The Biblical model of the church gathering is that the men lead, but it does not exclude the women from participating in the worship or outside the gathering.
When we understand the first century gathering model we see that men are led by the Holy Spirit. However we see too that the women were allowed to pray openly as well as share from the word and ask for a song as long as her head was covered. 1 Corinthians 11.
Most Brethren gatherings have made a rule that women may sing aloud and pray silently but are not allowed to expound on the word, that is left up to the men. I agree with this model but question the exclusion of women to "prophesy" meaning expounding on the Word.
The Bible clearly says that a woman may pray and prophesy as long as her head is covered as a sign that she is under the headship of her husband.
However it is also clear that women are not to be in charge of the gatherings. Men lead by power of the Holy Spirit and women share as they are led. I have no issue with the men making a rule that women cannot share, I simply go along to get along because it makes no sense to fight and argue over this matter when the Lord should be the focus.
I am not interested in declaring my "rights" that would make me the focus. It is far more important to focus on Christ during worship. Women have many opportunities to share other places than the gathering and they can be of great value as they pray silently.
I have always wondered why a woman is allowed by some gatherings to sing when the assertion is that they are to remain silent. Isn't singing not silence.
When we are too fixated on one minor aspect of a gathering we have the ability to disrupt the worship over something that does not matter.
1 Corinthians 8:11-12 "11 So this weak brother, for whom Christ died, is destroyed by your knowledge. 12 By sinning against your brothers in this way and wounding their weak conscience, you sin against Christ.…"
I am not saying that those who believe in silence for women are weaker brothers, but I am saying that they believe their model is correct and will not budge on it, then it is our duty to allow them that. After all, isn't the prayer of a woman valuable in the gathering. Praying silently can bring great blessing to the woman who does it and may even bring a greater Holy Spirit movement among the men of the gathering.
The sad reality is that often women are treated disrespectfully merely because they are women, in many gatherings today. I have had "pastors" who were disrespectful to me simply because I disagreed with them. I was not overstepping in a casual conversation with them. They seemed to have the attitude that because they were a sort of special breed above others by virtue of their "education", they were entitled to complete loyalty. This I do not agree with. No one is superior in knowledge merely because of their gender or their education. It is the Holy Spirit who is superior to every human being.
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