Brothers + Sisters

We believe that—from the beginning—God’s story has included both men and women playing pivotal roles in His plan to redeem and restore a fallen world. Even today, God continues His work through His Church, empowering believers with spiritual gifts essential to building one another up to maturity and reaching the lost with the life-changing truth of the gospel.

This conversation is important because we believe men and women need one another to do the work God has entrusted to us. When the church doesn’t function to its fullest potential, it becomes spiritually impoverished, and the gospel becomes obscured. In a culture characterized by gender confusion, power struggles, and dehumanization, the good news of Jesus shines brightly when men and women treat one another with deep dignity, genuine love, and mutual respect as brothers and sisters in the family of God.

This initiative is about more than men and women. This is ultimately a conversation about the glory of God and our desire to live faithfully as His image-bearers, children, and citizens of His Kingdom.

Our convictions around gender and ministry can be quickly summarized in one phrase with three very important points: “We believe women and men are equal to, different from, and dependent on.”

1. “Equal To.” We believe women and men are absolutely equal to each other in worth before God.
2. “Different From.” We believe women and men are distinct from each other in function.
3. “Dependent On.” We believe women and men need each other as mutual witnesses to the gospel.

We tend to resist typical terms like “complementarian” or “egalitarian” as those terms often draw unnecessary lines of exclusion and illicit unhelpful points of contention. Instead, we believe that the above phrase succinctly summarizes the rich, complex, and beautiful portrait of gender we find in scripture.

As an initiative, Brothers + Sisters began in 2023 with a burden: A gap existed between what scripture allows and what we were practicing as a church. That gap created a culture where women weren’t freely serving according to their gifting. We sensed God asking us to close that gap, bringing clarity to this conversation, and taking another step toward church health.

From that place of burden, three study cohorts formed in early 2024 (including elders, pastors, and lay leaders at NCC). These cohorts were tasked with examining crucial scriptures, engaging scholarly commentaries, and reading other helpful resources. After this period of research, reading, prayer, and conversations, each cohort compiled conclusions based on scripture. These conclusions formed the basis of Brothers + Sisters.

It’s important to know that women have been involved at every stage of this initiative—participating in the initial research and exegesis, leading conversations, crafting Brothers + Sisters, and shaping the Sunday morning teaching series. In a gesture of God’s goodness, the process itself proved its own reality: We are dependent on each other for the furtherance of the gospel.

The North Canton Chapel is staff-directed, elder-protected. Our staff oversees ministry direction in close cooperation with our elders who serve as a protective element. It’s important to know that our elder team has been involved in this initiative from the very beginning, providing gentle guidance and thoughtful feedback along the way. Our elder board unanimously affirmed the Brothers + Sisters document in July 2025. Additionally, as a team of shepherds, our elders welcome a conversation with anyone from our church family who might be curious for more information. You can schedule a conversation by clicking <here.>

As developed more fully in Brothers + Sisters, we believe the New Testament provides ample evidence for women serving as deacons in the local church, but reserves the role of eldership for men. It’s helpful to clarify the functional distinction between the two roles. Quoting New Testament scholar Tom Schreiner:

“We must recognize … that deacons occupy a different position from elders/pastors/overseers. The latter is one office … in which two qualities are required that are not required of deacons. First, elders must have an ability to teach biblical truth and correct deviant teaching (1 Tim. 3:2; 5:17; Titus 1:9). Second, they must have gifts of leadership (1 Tim. 3:4–5; 5:17; Titus 1:7). And remarkably, teaching and exercising authority over men is the very thing disallowed for women in 1Timothy 2:12. Women therefore may serve as deacons because the diaconal office is one of serving, not leading. Deacons don’t teach and exercise authority, but rather help in the church’s ministry.”

Read the full article <here>

We understand that change of any kind can prompt worry. Some may perceive that welcoming women to serve as deacons, group leaders, teachers, etc. might signal a shift away from conservative biblical commitments. In response to that fear, we fall back on Jesus’ words in Matthew 5:37: “Let your ‘yes’ be ‘yes’ and your ‘no’ be ‘no.’” In other words: “Say what you mean, and mean what you say.”

The best way to safeguard against a slippery slope is to clearly define what this initiative is and what this initiative isn’t. This initiative began, not in response to cultural trends, but out of burden to consistently and thoughtfully obey scripture. We believe that the postures shown in Brothers + Sisters (particularly Sections 4 and 5) represent a robust theological framework for human flourishing that’s rooted in Scripture, informed by church history, and attentive to our context.

Because we believe men and women are equally gifted in the functional elements of Group Life (hosting, teaching, facilitating conversation, etc.), we welcome men and women to serve as Group Life leaders in all areas, with the exception of gender-specific studies. For example, we expect that men will lead men-only groups and that women will lead women-only groups. The exception might be when someone is invited as a guest to a group for a specific purpose. Since most elements of Group Life at NCC do not include preaching (i.e. word-based exhortation that Paul reserves for elders/pastors/overseers), we welcome women and men to serve equally in all areas of Group Life at NCC: Sunday morning study groups, Community Groups, or other mixed-gendered groups—including topics involving biblical exposition, doctrine, and theology.

We want to strongly emphasize that the biblical vision for leadership is never about power, and the biblical vision for submission is never about loss of dignity. All across Scripture, leadership has more to do with Christ-centered character than with power, position, or authority. The difference in design that we are speaking of does not mean that women should be made voiceless, subservient, or in any way less-than in a family or in a church context. We believe that it is God’s intention that these structures exist to promote mutual human flourishing, never to excuse or perpetuate abuse and un-health. As a church, we are committed to a vision of human flourishing that stands up to abuse and calls leaders—in all forms—to emulate the character of Christ.

Great question! Consider taking these meaningful next steps:

Step 1: Get your bearings!
Because we see this conversation as “doctrine, not dogma,” it might be helpful to orient yourself to that language. Click <here>to watch a quick video about how we understand the differences between dogma, doctrine, and preferences at NCC.

Step 2: Know Your Stuff!
We’ve created the above documents to equip you for this conversation. Download the Condensed Summary or the Expanded Version to read through all the details.

Step 3: Set the tone!
If you’ve read this far, it’s probably because you care about this conversation. Now it’s time to be courageous: Speak well of others. Show respect to others. Refuse to give in to demeaning conversation. Set the tone by modeling the way.

We want NCC to be the kind of church where disagreement doesn’t necessarily mean disunity. We believe it’s possible to disagree without being divisive. We believe it’s possible to have different opinions while still staying united. We expect that some who call NCC home will see our practice as too conservative. Others will see it as too liberal. We ask for unity, support, and kindness as we seek to join God’s effort in building His church.

While the conclusions that NCC holds are important doctrinal matters, they are not dogma-level issues. Any discussion of these issues must be robed in humility, with an intentional posture to hear one another well. We believe Christians are free to disagree on the finer points of application as long as we hold to the confession that men and women are equally valuable image bearers, intentionally designed with purpose and dignity, both necessary to faithfully engage the work to which Jesus has called us.