Quote
Pilgrim said:
What I was opposing was a situation where a woman would come before the congregation and "lead" the congregation in song during formal worship, thus, IMHO, usurping the authority given to those who are ordained to do this. And, I believe that the Elders have any authority to delegate their authority to anyone who cannot qualify, i.e., a woman, who the Scripture says must remain "silent" in such circumstances.

Pilgrim,

I'm still a little confused about your position. Are you saying that Elders do or do not have the authority to delegate their authority to someone who cannot qualify? The last sentence implies they do, but the previous sentence implies they don't (if I'm reading it right).

How would you respond to women helping to collect the offering? The church I attend allows that. Collecting the offering doesn't seem to be a role which has any sort of authority (I'm not sure on this point actually), but before I came to Japan, I never attended a church where that was allowed.

John