About
Timaó is a place for anyone hoping to engage in a biblical conversation around gender-based hierarchy in the family and church.
More specifically Timaó is a place for those in the Presbyterian Church of NSW (Australia) where there is currently conversation around the role of women elders. We currently have women elders in the PCNSW, but this is currently being challenged.
The name Timaó comes from the Greek word that means to honour, respect, revere and value. We want to value and honour biblical truth, men, women, families, church, and everyone who joins us in the conversation (1 Peter 2:17).
If you want to hang back and watch, step in and comment, share, or even contribute posts/articles, then do as you feel led, and do it in truth and grace!
A Bit About Me
I am Dave, a Presbyterian Minister in the PCNSW. I have a Master of Divinity and have done all my theological training and preparation for ministry through Christ College (the then Presbyterian Theological Centre). From when I became a candidate for ministry through to the present time, women have been able to be elders in the PCNSW. Through my course of training at Christ College we never dealt with any of the key biblical passages such as 1 Timothy 2:11-15. The place where the topic of female preaching and eldership received the most attention was in Church History with Peter Barnes, which was generally off topic at the time! These discussions did not involve exegesis and usually revolved around Peter’s opinion of things such as whether a woman could preach in church and if so, how regularly before she appeared to have ‘authority’.
The only other time it was raised was by a female guest lecturer. The lecturer was to give us a female perspective on what was and was not helpful for male preachers to consider. She made it clear that she would not respect a minister who allowed a woman to preach because they obviously did not take their bible seriously.
Over my time in ministry in the PCNSW I have seen the pressure for male only elders increase by people who have entered ministry in our denomination knowing that we allow female elders. We have an environment that has made it harder and harder to speak up against the male only elder push. One thing that has contributed to this is the unwillingness to have a biblical discussion. Statements such as, ‘the bible is clear’, or ‘the biblical discussion has been settled’ without the appropriate biblical discussion means that one side claims the biblical high ground without even looking closely at scripture.
Over time I have moved from a “complementarian” view, to a more inclusive understanding of church leadership. It has been biblical study that has altered my view, not feminism or the voice of the day.
My intention is not to alter the view of those who do not agree with me but rather to allow:
