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What I Have Found
My introduction to "brethren" assemblies.*
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2. Obedience to the teaching of Scripture concerning the role of women in the assembly.
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This leads us to another characteristic of the assemblies, one that many find particularly objectionable, and that is their literal obedience to the instructions of Scripture concerning the role of women in the assembly. These instructions are found in such passages as 1 Corinthians 11 and 14, and 1 Timothy 2. They are completely opposite to the spirit of the age; perhaps this is why they are so attacked, ignored, or compromised, even by professed lovers of the Word of God.
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The discovery that the wearing of headcoverings during meetings is prevalent among the women in the assemblies is a shock and offense to many. It places assemblies a small step above snake-handling cultists in the minds of some! For our part, my wife and I found in this the final confirmation, as I shall explain, that we should begin to meet with these brothers and sisters. For years we had heard various explanations of the New Testament teaching on the role of women. Typically, these explanations focused on the local cultural situations that supposedly gave rise to the teaching, such as the alleged prominence of temple harlots in Corinth accounting for Paul's insistence on head coverings and the silence of women in the meetings. These explanations never rang true with us. For one thing, it never seemed right that a knowledge of ancient Greco-Roman social history should be prerequisite to a proper interpretation of Scripture, particularly where a culturally-based interpretation appeared to set aside the plain teaching of the passage. At any rate, whenever one of the sisters would rise to address the church in some way, and when, on one occasion, our Sunday School selected a woman to teach a mixed class of men and women, we had a gnawing feeling that all was not as it should be.
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