CDM Archive

Discipleship Ministries of the PCA

Women

Women in the Church Trainers

by

The CEP women’s ministry trainers’ purpose is to encourage and equip PCA women to think biblically and live covenantally. We currently have seven women who have been equipped and trained to serve in this training program. The training sessions are designed for all the women of PCA churches. Specific application is also given to women’s ministry leadership teams. Material presented:

  • Helps a women’s ministry accomplish the objectives of Biblical Foundations for Womanhood.
  • Teaches women a Biblical perspective of their relationship with Christ, family, and church.
  • Challenges women to fulfill their helper design.
  • Helps women examine the implications of the covenant in their relationships.
  • Trains women to cultivate community by becoming the Titus 2 women that nurture one another for God’s glory.
  • Trains women to be channels of compassion.
  • Equips women for leadership roles in the women’s ministry of the church.

What will a trainer do for our church?
Trainers will help your local women’s ministry leadership team:

  • Evaluate your existing ministry.
  • Understand the implications of the covenant in a women

Leadership Role of Directors of Women’s Ministries

by

Aware of the growing number and significant leadership role of Directors of Women’s Ministries in local PCA churches, CEP continues to provide a defined fellowship aimed at equipping these women for ministries that unite with an overall Christian education and discipleship focus.

During the past seven years of hosting this event, we have been greatly encouraged by “where we are” in God’s providence. We see discernable kingdom fruit that has accrued from CEP’s strategic outreach to women serving on church staffs. For this reason, we have gone forward in offering another educational and networking event for women who are serving as full-time or part-time paid staff women in a local church.

CEP is ably assisted in planning by Donna Dobbs, Director of Christian Education at First Presbyterian in Jackson, Mississippi, and Cathy Wilson, former Director of Women at Kirk of the Hills in St. Louis, Missouri. Cathy is a former Women in the Church Trainer and currently the WASC representative for the Mid-America region. These women work with Jane Patete, CEP Coordinator of Women’s Ministries, to plan a conference that addresses and provides:

  • Equipping for Word-centered curricula selection, design, and focus.
  • Beneficial peer relationships.
  • Spiritual refreshment.
  • Denominational context.
  • Informed discussions on key ministry issues.

Dr. Dan Doriani, adjunct professor of New Testament at Covenant Theological Seminary and pastor of Central Presbyterian Church in St. Louis, Missouri; Joel Belz, PCA ruling elder, founder and former CEO of World Magazine; and Dr. Donald Guthrie, Associate Professor of Educational Ministries at Covenant Theological Seminary, were recent speakers and point to the high caliber of training that is offered.

Click here to read entire publication in PDF (Acrobat Reader required)

At the 2009 Directors of Women’s Ministries Retreat, Nate Shurden, teaching elder at First Presbyterian Church, Jackson, Mississippi, was the speaker. Nate led sessions designed to help participants learn how to biblically get to the heart of the matter in the counseling opportunities that seem to abound within a local church. One highlight of the event, which took place August 3-5 at the Omni Hotel in Atlanta, Georgia, was the time set aside for robust discussion that helped apply the gospel to people’s life situations, strengthened peer connections, and brought personal refreshment and equipping tools for ministry.

Nate Shurden.jpgNate Shurden received a B.A. in Moral Philosophy from Bannockburn College and a Master of Divinity (Counseling) from Reformed Theological Seminary, Jackson, MS. Nate is currently Minister of Discipleship & Young Adults at First Presbyterian Church, Jackson, MS, and the Shelf Life Editor for reformation21, the online magazine of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals.

The Birth of a Titus 2 Ministry

by

Even though we all know the important content of the Titus 2 Mandate, many women drag their feet, resisting this discipleship call upon their lives. The following is written from that perspective.

After “church shopping” for a few weeks, our family landed at Trinity PCA in Asheville, North Carolina, and chose to make it our church home. For four years we attended faithfully. For four years I knew that I should be involved in the lives of other women but for various reasons just never made it happen. And for four years I lived in isolation in this church.

Oh, I went to the retreats and I came to occasional women’s events. I even attended the women’s Sunday school classes, but I didn’t live in relationship with other women.

Then last year I came to an event to hear about Titus 2 ministries, and I knew it was time to take the next step. You see, I know the truth about women’s ministry. I know the purpose, the benefits, the joys. I’ve taught it, trained for it, lived it; and for four years I avoided it.

You may be thinking, “I’m not like her. I’m well connected in this church. I have plenty of friends. I don’t need a Titus 2 group.” Or perhaps you’re thinking, “I’ve been in her shoes. I’ve been attending for a while and haven’t really connected with the women yet. But a one year commitment is a long time.”

So why a Titus 2 ministry?

2009 Women’s Leadership Training Conference

by

For the first time, CEP took the Women in the Church leadership Conference on the road. It was truly a mountain top experience as over two hundred women traveled to Lookout Mountain, Georgia. March 10-12, to the PCA’s Covenant College.

PresWIC, Bible study, and local women’s ministries leaders, including PCA staff women, gathered to be equipped corporately and individually for kingdom ministry. They were part of this annual CEP event that trains leaders to pass on their training in order that every woman know Christ personally and be committed to extending His kingdom in her life, home, church, community, and throughout the world.

Click here to read entire publication in PDF (Acrobat Reader required)

As we listened to the women who came, we heard:

“Leadership 2009 blended theology and truth-centered teaching from speakers and workshops with many practical applications for implementing ministry. Women left not just ‘inspired,’ but equipped with ideas and resources for leadership.”

“Covenant College was a great venue – [it] worked so well with the Family Matters theme. The quietness of the mountain top campus and the absence of outside stimuli greatly enhanced this conference.”

“As a pastor’s wife, fairly new to the PCA, I walked away with a better understanding of the regional discipleship of PresWIC, the PCA. and covenant theology.”

“Regional training sessions with women from my region of the United States were as beneficial as the plenary sessions.”

“Relationship building with women across the PCA is an important and beneficial equipping I am taking home.”

“Networking at the denominational level was so helpful.”

“Strong covenant theology from our LT pastor; Stephen Estock.”

“I loved the beautiful women who shared their testimonies!”


For those churches not able to attend, begin now to think, pray, and plan about attending leadership Training 2010, February 25-27, in Atlanta, Georgia. Be strategic in looking at the women in your church and region. Who needs to be trained, encouraged, and equipped?

For those churches with representation, CEP encourages you to give them an opportunity to share what they learned and brought back to the local church.

As the PCA continues to grow, there is an increasing need for the ministries of Christian Education and Publications to work with the local church in raising up a generation of leaders and teachers to build upon a firm foundation.

Please join us in kingdom ministry.

Declaring and Demonstrating the Love of God

by

As members of PCA churches we have been given a doctrinal foundation that leads us to live out the Gospel in practical and merciful ways. We love this example of a local church serving with truth and compassion. We at CEP pray that the Word and deed ministry of the women from Christ Presbyterian Church in Nashville will encourage your ministry team to think outside the box and look for creative ways to extend His kingdom.

In August of 2005, the Mississippi Gulf Coast was ravaged by Hurricane Katrina. Homes, possessions, and jobs were swept away through the devastating winds and waves. But rising from the loss is a church, Lagniappe PCA, who is committed to participating in the restoration of its community both physically and spiritually.

Speaking at Christ Presbyterian Church in Nashville one Sunday morning, Jean Larroux, pastor of Lagniappe Church in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, was asked about the volunteers who come to Lagniappe, where they regularly host teams helping with rebuilding after Hurricane Katrina. “People always ask me, ‘What do you need people to do?’ and I’ve learned to ask them, ‘Well, what do you do?'” Larroux noted that he was often surprised with the unique skill sets potential volunteers have that exactly meet Lagniappe’s needs.

A couple of weeks later, Nancy Guthrie, a member at Christ Presbyterian, sent Larroux an email reminding him of his comments saying, “I love to teach the Bible to women. Is that something you could ever use?” This email began a conversation that birthed a unique combination work project/women’s conference held at Lagniappe church in February 2008.

Since Lagniappe wasn’t even an official church at the time and had very few members, a team of 15 women from Christ Pres took on the responsibility of planning and promoting the conference/work project in partnership with Barbara Warner of Lagniappe Church. Barbara previously served several terms as PresWIC President for North Florida.

About 130 women from Bay St. Louis and all around the Southeast came, staying in the bunkhouses at the church and pitching in to work in the kitchen and clean up the church facility throughout the weekend. On Friday evening and Saturday morning Guthrie taught on Job, a man who experienced devastating loss when a storm flattened his home. Worship leader Teresa Sugar sang a few sets at the Mockingbird Caf

Overture 9

by

chd-inside.jpgDo you think that the General Assembly should have answered Overture 9 in the affirmative and established a committee to study the issue of women’s involvement in diaconal ministry and report back to the 37th General Assembly?

The 36th General Assembly, after many hours of committee and floor debate, answered Overture 9 in the negative, declining to establish a study committee. This action was taken in spite of a minority report that attempted to persuade the assembly to answer in the affirmative. As the coordinator of Christian Education and Publications, under whose oversight the Women in the Church is positioned in the PCA, a number of people have asked my opinion on the issue.

As I sat on the second row of the assembly listening to the debate, several things came to mind that I believe should or could have been stated, which I picked up on when responding to those who later asked. This is an issue that if changed would require several constitutional changes, and there are ways to do that. Also, let me make it clear that the issue of women’s ordination, when finally allowed in the mainline Presbyterian Church, was one of the top issues which led to the forming of the PCA.

As I respond, be aware that I do so we a ring at least two hats. The first is not only as one of the organizers of the PCA in 1973, but also as the chairman of the original Constitutional Documents Committee. It was my responsibility, working with Dr. Morton Smith, Dr. Frank Barker, and the late Don Patterson to develop and present the Book of Church Order (BOCO), stating the PCA’s polity to the assembly. The BOCO had three parts. My responsibility was to read each section verbatim before the entire first three assemblies. I had to explain why the BOCO stated things as it did. This took many hours on the floor, including discussion and debate at times.

Read entire publication in PDF (Acrobat Reader Required)

One of the positions taken by the PCA at its inception was that ordination to office, elder or deacon, was for men only. Remember this was one of the major issues which led to the forming of the PCA, but also understand why.

After a number of years studying and debating this issue, the mainline church decided under the protest of a minority to allow women to be ordained to those offices. Though the more conservative arm of the church opposed such a position, it must be realized that much study by many scholars was reflected in that action. Those who finally formed the PCA simply believed it was not the teaching of Scripture. Therefore, to suggest that the present position of the BOCO does not reflect in depth study is inaccurate. One of the main problems revolves around the PCA’s present position reflected in the BOCO of positing authority in the office of deacon. Therefore, the first issue that would need to be solved is this: Is the office of deacon an authority office or only a service office? The present ordination vows in the BOCOare identical to that of the elders in asking the congregation if they would submit to the authority of the elders/deacons.

When the PCA became a particular denomination in December 1973,it did not do so without a history. The PCA was the result of a movement called the Continuing Presbyterian Church, a reference to the early Presbyterian Church in the United States before liberalism and neo-orthodox theology took control. Among the men who formed this southern church in 1861 was James Henry Thornwell. As a matter of fact, as you read the PCA’s original address to all churches adopted by the first assembly, it was called pristinely “Thornwellian.” What did that mean? The PCA was to be a “grassroots” church and not a top down church. The main court in the Presbyterian system is the presbytery. This had two main effects, especially as we developed the BOCO. First, being a grassroots church, we left as many issues to the local churches and presbyteries as we possibly could. For example, the BOCO did not address the issue of rotation of officers, a debated issue in our beginning. Nor did it address the issue of women teaching mixed adults or what form or forms should be used in worship, to name a few. We attempted to allow as much freedom and control to sessions and presbyteries as was deemed necessary.

This was a somewhat different approach than practiced by the northern mainline church that then followed the polity of Charles Hodge. The Reformed Presbyterian Church Evangelical Synod that joined the PCA in 1982 also tended to follow the Hodge polity. How this played out was reflected in a conversation in 1974 with a good friend and brother from the RPCES. He said, “It appears to me the PCA’s approach is not to address issues unless they come to the General Assembly as an appeal from the lower courts. We on the other hand tend to deal with issues and write position papers at the Assembly level prior to such appeal. “He basically reflected the difference in the PCA. The PCA has had many study committees and adopted many position papers but only after the lower courts appealed to the assembly for help in determining issues. Following the “Thornwellian” procedure, the PCA has not been quick to establish study committees.

Understanding the PCA’s organizing principles helps to explain why questions troubling the church which the local courts have not been able to conclude are appealed to General Assembly; and if enough concern is there, the General Assembly usually appoints a study committee. Overture 9, if studied and enacted, would require several constitutional changes; and it has not been the PCA’s method of procedure to change the BOCOby a study committee.

I was further asked, “Does the PCA need to study this issue of the possible ordination of women deacons?” I now put on my second hat and respond as the CEP Coordinator, which includes the Women in the Church. When the PCA was formed, the mainline church from which we left had a very significant women’s ministry. The PCA, in attempting to follow Scripture, wanted to continue the vital ministry of women. It was placed under the oversight of CEP for two reasons. Its focus was two fold- spiritual growth and assisting the officers in carrying out mercy ministry, which by the way, the PCA sees as closely related to diaconal ministry. During my years as coordinator of CEP, we have intentionally focused on those two founding points. God has done some fantastic things through the gifted women in the PCA. We have held local church and presbytery training conferences. Finally, we have conducted several strategically important denominational conferences focusing on both spiritual growth and mercy ministries. Those conferences have actually moved the PCA forward in the principle and practice of mercy ministries. For example, it was the gathering of 4,000 women in 1999 in Atlanta under the banner of mercy ministry that encouraged CEP and Mission to North America’s biannual mercy ministries conferences. Women have been key players in those conferences. Several of our women sit as advisory members on a number of the assembly ‘s committees and agencies.

Over the years with our CEP ministries, we have chosen to focus our energies on the function of ministry and not the form . We have attempted to encourage local churches and presbyteries to have that focus. As a result, the PCA is stronger in its theology and practice. Under the oversight of CEP, our women’s ministry has chosen not to spend energies on things other than ministry and growth action. The ministry at the assembly level has intentionally focused on training women to minister to women, as well as training in assisting elders and deacons in the local church ministry. WIC has been a valuable part of CEP’s ministry from the beginning. Its annual Love Gifts have enabled the committees and agencies to do some outstanding ministries. Their prayers and encouragement have been one of the PCA’s main strengths. As I have met with women across our church, I have not heard or experienced PCA women wanting to do anything but minister and make kingdom disciples.

I conclude my answer with two final thoughts.

One, whether or not a women should or should not be ordained to the office of deacon has not hindered PCA women from being a strategic part of the PCA’s ministry.


Two, written into our BOCO are the procedures to follow when issues relating to the BOCO need to be addressed. Whether or not Overture 9 followed those procedures, I will leave to the judgment of those who dealt in depth with the overture.

As I have stated many times in Equip to Disciple, knowing our history and tradition is vital to dealing with issues that confront us today. This does not keep us from studying and receiving further insight into issues just as we have done in the past. However, some of the things I am presently reading and studying could almost lead me to conclude that there are those who really believe they are the first generation ever to consider this or that issue, when church history is full of those who have done so before us.