You’ll know if you caught the message of this lesson if you can tell me three places that Christians go for guidance when they have an issue to address

Who says what’s good or bad? Study this picture and make up a newspaper headline for it “

Where do you go when you don’t know whether something is right or wrong?? List 10 places or people you might turn to when you need to know something

If you had to answer the following questions, where would you go for guidance? Should I go to University Is it going to rain tomorrow? Are woodpeckers in danger of becoming extinct? Is it wrong to walk past a Big Issue seller and tell her “I have already bought one” when you haven’t Should I tell my friend that her hair looks a complete state?

Where do Christians go for guidance? 1. The Bible 2.Search their conscience – personal authority for what is right or wrong 3.Christian tradition – how things have always been done; big part of Roman Catholic and Orthodox Churches

Example: Should women be bishops? Where would a Christian go for answers to that question?

Roman Catholic and Orthodox They would both say that the tradition of the Church since the time of Jesus is that all the disciples (leaders) were men and so all bishops must be men So these Christians would go directly to the tradition of the Church in answering the question They would say “no” to women bishops

Anglicans They would ask, what does the Bible say? What does the Holy Spirit tell us that God wants us to do today? What does my personal conscience say about the role of women today? We have women head teachers so why not women bishops? So some Anglicans would answer “yes” (e.g. in America) we want bishops, others would conclude “no” or “not yet” (e.g. in England and Wales)

The Holy Spirit For most Christians the Holy Spirit helps in deciding answers to important questions Christians believe that the Holy Spirit is like the voice of God inside you That voice helps you understand the Bible It’s a voice that guides you “A word in your ear” – prompting you, guiding you The problem is, Christians seem to hear the Holy Spirit telling them different things! So many will test what they hear by seeing if what they have heard can be found in the Bible

Class Debate on Women Bishops We are going to have an ordered class debate on whether women should be bishops or not to try and see how tradition, the bible, the holy spirit and personal conscience guides Christians in different ways. If you want to take on the role and the views of one of the people who comes on the screen, then raise your hand and try and argue as if you were that person.

Pope Benedicit You are the head of the Roman Catholic Church Tradition means everything to you The Church doesn’t have to follow the trends of society The Bible says that Jesus only had male disciples and was himself male

Archbishop Rowan You are head of the Anglican Church You believe that tradition doesn’t stand still You have ordained women priests yourself You think the Holy Spirit has guided the Church of today to treat women equally

Patriarch Bartholomew I You are head of the Orthodox Church worldwide Your Church has ancient traditions Women have never been priests in your Church Tradition is what matters The Holy Spirit would never ask the Church to do something that it has never done before

Canon Jenny Wigley You are the Vicar of Radyr You used to be an Head of RE up in North Wales but you felt the Holy Spirit prompting you to become a priest Many people come and see you to talk about things You believe that in the Bible we see that Jesus had many women followers like Mary. Jesus broke the trends of his day by treating women equally. Your personal conscience lead you to change career and become one of the first women priests in Wales.

Set Written Task Imagine the Pope, Archbishop of Canterbury, Bartholomew I and Jenny are all in Starbuks having a coffee. The topic of women priests come up and they each speak their mind. Write a short dialogue between them on why they think women should or should not be made Bishops In your ‘play’ the Pope has to use the word “tradition”, the Archbishop has to use the phrase “tradition changes”, Bartholomew 1 has to use the word “unchanging” and Jenny has to use the words “my conscience” and “Holy Spirit”. They can all use the phrase “the bible says ……”

What three places do Christians go to for guidance when they have a question? Write your name on the post-it and come up and slap it on the whiteboard before leaving.