Grace Alone
Puritan Board Senior
It really doesn't bother me that Dever calls it sin. I actually think he should. But I can't understand how having female elders is not a deal breaker. I'd pump gas before I ministered in a church with eldresses.
Fred, I won't speak for Mark, but I'm sure he'd be pumping gas right along with you.
I wish, Bill, that he had been as forceful in his language on eldresses as paedobaptists:
2. Female elders. I might be able to live with female elders, but not for long, and probably not at all, so I probably just shouldn’t try. I want to allow for those situations in which you’ve had an ill-taught church that’s willing to follow your leadership, where even the female elders themselves are happy to step down. But normally, if a church accepts female elders, has been clearly instructed to the contrary, and will not change, that seems like a battle you won’t win. So I probably wouldn’t even begin with such a church.
I refuse to even visit my in-laws church with female elders on Lord's Days when there could be communion.
We refuse to visit my in-laws' church with the female minister on any Lord's Days.