What can be done about women who speak out of turn in Bible class?
Question:
My wife and I have been to the congregation there in La Vista. We really enjoyed it and found it to be a true church. We have been having a problem locally with the verse in I Timothy 2 about the women being silent. I read your article on that subject. We are experiencing women doing most of the speaking in class and will speak up before a man. Last Sunday in class a man and a woman spoke up at the same time and the woman would not stop but the man did. They were husband and wife. What is your thought on that? There was an elder in the class at the time. My problem with this is we are not teaching the younger girls what their role is and how far they can go. We allow this and the next generation will be dominating and won't realize it. I believe that is what is happening today. So many things go by without anything being said by the elders or the preacher. We were sitting by one of the elders' wives one Wednesday night where we had a devotional and he asked a question and she spoke up to answer the question and caught herself because she forgot we were not in the Bible study. This kind of thing is what worries my wife and I. We would appreciate your response to this. And we look forward to worshiping with you again in the future when we get up there again.
Thank you.
Answer:
Accidentally answering when a person is caught up in the lesson does happen. In some ways I find it encouraging that people are involved in the lessons. It doesn't bother me when the person realizes and catches their outburst.
In regards to the class, much depends on the teacher. There are reasons that everyone shouldn't be a teacher (James 3:1). One of them is that teaching takes skill. One of the elder's duties is to help teach men about how to teach.
In La Vista many of us who teach encourage the class to raise their hands and wait to be called upon. They know that they will be called on, so they have less reason just to blurt out what they are thinking. There are times when the teacher has to remind someone that they need to wait their turn. I will often see hands go up and announce the order in which people can have their say. In this way, a teacher can quietly balance who is talking so that no one person is dominating the class. There are rare times when I might say, "You've answered the last three questions, let's see if anyone else has an answer to this question."
Response:
Thank you so much for taking the time to answer some questions on the phone and sending me the e-mail today. You have been very helpful.
We just wanted to make sure that my wife would not be in any danger speaking up. She is very knowledgeable in the Scriptures and sometimes can answer when no one else can. I am very proud of her for her devotion to the study. I certainly did not want her to lose her soul over something like this.
Again thank you so much. We really love your web site. You have done a wonderful job and I will tell others about it. May God richly bless you and your family.
