Merry Christmas

All the women at Newbold would like to wish everyone all the best for the Christmas Season and we pray that God will continue to lead your lives, to guide you and bless you.

Top Tip

As a ministerial student I have been wondering how to do ministry before I get into paid ministry. This weekend I was fortunate enough to meet a wonderfully vibrant woman who is church planting in a part of Lincolnshire where there are no Adventist Churches. Among some other wonderful things, she has taken advantage of the free business cards available at vistaprint.co.uk which she gives to people she meets in her ministry.

I would recommend the site. From time to time they have other free offers so if you sign up for newsletters.

Annual Beach Lecture with Dr Gunnar Stålsett

The scheduled lecture by Dr Gunnar Stålsett took place in Moore Close Chapel last night. Dr Gunnar Stålsett was a member of the Nobel Peace Prize Committee, and had previously been the Bishop of Oslo, and the General Secretary of the Lutheran World Federation. He is currently serving as the Vice President for the International Religious Liberty Association as well as the International President for the World Councils for Religion and Peace.

This 2007 Beach Lecture was on Peace and Religion and, as you would expect covered all the three Abrahamic religions and questioned their contributions to peace or its lack of contribution! He started by paying tribute to the inter-Christian dialogue which he sees as having contributed to the success of the ecumenical movement. Historically we have been skeptical about the movement but Dr Stålsett was careful to point out that the ecumenicalism does not imply unity of all religions but rather, says that unity is based on one world and one humanity and not one church.

The speaker describe the age in which we are living as World War III which, on the surface seems like a bizarre and far fetched statement until you dig deeper and undertand that he was referring to genocide, continued oppression, marginalisation, extended poverty, HIV/AIDS, international terrorism and the breakdown of human rights as well as civil liberties. This is a civil war, he says, which makes previous strategies for peace obsolete - the media, governements and non-govermental organisations the world over have all drawn the same conclusion.

So, where do we find solutions to end poverty and to stop the endless and mindless killings which we all too often hear about and read about? Dr Stålsett believes critics of religion have some validity when they say that religion has not left obvious footprints in history but rather it has laid confusion and ambiguity. He concludes that the natural solution to these ills can only be religion itself. It's a solution which will challenge any of us whose eschatology drives our theology - why try to fix something if it is all going to burn anyway? If it all has to get worse before Christ can return, leave it alone and give the clarion call for Christ's second coming. But we can't sit idly by. Can we?

It is in finding a way forward that we will throw off the mantel of ambiguity. Then we will be able see through the fog of tradition and admit that there are aspects of every religion that serve to debase humanity. It is then that we will be able to see those things which we promote in the name of God which really aren't from God. Then we will be able to check ourselves to see whether our teachings are based on cultural, ethnic and tribal divisions and to change them where identified.

Is it true that religion will find its way out of extremism through the reinterpretation of its teachings? What benefit is there in seeing out teachings through the eyes of others? Any such steps will be both difficult and painful but its rewards will bring a new richness to our interpretation which will it be worth it

The night was an interesting one. Challenges were thrown down which will call us to question ourselves on all levels. How, for example do we even begin to discuss open dialogue with other other religions considering our own historical developments and eschatology? How do we even begin to address how culture and traditional practices have shaped our understanding of Adventism? And to what extent should this be a personal journey as compared to a corporate one? And, where do we start?

The lecture has left me with many questions which I don't know how to begin to answer.

De Bron

I had the very lucky privilege of being at the TED workers meetings in De Brun in September. I was one of the few ministerial students who were allowed a look into this wonderful world of pastors and workers and it made for an interesting time.

One of the highlights for me was the impromptu meeting some of the women ministers had at that time. They managed to squeeze a minute in-between meetings and I was so encouraged by seeing the range of women in ministry currently. It was a true blessing to witness and to so many women from different backgrounds, cultures, races and ages together and talking about their work in ministry.

One of the most encouraging points was their willingness to embrace the female student ministerial students at Newbold. They have now got an email list that they would like us to be a part of. They are planning a retreat for the female ministers and would like to coincide it with our semesters so that we can be a part of it and they can encourage us. All in all it was an inspiration and they were an encouragement.

So on the back of that session we would like to meet with all the female DTS students next week Tuesday lunch in the canteen so we can have a chat about the session and see what we can do. We would like to collect email addresses so they can go on the mailing list. Also have a think about anything we might need or any support that would be good for us.

Please come along share lunch and fellowship with your fellow female DTS students, bring your ideas and enjoy some time together.

Female Student DTS Meeting

Tuesday 9th October

1pm

Newbold Canteen

Taking Care of Your Laptop Battery

My laptop has been a life saver but I have recently come to realise that I have no idea how to look after the battery to

I found the following on the zbattery website and wanted to share it. I hope that it's useful.

How do I extend the life of my laptop
battery?
A batter should last 2-4 years depending on how frequently you use and charge the battery. If you travel a lot and use and charge your battery frequently then you might only get a couple of years at the most out of your laptop battery.

So how can you care for your laptop battery to get the maximum life out of it?
1.) Always use your laptop on a hard surface - Using them in bed or on the sofa can cause them to overheat. Heat is one of the biggest obstacles to battery life longevity. Your laptop computer fan cannot circulate the air properly when your laptop is sitting on soft surface.

2.) Do not keep your laptop battery installed when you use your laptop on AC for an extended period of time - For best results, only charge your battery when you need to charge it, don't leave the laptop battery plugged in all the time.

3.) Use a full charge cycle before recharging

4.) Be careful where you store your laptop - is goes back to the heat issue. Batteries hate heat and your laptop battery will go on strike permenantly if you expose it to too much heat.

Holy Hush

I was fortunate enough to be invited to Holy Hush, a seminar on abuse within the church. The church being referred to is not the Adventist Church only but all churches, the wider body of Christ.

Abuse doesn't happen in my church? Well, when you consider the various ways in which abuse is committed, anyone would be pretty hard pressed to say that it doesn't happen in their local congregation let alone the wider body.

Verbal abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, financial abuse, spiritual abuse, physical abuse, emotional abuse and satanic abuse- you name it and it was discussed. We talked about the various ways in which we rationalise it, make excuses for it and even accept it. Think about the jokes we hear from all manner of comedians about the beatings they received (and that some of us received). We laugh about it and even reminisce about it saying, 'it didn't do us any harm'. The fact is, it has had an impact. The fact, is has left scares, but they are scares that no one ever talks about until an event such as Holy Hush.

Successive generations have beat their children and the consequences of violence are there for all to see. Gun and knife crime aren't just being increasingly reported in the press, they are happening more frequently and when we look at the legacy that has been left for our children, we shouldn't be surprised.

Then we talked about 'little wife', something practiced by married men in some African countries. It is a an unwritten protocol which allows a man to inappropriately touch and to also fondle the breasts of his wife's younger sister. It is done in the name of culture but it can lead to penetrative sex - usually without his wife's knowledge. It is sexual abuse in the name of culture but there are parameters which can be overstepped.

Culture should play no place in our religious practices but all to often it does. Should Pastors and members alike hold on to culture for culture's sake? Isn't God's culture more important? Aren't his expectations more important than the expectations of our cultural group?

It was a busy and long day and there was much to be discussed and some of it was a little lighter in nature. The practice of giving libation to the ancestors in return for their favour was also addressed. All of which is permitted even within Christian religions and is also carried out by church leaders and pastors. What cultural practices will I hold onto while telling members that they need to let go of their old practices, their life of sin and their old self? I hope none.

It is all too easy to point the finger from our hermetically sealed western environments and I had to consider how we too have our challenged within the church. What would you do if a young woman comes before you church board and she is grilled because she is pregnant and not yet married? Would you allow board members to ask her details of where and when she had sex, who she had sex with and, if you would permit such questioning, would you also require that the young man is also questioned? What if the child is stamp the Head Elder or one of one of the Deacons? All things that Systematic Theology, Hebrew or Biblical Studies fail to address and that is why I was fortunate to be at this meeting. It has given me the opportunity to reflect on what might be.

I was grateful to Womaash for puttingon Holy Hush, for allowing churches to come together to discuss abuse, for bringing it out in the open and giving me an opportunity for thinking about what I would need to do when in ministry.

I would be even more pleased for other students to havethe same opportunity to hear what I heard from the mouths of some who were brave enough to stand up and tell their personal stories or rape, sexual and physical abuse. Every ministerial student should consider what they would do and how they would tackle abuse within the church before going into ministry. We all need to be aware of the practices which perpetuate it and we should certainly know where to turn to so that members receive the professional care they need. All ministerial students need to think about how they might have to alter their ministerial practices to challenge beliefs, cultural practices and their own understanding which can inadvertently give rise to abuse.

The final question I will leave you with is, should time be set aside so that Womaash can come here to address the issue before we go offinto our churches in all the different countries which we represent and how best can that be facilitated?

Imagine the impact that it would have!

2007 MA Intake

We have just completed a two week intensive course for the Masters in Theology and I was so pleased to see that 11 out of the 28 students are women. We are from Finland, Iceland, UK, Nigeria, Sweden and a few other countries yet to be divulged.

I wonder what the impact is on the men giving lectures and how, over time, they have adapted their delivery style. I have been highly sensitive to the neutral language that has been used and am looking forward to see what other changes the gender balance brings to class, delivery and papers!

Good luck to all the women currently studying at seminary!

New Women's Ministry Website

The British Union Women's Ministry Department has launched a new website. It can be found here.

Ordination of Women

Apologies to readers over the past couple of months. Things have been pretty slow here at Ministry Sister but hopefully they will pick up again during the autumn semester. In the meantime, for anyone who hasn't yet seen it, here are the words of the GC President on the ordination of women.

To all Biblical Language Scholars

I know that I certainly wished that I had access to recordings of my Hebrew lectures so that I could go over those pesky rules that seem so hard at the beginning of the semester and which pale into insignificance when I started to learn verb weaknesses. Well, now that the semester is over I have finally located the universities pages on iTunes with a video podcast of Hebrew lessons at Concordia University. If you don't have iTunes, you can download them from the web

iTunes or podcasts of lessons at Adventists seminaries would be its own publicity and would certainly be welcomed by me. I hope that now we have started getting a presence on iTunes that our institutions take another small step.

Oh, so that I don’t leave Greek scholars out, there are also podcasts of elementary Greek available on the web and on iTunes.

I wish this had been there earlier but hope that it will be of help to others starting Hebrew in the Autumn.

Carole Williams

Quoting EG White

In the Review and Herald published on July 9, 1895 EG White made the following statement:

Women who are willing to consecrate some of their time to the service of the Lord should be appointed to visit the sick, look after the young, and minister to the necessities of the poor. They should be set apart to this work by prayer and laying on of hands. In some cases they will need to counsel with the [local] church officers or the [conference] minister; but if they are devoted women, maintaining a vital connection with God, they will be a power for good in the church. This is another means of strengthening and building up the church. We need to branch out more in our methods of labor. Not a hand should be bound, not a soul discouraged, not a voice should be hushed; let every individual labor; privately or publicly, to help forward this grand work.

Following this statement that three women were ordained in the early Adventist church.

Woman at the Well

I saw this posted on Emergine Women and wanted to share it with you.

Team Hoyt

Lying in bed recovering from mistreating your own body gives you plenty of food for thought – how I would do things differently next time, if only my body were made strong like other people’s, I’m sick of being ill all the time. You know the self pitying kind of thoughts we all have when feeling under the weather?

Despite hearing about Team Hoyt before, I found that taking the time to look at this video made me stop and think again. It made me think that even if my body can’t hold onto the nutrients I need or if I get exhausted just looking at someone exercising, I shouldn't’t allow that to stop me.





Running a triathlon may not be the best idea of testing that theory and believe me, it ain’t mine either! It may not even be a big deal in some people’s book to run at the age of 65. Many wouldn’t blink twice a running with their son either. Running with your son who has cerebral palsy is a completely different thing however. Trekking over 3000 miles with him takes discipline that I can only dream of from my sick bed.

Dick and his wife were determined to give their son a normal a life as possible despite his disability. And there began the dream.





Watching the videos of Team Hoyt that are available all over the internet brings tear to my eye and an awe inspiring vision of the love and determination that God has for my life, to get me through my race, the carry me across my mountains, to swim the oceans with me, to be by my side no matter what. Seeing the quote in the video of their dependence on one another to get through makes me even more acutely aware of my dependence on God.

See for yourself and let me know the emotions it evokes in you.

“Rick couldn’t run without Dick. Together they run, together has power, don’t run alone”

Carole Williams

Oops Sorry

The summer has meant that there has been little activity on this blog and readership has really fallen. Oops.

Eveyone's minds should be getting ready to gear up for a new semester and I certainly hope to read of the interesting time that you have all had, the activities you have taken part in and the things you have learned.

As for me, I have time on my hands after falling ill so hopefully there will be one or two more posts in me yet!

Being Used by God

Like all other ministerial students I ask myself what my ministry is going to be like, where it is going to be and how God is going to have me work with. Despite the opportunities which I have in my current work, I am acutely aware that God can stop me in my tracks and take me in a direction which I hadn’t been planning so I know that I have be prepared for anything.

Despite that head knowledge, despite my experience working in the mission field on both long and short term trips, I was surprised and elated to read the blog by James Appel, medical director of Béré Adventist Hospital, in Tchad, Africa and more surprised at to see the video they have on google. It’s a little long but its worth viewing to experience the emotional roller coaster the nurses and doctors go through when a lack of electricity nearly causes the death of a small baby. It certainly puts into persepective being ill here in the west and gives pause for thought.

The story also makes me remember that God can and will use us in all sorts of ways, in all kinds of places and in ways we both expect and do not expect.




Carole Williams

Taking Responsibility

Reading blogs like this one here makes me realise just how much I have to learn and the responsiblity I have to this church.

The Zimmers

The Zimmers have made a huge impact, not only in the English charts, but on just about every major news programme across the world.

Their youtube site has had more than 2million hits and, on their myspace site, they boast such friends as Lulu, Simon Cowell, Bryan Ferry and Amy Winehouse.

Some of those who took part in the recording at Abbey Road studio hadn’t left their home for a long time. In fact, one woman hadn’t left her home for 3 years until she went to London to make the video.

The show which spawned this video was a documentary on the BBC looking at the isolation of the elderly in Britain. The programme and subsequent record certainly changed that, even if for rehearsals and recording. Rather than using the money to take themselves on holiday (either collectively or individually), or doing up their homes, lifting themselves out of poverty or giving the money to their children or grandchildren, the group of 40 have decided that the money which is made will go to help support those charities working with the elderly.

What has all of this got to do with women in ministry or ministry for that matter?

Well, on seeing their websites, I had to ask myself what the potential is for our church to impact a community in this kind of way. Barring the obscenity at the end, it really does make you think, cause the mind to do flips and to ponder the ways in which ministry is done and the potential to reach out in a way that has such a major impact!

Level Seven

Level Seven have organised another thought provoking seminar. This one will be held at the House of Commons. The topic? Politics and Religion. Something dear to the heart of all adventists.

Blogging for Beginners

What is the blogging thing that seems to be taking over the internet? It's is a growing phenomenon which is fast becoming a means of sharing information where there is a gap in establishment media outlets. It's fast and it's accurate, it's light and breezy and it's easy to do. There are posts on almost any subject under the sun. This blog is focussing on women in ministry.

The blogging phenomenon is still challenging people to think and some are still coming to grips with it. There are plenty of guidelines out there on how to write a successful blog and some of them are well worth taking a look at.

The post includes links to a few that are out there otherwise you can google and take a look for yourself.

Blogger.com which hosts this blog has its very own blog for bloggers gives lots of guidance on bloggers. They have tips and tricks and there are quick tips here.

There is a bit of an art to getting people to read your blog and, apart from telling family and rriends there are a few simple things that can be done. There are all sorts of ways to draw people to reading the blog and one mechanism is called tagging. These really should be place on all entries once written as this will drive traffic. Increasing traffic has its own advantages and, unless we only want to talk to ourselves, it is an important step.

There are other simple tricks such as Technorati and del.icio.us which we are now registerd to and or on our sidebar.

There are many more little things that can be done to make the site a success and I will continue to give you pointers as we develop and grow!

Carole

Drug Runner Turned Pastor

Athiest, turned drug runner, turned Rasta, turned theology student, turned Adventist Pastor. Some journey. Although not a female pastor I couldn't resist sharing his story with you all. check it out here. You can also read more about his ministy on his own blog and ministry website. This is what you call mission!

Carole Williams

More Questions than Answers

It would be interesting to hear now about any comments received by women theology students while at seminary or while out in the local churches.

The reason I ponder on those comments is because, being a fourth generation Adventist women who was never given any indication that there were any areas of life which I was excluded from, I often ask myself where conversations on the role of women in ministry stem from. Are they real? Are the restrictions on women in ministry new or have restrictions always existed? Did I miss out on the conversations are was there a complete lack of discussion because it had never even been considered a possibility? And, what is the basis is for current conversations and debates? Is sensitivity to such debates heightened by a situation which really does exist out there and is there real and tangible opposition to women in the ministry? Or is there more support than people would let on? Will these questions be answered while we are still in seminary or will real opposition only come once we get out there and are posted in a church?

If the answer to that last question are yes, then how much of our attention will be focussed on trying to do the day-job rather than establishing an effective ministry which reaches the needs of the local community? If our energies are negatively refocused in this way will we be able to fulfil our calling to the ministry?

I know this poses more questions that it does answers but that reflects the complexity of the matter, the myriad of unanswered questions which do exist and which, many generations from now, women ministerial students and women ministers may still be asking.

Rather than answering any questions, I am going to leave one more for consideration and, possibly even comments. What was the basis for the decision to do nothing unless and until every conference votes in the affirmative? And how can that decision be taken when there is no baseline data to support the decision?

Carole Williams

Can Women Preach?

Of Lulu Wightman who planted churches in Hornellsville, Gas Springs, Wallace, Silver Creek, Geneva, Angola, Gorham, Fredonia, Avoca, Rushville, Canandaigua, and Penn Yan USA, Bert Haloviak said of that she ". . . tangible evidence of her `call' to gospel ministry," "Indeed, the results from her evangelism would rank her not only as the most outstanding evangelist in New York State during the time, but among the most successful within the denomination for any time period."

Women Should Refrain from Speaking in Church!?!?

Many people find themselves in hot water when they quote Paul’s first letter to Timothy and assume that he was suggesting that women should stay at home and that they should not be able to teach in church.

Two thousand years later and this text is being used to discourage women from entering the ministry or, if they do enter the ministry, it is used to stop them playing a full role.

Interesting, however, readers continue to make the same perennial mistake and take the text out of its socio-historical setting. They also fail to appreciate or to recognise that there are different kinds of passages within the Bible. There are those which a) describe events practices at that time and b) to describe teach principles for universal application.

The passage in 1 Timothy 2:9-15 describes events and practices.

Without putting much effort anyone who is interested can find out that Paul was encouraging Timothy to confront false teachings within the church at Ephesus because his own trip was going to be delayed. In the meantime, his set his words down on paper and suggested that Timothy tell the women in that day and at that time to refrain from teaching as their teachings were false. They were, however, not alone in giving false teachings. There was much of it going on in the church and the men had an equal part to play.

It is also clear from reading other passages that Paul was, in fact, supportive of women in the ministry. See for example Romans 16:1,2,7 and Philippians 4:2,3. Note that, it is in this passage that the only female apostle is mentioned and that, despite the ongoing debate among scholars about the identification of Junia, no record of the male name "Junias" has ever been discovered in extra-biblical Greek literature. (What ever you think about women as minister, read the book reveiw about Junia or even buy the book for yourself.)

Paul also referred to Priscilla as ‘a fellow worker in Christ’ Jesus (Rom 16:3) and of Euodia and Syntyche, he said, ‘these women who laboured with me in the gospel’ (Philippians 4:3).

In reality, there is neither the time nor the space in this blog to do justice to the depth of study needed to tackle the sort of comments thrown at women as they go through seminary but there are plenty of resources on the internet which can be used to help deal with the simplistic generalisations we all too often hear.

Whatever your thoughts, this would make a good dissertation for Greek scholars out there!


Carole Williams

Proving God

WARNING some may find the content in these links disturbing

The Rational Response Squad were recently given airtime on ABC Nightline to discuss their blasphemy challenge.

Their aim in life? To prove that God does not exist.

Brian of the Rational Response Squad used to be a Catholic, then a born again Christian and now he’s a self proclaimed atheist running a weekly internet radio show to ‘cure theism’. The Squad have set out to call atheists to publicly deny God, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit and people seem to be responding and with ABC’s recent broadcasts and their pages on You Tube, more people will foolishly do the same. In fact, one respondent has dubbed herself Dominique666.

With sites like this and ardent adversaries what is the challenge for women coming into ministry or who are already in ministry? Is there anything the church can do to counter the ads which the Squad has post on websites aimed at young people? To what extent is this indicative of the work we are faced with and how can we use a full ‘toolkit’ (what ever that might be) to counter the impact this kind of thing has on the very people we are dedicating our lives to working with? These are only questions I know, but these are questions which are particularly pertinent in a day and age where young people have so little hope that they will take up a knife or gun and critically wound a fellow classmate without knowing understanding or thinking of the eternal impact and consequences.

On the other hand, is this the sort of thing that we need to be coming together to talk about or is ministry and studying for ministry taking up so much of our time that we don’t’ have the space in our calenders, the energy or the will to deal with the Brian’s and the Kelly’s of this world?

The other questions this recording left me with was, isn’t this proselytising? I don’t know about you, but in this clip, I heard their own atheist liturgy, prayers and there was plenty of evidence of their outreach programme!

Carole Williams