This article was downloaded by permission of the author from www

This article was downloaded by permission of the author from www.RethinkingFaith.com, where other free articles are available on similar subjects.

When to Cut Bait

Another Conversation With Sven & Inga

by Dave Leigh

Sven: I was just reading Acts 16:12-15 and discovered that Paul began the church at Philippi with a group of praying women.

Inga: Gee, I wonder who its elders were?

Sven: It says he found these women by the river on the Sabbath.

Inga: That may be because a custom of the Jews in that day was to meet by rivers on the Sabbath whenever they could not find a synagogue in the city.

Sven: Apparently there were no other Jews in that city or only these women were found committed enough to meet and pray.

Inga: What kind of women were they?

Sven: Lydia was a professional career woman with her own business. It says she prevailed in persuading Paul to stay at her home.

Inga: You mean Paul even submitted to one of these women? And he, a single man, stayed in her home?

Sven: Yes, so what?

Inga: It sounds like he actually respected women and treated them as friends.

Sven: It was common in Paul's day for wealthy women like Lydia to sponsor synagogues as congregational patrons. They supplied these congregations with financial and physical resources needed to exist. Usually this translated into other responsibilities and authority as leaders. The New Testament refers to them as "prominent women." It would not surprise me if Paul not only respected Lydia and submitted to her insistence, but he must have used Lydia's home as the location of Philippi's first house church.

Inga: Also, in ancient times the home was seen as the woman's domain, with women having responsibility for and authority over all domestic matters, including the slaves. Meanwhile the public sphere was considered the domain of men. For a woman to function in this sphere was actually considered immoral, culturally. She was regarded as having exposed herself immodestly.

Sven: That's why it was so common in the early church for women to hold positions of leadership in the house churches. It was their "natural" domain. It wasn't until churches became more institutionalized and functioned as "public assemblies," instead of operating on a household paradigm, that women's leadership created a cultural conflict and became troubling to the cultural values of Christians.

Inga: It's interesting to me that whenever there have been revivals, women have been intimately involved as leaders of the ensuing movements. But as these movements gave way to institutionalization and tradition, men began to supplant their sisters' leadership involvements, taking over the leadership positions women created.

Sven: Sometimes I think we should go back to the house church model anyway. The church certainly needs to be more of a household or family. Homes would seem a more natural place for this to happen, and for men and women to function in partnership as leaders.

Inga: This certainly is a different picture of the church than we have come to expect today. I wonder if we've placed too much emphasis on largeness, professionalism, and programs?

Sven: I think it's worth considering that if Paul could start a church with a group of women, submit to them himself, and if he regarded homes as the appropriate place to start churches, then maybe egalitarians who cannot find egalitarian churches should consider starting their own, the same way he did in Philippi.

Inga: It looks like all it would take is a group of praying women willing to meet in a home.

Sven: They could even meet by a river, or in a park!

Inga: You mean I don't have to settle for belonging to a sexist organization that treats me like a non-citizen? I could start a church with other egalitarians in my own home? But isn't that divisive? I think we have a responsibility to try our best to help others see the biblical message before we resort to that.

Sven: I agree. But sometimes even a Paul and a Barnabas must part ways. I know that I would find it hard to belong to any group that didn't treat me as an equal. If after discussing this clearly and biblically they still treated me unfairly, I don't think I'd stay.

Inga: You have a point. Women have put up with a lot for a long time, even accepting some pretty absurd justifications for subjugation and abuse.

Sven: Can there really be unity without equality, Inga? And who is being divisive? The one who continues to discriminate against people because of their gender, social class, and ethnicity, or the one who wants to live out Galatians 3:28's picture of true Christian unity?

Inga: I suppose church planting is also an effective way to attract people who aren't attracted to or already involved in existing churches.

Sven: All the fastest growing denominations are emphasizing church planting. Maybe some of these denominations would even assist such groups.

Inga: That would help me feel less like I was being divisive and more like I was helping an already existing part of Christ's body to expand and extend the Kingdom.

Sven: Since there's a dearth of egalitarian churches in our area, maybe we should consider it.

Inga: I have a better idea. Let's pray about it -- and find a small group of others who will meet in our home to pray with us!

Sven: Whatever you say, Lydia -- I mean Inga. Something tells me I should submit.