The Lutheran Church of Columbia has been ordaining women since 1993. Ordaining women is important, not only to comply with numbers and rations or to practice what we believe is theologically correct, but also to have more and wider spaces in the life of the people, the members of the church. I hope more women will decide to study theology and continue sharing the faith. When you have a woman pastor with whom you can talk, with whom you can converse, that gives women confidence to speak.
As a lay leader, I refer to the words of Paul. When [Paul] says that in Christ there is no longer male, nor female, nor Jew, nor Greek, because in Christ we are all new creatures and made in his image, sons and daughters of God, that gives me hope.
Gender justice is really going to happen when all people recognize that some people of the body of Christ need to set aside their privileges so that the other, less privileged people can participate in the work of God.
This message is excerpted from “Drawing strength from scripture and spirit” by Adrianne Gray, speaking with Elizabeth Arciniegas, in the November/December 2022 Gather magazine.
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