\n
I once worked as a young adult director in a church. This church was and continues to be a great church, filled with people who love God, one another, and the world with genuine affection and generosity. During the time I worked as a director, they gave me freedom to lead and preach and dream with great liberty. But because they did not license women as pastors, I was called a director. While my male friends got licensed, sought ordination, and received recognition for being ministers of the gospel, I did not.<\/p>\n
I advocated for women in leadership and pressed the church to consider the ordination of woman. Some listened, but not enough to do much about it. In hindsight, the rejection I felt, and the intense confusion I dealt with\u2014why the men, and not the women\u2014took a toll on my heart.<\/p>\n
Over time, it wasn\u2019t that I ever felt called out of full-time ministry; it was simply that I couldn\u2019t find my way through full-time ministry as a woman. There didn\u2019t seem to be a clear track for me to take within my denomination. So, through prayer and aching frustration, and a lot of tears, I continued to love God, people, and work in lay ministry of various sorts, but I dedicated myself to things outside the institution\u2014mainly the written word and telling stories.<\/p>\n
I thought maybe I was selfishly ambitious. We\u2019re not supposed to fight for our rights; we\u2019re supposed to lay them down. So I went down a new road. I continued to minister in Jesus\u2019 name, but expected no title, or salary, no recognition other than the recognition that comes from a job well done.<\/p>\n
I cultivated my life with God in other ways. And because God is good and faithful, I grew in grace and in knowledge of Jesus, and God used me in spite of it all.<\/p>\n
Two and a half years ago, upon returning home to the United States after living in South America, I made a deliberate decision to only attend churches that believe in and practice the ordination of women. It felt right to me. I didn\u2019t have the energy to be an advocate inside the institution anymore. I needed to visibly see women pastors and be a part of the church that let the women lead without requiring the spiritual covering of a man. Along the way, I met a man named John, a man who was and is a sincere advocate for the ordination of woman.<\/p>\n
Never one to let a good thing go, I married John. Over time, he started to say things about my gifts as a woman minister. Things like, \u201cI\u2019d like to help you get licensed as a pastor.\u201d Or, \u201cYou\u2019re a minister in your own right.\u201d Or even, \u201cWe will find a way for you to go to seminary if you\u2019d like that.\u201d Things no man has ever said to me before.<\/p>\n
It unnerved me. It stirred up the dust in a cemetery of buried dreams. I\u2019m a writer now. I let all that other stuff go when it proved too painful. I believe in the ordination of women, for other women, but not for me. Even so, like the slow trickle of a stream that has long been bottlenecked, his words proved to be freedom stones, and loosened the tightly bound blockage. I began to hear the still small voice of God.<\/p>\n
Can these dry bones live?<\/em><\/p>\nOnly you know, oh God.<\/p>\n
\u201cSpeak to your dry bones and tell them to live.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\nLast spring, at a time when I least expected, John threw my name in the hat as a potential speaker for a young adult retreat. It felt like I was returning to a language I knew from long ago, a language I loved. Then the pastor of the church we were attending asked me to preach on a Sunday morning\u2014something I have never been asked to do in any US church. Sunday pulpits are reserved for the men. Then, another invitation came to preach two Sundays at a sister church nearby.<\/p>\n
A few good people within the denomination have quietly asked me, \u201cAre you going to become a pastor?\u201d What do I say? I wholeheartedly believe in women pastors, but\u2026<\/p>\n
Am I allowed to become a pastor?<\/em><\/p>\nRecently, my husband took a job as interim lead pastor of a local church. The other day he referred to someone on the board of elders as \u201cshe.\u201d I flinched, having to remind myself, \u201cOh, that\u2019s right. They have women pastors\u00a0and<\/em>\u00a0women elders in this denomination.\u201d<\/p>\nHow is it different being in a denomination that ordains women? If I tried to put my pulse on why biblical equality matters so much to me, I think I would say that, after all this time, it finally feels like the men aren\u2019t the gatekeepers barring me from entrance to something I\u2019ve long felt called toward. It feels like there\u2019s an open invitation to seek God, and find my way,\u00a0wherever<\/em>\u00a0that way might lead.<\/p>\nI\u2019m sure there are imperfections in this denomination, as with any human institution, God-ordained or not. We are an imperfect people trying to love one another and our God with all our hearts, and we don\u2019t always get it right. But finally, I attend a church that doesn\u2019t exclude women from leadership. And that does my soul well.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
From CBE\u2019s Arise By\u00a0Tina Osterhouse\u00a0and see here website here.\u00a0 And a huge thanks to Mimi Haddad for all her courageous faith-work for women in ministry. Now to Tina\u2019s article. I once worked as a young adult director in a church. This church was and continues to be a great church, filled with people who love […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":197,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-70603","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
Let The Blue Parakeet Sing!<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"From CBE's Arise By\u00a0Tina Osterhouse\u00a0and see here website here.\u00a0 And a huge thanks to Mimi Haddad for all her courageous faith-work for women in ministry.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2017\/11\/03\/let-blue-parakeet-sing\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Let The Blue Parakeet Sing!\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"From CBE's Arise By\u00a0Tina Osterhouse\u00a0and see here website here.\u00a0 And a huge thanks to Mimi Haddad for all her courageous faith-work for women in ministry.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2017\/11\/03\/let-blue-parakeet-sing\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Jesus Creed\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-11-03T14:27:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-11-02T14:30:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/wp.production.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/files\/2017\/11\/Screen-Shot-2017-11-02-at-9.28.00-AM.png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Scot McKnight\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Scot McKnight\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2017\/11\/03\/let-blue-parakeet-sing\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2017\/11\/03\/let-blue-parakeet-sing\/\",\"name\":\"Let The Blue Parakeet Sing!\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2017-11-03T14:27:19+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-11-02T14:30:30+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252\"},\"description\":\"From CBE's Arise By\u00a0Tina Osterhouse\u00a0and see here website here.\u00a0 And a huge thanks to Mimi Haddad for all her courageous faith-work for women in ministry.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2017\/11\/03\/let-blue-parakeet-sing\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2017\/11\/03\/let-blue-parakeet-sing\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2017\/11\/03\/let-blue-parakeet-sing\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Let The Blue Parakeet Sing!\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/\",\"name\":\"Jesus Creed\",\"description\":\"Scot McKnight on Jesus and orthodox faith in the 21st century\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252\",\"name\":\"Scot McKnight\",\"description\":\"Scot McKnight is a recognized authority on the New Testament, early Christianity, and the historical Jesus. 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<\/a>From CBE\u2019s Arise<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n