Lin

“A person who pushes for equality in the Church to their own benefit is doing it from their own flesh and not from a pure heart.”

But John, your interpretation gives you MORE than equality. It gives you superiority over a whole group of believers: Women.

You have misunderstood about equality. Paul makes that clear in Gal 3:28. I don’t have to ‘push’ for it. The Holy Spirit gifts me…not a human. Jesus Christ became our High Priest. A slave is just as important as a noble in the Body of Christ.

“The mistake the visible chuch makes today is to assume that since a person is in leadership then they have been chosen by God to be there.”

I completely agree with this. A title conferred by men means very little.
“eadership in churches today owes more to a “corporate” type system than it does to God’s intended system for picking people for leadership.”

I also completely agree with this. But, I would say that leadership is a tricky word to use for the Body of Christ. There are differnt functions and all believers are gifted to edify the Body. We are all SERVANTS…even elders, pastors, etc.

There are no pink and blue spiritual gifts.