Notice of Meeting

Please be notified that we will be holding a Special General Meeting of the Members of Sevenoaks Alliance Church on Sunday October 24, to be held at 2:00 P.M. in the Chapel. No pre-registration is required in order to attend.

Click HERE for the full Notice of Meeting (you need the same password as for the discernment materials--Contact life@sevenoaks.org if you need the password)

Background

In January of 2020, the members of our church family passed a motion at a Special General Meeting which called on the leadership of the church to lead us into a season discernment regarding whether we should amend our bylaws and open up eligibility for election to our Board of Elders to all members of our church, including women. This season would include reading, study, discussion, and prayer.

The pandemic lockdowns over the last 14 months or so have contributed to a delay in getting that process started, but on April 25, 2021 Pastor Jamie announced that we are finally ready to begin that six-month season of discernment.

In case you missed it, here is his announcement:



You'll find access below to a series of resources we've put together for you to use - individually or as couples, as families or as small groups – as you study, discuss, reflect on, and pray about what the Scriptures have to say - and what the Holy Spirit is saying to us - about this important issue. 

Resource Package  The 22-page Resource Package contains all of the basic information that you need in order to understand and frame the process that we are undertaking and the questions that we are exploring. Pastor Jamie has asked everyone in our church family to read this document in order to meaningfully engage in this process.

Theological Reader  For those of you who want to engage more deeply with the issues of scriptural interpretation which must inform any discussion of the role of women in church leadership, we have also made a Theological Reader available. This 60-page document contains reprints of four articles written by leading Bible scholars/theologians on the topic at issue, and which reflect different major interpretations of what scripture has to say on the issue.

Paper copies of the Resource Package and the Theological Reader are available for pick-up at the church office. 

Video Teaching Series  We have produced a series of five 45- to 60-minute teaching videos that are also available. These videos feature teaching sessions that we have had put together for us by long-time Alliance Pastor and Seminary Professor (Regent College, Carey Hall) Ken Radant. They are an excellent additional resource for members of the Sevenoaks family to access individually, and are ideally suited for use by our Gospel Communities and other small groups as a tool for studying these issues together. Each video contains discussion questions at the end (questions are also avaibale for digital download).

To access the Video Teaching Series, or digital copies of the Resource Package and Theological Reader, please email life@sevenoaks.org or phone the office (604-853-0757) to request a password.

Once you have a password, click HERE to access the videos and documents.

 

Selected Books for Loan The Resource Package includes a bibliography of nine additional articles and books on this topic that you and/or you small group might want to read over the spring and summer months. For your convenience, we have arranged to have our library purchase several copies of several of these books, and they are available for people to sign out on loan from the church office.