Our Postcards from the Midwest Conference are short and encouraging looks at what God is doing in churches across the Midwest Conference of the Evangelical Covenant Church – Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, western Missouri, Nebraska and Wyoming. We’re celebrating faithfulness, fresh vision, and the beauty of ministry in all shapes and sizes.
Called & Gifted: The Biblical Basis for Women in Ministry
On August 3, Manhattan Covenant Church – a church plant of the Evangelical Covenant Church (ECC) – hosted Called & Gifted: The Biblical Basis for Women in Ministry, a presentation and panel exploring the church’s conviction that the Bible affirms the full participation of women in every ministry role.
The event invited anyone interested – whether confident in their stance or still curious –to learn why the church believes that giftedness, God’s call, and godly character –not gender – are the biblical qualifications for ministry.
Church: Manhattan Covenant Church (the MWC’s latest church plant)
Location: Manhattan, KS
Website: https://www.mhkcovenant.org/
Pastors: Amanda Braun and Sam Creagar
A few words from the planting pastors…
How would you describe Manhattan Covenant Church? We are a group of people committed to moving toward Jesus together, becoming like him in how we engage our community and world.
What inspired you to host the Called & Gifted event? Manhattan does not have a lot of churches that hold to orthodox Christian beliefs and also affirm the full participation of women in ministry. As we began planting, we continually felt people being a bit skeptical of our church because I (Amanda) am one of the co-pastors, and surprise, also a woman! The college ministry scene is especially dominated by complementarian beliefs. Our church plant team was in favor of hosting an event like this to help educate people that our stance on women in ministry is biblically based and not a departure from the authority of scripture.
Could you describe the event in a few sentences? The first part of our event featured a presentation of an overview of our Biblical stance, utilizing the ECC resource “Called and Gifted.” We also tackled how we would go about interpreting 1 Timothy 2:11-15 as one example passage that has been used for the case against having women teach, preach, and pastor. For the second half, a panel of people shared their experiences, stories, reasons why they share the egalitarian belief, and what that has meant for their lives.
What surprised or encouraged you most during the event? Our panel did an incredible job. We were so encouraged by how clearly, boldly, and vulnerably they shared why they believe women should not be held back from using their gifts to serve the Kingdom.
How has your church grown through this conversation about women in ministry? Time will tell, but we hope this event will continue to open doors to talk about this topic. Our church as a whole seemed to be very encouraged by the event, and we hope it has given them a deeper understanding of the Biblical basis for women in ministry so that they can feel more equipped to share that with others.
Who is someone at your church who embodies this vision of calling and giftedness? One of the women on our panel, Coralee, truly embodies this vision. She was a missionary for about 50 years, and she always lived into her call to share Jesus with others. She brings such a wealth of knowledge and experience to our church, and we are a stronger group because of her.
