Biblical Gender Equality Club encourages students to attend its Learning from Both Sides event in the Student Center on Nov. 9.
The event will have two different perspectives on gender roles in the church with the intention of students discovering and formulating their own opinions on gender roles. Asbury is founded on egalitarian views, but many students have conservative, complementarian backgrounds.
“I wanted to have an event where we really uplifted both sides of the conversation and so that we could, you know, say we affirm both areas and we understand that this is a second-degree issue,” senior and president of the Biblical Gender Equality Club Hannah Springer said. “Even if we differ on it, we’re still serving the same Lord.”
Normally Biblical Gender Equality events are only for club members, but Springer emphasized this event is for the whole student body.
“A lot of people who are in my club that come to everything and are on my email list usually know what they believe,” Springer said. “This event is all campus and not just for our members because it’s for people that don’t know what they believe or have never thought about it.”
The egalitarian speaker is Jessica LaGrone, Dean of the Chapel at Asbury Theological Seminary. The complementarian speaker will be Susanna Elliot, the wife of Nathan Elliot, pastor of Mount Freedom Baptist Church in Wilmore. Both women will answer questions in an unbiased and civil way.
“Because it’s going to be both sides, you’re not going to be persuaded into one box or the other, so it’s really for any student,” Springer said. “Gender issues affect every single person, so it’s for someone to see what are the different sides, what are the different things that people believe, and how can I start the journey of figuring out where I belong.”
The event will occur on Nov. 9 at 7 p.m., and Chick-fil-A will be provided.
