In the fall of 2018, the ICOC Teachers Service Team assembled a task force to research biblical passages that speak to the subject of men and women in the Bible. The task force considered the relationships of men and women to God, each other, marriage, and ministry. The results of this research yielded a group of papers entitled The Bible and Gender. Originally, this project was envisioned to be one paper. However, as the project evolved, it became evident that the task force needed to write eight papers covering nine passages of Scripture. Also, it became clear that the discussion was not about the woman’s role in marriage and the church, but it was a discussion about women and men in the image of God, marriage, ministry, culture, and biblical interpretation. These articles reflect the process of “community teaching” or “community theology.” In many ways, this methodology was the North Star of the task force, driving their process of research and writing. The Teachers Task Force on The Bible and Gender prays that this book will facilitate discussions concerning this important topic across churches around the globe. —ICOC Teachers Service Team
In late 2020 through summer of 2021, but the Hampton Roads Church and the American Commonwealth Region of churches (ACR) likewise assemblies teams to study these Scriptures, the book The Bible and Gender and discuss a biblical path forward. Below are videos that summarize these discussions.