March 31, 2020 in Diakonos
At least half (or more) of a church’s members and attendees at any given time are women. Women have played an essential role in the church since the beginning (Acts 16). In many churches, women’s ministry flourishes for this very reason. But should the teaching and training of women be limited to that which occurs in women’s Bible studies? I believe the answer is a resounding “no.” But why?
First, simply put, Titus 2 commands us to train our women in some formal way. Local churches may have already considered who is best positioned to train the women in their church. But have you considered how your teachers have been trained? If a woman’s goal is to teach other women so that no one will malign the Word of God (Titus 2:5), can it not be said that she ought to have been trained to rightly divide and handle it herself (2. Tim. 2:15; Titus 1:9)?
Second, the church needs it. My personal experience has proven that it is not only edifying and encouraging to be trained in a seminary setting, but it powerfully equips women with a clear and strong ability to rightly handle Truth. That Truth, given the right encouragement, will then spread like wildfire among the women in the church. Our times of false teachers (2 Pet. 2:1-3), false messages (2 Tim. 4:3-4), and shallow faith (Luke 8:6, 13) are certainly not new. However, we can find an answer for these and other obstacles (2 Tim. 3:6) by encouraging our women to pray about and act on their convictions of receiving formal theological training. They will be an asset to your congregation and a gem in your women’s ministries—impacting the women both within your church and within the community.
By Terry Perrine
Terry Perrine has a Master of Arts in Bible from Clarks Summit University and will be completing an Master of Divinity in May 2020. She can be reached at tperrine@ClarksSummitU.edu.
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