What a healing experience it has been to process, in Egalitarian Rhymes, the ungodliness of female subordination in the gender hierarchy of some Christian churches. And yet, all along, I’ve been aware of the inadequacy of the current church model in which one main pastor talks week after week to a passive congregation. Women should have equal opportunity in such a flawed system, but then you’re still left with one person of one gender leading a local church rather than a combination of men and women. Some churches have preaching teams to allow the congregation to hear from both men and women rather than from the same person week after week. This seems like a good start, allowing multiple Spirit-gifted people of both genders to edify the body of Christ, the co-ed priesthood of believers at work.

The season for the Rhymes is ending, and I hope this blog has encouraged those Christians who interpret the Bible to include women in the leadership of the institutional church. I plan to write a blessing before taking it down entirely in the next few weeks.