doesn’t mean that those others did not also have sin in their life, but things we do in an effort to build up our own self-righteousness are equally wicked. Jesus knows us in our fallen, human state. He said it plainly when He said that “we love the darkness”. Many times we love our man-made religion and our religious efforts more than we love pleasing Him. We, like Nicodemus, are missing the point. We have the wrong motives.
When we truly live in the freedom and fullness of God’s love, we find that we start doing some of these same things with a completely different attitude and proper motive. When we get to a place where we can live in God’s love, truly believing and trusting in Him alone, we find a whole new purpose and desire for going to church, giving, serving, and interacting with people around us. This new motive within us is what pleases God and brings glory to Him. Not by WHAT we are doing, but WHY we are doing them. If we are doing religious activities out of guilt or with a sense of trying to earn something from God, we need to take a step back. When we believe and begin learning the heart of God, and truly being in relationship with Him, we do not find condemnation. We do not find shame. We move from religious darkness, into His light. When we live in His love, we find that our affections towards Him change. Our reasons for doing what we do changes as well. We focus on THE WHY.
So how many points do you have? Or are you not playing that game?
SLEEPING WITH HAGAR
10 JanSLEEPING WITH HAGAR
By: ZACH SALAZAR (Student Ministries Pastor)
“Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian slave named Hagar; so she said to Abram, ‘The Lord has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my slave; perhaps I can build a family through her.’ Abram agreed to what Sarai said.”
-Genesis 16:1-2
God had promised Abram that he would be the father of a great nation; the catch was that he was never told a timeline. Abram and Sarai believed God would keep his promise; there was no doubt about that. They became inpatient and decided to help God speed up the process. They looked around at their current situation; they tried to figure out how God could possibly keep His promise within their circumstances, and acted on their plan in their time.
The outcome was stress and abuse. Hagar conceived a baby and began to despise Sarai. Sarai retaliated with abuse and the mistreatment of Hagar. Abram just allowed it to happen. Hagar ran away from Sarai to save herself from the abuse. I wonder if any of them at any point in this process had the thought, “Is this what God had planned and promised?”
How often do we receive a word from God during prayer or in reading the Bible and we have the resolve to wait on God and His timing; only to have our resolve fade after a week? We compromise on the true blessings of God. We force God’s hand to rescue us from our impatience, rather than wait for the proper time to see His victory. Patience and waiting is not being lazy.
There is also a chance that since we don’t see how God could move, we believe He can’t. Human beings are absolutely incredible at making excuses to justify their actions. Abram and Sarai were too old; there was no way that they could still have children. This was their justification for acting rashly and Abram sleeping with Hagar. We look around at our life and wonder how God could possible intervene in our current job, bank account balance, marriage that is falling apart, addiction, broken relationships, or whatever it is in our lives that we are worried about. So we act. We don’t wait to see how or what God can do, we take matters into our own hands and trade in the blessing God had for us.
There is always hope. Jesus told us that, “with God all things are possible.” For some reason, we believe that to an extent when we hear stories of how God has helped and blessed someone else, but we don’t believe God can use our lives. If God promises that He will do something, we better believe that He is fully capable of keeping that promise. Even if we don’t see how it could possibly happen. We need to listen. We need to wait. We need to stop taking matters into our own hands. We need to stop sleeping with Hagar.
Tabernacle DNA: MEN
15 NovPart 7: MEN
By: JOHN VERMILYA (Lead Pastor)
Both men & women are equally vital to the life of a church – but men are critical.
Every ministry area at the Tabernacle plays an important part of changing lives. But reaching, engaging, training, and multiplying men is absolutely critical.
Men will make or break a church.
Statistics show us that if a woman commits to a church, there is only a 50% chance that her husband and children will follow. If a man commits to a church, there is a 99% chance that his wife and children will do the same. From a pragmatic perspective, we strategically target the men.
Scripture clearly teaches that God created male and female with equal value and worth (Matthew 22:16). But men & women have very different roles. Man is to be the loving & gentle leader of his home, serving & sacrificing for his wife (Ephesians 5:22-23). His wife is to be his co-equal helper (Genesis 2:18; Proverbs 31:10-31), but respecting her husband’s leadership role out of love for Christ (Ephesians 5:22).
Men are also responsible for their children’s spiritual training (Deuteronomy 11:19), to manage and discipline them lovingly (Hebrews 12:7-11; 1Timothy 3:4) without exasperating them (Colossians 3:18-21). Furthermore, a man is supposed to follow Jesus himself, be an example, and serve in his church (1Timothy 3). The bottom line is that men have a large leadership responsibility as influencers.
All that responsibility is hard work. It’s no big wonder that many man abdicate their leadership roles in marriages, families, communities and churches. It’s easier to coast. It’s easier to sit back, watch some TV, drink beer with my buddies, focus on my hobbies, and just hope that everything works out. Men like that are passive, irresponsible, ignorant, or just plain lazy. Those kind of men act like boys, and end up devastating their marriages, families and children.
Hard work is part of the man’s curse (Genesis 3:17-19), and part of being a man means you have to learn how to work. At the Tabernacle, we do the hard work of emphasizing men. We target men, confront their sin, challenge them to follow Jesus, and do our best to train them to be godly. We do it because there are men who desire to honor God, take responsibility, who desire to break the cycle of bondage, and not repeat the sins of their fathers.
Men like that are called disciples. Those kind of men are respected by their wives & honored by their children. Churches are built on the backs of men like that.
Emphasizing men is not very popular with the “Politically Correct” crowd. We’ve been called insensitive, sexist, and even “fundamental.” But in reality we’re just being Biblical, and obedient to God. Thankfully, most of the women get it, they understand it’s importance – and they thank us for it.
YOU CAN’T LEAD WHEN YOU’RE PASSED OUT
9 NovYOU CAN’T LEAD WHEN YOU’RE PASSED OUT
By: CHRIS EMERY (Teaching Pastor)
A little over 10 years ago I had the opportunity to lead my first short term missions trip. I had been on missions trips before, but never as the leader. This one was all mine. I had to make all the travel arrangements, all meal plans, and schedule all of the work projects. We took our team through the fundraising and preparation process with no problem. We traveled to the airport in Toronto, Canada where we would fly out, no issues. However, the second we landed on the ground on this tiny island, all of my planning went out the window.
What was the problem? Had I not prepared? Did I need to do more research before we arrived? Where my plans not detailed enough? Actually, none of those. The biggest problem was simple, I had never been there before. I had never been to this country, I had never met these people. I didn’t know my way around, local customs, or anything about being “on-sight” at this place.
There really wasn’t anything I could have done better to avoid this problem. In the following years we returned to this place several times, and each time it got easier and more organized. Again, the biggest reason, we had been there before. I had walked the streets, I had met the people, I knew the area. This enabled me to be a better leader of these trips.
This same concept applies to anyone in a spiritual leadership position. We can read about where God wants to take us and others, we can do the research and hear about other’s experiences. We can do our best to predict what the journey will be like and how we will make our way. The problem is this, we can’t lead where we haven’t been.
So many Ministry Leaders and even Pastors fall into this trap. In the name of “doing ministry”, they fail to keep their personal spiritual growth at the forefront of their priorities. The crazy thing is that it is so easy to justify because we say we are doing it for God. We are doing this all for the church and the lost.
Truth is, God never asked us to sacrifice our relationship with Him in the name of leading others to Heaven.
Matthew 22 gives us a situation where Jesus is being challenged and questioned by the religious leaders of the time.
35 One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: 36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment.
This is the greatest commandment. Everything else falls under it. Everything else is second. We are not given the freedom to re prioritize God’s commandments or put anything above putting Him first.
In leadership, you can not lead followers into a deeper relationship with Jesus Christ if you are not in the process of growing deeper in your relationship with Jesus Christ.
It is just like the instructions everyone receives on an airplane before take off. “In case of an emergency, oxygen masks will fall from the ceiling, place your mask on first before trying to help anyone else. “
Sounds kind of selfish at first, but the logic is rock solid. If I choose to not put on my oxygen mask before helping someone else, it is only a matter of time before I lose consciousness and am no help to anyone. By putting my mask on first, I have the opportunity and capability to help many more.
By making sure that we, as leaders, continue to pursue God first, putting our personal relationship with Jesus Christ above everything else, even church and ministry, we have the opprotunity to lead many more people into the relationship God desires to have with them.
How’s your “Spiritual Oxygen Mask”?
STOPPED IN YOUR TRACKS: FEAR
26 OctSTOPPED IN YOUR TRACKS: FEAR
By: CHRIS EMERY (Teaching Pastor)
Cyberphobia is the clinical fear of computers. Ecclesiophobia is the actual fear of church. Lunaphobia is the fear of the moon, Astraphobia the fear of lightning, and Phobophobia is the fear of being afraid. Bottom line, we all have fears.
Personally, I am afraid of spiders. I don’t believe it is the result of any traumatic event involving a spider, I just don’t like little, hairy, crawly things that can bite.
There are also fears that result from life and the world around us. Fears of having enough money, a good job, the economy. Fears about terrorism, accidents, and war. Some of us may have fears of death and sickness.
Fear does so much to hinder our lives and to hold us back from experiencing what God wants to do. When we break it down, there are two main effects fear has on us.
ONE: fear paralyzes us. Over in 1 Samuel 17 we find the Israelites in a standoff with the Philistines In the middle of the two armies stands one man, Goliath. A man that was 9 feet 6 inches tall and carried weapons that no normal man could lift. His size and strength struck fear into the Israelites and no one would go fight him.
The fear of what stood in front of them paralyzed these men and so they did nothing.
TWO: fear brings about panic in us. In Matthew 8 we find Jesus and his disciples in a boat. As they sailed, a great storm came upon them. As the winds and waves rage around them, the disciples begin to panic.
Through fear, in both situations, men began to panic and be paralyzed because of what they faced. The problem was that in the midst of this fear, they completely failed to acknowledge that God was involved.
In fact, the craziest thing is that both groups of men had been exposed the the great power of God and Jesus. They had seen miracles and unexplainable victories. They had witnessed God at his best and yet this was all blurred by the fear in front of them.
Now, overlay the effects of fear in our lives with one simple question, what is God wanting to do through you? You see, we have accidentally misunderstood how God works and adopted this mentality that we are supposed to do great things for God. That could not be further from the truth.
God is not asking us to do great things. He is simply asking if we are willing for Him to do great things through us. In this process, the thing that most assuredly holds us back is fear.
Through fear, we so often fail to go when we are called and let our faith turn to panic. We will never experience God working in us and through us if we continue to let fear get in the way.
Hebrews 10:23-24 says Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. 24And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works”
So, the question is, do you need to be stirred? What is God desiring to do through you and what fears are holding you back?
TEAM BUILDING
6 OctTEAM BUILDING
By: CHRIS EMERY (Teaching Pastor)
From the earliest days on the school playground, we have all been familiar with the concept of “Teams”. Whether it be for kick-ball, football, or tag, we were picked to join a team of peers and work together to win the game. It’s this concept that separates Teams from all other organizations.
M.I.T. gives us a great definition of “Team”; “People working together in a committed way to achieve a common purpose, performance, goals, and approach for which they are mutually accountable” Committees, Boards, and even Organizations can all waiver from this definition, a true Team can not.
We work very hard at building Teams here at the Tabernacle. Teams that function in a healthy, effective, and productive way. For those of us who lead teams, or are on a team, here are some tips for building strong Teams.
First of all, good teams do not necessarily require the best talent, only the greatest commitment to the team. The 2004 Men’s Olympic Basketball team was a great example of this. This was a team filled with the world’s best basketball players. However, they fell significantly short of winning a gold medal because they failed to play and function as a team. Go back in time 50 years, and you will find the story of the Milan High School Basketball team in Indiana. In a time when all schools in Indiana, regardless of size, competed for one championship, this small school over came the odds and won it all. This was accomplished not because they had better players, but because they were a better Team.
Second, how to build your team. You will find yourself with stronger teams with three concepts.
- The Big Ask; you will never have people join your team if you don’t ask.
- Dream Team; Start with the most ideal people. Even if they may appear too busy or out of reach, it never hurts to ask. You just may find yourself with the best people on your team.
- Resonating Recruiting; It has often fallen on the shoulders of the Head Leader to do all the recruiting. This is not only a huge burden for him/her, but it is the least effective way. Just as circles flow outward in the water after a rock is thrown in, recruiting should flow outward from the Head Leader through the entire team as they help strengthen it with new members.
Once your Team is built, now the task is to keep it functioning and health. Here are somethings you can do to accomplish that.
Adopt the “Three C’s”; These are easy to remember, they are;
- Communicate
- Communicate
- Communicate
Lack of communications leads to misunderstandings, assumptions, and eventually the breakdown of the Team. Over communication is always better than under communication. Be clear and articulate with your goals, expectations, and vision.
Be comfortable with Healthy Conflict. There is nothing wrong with disagreements as long as they lead to productive conversations and resolutions.
Take time on a regular basis to Encourage. It is so easy for us to use our communication time to criticize and correct, but we so often fail to encourage our Team on the good work they are doing.
Finally, make sure your Team is good at Following the Leader. When it is all said and done, the Leader is the one that must be in charge. It is the Team Leader that leads the charge and sets the direction.
TOUGH QUESTIONS: Women in Ministry
29 SepTOUGH QUESTIONS: Women in Ministry
By: JOHN VERMILYA (Lead Pastor)
One of the most controversial issues facing the church today regards the role of women & ministry within the local church.
What makes the issue tough is the “politically correct” dominated culture we live in. When Christians, or anyone else, steps out of the PC-party line – they are instantly labeled, and the tired old name-calling begins: Narrow-minded, Fundamentalist, Ignorant, Extremist, Chauvinist, Sexist, Homophobe, Mean-spirited, etc.
Jesus commanded us to fear God more than the opinions of men (Lk 12:4-5). This means we obey Scripture as our final authority for faith & life, including the tough questions (2Tim 3:16). We do not look to culture, sociology, or worry about pleasing humans (including ourselves). When our emotions and opinions get involved the questions becomes muddy, our feelings get hurt, and we try and bend the Scripture to say what we wish it would say.
We believe the Bible affirms the Complementarian position in regards to women & ministry. Complementarian means: Men & women are partners in every area of ministry together, both are encouraged & equipped to fulfill all offices of the church with the singular exception of lead pastor/elder, which the Scriptures require to be a male-only office.
We are not Hierarchial, which restricts women from everything except women’s & children’s ministries. Nor are we Egalitarian, which makes no gender distinction for any church office. We believe the Bible affirms the middle ground between those two.
I encourage you to read the concise, Biblically-based explanation of the Complementarian position from Pastor Mark Driscoll of Mars Hill Church Seattle: http://pastormark.tv/2011/09/20/faq-women-and-ministry
As a final encouragement, remember that the religious PC-crowd of Jesus’ day called him names too, like drunkard, glutton, possessed & insane (Lk 7:34; Jn 10:20). In that case – we’re in good company.
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