Christians for Biblical Equality’s

E-Quality Newsletter

Affirming the biblical truth of equality as reflected in Galatians 3:28

May 2003

Newness of Life

Each year God calls Christians for Biblical Equality to embrace afresh the Spirit, to expand our boundaries, and to walk in newness of life. The result of God’s renewing presence at CBE is seen in a burgeoning of book titles and the expansion of our E-Journal. At CBE we are always seeking new ways to forward the biblical truth of authentic ministry based on giftedness, not class, race or gender. To this end, we are pleased announce that Victoria Peterson-Hilleque will serve as editor, offering leadership to a journal with many new subscribers and a dedication to provide important reading. Victoria comes to her position as CBE’s editorial assistant with a master’s degree in literature and years of involvement in CBE.

Thank you for your interest in the ministry of CBE. We pray CBE’s ministry will expand your service to Christ and to that end, we pray and labor. For more information on our organization please visit our Web site http://www.cbeinternational.org/.

In Jesus,

Mimi Haddad
President

From the Editor

I am delighted to be the new editor of the E-Quality Newsletter. In this issue, J. Lee Grady dynamically outlines some lies you might believe and want to reconsider. Linda Harding and Melanie Pitcher create a portrait of Eva Burrows, highlighting her work as the General of the Salvation Army.

Also, please take note of the new section titled From the Mouths of Members where we ask you for information that can be shared with others. In the next issue, we will publish results from the poll question.

Look for information on our conference and consider signing up today or giving scholarship money to allow someone else to attend. Also, don’t miss the review of Heather P. Webb’s book Redeeming Eve: Finding Hope Beyond the Struggles of Life or the special offer from the bookstore that ends in two days!

I invite your feedback. Please let me know how this publication helps you and how I might improve future issues: vhilleque@cbeinternational.org.

Celebrating life in Christ,

Victoria Peterson-Hilleque
Editor

Ten Lies the Church Tells Women

By J. Lee Grady

For centuries, a patriarchal system of control has kept women in spiritual captivity through distortion of the Scriptures. It’s time to debunk the myths.

We live in the 21st century, but if we’re honest we have to admit that in some ways the church is still in the Dark Ages — especially when we look at the way we treat women.

Even though the Scriptures never portray women as secondary to men, our male-dominated religious system still promotes biblical misinterpretations of female inferiority. Women are tired of this, and as a man, so am I — because such demeaning attitudes don’t reflect God’s heart.

Jesus challenged gender prejudice at its core when He directed so much of His ministry toward women. In a Middle Eastern culture that considered women mere property, He healed women, disciplined them and commissioned them to minister. Yet today we spend much of our energy denying them opportunities — and using the Bible to defend our prohibitions.

I’ve identified 10 erroneous views about women that have been circulated in the church, preached from pulpits and written in the study notes of popular Bible translations for too long. I believe we must debunk these lies if we want to see the church released to fulfill the Great Commission.

For the rest of the article, follow this link:

http://www.cbeinternational.org/new/free_articles/10Lies.shtml

Soldier On

By Linda Harding and Melanie Pitcher

Eva Burrows’ conversation is liberally peppered with words like “marvelous”, “thrilled” and “excited”. At 72 years of age it is typical of her unflagging enthusiasm for God and the life she has been given — a fascinating life, by her own admission.

Educated in missions during her childhood in Africa, Eva did not make a commitment to Christianity until she went to university. After her conversion, she began to read about the work of the Salvation Army around the world and the large teachers’ colleges they ran in Africa and India. Her heart was captured by the work in Zimbabwe (then called Rhodesia). It was a call she was to follow for the next 20 years.

For the rest of the article, follow this link:

http://www.cbeinternational.org/new/free_articles/SoldierOn.html

from the mouths of members

Take a moment to respond to our poll. It is only one question, and your response could help others. Just click on the link. Look for interesting responses in future e-journals.

You Are Invited

Find out why the devil hates women in ministry, how to be a wild-hearted woman, and what the Bible says about God’s gender at the 2003 conference in Orlando. An all-star cast of speakers awaits you, such as David Hamilton, Kevin Giles, Linda Belleville, Lee Grady, Funmi Para-Mallam, Carolyn Custis James, and John Kohlenberger. Our conference will explore the theme, “The Priesthood of All Believers: Serving Christ as a Global Community.” To find out more about the sessions and speakers click on our conference Web site: http://www.cbeinternational.org/new/events/IndexforConference.html

People around the world have sent us pleas requesting scholarship assistance to attend. Our hearts break for those who cannot afford to participate in these informative and uplifting sessions. Pastors and Christian workers from many countries in Asia, Africa and South America have requested scholarship assistance. There are also many students and families in the United States who live on limited funds.

Time is running out for these friends to make travel plans. Please consider making a generous gift today to our scholarship fund so the people eager to hear this message can benefit from three days of study and fellowship. 

We hope to see you in Orlando!

Book Sale

Receive free shipping on your entire online order with CBE! Through May 15, any U.S. order that includes at least one of the 29 new offerings from our 2003 catalog will be shipped for free.

To receive free shipping, visit www.cbeinternational.org/bookstore, and choose the New Books category on the left. After you’ve selected the items you would like to order, choose the “Ship Free with Purchase of New Book” shipping option in Your Shopping Cart. Hurry — this offer ends in two days!

Book Review: Redeeming Eve: Finding Hope Beyond the Struggles of Life

By Heather P. Webb.
185 pages, Baker Books, 2002
Reviewed by Kriss Erickson

In Redeeming Eve, Heather Webb speaks with honesty and candor about a woman’s identity. She opens the book by saying, “What does it mean to be a woman who is in the process of healing and who, ultimately, has healing to offer?” (11). Each of the 14 chapters is focused on a different aspect of women’s lives, such as encountering men, women with women, accepting our bodies and more. Study questions at the end of each chapter encourage thoughtful self-examination.

Webb asserts that many women don’t believe in the power and insight of their own words. Cultural forces have silenced them. By allowing themselves to be silenced, they have agreed with a culture that assumes male voices should be more clearly heard than female voices. They have believed that it is not important that their voices are heard.

Webb speaks from the perspective that the equality of women is a God-given value. She calls with passion and grace for women to redeem themselves by re-evaluating their worth not by the standards of other people or organizations, but through the eyes of God. Webb says, “A soul is that part of us that connects with God because it is the place God’s unique image is made known” (19). She calls for women to make room for that image to emerge.

A common theme throughout the book is that women don’t enjoy themselves. In chapter 5, “The Place of Beauty,” she discusses women’s difficulty in focusing on their beauty by discussing the book of Esther. What women often see as faults are often their most effective strengths.

Redeeming Eve reaches out to those who have been silenced in a way that will facilitate their healing and help women to realize their natural ability to bring healing. Webb asks women to consider who they might be if they turn their ear inward to hear their hearts speak. She urges women to use their gifts of healing to reach out to men, to sense their fears and concerns. Instead of denying the power of her voice, Webb says a woman can use it to heal the areas of our society in unique ways.

Webb urges women to look to other women for guidance, citing her Grammy Alice, whose generous love nurtured her as a child. She urges women not to shy away from the changes that ultimately come when they have the courage to allow their gift of healing to enter their closest relationships. She says grief results from change, and that though grief offers healing, at the time it can feel like a death. So it is natural that we try to avoid the grief that comes with change whenever possible. But, “it is the death of what was or will never be that opens the door to new life” (80).

She discusses the harm that we do when we deny the unique voices of women. “Our harm is the way we punish others for the fact that life is not working the way we want” (80). She urges, instead, that women become “people of Sabbath” (87). One way to do this is to find the holy in the ordinary things of life.

A woman of healing is a nurturer who allows herself to be nurtured by others. She believes in God’s message through Scripture. She will not allow her heart to become hardened. She remains open to those who wound, yet does not allow herself to be battered by others’ aggression. She nourishes relationships and values the closeness of being known and knowing others. Like Deborah, a woman of healing highlights the achievements of other women and men as they join in the battle of God.

Webb, a professor at Mars Hill Graduate School in Bothell, Washington, holds and M. Div from Princeton Theological Seminary, a master’s degree in Counseling from Colorado Christian University, a D. Min. from San Francisco Theological Seminary, and she is an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church of the United States of America.

Be a Change-Agent: Join CBE

Why should you consider becoming a member of CBE? Simply put, the message of biblical equality is not just a “woman’s issue,” it is a Christian issue. As Paul says, when one part of the body suffers, the whole body suffers. The church of Jesus Christ has too often ignored the gifts of the women in its midst, discarding the biblical model of a community of equals for a worldly system of hierarchy.

When you partner with CBE in membership, you support this ministry in so many ways. You are standing with people around the world who affirm that the gifts of all Christians, regardless of gender, race, or class, are indispensable to completing the work of God on earth. You are giving to something larger than yourself, helping the church empower all of its members for limitless service to its only true authority, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Join men and women from 36 countries and over 100 different Christian denominations in this vital work. By pasting the link below in your URL line, you can join online and receive a free copy of Studies on Biblical Equality, by A. Berkeley and Alvera Mickelsen. As a member you will also receive both of our quarterly publications, Mutuality and Priscilla Papers and receive special discounts on conferences and in our bookstore.

To become a member, follow this link:

http://www.cbeinternational.org/new/index.html?body=/new/membership/ind_family.html

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Christians for Biblical Equality
122 W Franklin Ave, Suite 218
Minneapolis, MN 55404
Phone:(612) 872-6898
Fax:(612) 872-6891