Women's Ministry in the Local Church E-Book

Ligon Duncan

• Herausgeber: Crossway
• Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2006

Beschreibung

Susan Hunt and Ligon Duncan walk through the Scriptures to help readers better understand what it means to have an effective, biblical women's ministry in the church. The benefits of women's ministries are great: training and discipling, evangelizing, and reaching out to the poor and needy. This book, written by seasoned ministry leaders, provides many proven tools to help start a women's ministry in your church.

Leseprobe

Women’s Ministry in the Local Church

Copyright © 2006 by J. Ligon Duncan III and Susan Hunt

Published by Crossway BooksA publishing ministry of Good News Publishers 1300 Crescent Street Wheaton, Illinois 60187

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher, except as provided by USA copyright law.

Cover design: Josh Dennis

Cover photo: Josh Dennis

First printing, 2006

Printed in the United States of America

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are taken from The Holy Bible: English Standard Version, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture indicated as from NIV are taken from The Holy Bible: New International Version®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved. The “NIV” and “New International Version” trademarks are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by International Bible Society. Use of either trademark requires the permission of International Bible Society.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication DataHunt, Susan, 1940–     Women’s ministry in the local church / Susan Hunt, J. Ligon Duncan.          p. cm.     ISBN-13: 978-1-58134-750-0     ISBN-10: 1-58134-750-2 (tpb)     1. Women in church work. 2. Women in church work—Biblical teaching. 3. Women in church work—Presbyterian Church in America. 4. Presbyterian Church in America—Doctrines. I. Duncan, J. Ligon, 1960–II. Title.BV4415.H78       2005253.082—dc22                                                                    2005029172

CH          16    15    14    13    12    11    10    09    08    07    06 15    14    13    12    11    10    9    8    7    6    5    4    3    2    1

From Ligon: To Anne Harley Duncan, my wife, andSarah Kennedy Duncan, my daughter, with appreciation and love

From Susan: To Kathryn Ann (Kate) Coley, our thirteenth grandchild,with the prayer that this daughter of the church will become a woman who loves and serves the Lord God through His church

Contents

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Part 1INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER 1: THE STORY

CHAPTER 2: THE NEED

CHAPTER 3: THE MOTIVE

Part 2THE APOLOGETIC

CHAPTER 4: FOUNDATIONS

CHAPTER 5: 1 TIMOTHY 2: 9-15—SUBMISSION

CHAPTER 6: 1 TIMOTHY 3: 11—COMPASSION

CHAPTER 7: 1 TIMOTHY 5—COMMUNITY

CHAPTER 8: TITUS 2—DISCIPLESHIP

CHAPTER 9: 2 TIMOTHY 3: 1-17—SCRIPTURE

CHAPTER 10: CONCLUSION

APPENDIX 1: THE DANVERS STATEMENT—RATIONALE AND PURPOSES

APPENDIX 2: TITUS 2 DISCIPLESHIP MINISTRY

APPENDIX 3: WOMEN’S BIBLE STUDIES

Acknowledgments

FROM SUSAN

I love writing this part of a book because I get to introduce my reader friends to some of the friends who live life with me. Introducing one Christian to another Christian is so profound. It is so eternal. After all, one day we will all live life together-forever.

The women who have shown me what it means to serve Christ through His church are too numerous to mention. I do not even know many of their names, but I have seen them in their churches around the world. Their faces and ministries are ever in my heart.

The two women who taught me most about what it takes to lead a women’s ministry in a local church are our daughters, Kathryn Barriault and Laurin Coley. Both have served as president of the women’s ministry in their respective churches. They taught me about sacrificial servant-hood rooted in love for Christ and His Church.

I wish I could list the name of every woman in Midway Presbyterian Church. They are my teachers, encouragers, and friends. The leaders of the women’s ministry, especially the Titus 2 Committee-Ann Kistner, Patsy Kuipers, Denise Monroe, and Sandra Westerfield-gave me confidence to write this book because their ministry shows me that the concepts in this book really do work. The women in the Tuesday Morning Bible Study listened as I taught the Pastoral Letters. Their insights and questions helped shape this book. Their prayers help shape me.

Sharon Betters, Lynn Brookside, Karen Grant, Jane Patete, and Barbara Thompson share and feed my passion for women’s ministry. Their heart-prints are all over this book.

The men who teach me are also too numerous to mention, but one stands above them all. My husband, Gene, teaches me much from the pulpit, but it is his life that daily shows me what it means to love the church.

I am grateful to Charles Dunahoo who asked me to serve as Director of the Women In the Church ministry for the Presbyterian Church in America and who patiently taught me how to do what he hired me to do; to David Hall, the Senior Pastor of our church, who encouraged me to write this book and who read and reacted to the chapters; to the elders of our church whose leadership provides a good place for women to serve Christ; and to George Grant whose friendship, lectures, and books help Gene and me think sweeter and stronger thoughts about God.

Countless women join me in thanking Ligon Duncan for his commitment to women’s ministry in the church. We have learned from his teaching and rejoiced in his leadership, but working on this project took me to new levels of appreciation. Ligon did not have time to write this book, but he did it anyway because he believed it to be important.

The men and women who wrote supporting testimonies for the chapters in this book made this work stronger. I thank them all.

My thanks to the fine people at Crossway for their courageous commitment to complementarianism and their encouragement to me personally.

Our children and grandchildren contribute to everything I do because they contribute to who I am. Kathryn, Dean, Hunter, Mary Kate, Daniel, Susie, and Sam Barriault; Richie, Shannon, Mac, Angus, and Heather Hunt; and Laurin, Scott, Cassie, Scotty, Maggie, and Kate Coley have “entered into a covenant to seek the LORD, the God of their fathers, with all their heart and with all their soul” (2 Chronicles 15: 12). Gene and I “have no greater joy than to hear that [our] children are walking in the truth” (3 John 4).

And thanks to Mama for praying for me and for cooking dinner so I could write. Gene thanks you too.

FROM LIGON

I want to record here my happily acknowledged debt to so many godly Christian women in the local churches I have served over the course of the years. Many of them have been heaven-sent blessings to me, and their character and example have left an indelible impression upon me. The Christian women of the Second Presbyterian Church of Greenville, South Carolina (the church of my youth) taught me in Sunday school and VBS, helped me with the catechisms, and prayed for me for a quarter of a century (and some still do!).

The women of the Covenant Presbyterian Church of St. Louis, Missouri, during my seminary years, as I served as a youth director and intern, were a great encouragement to me. Especially the extraordinary young women in the youth program (their love for the Lord and his Word was so edifying to me), many of whom I have followed with interest as they have become wives and mothers and have served the Lord in various professions. I am so proud of you all.

The ladies of the Trinity Presbyterian Church of Jackson, Mississippi, showed Christian hospitality to me as a young seminary professor and a very “green” assistant pastor. Your contagious zeal for missions set a beautiful example for me and others. The women of the First Presbyterian Church, Yazoo City, Mississippi, where I served for much of 1993 as interim pastor, manifested grace under trial and faith in time of loss that are marked in my heart as standing witness to the trustworthiness of our God in every circumstance of life. Anne and I will not forget your Christian kindness and warmth.

My dear sisters in Christ at the First Presbyterian Church, Jackson, Mississippi, where I have now served for almost a decade, I cannot adequately thank you or give to God enough praise for you. I stand in awe as I contemplate the unique combination of your abilities, energy, dedication, love for the truth, care for your families, and desire to minister to those within and without the church. No pastor could hope for a better flock, and it is a privilege to work with you in training up another generation of godly Christian women, committed to the gospel, the local church, the Great Commission, the Scriptures, and the Bible’s teaching on male-female role relationships in home and church.

My dear wife, Anne, is my greatest earthly treasure, and my respect for her grows daily. She is a woman of integrity, intelligence, compassion, and action. I am humbled when I contemplate her character, grateful to God that she is my wife and the mother of my children, and motivated to grow in Christian maturity just because I know her. I love you, Anne, but not as much as you deserve, for you are a woman of great worth.

My daughter, Sarah Kennedy, you are a delight, and I can already see in you the strong traits of Duncan, Ledford, Harley, and Luther women from whom you are descended (what a covenant legacy you have). I can’t wait to see what the Lord will do in your life. It is my earnest desire that you will be a “woman who fears the Lord.” I love reading the Bible, learning catechism answers, praying, and talking with you.

Lastly, thanks to Susan Hunt, who has so patiently endured my tardiness and every other frustration I have thrown her way during the course of producing this volume. I have admired Susan for a long time, and it has been a privilege to work with her.

Part 1

INTRODUCTION

The purpose of this book is to strengthen Christ’s Church by presenting a practical theology of women’s ministry in the local church.

The book will answer five fundamental questions:

• Why should a church have a women’s ministry-what is the biblical apologetic?

• Who is responsible for the women’s ministry in a church?

• How does a women’s ministry relate to the other ministries in a church?

• What are the tasks of a women’s ministry?

• How does a church implement a biblical approach to women’s ministry?

1

The Story

The source and origin of the Church is the free love of God.... In the whole world there is nothing enduring but the Church.... Her happiness must be considered in consisting principally in this, that she has reserved for her an everlasting state in heaven....

JOHN CALVIN1

The subject of this book is not women; it is the Church of the Lord Jesus. Though the focus of the book is one specific area of the church’s ministry, a biblical understanding of the church acknowledges that no part stands alone. A women’s ministry is one component of the total life and work of a local church.

The authors of this book have had separate journeys to a shared commitment to women’s ministry in the local church, but for both of us this commitment is one part of a larger commitment to and love for the household of God. As Dr. Edmund Clowney wrote, “If we lack interest in the church we lack what for Jesus was a consuming passion. Jesus loved the Church and gave himself for it (Eph. 5: 25).”2

LIGON’S STORY