{"id":360,"date":"2008-08-28T00:52:38","date_gmt":"2008-08-28T07:52:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/strivetoenter.com\/wim\/?p=360"},"modified":"2015-10-19T20:28:21","modified_gmt":"2015-10-20T03:28:21","slug":"irving-bible-church","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/strivetoenter.com\/wim\/2008\/08\/28\/irving-bible-church\/","title":{"rendered":"Irving Bible Church releases women to serve"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In the news is Irving Bible Church who recently took 18 months to study the issue of women in ministry from the scriptures, and now they have implemented a clarification of their position on women regarding the use of their God-given gifts for the common good.\u00a0 They have produced a 24 page paper on Women in Ministry that documents the findings from their study.\u00a0 It is at this link<\/a><\/strong> on the right hand side, the PDF document.\u00a0 Although at this point they are still holding to the teaching that only men should become elders, their renewed view coming from the scriptures allows them to release women to teach and preach and use all of their gifts for the benefit of the body of Christ.\u00a0 It is very encouraging to see another church freeing women to serve with their gifts for the benefit of both men and women.<\/p>\n

Below is the brief description of their journey from the front page of the above web site:<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\n

Women\u2019s Role in the Church<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n

The May 2008 issue of Chatter, <\/em>a publication of Irving Bible Church, contained several stories, interviews, and research resources based on Women\u2019s Role in the Church. This web section contains those stories as well as additional resources for your reading and exploration.<\/p>\n

\n

Unleashing God\u2019s People<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n

When the issue of women\u2019s role in the Church specific to practicing the spiritual gifts of teaching, leading and preaching was raised, the IBC Elder Board embarked on a journey to discover what God had for all of his people and how he might unleash them to glorify his kingdom. Chatter listened to the Elder Board to learn about that journey, what it involved and where we\u2019ve landed today.<\/em><\/p>\n

When did the Elder Board begin to look at the role of women?<\/strong>
\nIn 2006, people began asking questions about the role of women in the Church specific to teaching and preaching. For example, could they teach adult Bible Communities? Why didn\u2019t we have a woman on our teaching team? There was also a healthy discussion taking place on Table and Fire. We realized as a board how important it was for us to clarify IBC\u2019s position on this, and thus began an 18-month journey of prayer, study and discussion.<\/p>\n

Was there any trepidation on the part of the board?<\/strong>
\nWe knew that once we began, we would need to devote a considerable amount of time and prayer toward it. Each of us had wrestled with this issue on some level, and we came at it from different experiences and with varying perspectives. As a group, we were committed to moving forward with spiritual, biblical and intellectual integrity.<\/p>\n

Specifically, what steps did the board take?<\/strong>
\nWe held more than 12 meetings in which the ministry role of women was the primary topic for discussion, study and prayer. We looked at likeminded churches that walked this journey before us and read several books and commentaries that held varying viewpoints. In addition, we dialogued with women both in ministry here at IBC and from other churches. We sought godly counsel, and invited three professors from Dallas Theological Seminary\u2014Dr. Jeffrey Bingham, Dr. Scott Horrell, and Dr. Bob Pyne\u2014representing different positions on the issue to present their studies and insights to us.<\/p>\n

What were the most enlightening things you learned?<\/strong>
\nJesus was completely radical in how he elevated women in his day. He ignored cultural barriers and invited women to be part of his ministry. Throughout the Bible we found God using women as leaders, prophets and teachers to further his kingdom. We also looked at how God effectively uses women in ministry today. The fact is, he\u2019s used women throughout history and today in powerful ways\u2014in teaching, leading and preaching roles\u2014and there\u2019s fruit. We\u2019ve seen it, and we can\u2019t deny it.<\/p>\n

Did this lead the board to feel as though the issue is truly black and white?<\/strong>
\nNot at all. We quickly learned that there are many God-honoring, spiritually mature, biblically astute Christians who have different views on this topic. We realized that, instead of presuming to determine what is \u201cright\u201d for all times and places, we were called to define \u201cwhat seems to be good to us and the Holy Spirit\u201d for IBC in the spirit of Acts 15:28.<\/p>\n

With that in mind, how does IBC plan to move forward?<\/strong>
\nWe are going forward with the strong belief that God wants to unleash all of His children using all of their spiritual gifts to further His kingdom. Women represent 50% or more of the body of Christ, and having them fully unleashed to use all of their giftedness makes us 50% more effective and powerful for Christ. We need the whole body of Christ fully engaged for the kingdom. So we\u2019re not just saying, \u201cIt\u2019s OK.\u201d We\u2019re saying, \u201cCome on!\u201d<\/p>\n

How do you expect the IBC community to respond?<\/strong>
\nWe hope that people will be excited about women being unleashed for Christ\u2019s kingdom. For those who are surprised by or unfamiliar with this approach, we hope they will interact with the scriptures and prayerfully consider the validity of our position. After 18 months of committed prayer, godly counsel, reading God\u2019s word, and allowing the Holy Spirit to speak, we believe this is the right and best course for IBC.<\/p>\n

How will this change what IBC is currently doing?<\/strong>
\nTruly, it doesn\u2019t change very much. We\u2019re really looking to provide clarity as to what, in many ways, we\u2019ve already been practicing. A noticeable change may include an occasional woman preacher at IBC as God raises up gifted and qualified individuals for that task.<\/p>\n


\n<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/body>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the news is Irving Bible Church who recently took 18 months to study the issue of women in ministry from the scriptures, and now they have implemented a clarification of their position on women regarding the use of their God-given gifts for the common good.\u00a0 They have produced a 24 page paper on Women in Ministry that documents the findings from their study.\u00a0 It is at this link on the right hand side, the PDF document.\u00a0 Although at this…<\/p>\n

Read More Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[65,72,73],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-360","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-testimonies","category-women-pastors","category-women-serving-in-the-church"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\nIrving Bible Church releases women to serve - Women in Ministry<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/strivetoenter.com\/wim\/2008\/08\/28\/irving-bible-church\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Irving Bible Church releases women to serve - Women in Ministry\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In the news is Irving Bible Church who recently took 18 months to study the issue of women in ministry from the scriptures, and now they have implemented a clarification of their position on women regarding the use of their God-given gifts for the common good.\u00a0 They have produced a 24 page paper on Women in Ministry that documents the findings from their study.\u00a0 It is at this link on the right hand side, the PDF document.\u00a0 Although at this... Read More Read More\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/strivetoenter.com\/wim\/2008\/08\/28\/irving-bible-church\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Women in Ministry\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2008-08-28T07:52:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-10-20T03:28:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Cheryl Schatz\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Cheryl Schatz\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/strivetoenter.com\/wim\/2008\/08\/28\/irving-bible-church\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/strivetoenter.com\/wim\/2008\/08\/28\/irving-bible-church\/\",\"name\":\"Irving Bible Church releases women to serve - Women in Ministry\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/strivetoenter.com\/wim\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2008-08-28T07:52:38+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-10-20T03:28:21+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/strivetoenter.com\/wim\/#\/schema\/person\/47288f9588a290ab288bfdfb9c4eef29\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/strivetoenter.com\/wim\/2008\/08\/28\/irving-bible-church\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/strivetoenter.com\/wim\/2008\/08\/28\/irving-bible-church\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/strivetoenter.com\/wim\/2008\/08\/28\/irving-bible-church\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/strivetoenter.com\/wim\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Irving Bible Church releases women to serve\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/strivetoenter.com\/wim\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/strivetoenter.com\/wim\/\",\"name\":\"Women in Ministry\",\"description\":\"This blog is for dialogue on the issue of women in ministry and the freedom for women to teach the bible in a public setting. It is also for questions and answers on our DVD entitled \u201cWomen in Ministry: Silenced or Set Free?\u201d This 4 DVD set answers the hard passages of scripture that seem to restrict women\u2019s ministry.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/strivetoenter.com\/wim\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/strivetoenter.com\/wim\/#\/schema\/person\/47288f9588a290ab288bfdfb9c4eef29\",\"name\":\"Cheryl Schatz\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/strivetoenter.com\/wim\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/efbf589c4a731d44dfcc39bcc33b901d?s=96&d=retro&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/efbf589c4a731d44dfcc39bcc33b901d?s=96&d=retro&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Cheryl Schatz\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/mmoutreach.org\/wim\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/strivetoenter.com\/wim\/author\/b692nplyxipl362mwh\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Irving Bible Church releases women to serve - Women in Ministry","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/strivetoenter.com\/wim\/2008\/08\/28\/irving-bible-church\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Irving Bible Church releases women to serve - Women in Ministry","og_description":"In the news is Irving Bible Church who recently took 18 months to study the issue of women in ministry from the scriptures, and now they have implemented a clarification of their position on women regarding the use of their God-given gifts for the common good.\u00a0 They have produced a 24 page paper on Women in Ministry that documents the findings from their study.\u00a0 It is at this link on the right hand side, the PDF document.\u00a0 Although at this... Read More Read More","og_url":"https:\/\/strivetoenter.com\/wim\/2008\/08\/28\/irving-bible-church\/","og_site_name":"Women in Ministry","article_published_time":"2008-08-28T07:52:38+00:00","article_modified_time":"2015-10-20T03:28:21+00:00","author":"Cheryl Schatz","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Cheryl Schatz","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/strivetoenter.com\/wim\/2008\/08\/28\/irving-bible-church\/","url":"https:\/\/strivetoenter.com\/wim\/2008\/08\/28\/irving-bible-church\/","name":"Irving Bible Church releases women to serve - Women in Ministry","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/strivetoenter.com\/wim\/#website"},"datePublished":"2008-08-28T07:52:38+00:00","dateModified":"2015-10-20T03:28:21+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/strivetoenter.com\/wim\/#\/schema\/person\/47288f9588a290ab288bfdfb9c4eef29"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/strivetoenter.com\/wim\/2008\/08\/28\/irving-bible-church\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/strivetoenter.com\/wim\/2008\/08\/28\/irving-bible-church\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/strivetoenter.com\/wim\/2008\/08\/28\/irving-bible-church\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/strivetoenter.com\/wim\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Irving Bible Church releases women to serve"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/strivetoenter.com\/wim\/#website","url":"https:\/\/strivetoenter.com\/wim\/","name":"Women in Ministry","description":"This blog is for dialogue on the issue of women in ministry and the freedom for women to teach the bible in a public setting. It is also for questions and answers on our DVD entitled \u201cWomen in Ministry: Silenced or Set Free?\u201d This 4 DVD set answers the hard passages of scripture that seem to restrict women\u2019s ministry.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/strivetoenter.com\/wim\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/strivetoenter.com\/wim\/#\/schema\/person\/47288f9588a290ab288bfdfb9c4eef29","name":"Cheryl Schatz","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/strivetoenter.com\/wim\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/efbf589c4a731d44dfcc39bcc33b901d?s=96&d=retro&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/efbf589c4a731d44dfcc39bcc33b901d?s=96&d=retro&r=g","caption":"Cheryl Schatz"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/mmoutreach.org\/wim"],"url":"https:\/\/strivetoenter.com\/wim\/author\/b692nplyxipl362mwh\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6wpJ8-5O","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/strivetoenter.com\/wim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/strivetoenter.com\/wim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/strivetoenter.com\/wim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/strivetoenter.com\/wim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/strivetoenter.com\/wim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=360"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/strivetoenter.com\/wim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4220,"href":"https:\/\/strivetoenter.com\/wim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360\/revisions\/4220"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/strivetoenter.com\/wim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=360"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/strivetoenter.com\/wim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=360"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/strivetoenter.com\/wim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=360"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}