Some conversations are worth slowing down for.
Questions about women, calling, leadership, and the church have shaped Christian communities for generations. Faithful Christians have read the same Bible and sometimes come to very different conclusions about who can preach, teach, lead, or serve in positions of spiritual authority.
This September, we’re making space to look at those questions carefully together.
Closed Doors? Women, Calling & Leadership in the Church is a four-week Bible study exploring what Scripture actually says about women and leadership. Rather than beginning with church tradition, modern culture, or the position we already hold, we’ll return to the Bible and work through some of the passages at the centre of this conversation.
Along the way, we’ll look closely at difficult texts like 1 Corinthians 14 and 1 Timothy 2, talk about how context shapes faithful interpretation, and eventually step back to consider the larger biblical story—from creation and the Fall to the prophets, the early church, and the redeeming work of Jesus.
Hillside Church is fully egalitarian. We believe that calling, gifting, character, and faithfulness, not gender, determine a person’s opportunity to serve and lead in the church. But this study is not simply about telling you what Hillside believes. We want to show why we believe it, take the difficult passages seriously, and invite Scripture to shape our conclusions.
Whether you already share that conviction, come from a church background that taught something different, or simply have questions you’ve never had the opportunity to explore, you are welcome.
Join us Wednesday nights throughout September at Hillside Church as we open the Bible, ask difficult questions, and consider together whether some of the doors Christians have assumed were closed were ever closed by God at all.