The Baptist Women in Ministry's (BWIM) Midwives of a Movement documentary can now be found on YouTube. This documentary chronicles the stories of the women who boldly birthed a movement to seek greater visibility and opportunities for women in the Southern Baptist Convention in the 1970s and 1980s. Despite great opposition, their courage blazed pathways for advancing women in ministry and leadership among Baptists over the last 40+ years.
During a time when women in ministry among Baptists hear much negativity surrounding their call and service to God, BWIM joins in solidarity with all women who serve among Baptists to share a positive message of affirmation and hope. One that proudly demonstrates that when women are pushed down and marginalized, they always rise up!
Weekly Bible Study Series – Equally Called, part 4
In our final session, we talked about the fulfillment of the prophecy from Joel, which announces and describes God’s reign and final justice. In Joel 2, the prophet points to the future day of the Lord when people will experience God’s presence in undeniable ways. In those days, all people will prophesy. Joel names specifically that sons and daughters, young and old, male and female will all know and proclaim God because God’s Spirit will come to be with them (Joel 2:28-29). This prophecy is fulfilled on the day of Pentecost, which we read in Acts 2, when the Holy Spirit falls on the believers and causes them to prophesy and speak in tongues. Peter stands up to give a sermon, quoting Joel 2, and confirming that the long-foretold day had finally come. All people, women and men, can now prophesy and announce the message of God’s reign and Jesus’ lordship. All believers today have gifts given to them by the Spirit of God. Yet some are still restricted on exercising those gifts by their congregations or religious institutions. We talked about ways in which we can further encourage and uplift all people to recognize and exercise the gifts God has given them in fulfilling God’s plan for our world.
If you missed the discussion but would like to follow along please click the following links: Study Guide 4, Video 4, What's Next Resource Guide.
Weekly Bible Study Series – Equally Called, part 3
This week we focused on the key role that women played in the Early Church. Although it was not common for women to have positions of leadership in Greco Roman structures, the churches scattered across the empire disregarded this exclusionary practice. Instead, women were church planters, teachers, deacons, apostles, and prophets. They worked alongside Paul in the ministry, and even suffered imprisonment for their leadership in the new Jesus movement. We took a look at the witness of Acts and Paul’s letters that showed how the Early Church pushed against their societal norms to enact God’s original intent for oneness among humanity. We also looked at the letters attributed to Paul that are often used to argue against women in ministry and how those text compare with Paul's support of women in ministry in his other works.
If you missed the discussion but would like to follow along please click the following links: Study Guide 3, Video 3.
Weekly Bible Study Series – Equally Called, part 2
This week we focused on the key role that women played in Jesus' life and ministry. Jesus called women as disciples, and he centered the experiences of women who had been marginalized by their society. He taught women alongside men and encouraged their participation and leadership in the work of God. Women also provided the ministry of presence to Jesus at the cross when the male disciples did not, and they alone were the witnesses to the world-changing news of the resurrection. These women served as the very first preachers of our faith.
If you missed the discussion but would like to follow along please click the following links: Study Guide 2, Video 2.
Women's Book Club starts August 22
The women's study group will resume meeting on the fourth Sunday evening of each month at 6:00 pm beginning August 22, 2021. During this time we will be discussing Kate Bowler's NY Times bestselling book, Everything Happens for a Reason: And Other Lies I've Loved. Discussion will be led by Regina Johnson and Jane McCoy. Please purchase your book and be ready to talk about the first chapter at the initial meeting. Let Regina know if you need assistance in obtaining a book or if you have any questions. All ladies are welcome to participate and invite friends.
Kate Bowler is a professor at Duke Divinity School with a modest Christian upbringing, but she specializes in the study of the prosperity gospel, a creed that sees fortune as a blessing from God and misfortune as a mark of God’s disapproval. At thirty-five, everything in her life seems to point toward “blessing.” She is thriving in her job, married to her high school sweetheart, and loves life with her newborn son. Then she is diagnosed with stage IV colon cancer. Frank and funny, dark and wise, Kate Bowler pulls the reader deeply into her life in an account she populates affectionately with a colorful, often hilarious retinue of friends, mega-church preachers, relatives, and doctors. Everything Happens for a Reason tells her story, offering up her irreverent, hard-won observations on dying and the ways it has taught her to live. [Excerpt from book flap]
Women's Mission Group Resuming
The Pauline Snelson Women's Ministry Group will start back on Monday, August 9, at 5:00 pm. We will meet the second Monday of each month. All ladies are invited and welcome to come and join us in the Fellowship Hall.