The Whole Church

This blog is written by women, for women, to women (primarily). And since we focus on the spiritual most of the time, it should follow that we writers and readers are concerned about our relationship with God. And if we believe in Jesus Christ, call him our Savior and Redeemer, then no matter where, or if, we attend a local house of worship, we are all part of the Church--the Body of Christ. Through our feet He travels to the far away, through our arms He comforts the broken, through our words He brings life and healing. We are His representatives, just as our believing brothers are.

Sometimes women tend to think less of themselves than God thinks of them. But the Bible is pretty clear that He treasures and values us. Genesis 1:27 -- "God created humankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them, male and female he created them." IN THE IMAGE OF GOD...did you get that? We have been created to resemble Him. He gave us a calling, a responsibility, to join with our brothers to "fill the earth, and subdue it" (v 28).

Often we stop at the command to "be fruitful and multiply," relegating our worth and work to that of wife and mother. Not only does that bestow a false glory on the role of mothering, it cheats the young, the single, the widowed, and the elderly. As a wife of one godly man and the mother of four young children, I strongly support the ministry of motherhood. It's important, even crucial. But not every wife gets to be a mother. 

Before I was a mother, I was a wife; before that, a single woman; before that, a young daughter. Did I have a role then? Or was I just waiting for my potential to be fulfilled once I married?

If statistics prove true, there's every chance that I will outlive my husband and become a widow in the (very far, I hope) future. What then? Is my job finished? Am I washed up in the church? When my kids are grown and gone, will my purpose fly with them?

Of course not! May it never be. Yet this is a message we find ourselves struggling against far too often. Let's get back to the original story, the one God wrote before sin entered our relationships and messed us all up. Women are half the church, and we are called to join the other (male) half in order to maximize the gospel of Jesus Christ. God wants the whole church together to fulfill His purpose. It's how He designed it to work.

The short video here was created by Synergy and shown at the Third Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization, a worldwide gathering of evangelical leaders held in Cape Town, South Africa, last month. Find yourself in the images that flash before you, and be encouraged!