This week’s sermon was on what the gospel says about women in leadership.  We looked at this issue from Creation, Fall, and Redemption.  We looked at redemption from the lens of the tripod of the gospel: Jesus came--the incarnation, Jesus died for us--atonement, and Jesus resurrected and is coming back--restoration.  The entire narrative of the Bible moves towards men and women serving together according to their gifts.

Creation: God made both male and female in his image and they were equal partners in service to God’s mission.

The Fall: Both man and female sinned together.  One consequence of sin is that men will rule over women—patriarchy.  And this continued throughout the Old Testament.

Redemption: Incarnation: Jesus came and displayed counter-cultural and radically inclusive teaching and action toward women.

Redemption: Atonement: Jesus died for and the result of his death is the breaking down of walls even between men and women and equalizing the playing field.

Redemption: Restoration: The coming Kingdom is a place where there is no more sexism.  We go back to the original design and intent of being equals. The early church started to demonstrate this radical teaching.  There are numerous examples of female teachers.

Pastor Kevin also dealt with two passages that are often used to silence women.  He argued that those passages must be read as a local command for a local issue of the time.