Free file for youth pastors:

KNOW YOUR ROLE: DISTINCTION OF FUNCTIONAL GENDER ROLES IN THE CHURCH

Homosexuality, feminism, and men who want to just sit on the couch and eat potato chips when they get home from work – these are all signs of one of Satan’s strongest attacks against Christ. We are seeing this in student ministry more and more.  Students who are struggling with homosexuality or are tolerant to friends who are, students who are in relationships and the female is the leader, and Christian schools who allows the girls to be class presidents are just a few examples of how we are retreating the truth from Satan’s attack.

In Genesis 3, the curse agains the man and the woman were very specific to their gender.  The man starts to sweat from doing work, the woman experiences writhing pain in childbirth, and she desires to be the leader over her husband.  The curse of sin is so specific to our gender because the way we play out our gender is a picture of Christ and the church.  Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the Apostle Paul writes that the reason God created Adam and Eve as man and woman and husband and wife is because he was foreshadowing His eternal glorious goal – Christ and the church.

If you have budding feminists in youth youth group, if your student ministry struggles with weak male leadership, or if you need to confront someone on their gender confusion…I hope this paper can be a help to you.  I wrote it in seminary with the goal of understanding biblical gender better. KNOW YOUR ROLE: DISTINCTION OF FUNCTIONAL GENDER ROLES IN THE CHURCH