Dr. Jude Jeanville, pastor of the Tottenham Lighthouse and Barnet churches in South England Conference, United Kingdom, has challenged the Seventh-day Adventist Church to end the discrimination of women in the church because Christ has bonded us in one spirit to serve.
Jeanville, who was on a sabbatical trip to Jamaica at the invitation of the Jamaica Union Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, expressed these sentiments while addressing the Union headquarters staff in Mandeville, Jamaica.
In his brief presentation on the theological rationale for fundamental belief number 14 of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, which relates to equality and women’s role, he stated, “The church is one body with many members, called from every nation, kindred, tongue, and people. In Christ, we are a new creation; distinctions of race, culture, learning, and nationality, as well as differences between high and low, rich and poor, and male and female, must not be divisive among us. We are all equal in Christ, who by one Spirit has bonded us into one fellowship with Him and one another; we are to serve and be served without partiality or reservation.”
Jeanville is the author of the book Justice for Women: The Cry to End the Pandemic of Discrimination, intimidation, patriarchy, misogyny, inequality, and Abuse of Women in Society and Religious Communities.
Among the rich insights he shared were:
- “That sin is the cause of inequality. Sin brought dysfunction in the ecological world; leaves began to fall from trees, animals became hostile to one another, and human beings were not exempt: Cain killed his brother Abel, and men and women began to relate in disharmonious ways. Equality and harmony in interpersonal relationships were replaced with hierarchy, domination, and inequality. However, Jesus came to redeem humans and restore his image of love, oneness, and equality in mankind. Therefore, the gospel challenges us to relate in ways that God intends.
- “He shall rule over thee” was not prescriptive but descriptive. This means that God was not saying this was how it should be but how it would be. In other words, God was not prescribing that men should rule women; instead, he was describing the consequences that would come about because of sin.”
In his 33 years of service to the church, Jeanville has served as Vice President, Conference Director, Magistrate, Ministerial Coordinator, and District Pastor.
He is passionate about the truth and the whole truth about women being told from the Bible and Spirit of Prophecy so that women’s life experiences can be changed.
He would like every family to read this book. Justice for Women: the cry to end the pandemic of discrimination, intimidation, patriarchy, misogyny, inequality, and abuse of women in society and religious communities is available on Amazon. See the link below.
