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A Book Review by Pastor John Sleadd
I was asked a while back to review a book that a local church wanted to use to enhance its women's ministry. Here it is in the form of a letter to the authors.
Dear Ligon Duncan and Susan Hunt,
I just read your book, Women’s Ministry in the Local Church. Thank you for challenging the egalitarian and feminist practices that have crept into many of our churches today. Thank you for affirming male headship and complementarianism in gender roles. And thank you for reminding women, particularly older women, to be spiritual mentors to the younger ladies. You make a strong case for promoting submission, compassion, community, and discipleship, all guided by Scripture. The material in your appendices for organizing women's Bible studies is strong on doctrine and organization.
As I read through your book, however, I got the feeling that you had missed something important. One of your foundational assertions is that women are “helpers” and “life givers, (pgs. 34, 35), yet not a single paragraph in your work addressed the role of women as wives and mothers in the home. This is curious since the major Scriptural proof texts you use for your assertion explicitly state homemaking as a primary ministry role.
I just read your book, Women’s Ministry in the Local Church. Thank you for challenging the egalitarian and feminist practices that have crept into many of our churches today. Thank you for affirming male headship and complementarianism in gender roles. And thank you for reminding women, particularly older women, to be spiritual mentors to the younger ladies. You make a strong case for promoting submission, compassion, community, and discipleship, all guided by Scripture. The material in your appendices for organizing women's Bible studies is strong on doctrine and organization.
As I read through your book, however, I got the feeling that you had missed something important. One of your foundational assertions is that women are “helpers” and “life givers, (pgs. 34, 35), yet not a single paragraph in your work addressed the role of women as wives and mothers in the home. This is curious since the major Scriptural proof texts you use for your assertion explicitly state homemaking as a primary ministry role.
“No widow may be put on the list of widows unless she is over sixty, has been faithful to her husband, and is well known for her good deeds, such as bringing up children, showing hospitality, washing the feet of the saints, helping those in trouble and devoting herself to all kinds of good deeds. So I counsel younger widows to marry, to have children, to manage their homes and to give the enemy no opportunity for slander” (1 Timothy 5:9-10, 14) [author's emphasis].
“Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. Then they can train the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God” (Titus 2:3-5 ) [author's emphasis].
Perhaps this oversight is due to your focus on the involvement of women solely in church programs, apart from home life. By omission, your book seems to imply that a woman’s helping role to her husband at home (in household management, business and ministry), and her mothering role to her children (including education), are not significant contributions to the local church. This is a serious mistake, I think.
While I appreciate your exhortations that women be involved in diaconal ministry in the church, I think you have neglected to remind them of their glorious calling to motherhood at home. God commands and blesses it in His dominion mandate to fill and subdue the earth. (Genesis 1:28) He seeks godly offspring (Malachi 2:15). He declares children as a gift and a reward. (Psalm 127:3) He declares that women are restored by childbearing. (1 Timothy 2:15) He commends diligent women who care for their children and their household (Provebs 31). A mother's instruction adorns the character of a child (Proverbs 1:8-9).
Church leaders should encourage women to rejoice in their roles of wives and mothers, and trainers of children. This does not prevent them from participating in great Bible studies, affinity groups, outreach projects, and church programs. It just helps them put the first things first. As they bring blessing to those around them in their homes, so shall they bring blessing to the gathering of the church, as well.
I admit that I have not read other books you have written. Perhaps you speak of such things in Susan’s book, Spiritual Mothering. Still, Women’s Ministry in the Local Church should itself include an emphasis on the crucial, primary service of women to fully employ their helping, life-giving gifts in their homes.
I recommend the book, So Much More, by Anna Sofia Botkin and Elizabeth Botkin, for a good read on the ministry of young women in their calling to advance the kingdom of God.
Respectfully,
Perhaps this oversight is due to your focus on the involvement of women solely in church programs, apart from home life. By omission, your book seems to imply that a woman’s helping role to her husband at home (in household management, business and ministry), and her mothering role to her children (including education), are not significant contributions to the local church. This is a serious mistake, I think.
While I appreciate your exhortations that women be involved in diaconal ministry in the church, I think you have neglected to remind them of their glorious calling to motherhood at home. God commands and blesses it in His dominion mandate to fill and subdue the earth. (Genesis 1:28) He seeks godly offspring (Malachi 2:15). He declares children as a gift and a reward. (Psalm 127:3) He declares that women are restored by childbearing. (1 Timothy 2:15) He commends diligent women who care for their children and their household (Provebs 31). A mother's instruction adorns the character of a child (Proverbs 1:8-9).
Church leaders should encourage women to rejoice in their roles of wives and mothers, and trainers of children. This does not prevent them from participating in great Bible studies, affinity groups, outreach projects, and church programs. It just helps them put the first things first. As they bring blessing to those around them in their homes, so shall they bring blessing to the gathering of the church, as well.
I admit that I have not read other books you have written. Perhaps you speak of such things in Susan’s book, Spiritual Mothering. Still, Women’s Ministry in the Local Church should itself include an emphasis on the crucial, primary service of women to fully employ their helping, life-giving gifts in their homes.
I recommend the book, So Much More, by Anna Sofia Botkin and Elizabeth Botkin, for a good read on the ministry of young women in their calling to advance the kingdom of God.
Respectfully,
John Sleadd
