Last week, I was surprised to find an announcement in my church bulletin that our church board (all men) had nominated a woman for the position of deacon. A deacon in our church is an elected officer that serves on the church board with the pastors, with various powers reflecting a leadership role. (ex: Shepherding congregation) Church is member of SBC and the congregation elects deacons and officers to run the church.
My first reaction is that this is a bad idea, as it is increasing women leadership and setting the stage for future things like women pastors (currently banned by church constitution). However, I know the Bible also has references to deaconesses.
My conviction is to oppose this publicly when the church conducts its elections. I am interested to hear from mature Christians on
1.) If it is sound to oppose my church's leadership on this matter, or is this something that falls under freedom in Christ
2.) If sound, tactics of opposition. I am early 30s young adult, leadership/congregation is older, and probably soft-Christian-feminist. We already have women as officers for various ministries, so deacon is "just a little more". I am one of the officers. I might get 1 question and comment. Church constitution refers to 1 Timothy 1:1-13 as foundation for deacon's qualification, but pastors are probably treating references to men as a cultural thing "for the time" rather than a hard rule.
I have not yet talked to anyone in my church about this, so I am also wondering if I should be chat 1:1 with a pastor first instead of going straight to public opposition.
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