• Papers
  • Reading
  • Discussion

These four papers accompany some teaching being delivered by Andrew Sampson in May 2025. They look at the debate going on in the wider church concerning gender roles, setting out where we stand in Grace Church Truro and appealing for both heart and head engagement in how we approach this difficult topic. Andrew sees these papers as works in progress and requests that, for now, they aren’t distributed beyond Grace Church without permission.

1. Union and Distinction

Content: Introducing the blood-ink-pencil framework; the Big Idea of male-female complementarity; what Genesis says about gender; 3 different ways of understanding male headship; the theme of eldership; setting a trajectory for Grace Church. [A (clearly marked) portion of this paper can be skipped without disrupting the flow of argument.]

2. Two Difficult Texts

Content: Introducing the three worlds model for interpreting the Bible; detailed discussions of 1 Corinthians 11:2-6 & 14:34-35; what these texts do and don't say about female participation in church services. [Some readers may wish to skip the technical details]

3. Who can Teach

Content: Overview of the debate about women teaching; discussion of 1 Timothy 2:11-15; comparison of a complementarian and egalitarian interpretation of 1 Timothy 2; five reasons why we have women preaching on occasion in Grace Church; the distinction between 'Big T' and 'little t' teaching. [Some readers may wish to skip the technical details.]

4. Unity and Disagreement

Content: how not to engage in the complementarian-egalitarian debate; how to disagree 'Christianly'; returning to the blood-ink-pencil framework; the distinction between unity and unanimity; a real-life case study from Grace Church; the imperative of unity. [Although this is the shortest paper, arguably it's the most important of the four.]

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