I’m a little concerned. Last week I read an interview with an up and coming church leader (I have not included his name as I don’t want this article to seem like a personal attack or a work of slander ). In the interview this leader was asked a ton of questions pertaining to church, faith, God, and so on. What should have been his opportunity to shine and engage the reader, enlightening them on several key issues that affect the church and faith, he simply came across as though he didn’t know much at all.

One of the questions he was asked was about the issue of women in leadership within a church setting, and if you know me you’ll know this is an issue close to my heart. He was reminded that for many years scholars have struggled through this issue and have engaged Scripture, culture, and context, to try and get a handle on this ongoing debate. His answer…

“This issue is ridiculous, as are many issues in the church. We are fighting battles that are not relevant anymore. We look at some ancient texts and presume to know how to run church in this day and age. Many waste valuable time working through issues that clearly don’t mean much anymore. To me all that scholarly study is a bothersome chore I just don’t have time for in light of the needs in our communities. The way forward is simple, we have to go with how we feel, and to me it just doesn’t feel right to hinder women from doing anything in the church.”

How we feel? Is this guy saying that unless something feels right or good then we shouldn’t do it? I wonder how would he tackle the issue of denying self and taking up our crosses or forgiving our enemies… let’s face it, self sacrifice is not culturally relevant in this world of “me” that we live in and neither, it seems, is forgiveness.

And the “ancient texts” he speaks of… can he be referring to the Bible? Because when I last looked they were more than just some old writings; they remain as relevant today as they did back when they were written. We may have to dig deeper on some issues, but that’s a good thing not a “bothersome chore”.

Thankfully this guy does not speak for the majority of church leaders, at least I hope not. Reading the rest of the interview it came across to me that he really needed to go back to Bible School or Seminary to iron out some of his misconceptions re: the scholarly study of God Word. Personally, I wouldn’t want someone like him as my pastor preaching week after week from what he is feeling and not what God’s Word is saying.

What scares me though is that, over the past few years, I have met a quite a few people, both ministers and lay people, who think that we should ‘feel’ our way through life, church, relationships, and so on. And this cannot be healthy. There are many things as a Christian that I would rather not think upon or about. Take the subject of Hell. I would rather not think about a place or eternal punishment let alone study and preach it. But Hell is mentioned all over the place in Scripture. So I take it seriously and study it seriously. I do not think to myself, ‘I don’t like the idea of Hell and therefore I am going to wave it off as an ancient cultural thing that really has no relevance in today’s world.’ I personally don’t like the idea of souls in torment, banished for eternity, apart from God. But does that mean I don’t fully engage the text and go with how I feel… maybe this is how Christian Universalism got its start.

The truth is we cannot go through this life ignoring the serious study of serious issues in favor of feelings. How did I come to the conclusion that it’s OK for women to be in church leadership? Through serious study of Scripture. How did I come to the conclusion that hell is a real place? By studying the Word of God. How will I continue onward in my Christian walk as a church leader? By digging deep into the pages of the one book that contains all the answers to all the questions we might have.

And not by how I feel!

Christian St John M.Div, BChM, ACS
February, 2010

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