Baptist Women in Ministry http://www.
bwim.info/index.php/welcome - see Resources
Carolyn Goodman Plampin http://home.netcom.com/~cplampin
Series-Subjects Relevant to an Informed Opinion about Christian Women in Ministry
HOW WOMEN IN THE CHURCH CAN BRING ABOUT CHANGE
First created in January, 1996, Revised January 10, 2007
Baptist Women in Ministry http://www.bwim.info/index.php/welcome
c/o McAfee School of Theology
3001 Mercer University Drive
Atlanta, GA 30341
(678) 547-6475
e-mail: BWIM@hotmail.com
Questions, comments, or suggestions
of bibliography or sites to include may be sent to
Carolyn Goodman Plampin
Coordinator Subjects Relevant to an Informed Opinion
1220 Vienna Dr., #504
Sunnyvale, CA 94089-2007
(408) 734-5141
Master of Teaching, Universidade Federal do Paraná, Brazil, March 20, 1968
Master of Divinity, Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary, June 2, 1978
Missionary to Brazil of the International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention, 1957-1988
Academic dean (without title) and professor, Instituto Biblico Batista, A.B. Deter and
Seminário Teológico Batista do Paraná, Curitiba, 1959-1979
Academic dean and professor, Seminário de Educacao Crista, Recife, 1980-1986
e-mail: cplampin@ix.netcom.com
CONTENTS
HOW TO ADVOCATE FOR WOMEN IN MINISTRY
POWERS OF THE WEAK
Janeway writes her book to tell women, who are weak, how to have power.
Ordered use of the power to disbelieve, the first power of the weak, begins here, with the refusal to accept the definition of oneself that is put forward by the powerful.It is true that one may not have a coherent self-definition to set against the status assigned by the established social mythology, but that is not necessary for dissent. ... Actually, we gormless fools of the weak are often much closer to practical getting-things-done than are our betters. p. 167.
We considered, in Chapter 8, what it is that the powerful want from the weak, and it was suggested that legitimacy, not power itself, as the powerful define it, but rather the right to power, is the answer. ... Disbelief, then, signals something that the powerful fear, and slight as it may appear, we should not underestimate its force. It is, in fact, the first sign of the withdrawal of consent by the governed.
For the governed, therefore, the second step toward achievement -- forming their own groups for their own ends -- has got to be firmly rooted in the first power of the weak, mistrust of the powerful and their opinions, since the opinions of the powerful on the subject of the weak are both ignorant and self-serving. Disbelief and mistrust shared with others act as a protective shield beneath which a new trust can grow, trust of oneself and one's fellows. Coming together sets up a bridge that stretches from dissent to positive action, p. 171.Like the first power of the weak, dissent and mistrust, this second one, coming together, doesn't sound like much. aren't the weak always doing this, cohering briefly into some artless cluster for some ill-defined, or some simply personal, end? And of course they are. It's as natural a human activity as questioning and disbelief. Once again, its naturalness is not a reason to devalue it. Devaluing the everyday, the personal, the ordinary, is one way that the judgments of the powerful trivialize the lives of the governed, and so promote the indecision and lack of ambition for which the governed are then criticized. ... The advice of the powerful on how to stop being weak by aping the manners of the powerful is of very little use to the weak, as we shall see. The natural impulses of the governed to distrust their rulers, to set up their own like-minded companies, and to seek change through group action are much more effective, p. 171.
The real basis for change comes with a new self-image, validated by others in the same boat, p. 174.
Janeway, Elizabeth. POWERS OF THE WEAK.
Bibliography on How Women n the Church can Bring about Change
Flikkema, L. Joan. CASSETTE TAPE "Working for Change with the Denominations." Order from Christians for Biblical Equality, 122 West Franklin Ave., Suite 218, Minneapolis, MN 55404-2451, (612) 872-6898, e-mail: cbe@minn.net
Gundry, P NEITHER SLAVE NOR FREE: HELPING WOMEN ANSWER THE CALL TO CHURCH LEADERSHIP. Harper and Row Publishers, 1987. Chapter 10. "Resources" has a bibliography on change. Janeway, Elizabeth. POWERS OF THE WEAK. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1980.Vaters, Karl. "Seven Steps for Bringing Biblical Equality to Your Church." Christians for Biblical Equality http://www.cbeinternational.org/new/index.shtml, click on FREE articles.
HOW TO ADVOCATE FOR WOMEN IN MINISTRY
Be reflective in your attitude about women in ministry. Search the Scriptures, study and pray regarding the ministry roles of women in the church.Be educated. Read books, articles, histories about women in ministry. Familiarize yourself with current events, trends, and viewpoints.
Be knowledgeable about your consistuency. Know what's going on in your city, state and convention regarding women in ministry. How can you become an advocate for women in ministry in these contexts?Be a friend or mentor. Offer support to women in positions of ministry and women involved in theological education.
Be involved in a network. Participate in formal and informal groups that focus on welcoming, encouraging, and nuturing women in ministry. Commit yourself to ministry with and in behalf of women's role - full role - in the church.
Be attentive to language. Search for ways to facilitate a more sensitive use of language that is as inclusive as the Gospel we declare.
Be in dialogue. Talk to members of your church about women in ministry. Encourage education and discussion about the issues, difficult scripture texts, resistances and fears.
Be proactive. Invite women to preach and to speak in congregational events. Provide opportunities for women to exercise their gifts and fulfill their calling.
Be actively involved in advocacy for women during a ministry search process. Even when you are not part of the search committee, take seriously the candidacy of women for positions, including senior pastor positions. Pledge to help open the doors that will lead women to pastorates throughout the Baptist family.
Be persistent. "...women and men who feel strongly that the call of God is "poured out on all flesh" must not grow weary of our common task as witnesses to such a call and its implications for ministers and churches alike." (Bill Leonard, Folio, Vol. 16, No. 1)
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