Gender Equality Conference

This past Monday evening through Wednesday morning the Biblical Seminary of Colombia hosted a conference put on by Christians for Biblical Equality, an organization that advocates for the involvement of women in all ministries of the church and for gender equality in marriage. I ended up attending most of the sessions and doing some simultaneous Spanish to English translation for some of the introductory comments and one of the talks by Dr. Bill Spencer, a professor from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, which addressed debates over Trinitarian theology as it relates to gender roles. This was my first time doing simultaneous translation, and I actually really enjoyed it. Thankfully I was going from Spanish to English, which is a lot easier than the reverse!

Sessions of the conference addressed issues related to interpretation of Old Testament and New Testament texts, theology, church history, and practical issues. Half a day was devoted to workshops, which I decided to use to attend workshops related to women’s standing according to Colombian law and issues of gender violence. These were helpful for understanding a bit more of the cultural context here in Colombia and the challenges and inequalities women still face. While not mentioned in these talks, it’s worth mentioning that one of the big challenges women face in ministry in Colombia is that churches often theologically accept women pastors, but they don’t want to pay them, or at least not at the rate they pay male pastors. It’s quite common to see pastoral teams of husband and wife here, and there is often a “two for the price of one” mentality.

The view from the translator's booth. I listened to the Spanish via headphones and simultaneously spoke an English translation, which was broadcast via radio to the headphones of those who only spoke English.

I know that among my friends and financial partners there is a wide variety of opinion on the often contentious issues related to gender roles. While I consider myself a moderate egalitarian, I respect where people are coming from on both sides of the women’s ordination debate and recognize I very well could be wrong on this issue. I don’t think most complementarians are chauvinists, and I try to challenge people on both sides to defend their views biblically and represent the opposing position in a fair way. The seminary here does not have an official position on the matter, but for practical purposes I would say the vast majority favor the egalitarian side. Our seminary president is a Colombian woman, and as of last semester 28% of the students studying on campus were women and 42% of the students in the online program. I was a little surprised the numbers were so high, given the reputation Latin America has for being machista, promoting male dominance.

One of the primary reasons for the significant presence of female seminarians, however, has to do with the prevalence of Pentecostalism in Colombia. Some significant Pentecostal denominations, like the Foursquare Church, were started by women (i.e. Aimee Semple McPherson), and most Pentecostals have recognized female preachers since their beginnings. For example, I know one male seminarian here whose mother was a pastor who founded a church in the rural outskirts of Medellín and a man who works in the extension office whose grandmother was a pastor. For most egalitarians here, their viewpoint has nothing to do with theologically “liberal” or “feminist” ideology and everything to do with churches that are committed to the Great Commission and have been open to providing opportunities for women to be part of that at every level. Whether one agrees with their exegesis or not, I think that’s worthy of respect. There are awesome opportunities here to provide deeper training to help people committed to God’s kingdom grow deeper in their knowledge of Scripture, and that's what excites me most about teaching here!