by Kelly Pelton (written 22 Feb 2020)

It was a culture-bound necessity
for women to be subdued, not flaunting
their freedom which triggered insecurity
in men who considered smart females daunting.*

The spread of the gospel was paramount.
Paul urged conformity when possible
to societal expectations; count
your station in life as missional.

Stay where you are in order to proclaim
the good news of Jesus in a dark world.
Don't make it about you; we preach His fame,
the news of God's redemptive plan unfurled.

Neither gender dominates; be gently
poised to explain your hope in our Savior.
Be modest in character, intently
voicing your faith with salty-sweet flavor.

*Juvenal, Satires 6:434-456

by Kelly Pelton (written 02 Feb 2020)

I hope my stabs at poetry
will reach those in God's family
who don't treat women healthily.
I aim for equanimity
in this fight for godly equity
but let me state the irony:
I, a sinner, bring not only
Spirit-led correction, you see,
I also bring iniquity,
and someone else must correct ME!
Nevertheless, we must agree
to not give up on unity,
living out of God's charity,
investing in eternity.

Kelly Pelton

by Kelly Pelton (written 26 Sept 2020)

This deception (that women in churches
are more easily deceived than the men)
must hurt your brain as you applaud worldly
women as competent leaders but then
see Christian women as less trustworthy,
as more vulnerable to false teaching,
as if God-made, Spirit-inhabited
females are flawed and not to be preaching.
Your God is too small, power limited
if He does not sanctify and speak through
His daughters in the same way as His sons;
illogical, inconsistent is your view.

By Kelly Pelton (written 30 Jan 2020)

These church women, they're so relational;
they won't say the tough things to the stray sheep.
With one in charge, the church will drift liberal,
leave orthodoxy with hardly a peep.

We must keep men in charge, warriors for truth
who'll hold the line on the hardest teachings.
Women can teach each other and the youth;
we trust them that much, just not with the preaching.

Women in pulpits endorse gay marriage;
just look at mainline denominations.
They easily discard our Christian heritage,
accepting societal abominations.

Once you change the way you look at scriptures
on women, it is a slippery slope
to ignoring other Bible particulars.
Threads of disobedience become rope

by which we hang ourselves in compromise;
better to keep women out of the big roles.
We'll let them instead mold young minds and lives,
entrusting to them the most vulnerable souls.

By Kelly Pelton (written 29 Jan 2020)

This role play feels like child's play, people.
All-male leaders in the institution
during prosperous times is "respectable."
Fairness will result from persecution,

risking our lives to proclaim God's great love
with Christian co-ed cooperation,
no concern for who gets to be leader,
only to reach out to every nation,

women and men seeing each other as friends,
no power to cause any competition,
church underground with no worldly prestige,
allegiance to Christ viewed as sedition.

Then will we value each other's stories,
grasp of scripture, Holy Spirit wisdom,
teaching and counseling one another,
paying the price to serve in His kingdom.

Why not practice playing fair in his hour,
treasuring one another's ideas, gifts...
We all are God's children, precious to Him;
let's deepen love rather than widening rifts.

By Kelly Pelton (written 27 Jan 2020)

The ladies should learn but not teach in domination,
Paul wrote, as though they have independent authority
over men rather than being created from them.
Remember your origins in Eve with humility,

that she was deceived; you are by no means infallible.
Do not boss your husbands as though you are the origin
of them (as the Gnostics say) or of truth, sisters.
Remember how all went wrong in the Garden of Eden.

Don't let your freedom cause you or others to stumble.
Strong words are needed in that time of church formation
(as they're needed now to correct the misuse of scripture);
freedom and the word reveal one's sinful inclination.

The ladies must learn "in quietness and full submission," 
their silence a student's posture of receptivity -
We must educate our sisters in the true faith in Christ
lest they fall prey to false teaching's subtle captivity.

Many churches of our time are captive to prejudice,
teaching falsely that this verse forbids a female pastor.
Those changed by God's love notice the witness of all scripture,
hear the voice of all people; fear's no longer their master.

By Kelly Pelton (written 26 Jan 2020)

"I don't need you!" says eye to hand and head to foot,
head keeping the body from having spiritual input,
relegating many to less honorable roles,
ignoring the weaker in pursuit of your goals.
Let those body parts do the work you deem "beneath us -
they're made to follow; they should accept their status
as helpers" of you who get the crown of glory,
you few men who are the heroes of this story.
What if, instead, the men who govern, preach, and teach
were to honor their sisters with these same roles that reach
the entire congregation, edifying all
as God's image gets full expression. It's what Paul
meant in his great chapter, stronger helping weaker,
giving them more honor, not being a self-seeker.
When God combines all and the honor is equal,
we find ourselves living a heavenly prequel
where each part has equal concern for the others
and hierarchy gives way to sisters and brothers.

By Kelly Pelton (written 25 Jan 2020)

"Toddle along after the Hairy Ones," she wrote*, to shame
female preachers, as though they were copying the men,
stealing their manly roles "to be valued and esteemed," the blame
pouring forth from her blog to convince them of their sin.

Such potent, memorable lines from a gifted writer
remind us how Christians can assault their own sisters;
this author would surely not call herself a reviler
though scornfully accusing them of trying to be misters.

Her denigration of women who live out their calling 
is based in conviction they all should be mothering,
as if mothers in the pulpit are greatly appalling
while fathers who preach have God's endorsing covering.

The invoking of divine entitlement to secure
exceptional privileges** is nothing new. Sadly,
insisting that God wants women silent and demure
means His image is displayed incompletely or badly,

because the Lord never ever shows favoritism,
and He loves to speak through those not great or influential;
subordinating our sisters causes family schism
and deprives the church, portraying our Father as partial.

Let the women live God's calling; Bible stories exist
of women in unexpected roles of leadership,
used by God to help His people, if we'll not dismiss
these significant exceptions to all-male "headship."

Our pulpits need women who fearlessly speak God's word;
they're not trying to be men, only themselves, genuine
instruments of His Spirit who need to be heard,
expressing the part of God's image that's feminine.

*Michelle Lesley, “The Mother of All Rebellions”

**Gilbert Bilezikian, How I Changed My Mind on Women in Leadership

by Kelly Pelton (written 24 Jan 2020)

The institutional church has its ugliness;
biblical language is used to communicate lies.
Ignoring the Bible principles of justice, 
the "complementarian" convincingly denies

the bias of practices that show partiality
to men; "equal worth but separate roles for women," 
they say. But the Bible has a role hierarchy:
Elders who rule well are doubly honored, even

if only in conversations of the laity,
who talk of how challenged they were by the preaching
from men whose "crown of glory will never fade," surely
in part because they've been allowed to be teaching!

An unintended consequence, then, of such
ungodly restriction is the communication 
of a hierarchy of value. Females suffer much
from being barred from honored roles; their conviction,

if they feel called, that scripture has been misconstrued
is countered by those men who want to stay in power.
Traditionalists claim that God only imbued
the man with authority; women will flower

by serving in supportive roles, staying quiet.
But denying our sisters equal honor makes
men seem like they're clamoring to be first; why, it
reminds me of Jesus' warnings for all our sakes.