Fully Released: Imagine Women Completely Empowered

This is a guest post by Rob Dixon. He serves as the Surf and Turf Divisional Director and lives in Clovis, CA. He’s married to Amy and together they are raising Josh, Lucy, Grace and Lily. In his spare time, you’ll either find Rob out running or in a book. He’ll be starting a DMiss program through Fuller Seminary in March. Rob blogs regularly on issues related to male privilege at challengingtertullian.com

I love the idea of releasing A.P.E.s into the world.

I also love the idea of releasing she-A.P.E.s into the world. In fact, I love most the thought of empowering apostles, prophets and evangelists of both genders to partner side-by-side in advancing God’s mission in the word.

And make no mistake about it, that’s the Biblical model for ministry. In spite of the overwhelming patriarchy embedded in the Biblical context, the Scriptures make clear that both men and women are suited for A.P.E. ministry tasks.

For instance, when it comes to apostles, there’s Paul (2 Timothy 1:1) partnering alongside Junia (Romans 16:7). When it comes to prophets, in the same passage in Luke 2, we have Simeon (v. 25-35) sharing the load with Anna (v. 36-38). And when it comes to evangelists, we can point to plenty of sinners of both genders who met Jesus only have their lives transformed; the demoniac from Mark 5 and the woman at the well from John 4 are just two examples.

And so the question bears asking: how can we do a better job of releasing male and female apostles, prophets and evangelists into mission in ways where both genders can flourish?

Three Thoughts

First, let’s acknowledge that there are few models for this in the church. In fact, more often than not, we separate the genders in the context of mission. When was the last time you had a sermon on male/female missional partnership?!? Before we fix the problem, we have to be able to see it in the first place.

Next, I think we need to talk about power. In most churches, power rests in the hands of men. And so when there is A.P.E. work to be done, the question is not “who should do this?” it’s “which man should do this?” If men and women are going to move forward in missional partnerships, we must do something about equalizing power.

Finally, we need to be intentional. Simple, proactive decisions are the places to start. So if you are looking to formulate vision for a new ministry venture, run a draft past someone from the other gender. Or if you are running an evangelism conference, choose to blend the speaking roster by including both genders from the pulpit. Or if you need help deciding whether a prophetic word is really from the Lord, invite someone from the other gender to help you discern.

In the end, empowering all the gifts of the church will require us to empower all the people of the church. And may God expand our mission as that happens.