Planting Churches among the City's Poor - Volume 1

392 • P LANTING C HURCHES AMONG THE C ITY ’ S P OOR : V OLUME 1

well as allusions to co-laboring, for instance, with the twins, Tryphena and Tryphosa, who “labored” with Paul in the Lord (16.12).

Believing that every God-called, Christ-endowed, and Spirit-gifted and led Christian ought to fulfill their role in the body, we affirm the role of women to lead and instruct under godly authority that submits to the Holy Spirit, the Word of God, and is informed by the tradition of the Church and spiritual reasoning. We ought to expect God to give women supernatural endowments of grace to carry out his bidding on behalf of his Church, and his reign in the Kingdom of God. Since both men and women both reflect the Imago Dei (i.e., image of God), and both stand as heirs together of God’s grace (cf. Gen. 1.27; 5.2; Matt. 19.4; Gal. 3.28; 1 Pet. 3.7), they are given the high privilege of representing Christ together as his ambassadors (2 Cor. 5.20), and through their partnership to bring to completion our obedience to Christ’s Great Commission of making disciples of all nations (Matt. 28.18-20).