16 September 2004

An Idea Whose Time Has Come by Floyd E. Rose

Non-fiction. PDF. (In paperback by Brentwood Christian Press.) Published in 2002. Downloaded from As the Spirit Leads.

I ended up on the As the Spirit Leads site by following a link from Gal328. The booklet (it's about 68 pages total) caught my attention because it specifically addresses why women in the Church of Christ should be able to take part in all areas of church life, and because it was written by an African American, who in my experience are the most conservative members of the C of C. Mr. Rose compares how women are treated with the way slaves were treated, which I have seen in other writings about women and the church. Somehow it seems very personal to him, though. Which it must be for him to put his neck on the line in writing this booklet and starting a gender-neutral church.

He says: "Slavery in America was built on the premise that the worst white man was better than the best black man. Male chauvinism in the church is built on the premise that the least qualified man is more qualified than the most qualified woman." I've certainly seen that in action on more than one occasion.

Publisher's summary:
For thirty years, Floyd Rose was among the most sought after preachers in the Churches of Christ.  In 1978, at the age of forty and the height of his popularity, he was conducting an average of twenty-six gospel meetings a year and featured on Regional and national Lectureships through the United States. To the surprise of his family and friends, in 1979, Rose left the Church of Christ, and with his wife and one other man, Rose founded the Family Baptist Church in Toledo, Ohio.  In just six months, the Family Baptist Church grew from three to five hundred members.  It was Toledo's fastest growing church, and had become the center of spiritual, political and economic power in Toledo's African American community.  Among its guests were Rosa parks, Stokely Carmichael, Louis Farakan, and T.D. Jakes. In 1994, two years after the death of his father, Rose returned to the Church of Christ of his childhood and again his popularity soared.  Between April of 1997 and April of 1998, he traveled more than 75,000 miles accepting invitations to preach, lecture and conduct workshops in thirty different cities in as many states. In spite of his ever increasing popularity, Rose was troubled by what he saw as a parallel between how blacks were treated by a white dominated society and how women are treated in a male dominated church.  So, he established the Church of Christ At Pine Hill; a church without wall-without denominational, cultural, class, race or gender walls; a congregations of Christians where women participate in all of the ministries of the church, without restrictions or reservations.

2 comments:

Stephen said...

I saw it on the floor, and read the introduction. I am interested in reading it, so please hang on to it. I was also intrigued in Floyd E. Rose's background.

reJoyce said...

Alrighty. I'll put it over on your side of the bed so you can find it.