9Marks Journal: Pastoring Women (28期:牧養姊妹)

The egalitarianism of Western culture, for all its good purposes, leads to the homogenizationof men and women. To unisex clothes, colognes, roles, and lifestyles. The lovely and distinct color palettes of men and women mush together into a gray-brown muck.You can have that if you want it. But we think God intends something better. That’s why this issue of the 9Marks Journal is dedicated to how to distinctlypastor women. We want to reflect on what he uniquely and wonderfully intends for women inthe life of the church, and how to specially pastor them.

抹掉差異看上去很安全。如果你把男人和女人「一視同仁」,你就不需要冒任何得罪人、限制人或阻礙人的風險。

但是,假如神的確把男女造得不同呢?如果這根本不是限制的問題,而是神對不同肢體獨特的旨意呢?我猜你會說,這樣想的人是把自己的眼睛給限制了以至於看不見,或者把耳朵給束縛了以至於聽不見,但這樣說未免太一廂情願了。

西方文化中的平權主義懷揣著美好的動機,想要抹掉男女性別的差異。他們期待人們穿中性的衣服、噴著中性的古龍水,扮演中性的角色和活著一種中性的生活方式。男女角色鮮活獨特的差異,有如鮮豔的調色板,被平權主義粉碎揉成一團灰暗色調的淤泥。

如果你願意,你可以這麼做。但是我們認爲神的創造和旨意更美好。這也是本期九標誌期刊爲何專注於如何切實牧養姊妹的原因。我們期待反映出神對姊妹在教會生活中獨特、美好的旨意,並給出如何牧養她們的具體建議。