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Thursday, July 16, 2009

On Women Leading Men...Just My Thoughts...

I shared my thoughts yesterday on the Precept Leader Yahoo Group, about women leading a co-ed group.

Remember, context is king..context rules, so think about the context of this note as you read it...I've just copied and pasted my note, but have made a few changes, so that in context, you will better understand it.

The question was about leading a co-ed group, but I want you to consider the question more as,
"Should I as a woman, lead men?"

Remember..you're on my blog...so you evidently want my opinion. ;)

Love you to the sun today...which will be blazing at 115 degrees within another few hours...so that's some love! :)

Here's what I wrote....


This is something that I have gone before the Lord on countless times.

I have sought the counsel of those whom I respect and know to be Godly people.

Then I went back to the Lord..

I've talked with my husband about it repeatedly...and sought his ever wise counsel.

This is where I am on it today....

I know that God has not called me to lead men.

He has called me to lead women, and teens, but not men.

For me, much of this rests in who I was before Christ, and in how much I value protective boundaries.

It also rests in the fact that I know that God has given the women and I such a sweet fellowship...the same can be said with the teens...but especially with the women.

They open up their hearts.

We cry together when God shows us something piercing from His Word.

There are open times of repentance.

I just don't think that would happen at this level if we were meeting with men for our discussion time.

In addition, it is my heart to see men raised up in our churches.

I feel like often they don't step up, because women have too quickly filled all the roles.

In part, I feel we've emasculated our men.

This is just me...and I'm just being totally honest.

So, God has called me, with the permission of my husband, elders and pastor, to do all I can to bring Precept training to our church..in the hope that men will be trained and then will lead.

I think we have to begin to think of our roles as leaders in a different way...we have to start asking God how He wants to use us to raise up more leaders, in the hope that we will see many new classes crop up within our
churches and communities.

It's my heart...but I would encourage you to pray for a male leader, to beg of God for one, before you step out to co-lead. I would go so far as to say, just don't.

Or, ask your husband if he would lead the men's discussion, while you lead the women's and then come together for the video. That works for many classes that couples lead all over the world.

I trust that others will disagree with me, but I firmly believe that if we ever want this ministry to be seen as a male and female ministry in America, we as women have to be on our faces in prayer for our men, instead of out in front of them.

That's just me...

If you are being called of God to organize a Precept training in your area, and want to know more about how to do this, please feel free to email me at whatilearnedfromthewordtoday@cox.net .

I will happily share with you whom to contact at the ministry, and how to get one going.

In His Great Love,
Jesica

2 comments:

KimG in AZ said...

I'm sure that I couldn't agree with you more. The Bible clearly and plainly spells out that women are NOT to teach above our authority and our authority is women and children. The fact that this world has pushed women into authority positions and ridiculed men does not mean that the church should follow. IMO women have a weakness for stepping into the leadership void left by men. I place blame first and foremost on men and their tendencies towards laziness. Televisions were made by and for men, etc. But also IMO is the tendancies for women to step in to that void to avoid consequences rather than "go down with the ship" so that God may raise the men up, albeit from a forced position. I could write my own blog post about this but I think that the Bible makes it clear that women are not to teach men. I have great respect for a friend's church who would not allow a ladies' Bible study until and unless the men had a well-established Bible study running first.

Anyway, I agree with you and AMEN! for saying it. I think that you are on the right side Biblically. I am INCREDIBLY frustrated with men and do not understand why they don't more of a passion for the Lord but that's another subject altogether. I just know that I need to stay true to the Lord and His priciples and the rest will be worked out on His time and in His way. Maranatha!

chandy said...

It's kinda funny, this is another one of those topics that the 'old' me would have gotten up in arms about...you know, I can do anything a man can do, and maybe even do it better.

Now I have a totally different attitude and I think your post is spot-on.

Funny how much people can change, huh?