"God has called me to ministry!"
"Do you mean Children's or Music ministry???" or "That can't be right…"#ThingsOnlyChristianWomenHear— Ruth Perry (@ruthmperry) April 19, 2017
This Tuesday night, Sarah Bessey, author of Jesus Feminist, started the hashtag #ThingsOnlyChristianWomenHear and it took off. Here are my favorites:
"You are an amazing leader! You'd make an excellent pastor's wife someday!" #ThingsOnlyChristianWomenHear
— Sarah Bessey (@sarahbessey) April 19, 2017
"Ambition isn't godly." #ThingsOnlyChristianWomenHear
— Sarah Bessey (@sarahbessey) April 19, 2017
"You should cultivate a submissive spirit." #ThingsOnlyChristianWomenHear
— Sarah Bessey (@sarahbessey) April 19, 2017
"Only men are strong enough to lead."
"Men just aren't strong enough to resist your above-mid-thigh shorts." #ThingsOnlyChristianWomenHear
— Mary Calhoun (@marbearcalhoun) April 20, 2017
"You're so deep and spiritual. I think you'll end up marrying a pastor" #ThingsOnlyChristianWomenHear
— Emily Lund (@egracelund) April 19, 2017
"I mean you (women) have the ability to give and nurture life! Is that not enough?" #ThingsOnlyChristianWomenHear
— Cyndie Randall (@CyndieRandall) April 19, 2017
Yes, there is no male or female in Christ, but that refers to our salvation in Christ not our roles. #ThingsOnlyChristianWomenHear
— Scott Lencke (@prodigalthought) April 19, 2017
"You should read 1 Timothy 2 sometime" #ThingsOnlyChristianWomenHear
— The Junia Project (@thejuniaproject) April 19, 2017
"Hi, my name is Pastor James and this is MY smoking hot wife (no name necessary)" #ThingsOnlyChristianWomenHear
— Ashley Easter (@ashleymeaster) April 19, 2017
Dress modestly because men are too weak. Also men are in charge of you because they are spiritually superior #ThingsOnlyChristianWomenHear
— Stephanie Long (@Stephanielong85) April 19, 2017
"The feminization of the church is a what's wrong with the American church" #ThingsOnlyChristianWomenHear
— Tara Beth Leach (@TaraBeth82) April 20, 2017
"It is better to have a sinning man in the pulpit than a faithful woman." #ThingsOnlyChristianWomenHear
— Heretic Persisting (@revolfaith) April 20, 2017
"Hi, can I speak to the pastor?"
"I'm the pastor."
[looks me up and down}
"Is there another pastor?"#ThingsOnlyChristianWomenHear— Kadee Wirick Smedley (@kadeewsmedley) April 19, 2017
Stop pushing your women's equality agenda and start promoting the gospel.#ThingsOnlyChristianWomenHear
— Kaylyn Reneé 🕇 (@KaylynWhitley) April 19, 2017
When you're overly qualified for the youth pastor position until you get to this. #ThingsOnlyChristianWomenHear pic.twitter.com/oh47iU9VTq
— Kaylee Hagen (@kayhag44) April 19, 2017
"It's a slippery slope if we start affirming women pastors." #ThingsOnlyChristianWomenHear
— Tara Beth Leach (@TaraBeth82) April 20, 2017
"He tried to strangle you? Pray for him. God hates divorce" #ThingsOnlyChristianWomenHear @strongrespresso
— Hannah Rasmussen (@hrasmus1) April 20, 2017
Summary of #ThingsOnlyChristianWomenHear:
"Christianity teaches that men are in control of everything except their own sexual desires."— Adam Gaylord (@AuthorGaylord) April 19, 2017
The trolling in #ThingsOnlyChristianWomenHear proves women's voices and truth are so scary that they must be shouted over or dismissed.
— Stephanie Townes (@stownes13) April 19, 2017
This is a drop in the bucket on contributions to this thread. Definitely checkout the hashtag and scroll through the sobering collection.
Then Christians began redeeming the conversation with the hashtag #ThingsChristianWomenShouldHear:
To the gutsy women speaking hard truths to the church: thank you. You're the revolutionaries we deeply need. #ThingsChristianWomenShouldHear
— CBE International (@CBEInt) April 20, 2017
We know that being identified as a "helper" does not speak of second rate since God is called our helper. #ThingsChristianWomenShouldHear
— Scott Lencke (@prodigalthought) April 20, 2017
Don’t stop speaking out. Don’t stop sharing your stories. They are important. You are important.#ThingsChristianWomenShouldHear
— Sierra White (@iSierraNichole) April 20, 2017
"No one will tell you what you can or can't do based on your gender, and certainly not in the name of God." #ThingsChristianWomenShouldHear
— Blake Chastain🎙⚓️ (@brchastain) April 19, 2017
#ThingsChristianWomenShouldHear
Thank you.
Lead.
Teach.
Preach.
Serve.
Be confident in the gifts God has given you!— Allen Webster (@allen_webster) April 19, 2017
That guy tells women they can't use their gifts in church? He clearly has a Spirit of Nabal. #ThingsChristianWomenShouldHear
— St. Simeon the Fool (@SimeonTheFool) April 20, 2017
#ThingsChristianWomenShouldHear sermons about biblical heroines presented to the whole church, not just women's events.
— Karli Nelson (@KARLI_kaelynn) April 20, 2017
"When we say this church believes in the priesthood of ALL believers, we really mean it – you're included." #ThingsChristianWomenShouldHear
— Bronwen Speedie (@GodsDesignPerth) April 21, 2017
We are sorry for the last 30 years of "biblical manhood & womanhood" teachings. #ThingsChristianWomenShouldHear
— Angie Sanderson (@AngieKSanderson) April 20, 2017
Without you, the church is missing half of its voice, half of its gifting, half of its mission & ministry. #ThingsChristianWomenShouldHear
— Scott Lencke (@prodigalthought) April 20, 2017
We've got nursery covered, so maybe you'd like to speak on the topics you've researched for ten years.#ThingsChristianWomenShouldHear
— Lisa Deam (@LisaKDeam) April 19, 2017
That guy tells women they can't use their gifts in church? He clearly has a Spirit of Nabal. #ThingsChristianWomenShouldHear
— St. Simeon the Fool (@SimeonTheFool) April 20, 2017
This is my prayer too:
The #ThingsOnlyChristianWomenHear conversations are as illuminating as they are depressing. God, let misogyny die and Gal 3:28 thrive.
— Jake Matthews (@jake_matthews) April 19, 2017
Amen.
Thanks for visiting The Beautiful Kingdom Warriors. We are a community of Christians who believe that men and women are equal in the Kingdom and indispensable partners in Kingdom building and restoration. Follow us hear and on Facebook!
Ruth Perry
Becky Buck
The Beautiful Kingdom Warriors 
It does strike me that for some (by no means all) complementarian believers their belief in the absoluteness of complementarianism has become somewhat of an idol – it has taken a position of something to be worshipped and revered even above holiness. I can understand a complementarian view but not at the expense of mercy, charity or godly wisdom (even at the expense of the bible itself, on occasion). BUT no doubt this happens the other way, too (in fact my poor husband experienced it the other way round when in training and he has never really recovered from it). Humility, submission and modesty – in dress, in speech, in action – are not presented as female-only in the bible (far from it) so why do so many seem to interpret these things as anti-godly in men? That seems to me to be a very worldly, or world-influenced, view.
The bible has never been a one-size fits all – except in love and mercy 😉
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Yes! In my previous blog post, I shared a comment thread in which complementarians kept saying I don’t understand submission, to which I would say I practice mutual submission, to which they would say it grieves them that I’m so anti-submission, to which I’d reply I PRACTICE MUTUAL SUBMISSION. 😜 It just goes both ways and that aligns so much more with Jesus’ message to us to be humble, meek, not lord authority over others, become a servant, etc.
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