God-centered resources from the ministry of John Piper

The Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood (CBMW) held a pre-conference on Monday prior to the start of the Desiring God Conference for Pastors. Dr. J. Ligon Duncan and Mrs. Susan Hunt spoke on their book Women’s Ministry in the Local Church to a room full of pastor’s, pastor’s wives, church leaders, and women’s ministry leaders. Duncan is the pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Jackson, Mississippi and the chairman of the board for CBMW. Hunt is a pastor’s wife and the Women in the Church Consultant for the Presbyterian Church in America.

Duncan spoke first about the biblical and theological foundation of women’s ministry in a local church and how that relates to the pastoral ministry of the church. He offered four biblical truths to be a foundation for doing women’s ministry in the local church.

1. Our understanding of biblical manhood and womanhood must be rooted in the created order. Genesis is our starting point for understanding biblical manhood and womanhood (Genesis 1:26-27). The distinction in the created order is what gives us the distinctions in the church.
2. Our ministry to men and women must be rooted in a proper understanding of the doctrine of God. When we teach biblical manhood and womanhood we must recourse all the way back to the doctrine of God. The biblical foundation for women’s ministry is going to root womanhood in the doctrine of God because part of being created in his image is bearing the different distinctions of the Trinity.
3. Biblical manhood and womanhood must be rooted in the doctrine of the work and person of Christ, therefore if we are to do women’s ministry in the local church we are to root it in the doctrine of Christ. Jesus is the example of what submission looks like. The work and submission of Christ radically reorients Christian service for Christian women because it is exactly what our Savior has done.
4. Our understanding of biblical manhood and womanhood must be rooted in the doctrine of the church (1 Timothy 2:8-10). Paul is not simply stating an opinion; he is telling Timothy how it should be done in every church. If egalitarianism were true then this would be the perfect opportunity to state it, but Paul does not go there.

Hunt followed Duncan’s presentation with practical applications for women’s ministry in the local church. She brought a wealth of life experience and wisdom to her talk based on her years of ministry to women. Going off of Duncan’s biblical foundations Hunt gave an apologetic of womanhood practically played out in five different ways: submission, compassion, community, discipleship, and scripture. Through these principles, she sought to answer the five questions posed in the book Women’s Ministry in the Local Church. Understanding biblical womanhood to manifest itself in “life giving” rather than “life taking,” she unpacked these five principles by pointing to the Pastoral Epistles (1 and 2 Timothy and Titus).

1. In submission, women must follow the ecclesiastical leadership that God has given them. The women’s ministry must be submitted to the male leadership for approval, but so must every other discipleship ministry. We also see the qualifications for male headship in that women are called to submit to godly leaders not tyrants. This should be seen as a security for women, not a hindrance.
2. A vibrant women’s ministry can come alongside the diaconal ministries of the church because they are compassionate.
3. When a women’s ministry is characterized by community we see what it means to truly be the family of God. The widows in the New Testament were credentialed by a life of the ordinary stuff that makes covenant community life extraordinary.
4. Gender specific discipleship, as seen in Titus 2:3-5, is so important because we would never on our own come to an understanding of what it means to be a life-giver. Gender specific disicipleship that focuses on principles about what God says about our womanhood must be taught because women are hearing something in the culture and what they are hearing is not God’s way.
5. In 2 Timothy 3:2-17 we see that Timothy’s mother and grandmother taught him the Scriptures from infancy. Here we see the principles of the foundation and sufficiency of Scripture. If there are core biblical principles, women’s ministry can be the church's greatest delight for men and women. If not, then it will be your worst nightmare.

The conference session ended with questions from the audience. It was encouraging to see men and women desiring to know God and make him known in their churches. May they continue to press on and teach godly manhood and womanhood to their congregations, for the glory of God and the joy of his people.

For more information, visit the CBMW website where you will find audio resources, journal articles, Gender Blog, and host of other free resources on biblical manhood and womanhood for your edification and the building of the local church.

Courtney Tarter is a student at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky and a former member of Bethlehem Baptist Church. She blogs at In View of God’s Mercy and at CBMW's Gender Blog.