Perhaps you heard the story on national news or read it on the internet. The pastor and board of First Baptist Church of Watertown, N.Y., fired a Sunday school teacher for being a woman. The teacher, 81-year-old Mary Lambert, received a letter from pastor Timothy LaBouf saying that the board had voted unanimously that women could not teach or have authority over men.
They cited Paul's statement in 1 Tim. 2:11-15 as their rationale: “A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent. For Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner. But women will be saved through childbearing—if they continue in faith, love and holiness with propriety.”
So, after 54 years of teaching Sunday school, Mrs. Lambert is out; but, as is typical in such cases, there is more to it that meets the eye.
First Baptist, an American Baptist congregation, is an old downtown church whose membership had dwindled in recent years. When their pastor resigned a few years ago the search committee, of which Mrs. Lambert was a member, recommended LaBouf, now 32, who had grown up in Watertown.
Educated in a Catholic school, LaBouf became a Christian, felt called to preach and attended an independent Baptist Bible school in Springfield, Mo. After serving on the staff of an independent Baptist church in California where his father-in-law was pastor, LaBouf and his wife moved back to his home town in 2001.
In the few years since LaBouf became pastor, he has made many changes and the church has grown. Mary Lambert approves of the growth, but has vigorously opposed some of the changes—like removing a cross with the letters IHS from the sanctuary. Despite the traditional understanding that the Greek letters are the first three letters of Jesus‚ name or stand for “In His Service,” according to LaBouf, the letters stand for three Greek gods and are pagan symbols.
Other actions Lambert opposed were removing pictures of Christ from the sanctuary, removing some stained-glass windows, and eliminating the church library. I assume LaBouf was attempting to remove symbols that are sometimes barriers to the unchurched. The pastor alleges that at some point Lambert went to the newspaper with her concerns—whether before or after seeking redress in the congregation is a matter of dispute. His statement on the church's website says that attorneys have gotten involved and insinuates that they used the Scriptures to fire her because to remove her on other grounds might have left them in a legally precarious position.
The deacons also released a statement: “In the specific case of Ms. Lambert the Board's decision to remove her from a teaching position was multifaceted and the scriptural rules concerning women teaching men in a church setting was only a small aspect of that decision. Christian courtesy motivates us to refrain from making any public accusations against her.”
So many salient points beg to be recognized that it is impossible to cover them all in the brief space of an editorial. But, some of the major issues are following. Pastor search committees, take heed. Some churches become so desperate for leadership that they ignore the backgrounds of pastoral candidates and opt for an expedient and often convenient choice. Then they complain because the pastor continues to do what he's always done. Be smart as well as spiritual.
I also observe the issue of scriptural integrity rising to be recognized at several levels. It is curious that pastor LaBouf was perfectly willing to assume the pastorate of a church where Lambert taught; and until she began to question his leadership, he seemed perfectly willing for her to continue in that role. At that point, however, suddenly observing the literal teaching of a somewhat nebulous passage of scripture became a critical spiritual point. I say the passage is nebulous because Paul's rationale is that Eve should be barred from current leadership because she was the early leader in the sin department. Adam was innocent? Not only that, Paul also says women will be saved by bearing children! Childless women and adoptive mothers have no hope? How does this square with Eph. 2:8-9?
Aside from his dogmatic interpretation of a troubling passage, a major integrity problem is that he and the board apply the Bible selectively to suit their own purposes. Unscrupulous people (and church members trying to prove a point) have done this from the early days of the church—and it is always wrong. The Scriptures are the Sword of the Spirit, not the stick of the preacher.
Yet another red flag is flying. Was it really necessary for LaBouf and LaBoard to “fire” an 81-year-old volunteer who had held the same position for more than half a century? Sometimes smart people do really dumb things. Elderly Mrs. Lambert may be such a troublemaker that she should be removed as a Sunday school teacher—I don't know. But instead of ignoring a situation that would probably have blown over very soon, the church leadership chose to write her a heavy-handed letter of dismissal and put her away quietly and permanently. We all know how well that worked. In fact, I read the story on the Islamic website IslamOnline.net where a Google search sent me! It is hard to imagine that Mrs. Lambert represented such a level of threat to the church.
Perhaps the greatest lesson of all in this mess, however, is simple and biblical. When we have a disagreement with someone, go to that person and work it out. We Christians need to learn to deal with our conflicts in the spirit of Christ and according to his instructions in Matthew 18:15-17. If only we could understand that the kingdom is more important than what any of us wants, we could keep from embarrassing ourselves and bringing dishonor to the precious name of Jesus.