March 11th

WEEKLY

COMMUNITY
FREE CHURCH
!

Overseers Meeting
On Thursday, March 19th at
7:30pm, we will be having an
Overseers Meeting with a 30
minute conversation regarding
the 2015/2016 AWANA
program at CEFCM.
After many years of faithful partnership, Grace church has
decided to start their own childrens program (AWANA or
another program) on Wednesday nights, and will be
discontinuing serving in AWANA with us on Sundays. This
will mark a big change for us as a church, but not one that is
bigger than the God who has called us to love on, and teach
His children through AWANA.
If you serve as an AWANA
leader, volunteer, or have a
passion for this great program
please make it a priority to
attend this meeting. We want to start preparing faithfully now
for what God has called us to do in the future for His glory!
Church Workday
On March 21st, from 9-Noon we will
be hosting a pre-Easter workday to
freshen up many areas in the church.
There will be a host of things that need
to be done for all ages and skill levels,
so dont let anything stop you from
serving with your church family!
We will be cleaning, painting, purging,
reorganizing, and getting the church
ready for a busy year!

Big Praise from Iran ~

On Feb 18, Rasoul Abdollahi was
released from the brutal Rajaei-Shahri
prison in Karaj, Iran. He has been in
and out of detention and prison for the
past 4 years, including in and out of
Evin prison. Thanking God and
continuing to pray for Pastor Saeed!
(Prayer Request from VOM)

This is a crazy story ~

5 Christian leaders in Laos were
sentenced to jail for 9 months and
fined after a Christian woman they
had prayed for died of an illness. They
were charged with "treating [a person]
without an official license causing her
to die." Authorities are trying to force
them to recant their faith.
(Prayer Request from VOM)

Praise God ~
Last Friday, 11 brand new Pakistani
believers were baptized! God is good!
Follow-up is already planned for this
coming week. The host family is going
to pray for 30 days and then appoint a
pastor to lead them. Today was
dedicated to sharing testimonies and
practicing the Bible stories that will be
shared starting next week.
Pray for the follow-up discipleship and
the new Discovery Bible studies that
have been started!
8Thirty8

Whats Happening This

Week at Your Church?
Tuesday

3/10

Ladies Bible Study 9:30am at CEFCM

Finding Hope in the book of Revelation.
For more information email: d.henrikson@yahoo.com

Womens Bible Study Fellowship 9:10am

at First Christian Church
The Life of Moses. More information email: shafer5@mchsi.com

Community Groups 6:00pm Schifo Home

More information email:tschifo@gmail.com

Community Groups 7:00pm Wright Home

More information email: bhenrikson@parkland.edu

Wednesday 3/11
Youth Group 6:00pm Pastor Jake Barrett
Community Groups Piasecki Home 6:15pm
More information email: mikejanp@msn.com

Beth Moore: David 7:00pm

Lois Reeds home. Email for info: lreedtj@aol.com

Thursday

3/12

Congregational Prayer 6-7:00pm

Beth Moore: Heart like David 7:00pm
Lois Reeds home. Email for info: lreedtj@aol.com

Worship Practice 7:30pm

Saturday

3/14

Act Like Men Breakfast at the Church.

Continuing the Act Like Men Discussion!

Basketball 8:30am

Sunday

3/15

Christian Education 9:30am

Childrens Sunday School 9:30am
Childrens Church 10:45am

Worship Gathering 10:45am

Read Isaiah 5 to prepare for worship!
AWANA 6:00pm.

Complementarianism sees gender distinctions as a

result of Creation and Christs redemption as a return to
those distinctions, avoiding confusion. Paul sides with
the complementarians, citing the order of creation as
the basis for his teaching: For Adam was formed first,
then Eve (1 Timothy 2:15). Complementarian
teaching says that masculinity and femininity are
ordained by God and that men and women are
created to complement, or complete each other. **
Okay, I am going to step into dangerous territory this
week by discussing gender roles from a Biblical
worldview. This conversation is always made more
difficult because of cultural movements such as
feminism, empowerment, and quite frankly, a very
unhealthy culture of fundamentalist male domination
that elicit subtle and not so subtle forms of abuse.
If as the church, we dont have these conversations,
then I fear that we will have to own the death of many
marriages. As Christians, we are called to redeem
death with truth. Truth of who God is, who we are, and
how we, together, can only be complete together in
Him.
There are two opposing views in this conversation:
Egalitarianism teaches that in Christ, there are no
gender distinctions anymore. This idea comes from
Galatians 3:28. Because all believers are one in Christ,
egalitarians say, mens and womens roles are
interchangeable in church leadership and in the
household. Egalitarianism sees gender distinctions as a
result of the Fall, and Christs redemption as removing
those distinctions, bringing unity. **
The problem is that men and women are not created
the same. There are things that are beautifully distinct
about one that are very different in the other. In the
Egalitarian position we are told: we are the same.
Culture says we are the same, and yet I have to ask, as I
do in marriage counseling, Why isnt it working? because it isnt. If it did then there would not be such a
dearth of books, videos, conferences, and flourishing
counseling practices contending for the lives of
marriages.
Praise God, that men and women are not the same,
because there are things I need from my wife which I
dont have that she offers. Its like that cliche phrase
used in the 80s date movies when the main
protagonist met the girl of his dreams and says: She
completes me..... Cliche, yes, and actually
theological and rightly Biblical.

** www.gotquestions.org

The complementarian view starts with Genesis 1:2627

which says that God created male and female in His
own image. Genesis 2:18 continues with the specific
detail that God created Eve specifically to complement
Adam. It is not good for the man to be alone. I will
make a helper suitable for him. **
Now, for women who might be bristling, I want to
point out that in the garden Adam needed a helper,
and that word helper is not presented in a tense that
makes it subservient, or second, but equal and
complementary. In the perfection of creation the two
distinctly different genders are part of the revelation of
Gods full goodness. Sin, death, and enmity between
the genders have not yet crept in. Therefore, any
modern-day blurring of the genders or roles of those
genders are distortions as a result of the Fall.
As with anything, distortions abound and they are the
burden of adhering to a complementarian theology. Jen
Pollack Michael writing in Christianity Today says that
in this: men are pictured as leading their marriages
and ministries; fleet footed after their dreams, while
women are trailing behind bedraggled with the
demands of self-sacrifice.**
This stereotype could not be farther from the truth.
Biblically speaking, in the church men bear the
responsibility to provide spiritual leadership and
training. Why? Because Gods Words tell us so:
1 Corinthian 11:3
But I want you to understand that the head of every
man is Christ, the head of a wife is her husband, and
the head of Christ is God.
First off, I want you to know that the purpose of
scripture is to bring forth truth, it is not a means to
demean or control anyone. Yet, I would be remiss not
to apologize for the ways a verse like this, and say
Ephesians 5:22, has been used by lesser men to make
women feel like less.

** The Accidental Complementarian by Jen Pollack Michael, christianitytoday.com

In 1 Corinthians 11:3 the word head has two

possible meanings. The first could be source and the
second authority. Yet, the use of the word here is the
same as it is used in other places in the Gospels where
Jesus Himself refers to His submission to the Fathers
authority. This lines us up with the intention of
Ephesians 5:22, which commands, Wives submit to
your own husbands (authority).
Now, the question that must be asked: Is Ephesians 5
seeking a begrudging submission, or joyful, obedient
submission? Again, we have to look to Christ, because
it was His submission to the Fathers authority that led
Him to the cross, and that is the picture offered in
Ephesians 5 for husbands and wives. The text tells us
that He willingly went to the cross. This is not
begrudging submission, but instead holy, beautiful, and
joyful submission.
So please understand, my brothers and sisters, that
complementarianism is not meant to inhibit women,
but to free them to complement and complete the
picture of the church powerfully. A difference in role
does not equate to a difference in quality, importance,
or value at all. Men and women are equally valued in
Gods sight, and in His plan and, therefore, the same is
true for their value in the church.

I was reminded of the need for this conversation as I

got off the phone with a brother in the midst of this
very same struggle, and he is not alone. His marriage,
like many, needs to experience the Christ-centered
harmony in the church (home) that true
complementarianism brings, because it brings us to
Gods design for men and women.
I want to close with the words of Jen Pollack Michael
again from Christianity Today, who says: Being a
complementarian woman in an egalitarian world is
wildly unpopular, and while the Word has fallen out of
favor with some, I know no other way to decide the
contentions of my own heart than Biblically.**
Amen, and well said Jen.
If you are a sister at CEFCM, and interested in learning
more about walking with your husband in a
complementary way, consider attending Revive Our
Hearts 2015: Women Teaching Women with Tasha in
September. $109 + Hotel before June 30th.
May Grace and Unity Abound in Christ!

In our congregation we are blessed to have many

women who are amazing teachers and leaders (I could
name names, but certainly I would forget to mention
someone), and these women are fulfilling their Godgiven roles within the church. You dont have to look
past our Childrens Ministry, VBS, Bible Studies,
AWANA program, and Prayer Ministry to see this in
action. These are Godly and gifted women who blow
me away in how they are being used for His glory.
Now that we understand that, can we please dispel the
myth that the church and our homes are two different
places? Because they are not. This has been the great
lie of so many Christians, and the reason why the
divorce rates for those in the church mirror (almost
exactly) those outside of the church.
What we need is to embrace a robust picture of
complementarianism lived out in the church and home
that seeks to preserve the biblical differences between
mens and womens roles while valuing the quality and
importance of both genders. The only way that I see
how we can engage marriages stuck in the middle of a
largely egalitarian culture is by showing them how the
Bible celebrates their differences and commands their
obedience.
** www.gotquestions.org

** The Accidental Complementarian by Jen Pollack Michael, christianitytoday.com