The Highway Forums General Discussion Open Forum Female deacons?

A. Elder of Church Grounds (male):
under him are deacons (male) that assist:
1. Deacon of External Church Grounds
2. Deacon of Internal Church Grounds, etc.
under each of these may be committees:
i.e. Internal Church Grounds

a. Church Opening Committee which organizes the Sunday morning building preparations---air conditioning, lighting, et. al.
b. Usher Committee
c. Hospitality Committee (no men), headed by a woman, who answers to a deacon, who thus answers to the elder.
Thus, far from the notion that woman do not serve in the church or have no decision making power therein, they do, but they do biblically. The do not usurp authority over the man and are in biblical subjection.

In reply to:

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In other words, although this practice is not Biblical, the essential teachings of the church are solid.

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Yet, despite James' rejection of the practice of allowing women to serve as Deacons, he has agreed to serve side-by-side with a woman who has been serving as a Deacon? Now I'm .

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if this deaconess truly has authority over any man in the congregation . . .

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Linda,

This is the "loophole" which has opened the door to allowing women to serve in the Eldership and the Deaconate. When one allows the debate to be shifted to the pragmatic, i.e. issues as "authority", then one totally circumvents the CLEAR teaching concerning the QUALIFICATIONS for these two Christ-ordained OFFICES. Personally, I couldn't care less if a woman is said to have authority or in the case of those who object to the historical/traditional view, no authority over a man and/or congregation, the qualifications for the office must be met. One of those qualifications is that "a MAN be the husband of one wife. In both of the major passages which speak of these two offices (1Tim 3:1-13; Titus 5-9), the pronoun he is used throughout. That Paul enjoins and allows only men to serve as Elders and Deacons is incontrovertible.

If a church desires to have a woman who has NO AUTHORITY to do various services within the body, then that is perfectly acceptable. However, they are not allowed to be designated as Deacons.

A challenge was put forth to all who reject the biblical teaching concerning the qualifications for Elder and Deacon which has yet to be sufficiently answered. You can read it here: An Open Letter

For a thorough study on the issue see here: http://www.the-highway.com/OPC_women.html

In His Grace,

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does "husband of one wife" mean you cannot be divorced?

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This is another hotly debated subject. But I have concluded that Paul is forbidding practicing bigamists from office. The literal translation of the Greek is actually, "one wife's husband", which lends itself to the bigamy interpretation more than the issue of divorce. If one would want to make the text mean that no divorcees are qualified to serve, then to be consistent, it must also mean that no widowers are qualified either.

In His Grace,