it's time for another "good idea, bad idea"

In ministry, context can often make the difference between a good idea and a bad idea. For example:

Good idea: making sermons available as podcasts on the internet.
Bad idea: making sermons available as podcasts when no one in the congregation has internet access.

Good idea: opening up "Prayers of the People" so that people in the congregation can voice prayers aloud during the service.
Bad idea: opening up "Prayers of the People" during election season to a congregation that strongly disagrees about political issues (can you say "prayer wars"?).

Good idea: implementing healthy change in a congregation.
Bad idea: pushing for change in a congregation that really just needs some stability.

I'm sure all of us in ministry can come up with our own list of example along these lines. But here's what got me thinking about the affect of context on the validity of our ideas:

Good idea: giving female seminary students a forum in which to practice their preaching.

Let me pause here. I am all for encouraging women in their preaching, and as a recent seminary grad I know that it can be more difficult for female students to find opportunities to preach in the church. However, I do NOT believe that women can/should only preach to other women, as some of my colleagues believe.

So here's the question: does forming a women's preaching club (women preaching to women) on a seminary campus represent a good idea or a bad idea? Some contextual factors:

• The seminary campus in question had been moving forward in affirming women in ministry in recent years.
• The student body has recently shown signs of becoming more restrictive in its views on women in ministry.
• The seminary does not currently hold a formal position on women in ministry, which to me represents one of its strengths.
• Preaching labs at this institution are currently coed.
• Those at the seminary who are more egalitarian are very concerned about this proposed club.
• Those at the seminary who lean complementarian are very excited about the club.

In ministry, it's all about the context. In another context, most likely no one would be concerned about forming a "women's preaching club." But in the context I examined above, forming such a club makes a particular statement, regardless of whether or not the club's founders intended to make that statement.

So... women's preaching club in a place fighting to remain open to women in ministry: good idea or bad idea? The jury is out.