Wayne Leman is a Bible translation consultant, husband of one patient wife, father of 4 children (two sets of twins), and grandpa of 10. Wayne started the Complegalitarian blog because it pained him to observe complementarians and egalitarians not talking to each other very well, and often treating each other judgmentally. Wayne believes that we should learn to talk to each other and learn from each other even when we disagree. He thinks that speaking the truth in love (Eph. 4:32) is a good thing to do when we have disagreements. Wayne believes that all decisions about gender roles in the home and ministry must be based on a high view of Scripture and a careful study of the relevant passages. He prefers not to be labeled as either a complementarian or egalitarian, but, rather as someone who tries to live out biblical teaching seriously. Wayne has always tried to be a peacemaker and loves to help people.
Letitia Wong (The Damsel) says: I hate writing bios on myself. I’m an uncompromising believer in Christ, a wife, and mother of two. With respect to the Complegalitarian blog, I consider myself a generous complementarian (C-lite, if you will). Anything else I have to say about myself just sounds conceited. If you really want to know more, try my bigger blurb on the Intellectuelle blog. My personal blog is Talitha, Koum and I can be reached by email at letitiaDOTwongATsbcglobalDOTnet.
Don is a believer. He is a member of Vienna Baptist church in Vienna, VA. He is a member of Christians for Biblical Equality but he tries to study all sides in the gender arena. He is also studying Hebrew Roots of Christianity and Genesis and 1st century context of the New Testament. His growth work includes that love is more important than being right.
TL (“believer3″) is a Bible teacher of 37 years and recently retired licensed Massage Therapist, living in Hawaii with her Persian cat family. Being of the Baby Boomer years and flower carrying hippy, she finds the Lord a welcome challenge. TL founded and ran a Christian Rehab House and two community Christian Newspapers (first one on a mimeograph machine) in Hawaii. Since going through a couple years of Lutheran Bible Institute training in the 70’s, she has served in many different leadership areas in churches primarily involving teaching Scripture to adults.
Molly Aley (“molleth”) is a thirty-something mother of five (10, 8, 7, 5, and 3), living in the forest of Alaska. She attended Bible College in Texas, spent time as a “minister’s wife” in a CBMW-style complementarian church, and has been interested in gender and theology ever since she can remember. Currently finishing a Psychology degree through distance education and helping with the family greenhouse business, Molly’s life primarily consists of making a valiant attempt at managing a wild and woolly crew of kids. For mental therapy, she blogs at Adventures in Mercy. Molly was in both soft and hard complementarian camps, and currently self-identifies as a Christian egalitarian.
Bonnie Lindblom and her husband live in western New York. They are professional musicians, both playing trumpets. They have three children, ages 13, 9-1/2, and 6-1/2. Bonnie used to call herself a 98% SAHHM (stay-at-home homeschooling mom) but now it’s probably 85% or less because she’s always on the road or at the gym (an hour’s drive from home). Their son is a competitive gymnast. Bonnie maintains a small studio of private students (at home). She is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music. Occasionally she dabbles in photography but mostly she blogs, which, believe it or not, helps keeps her sane. She is an active blogger at Intellectuelle.
David McKay is a complementarian who lives with his wife, Joan, in Bathurst, Australia. They have three sons, one daughter, and three grandsons. David is a Piano and Musicianship Teacher. He has been a keen Bible student for many years. David blogs as Gontroppo.
Hi Wayne
Why do you call your website Complegalitarian when your team and stance are entirely egalitarian?
The website looks nice, but the comments part comes out very small in IE8 beta, which I’m currenly using [and this is partly because I don't know how to revert to IE7!]
I’ll try it in Firefox and see if it is easier to read.
No. The font in the comments section is also very small and hard to read in Firefox.
I can’t speak for Wayne, so this is just my read on the situation, but I do know that has been a concern of Wayne’s as well, and he has asked complementarians, some quite well-known, to join us but they have so far declined. It’s a bummer, I think, because it would be really nice to have the group better rounded out…and I think that the rest of the team feels the same way!
David asked:
Why do you call your website Complegalitarian when your team and stance are entirely egalitarian?
The blog has the combined name Complegalitarian as a symbol that we are trying to have this be a safe place for both complementarians and egalitarians to share. There are both complementarians and egalitarians on our blogging team. Some posts promote the complementarian viewpoint, others an egalitarian viewpoint, others call for greater grace between those who advocate for either side. Some posts link to complementarian resources, such as the recent one about Tom Schreiner’s sermon. Other posts link to egalitarian resources. Other posts link to people such as Sarah Sumner who call both sides to take biblical passages on gender issues more seriously.
David, specifically, Marilyn Johnson, Letitia Wong, and David Lang, of our blogging team are complementarians. Not all of their names are displayed yet on this new blog due to a limitation in the WordPress software. But their names are displayed on the Blogger blog site we just moved from. Also, blog participant John Hobbins, has repeatedly exhorted us all that as a pastor, he has observed loving, healthy complementarian as well as egalitarian marriages.
David observed:
No. The font in the comments section is also very small and hard to read in Firefox.
I have the same problem with Firefox display for this blog template and I suspect the problem is in IE also. The problem is with the WordPress templates available to us. We are not able to enlarge the font of the comments section. I have tried several of the available templates. The first one I used the font was even worse in the comments section. I could barely read some of the words.
We’ll keep trying to find a solution, David.
Maybe WordPress was designed to be used more by younger people with strong eyes than those like you and me with presbyoptic eyes!
David, I am now trying a different blog template. It seems to me that the comments are in a larger font. How about for you?
Hi Wayne
The fonts are now much easier to read, thank you.
I think you should find a way of showing that you do have complementarians who are contributing in this team members thingy.
Most of what I’ve read here [and I haven't read everything] seems to be “Discussion of Complementarianism by Egalitarians.”
David,
I would encourage you to find an egal position paper that you consider well-written but disagree with, and critique it sympathetically but firmly and submit your review for inclusion on this blog.
Hi John
Thanks for the suggestion
Greetings, friends! I wrote the authorized biography of Roger Nicole, an egalitarian with whom I disagree on that point but agree on most other points. He is indeed a gracious teacher and friend. Blessings, my dear brothers and sisters!