sanctuarycg

Where does our denomination stand on the role of women in the church?

Sunday night we will be wrestling with the question: Dear God, why are women treated as 2nd class citizens in the Bible? in light of this question, some might be wondering where our denomination stands on the topic of women in ministry. The following links might prove helpful:

• A Biblical and Theological Basis for Women in Ministry
• Called and Gifted (a pdf pamphlet)
• Christians for Biblical Equality (an organization endorsed by our denomination)

Why I love the Sanctuary community

We had an amazing Sunday night service. I, of course, can't put it into words, but I'll try.

Community Prayer: Sondra Lemmon did a wonderful job of leading us in prayer. For those of you who've never come to Sanctuary, every Sunday night we take time out to lift each other up in prayer. A lay leader usually guides the time. We start off just noting reasons to thank God. And then we bring prayer requests to the community. It's pretty simple. People raise their hand. The leader calls on them, and then they give their request. The leader writes it all down and encompasses all of it in prayer at the end. It sounds simple, but because God is present and active, it is very powerful.

God's Truth and God's Grace: We had a tough passage to wrestle with on Sunday night--Matthew 19:1-12. The topic was divorce, and as we all know, this topic hits many of us. Because of the value of God's word and the value of God's grace we were able to talk about how God hates divorce, but we could also talk about how God longs for restoration for all of us. We have a community that values grace and truth--a beautiful thing.

A safe place to be honest: After the teaching time we had a Q and A time regarding the topic of divorce. As you can imagine the questions were complex and laced with emotion. Most powerfully, I was so pleased to see young and old contribute to the discussion and watch family members and friends lovingly minister to each other with words and other acts of kindness while we discussed the questions. After the Q and A we had everyone whose families had gone through divorce stand and we prayed for all those affected. It was very powerful. I will blog on some of the questions this week.

A safe place to worship: Though we had a lot of our young people gone on a mission trip, and though our band was a bit smaller, we worshiped loud and strong. I love hearing the people at sing at Sanctuary, and I love the freedom we have to worship. A big thanks to Ryan and Jordan for their wonderful leadership.

I often say to our leadership team something like, "We are a part of something you could never get at Barnes and Noble." The community of God gathered is a mysterious and powerful thing, and it's the best part of my week.

What are you doing with the Keys of the Kingdom?

This Sunday night I will pick up where James left off last week. We will focus on Jesus' words to Peter:

"And I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven. Whatever you lock on earth will be locked in heaven, and whatever you open on earth will be opened in heaven." Matthew 16:19

This verse has been hotly debated Catholics and Protestants. In the text, Jesus is clearly speaking to Peter and not all the disciple, and the Catholic Church has interpreted this verse as the establishing of Peter as the first Pope.  Because I will not have time to go into it Sunday night, I thought I would quickly summarize why the Protestant Church has interpreted this passage differently.

Simply put, Protestants would argue the authority given to Peter must be seen in the light of the authority given to the rest of the disciples/church in the rest of the New Testament. I post the following verses as reference:

First of all, just two chapters later Jesus echoes his words to Peter but speaks to all the disciples: " I tell you this: Whatever you prohibit on earth is prohibited in heaven, and whatever you allow on earth is allowed in heaven." Matthew 18:18

And in John 20:23 soon after his resurrection Jesus says to the gathered disciples: "If you forgive anyone’s sins, they are forgiven. If you refuse to forgive them, they are unforgiven.”

It should also be noted that while Peter was given the privilege of opening “the door of faith” to the Jews at Pentecost (Acts 2), to the Samaritans (Acts 8:14), and to the Gentiles (Acts 10), Paul had the privilege of “opening the door of faith” to the Gentiles outside of  Palestine (Acts 14.27).
Furthermore, in 1 Peter 2:9  Peter declares all believers are priests or mediators between God and humanity:  "You are a kingdom of priests, God’s holy nation, his very own possession. This is so you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light."

Sunday night we will explore the Keys of the Kingdom given to all believers. See you then! It will be a service you won't soon forget.