To preach or not to preach?????

I was just browsing through the audio sermons, and i saw a picture of the lady named "Jackie Pullinger"......i was shocked becasue i have never before seen a woman preacher on this site, only on other sites like oneplace.com.

Now....i would like to hear the views of people on this board, Is it fitting for a woman to preach to men?

If so back up with scripture that approves it.

God bless u all!

W_D_J_D wrote:
Now....i would like to hear the views of people on this board, Is it fitting for a woman to preach to men?

I wonder if sharing a testimony is to be considered "preaching"? I also wonder if anyone knows whether Jackie still preaches after getting married about 7 years ago. Can anyone shed some first hand light of this?

Great question you raised.

Before we can answer that we first must know what “preach” means, and how it is used in scripture. We must differentiate between the Biblical meaning of the word, and our modern meaning – vastly different.

In the Bible the word “preach” is usually associated with the word “Gospel”. PREACH THE GOSPEL.

The gospel is:
all that God has done, is doing and will do in His risen Son, Jesus Christ....
When used alone, it stands for the whole of the Christian message.
It encompasses ultimately the entire message of the Bible.

"By this GOSPEL you are saved. …that Christ died for our sins…that he was buried and that he was raised…" I Cor. 15:12 "The GOSPEL...is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes." Rom. 1:17

"In the GOSPEL a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last." Rom.1:17
Essentially, the gospel is God's rescue plan for the human race. It is the only hope for fallen mankind; and that is good news indeed! The gospel must be preached!

To preach means:
to proclaim, or publish, declare, herald;
In Scripture it refers to a general testimony to all with whom they came into contact.

"preach the Gospel", or something similar is repeated so often in Scripture that it demands our attention. It was an important activity of Christ and His disciples. He sent them out on field assignments "preaching the gospel and healing people everywhere". Lk 9:6 Where did they preach? They went to the towns, roadsides, riverbanks, homes, synagogues, marketplaces, villages, and into foreign territory. Jesus emphasized the importance of this activity when He said, "The gospel must be preached to all nations." Mk. 13:10 That is a gigantic task - much bigger than what can be accomplished on a Sunday morning in church by a very select number of professional people.

Christ has given all believers the "ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself...and he has committed to us this message of reconciliation. We are therefore ambassadors, as though God has made his appeal through us." 1 Cor. 5:19,20

Paul was passionate about preaching the Gospel. He said, "...I am compelled to preach. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!" 1 Cor. 9:16 His preaching was generated from a fire burning in his heart that was set ablaze by God. It came as a result of his own experience of being set free from sin. Paul said, "The grace was given me to preach ...the unsearchable riches of Christ." Eph. 3:7

The word “preach” has been so strongly associated with ecclesiastical hierarchy that we have lost it’s proper meaning. But there is no hierarchy in God’s harvest fields.

"Neither he who plants,
nor he who waters is anything,
but only God, who makes things grow." 1 Cor. 3:7

"How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of good things." Rom. 15:15

"No one who has left home or [family] (i.e. their approval)for the sake of the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times …" Mk 10:29

I consider my life worth nothing to me,
if only I may finish the race
and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me
the task of TESTIFYING TO THE GOSPEL OF GOD'S GRACE. Ac. 20:24

After mediating on those scriptures, then consider what it means to preach and who are called to do so.

Consider the Samaritan Woman at the well who proclaimed the good news to her village.
Consider those women who first proclaimed Christ’s resurrection. Was that not preaching at its best?

Now consider who should NOT be preaching? What about those who only know ABOUT the good news, but it is not “fire in their bones”? What about those who proclaim a different gospel. (see Galatians)

Just some thoughts for starts.
Diane

I deleted my original post since this system wouldn't let me cancel it.

[b]1Timothy 2:12[/b] [color=990000]But I suffer not a woman to be teaching, nor to be usurping authority over the man, but to be in silence.[/color]

This verse is saying that women should not be the main preacher and to be in authority.

preach:
[b]1)[/b] To proclaim or put forth in a sermon: preached the gospel.

[b]2)[/b] To advocate, especially to urge acceptance of or compliance with: preached tolerance and peaceful coexistence.

[b]3)[/b] To deliver (a sermon).
To give religious or moral instruction, especially in a tedious manner.

Example:
present active infinitive
to be teaching.
And
to be in authority.

logic,

I agree with Paul totally (I know, I'd better), and have made a lot of women (and their husbands) upset over this stance. Many of them disagree with Paul's admonition by interpreting his words into a mere cultural or provisional dispostion for the women in the past.

Another popular argument is that if GOD used Miriam and Deborah in the old days, Paul couldn't mean otherwise.

My take on that is that God used women those days as a way to judge and humiliate the men in Israel's rebellious state, as one can see in verses like Isaiah 3:12:

As for my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, they which lead thee cause thee to err, and destroy the way of thy paths.

O well,
learning to submit still,
mamaluk

sister mamaluk.....

May God bless u sister, and remember that in the sight of God i am not greater becasue i am a male.......no no no. we are equal but different.

with different roles to play, and different parts to keep. i thank God that you are keeping to the truth, oh how we need some more godly women of God in this world today!

May the Lord strengthen you my sister!

[b]Acts[/b] of the Holy Spirit [b]21:8-9[/b] Philip the evangelist had four unmarried daughters who were prophetesses.

So, if women shouldn't teach or should be quiet in the church, what place do Philip daughters have?

logic,

hm..from what I learned in the past, prophesying in the N.T. varies from the one in the O.T.

I don't remember who wrote something along the line where in the O.T., prophesying denotes fore-telling, but the latter,forth-telling. So, to me , women should have no restraints from activities like exhortations,sharing doctrinal matters,'round-table' bible studies, edification, even teaching other women or children , just not in an authoritative manner over men, especially over their own husbands or at the presence of their own husbands.

I'm glad you brought up the 'prophetesses' in the N.T.,I totally overlooked.

just my understanding,
mml

I totaly agree, my wife can realy preach, when moved.

I love her imputs at our bible studies.

When we go th the Philippines, I am sure that she will do some preaching, if the situation needs.

logic,

You wife is very blessed to have you being so supportive of her.

Praise God,
mml

W_D_J_D,

You may like to check this biographical summery of [url=http://justus.anglican.org/resources/bio/73.html]Gladys Aylward[/url], a lady who felt called to preach.

Do you think it was a divine calling? Or was she deceived?

Diane

Diane,

Throughout history, undeniably GOD used women to preach. I heard a case where one female evangelist was preaching in a remote area, and in time, one of the tribal men stood up with his Bible when he discovered II Tim. and pointed out to her. She then happily passed her ministry back on to the men (I guess by then they became believing and learned men.)

Re-iterating from my past post, in the days of 'fallen' Israel, GOD used women to not just preach but to RULE the nation. According to one of the verses in Isaiah,HE used women to lead them as a form of judgment and oppression to the whole economy. Read also Isaiah 3, how HE described the religious women in those days, quite alarming and even parallel to our days.

For believers, GOD told us through Paul, in particular to disallow woman to teach and use authority over (authority to me, often means the WORD) man, but to be silent and to submit to man, in part it seems, there were some women acting unruly at that time, we were also told that the angels were watching over GOD's glory during the assembly of saints. Unruliness and disorder seem to chisle away that glory for HIM.

I believe especially whenever godly men(husbands) are available in any assembly, for the sake of obedience to Paul's instructions, women should take a back seat, and at least work under the headship of the husbands.

Throughout the evangelical history of China, numerous female evangelists were used, and praise GOD for that, in my mind, first, there were no knowledgeable or Christian men available, two, those settings were not assembly of saints, but of evangelization of the gosple, third, there just might be some well-intentioned females who disregarded Pual's words. As we see in our times, a lot of us,not just women,try to 'serve' God out of zealousness but not with obedience to the Word.

I hope I'm making sense, but this is what I truly belief, and how I will conduct myself in any assembly with the presence of true Christian men and my husband.

thanks for making that point,
mamaluk

HmmHmm, there are a lot of issues that spring from your post, most of them apply to all God’s people. Most of them also relate to abuse of authority so I will address that issue:

Throughout history, undeniably GOD used women to preach. I heard a case where one female evangelist was preaching in a remote area, and in time, one of the tribal men stood up with his Bible when he discovered II Tim. and pointed out to her. She then happily passed her ministry back on to the men (I guess by then they became believing and learned men.)

, in the days of 'fallen' Israel, GOD used women to not just preach but to RULE the nation. According to one of the verses in Isaiah, HE used women to lead them as a form of judgment and oppression to the whole economy.

The deepest concern that arises from your post is the sad reality that “preach” has become so closely connected with “rule” –by misuse of clergical powers over the years. So we hear phrases like, “We don’t want to get preachy”, or “Don’t preach AT me,” as if preaching is a one-sided monologue inflicted on a “victim” by someone who is dominating. This is a gross misuse of a beautiful God-given, life-giving calling: Preach. How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news! I wish to point out that preaching can never be an authoritarian function.

Read also Isaiah 3, how HE described the religious women in those days, quite alarming and even parallel to our days.

GOD told us through Paul, in particular to disallow woman to teach and use authority over (authority to me, often means the WORD) man, but to be silent and to submit to man, in part it seems, there were some women acting unruly at that time,

“usurp authority’ in Stong’s concordance: “ act of oneself, dominate, usurp authority over.” It seems like the women in the Cor. Church were usurping authority over the appointed leaders. They were controlling. That is a temptation for everyone. It is a temptation in the way we handle our children and our husbands. The issue of abuse of authority and power is addressed to others: ex: Elders – “Do not lord it over…” Husbands (Eph. 5:25ff … Fathers.. Masters,,.. women…

Much damage has been caused by the church over the centuries because of people lording over others. Jesus himself never took a priestly position, or any kind of dominance over others. His authority came from God – and people recognized it.

When one usurps dominance over another’s spirit, they are usurping the role of the Holy Spirit. So we see countless dependant on man – trusting in man, and they never learn to trust the Spirit to be their guide – to put their trust in God. That essentially means, they never because followers of Christ.

Preaching the gospel must flow from a servant position because it must point, that is, lead one to the ultimate authority: Christ. It must also flow from the HEAD. It is not an authority in itself.

That is why in the Spirit there is no clergy or layman, no Greek or Jew, no male or female, - no rank, no separations as we see (yet must respect) in the temporal realm. Christ is the HEAD.

Diane