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PROGRAM D-7460

As believers in Christ, we are now new creations, called to live in the world as new people in which the power of Christ by the Spirit overcomes the effects of sin.  This means that men and women who have been born again should live together in a way that is different from the world about us, a world that is still dominated by gender conflict.

Since we are all in the process of being transformed into the image of Jesus Christ, this process of harmony between the genders will never be perfect this side of heaven.  But both our new life in Christ and our desire to please and honor him, plus our desire to obey his command should call us to grow toward this goal.

Men and women were created to need each other. This includes not only procreation, but our overall purpose to glorify God through personal and spiritual maturity and the proclamation of his glory to others.  This should be especially evident in our churches today.

What is more important is using the strengths of both men and women together in ministry for the synergism and good that happens when we work in tandem. When we seek to involve both men and women for various tasks in the church, no doubt there will be some areas where women are prevalent and some where men predominate.  Our natural instincts will take us there. We gravitate toward the jobs that are aligned with our natures.  But that doesn’t mean we draw hard lines.

A healthy marriage and family is not based on strict gender division of labor, but rather it is where both are involved in various activities together, each contributing his or her own uniqueness to their mutual benefit and to the service of others. It is not that each gender participates equally in each task, but that both work together with significant participation in various tasks according to their genders and giftedness.

God’s creation is good, and we can rejoice in the differences, and learn to live in that interdependence that God intended for us.  It works so much better that way.