Discipleship & Shepherding of Women 

By Gretchen Ronnevik

Gretchen shares a lot of insights, that I find eye opening, in this video. I recommend listening to the whole thing.

She says something forty one minutes in, that I want to highlight.

“Back to the female voice, which I said I was going to come back to. These women are unconsciously removing themselves from the gospel in the pews. They don’t realize they are doing it, but they are doing it. The 1/4, or 1/3 of the women trained by these publications. 

When there’s a female voice speaking the gospel to them it hits different. That female voice reaches a quarter or a third of women who are removing it unconsciously. And so, when I go and speak to a group of women, or go to a tea, or whatever event I’m invited to, and I share the gospel as richly as I can, and make sure that these women know that the blood of Christ covers them, and that they are going to be conformed into the image of Christ. 

And I share as much as I can…you wouldn’t believe how many women, who I know their pastors, and I know their pastors are preaching the word and I know they are preaching Christ crucified. There are women who will come up to me and say, “I had no idea that was for women. I had no idea.” And that’s partially why I do what I do. Because I’m trying to undo some of the damage that was done by that so that they hear, in a female voice, this is for you too. 

I was speaking at an event, and I’m very self-conscious, because I have a soft voice, I’m not loud and entertaining, and I shared the gospel and a women came up to me and she said, “I really appreciated your very soft voice.” She said, “you know, I came out of a very abusive marriage where there was a lot of yelling, and loud male voices make my brain completely shut down. And to hear a soft woman’s voice share the gospel I could actually relax and hear it all.” We need all the voices. We need all the voices.”

What I’m understanding from Gretchen saying these things is:

Gender “roles” or distinctions have gone too far. Women hear the male voice proclaiming the blood of Christ for the forgiveness of sins over the whole church, and some women believe the male pastor is only speaking to the men.

For some women, hearing other women speaking the gospel over them, they recognize the blood of Christ is for them as well, they will receive the forgiveness of sins on account of Christ’s merits, through a woman’s voice. 

Gretchen believes this is happening to maybe 1/4 or 1/3 of women in the church. I believe this is because gender roles have been so heavily pushed onto us, in extreme ways. Gretchen explains some of these extremes in the video. I believe that both women and men are free in Christ to proclaim the gospel over the whole congregation, and men’s and women’s voices should both be heard doing this. This should be normalized. 

There are 4-6 verses or passages, about women being quiet and not teaching men, that have been elevated and, I believe, taken out of their historical context. One example is 1 Corinthians 14. I understand that our conscience is bound to the way we interpret scripture. A lot of work has been done to help us understand that these verses are not a universal rule for all women to live under. While I agree that men and women who do not understand the gospel correctly should not be teaching the church.  At the same time, gender “roles” quench the work of Holy Spirit in both women and men. When we hold to strict gender roles women are being prevented from using their gifts to benefit the whole assembled gathering of believers, making some churches not willing or able to listen to female voices.

I define gender “roles” as male leadership/female following, or male authority/female submission. What I see happening is this grooming men to not listen to women. Perhaps some of us women and men are offended by women’s voices. When this happens gender “roles” have gone too far.

Gretchen is seeing that some women, 1/4 to 1/3 of women, are not able to receive the gospel from a male voice. That’s interesting that this was happening. Gretchen says that at every event she has shared the gospel at, one or more women tell her, “I didn’t know the blood of Christ was for me.” Gender “roles” are not the gospel, they are perhaps personal preferences read into the text of scripture, and they have obscured the gospel, and the forgiveness and freedoms that we have in Christ.

On the other hand, I am aware that some women, including myself, have been unconsciously groomed with scripture, to have this internal misogyny against women’s voices. There is a lot of indoctrination that goes into the idea that women’s voices are not as valuable as men’s voices. Since 2016 I’ve been in the process of rethinking this air that I have breathed my whole life. Deconstructing from the beliefs, that prop up men’s voices as more valuable, is hard work. It’s so easy to punch down on women, and dismiss them, and it’s very frustrating, as a woman, to live in this context.

This year the Holy Spirit has started the process of setting me free from the good and holy law that came through Moses, also known as the law of sin and death. I am also receiving more freedom from gender “roles”. I share these things, as I am willing and able to.

This context of gender roles is in a lot of our churches. See the attachments of this power & control wheel. It took a while to recognize and admit that the beliefs I was taught are not healthy for relationships in the body of Christ. This power & control wheel helps teach women to recognize when they are in an abusive relationship. Maybe men will be helped by this wheel as well.

 

 

This might sound offensive to us, but I believe Gretchen is being a pastor to these women. She may not be “allowed” to have that title. She may not want to have that title. But she is doing the gift of pastoring, and I thank her for that. She has that spiritual gift. This does not offend me, because I no longer believe that spiritual gifts are gendered gifts, nor are spiritual gifts based on ethnicity, for those who are in Christ Jesus.

In my understanding of the the gospel and of gender roles, I believe Paul teaches a gospel that sets us free from the commands that came through Moses, not just the condemnation that we received through these commands, but also from the commands themselves.

Galatians 3:19-29

The Purpose of the Law

“Why then was the law given?” ( Romans 5:20 “The law came along to multiply the trespass.” (The law was given to increase sin.) 

“It was added for the sake of transgressions until the Seed to whom the promise was made would come. The law was put into effect through angels by means of a mediator. Now a mediator is not just for one person alone, but God is one. Is the law therefore contrary to God’s promises? Absolutely not! For if the law had been granted with the ability to give life, then righteousness would certainly be on the basis of the law. But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin’s power, so that the promise might be given on the basis of faith in Jesus Christ to those who believe. Before this faith came, we were confined under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith was revealed. The law, then, was our guardian until Christ, so that we could be justified by faith. But since that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, for through faith you are all sons of God in Christ Jesus.” (Faith in Christ has set us free from the commands that came through Moses, they are not Jesus’ commands. We are the righteousness of God based on Christ’s merits,  2 Corinthians 5:16-21. In Christ the law has been taken away at the cross, making the law the wisdom of the world, and it still rules over the rest of the world, empowering sin, Romans 7, Colossians 2:13b-15, 1 Corinthians 15:56. Jesus has 2 commands: believe your sins are forgiven on account of Christ’s shed blood, and love others by setting them free from the law that came through Moses, John 14 + 15, 1 John 3:23)

Sons and Heirs

“For those of you who were baptized into Christ have been clothed with Christ. There is no Jew or Greek, slave or free, male and female; since you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, heirs according to the promise.” (The Spirit does not look at gender when giving out gifts.)