Articles by Paul Ellis

Why the Church is Wrong about Women

November 24, 2020 // 25 Comments

How would you rate the most influential people in history? This question is behind an ongoing study run by MIT’s Media Lab. A while back the folks at MIT reported that the most influential person in history was the Greek philosopher Aristotle. In second place was Plato, third was Jesus, and fourth was [...]

50 phrases to say to our kids

November 19, 2020 // 8 Comments

One of the most important things you can do is speak words of life to a child. This is true whether you are a parent, a grandparent, a caregiver, a teacher, a babysitter, a coach, a family friend, a healthcare worker, or a pastor. Children hear a lot of rubbish, so it’s important that we fill their hearts [...]

Jesus listened to women; why don’t we?

November 13, 2020 // 14 Comments

This one is going out to all those who’ve told me they would never listen to a woman or follow a woman because it’s unbiblical, unseemly, or because women’s voices are too high-pitched. Take a breath, folks. Look at what Jesus did. Go and do likewise… When Jesus walked the earth, gender [...]

What is the purpose of the Law?

November 3, 2020 // 56 Comments

Watchman Nee tells a wonderful story about a clumsy servant. As long as the servant sits still and does nothing, his clumsiness is not apparent. But the moment you ask him to serve, trouble begins. He knocks over furniture, drops plates, and makes a frightful mess. In Nee’s parable, we are the clumsy servant [...]

Last chance to get your name in Paul’s book

October 29, 2020 // 2 Comments

Next week. That’s when you could be reading a copy of my new book, The Silent Queen. But that can only happen if you are signed up as a patron by the end of this week. What others are saying about The Silent Queen: “I loved this book, and I learned heaps from it. I know you will too! You might even get set [...]

Is the church too feminine?

October 21, 2020 // 2 Comments

I have been blown away by the positive response to my forthcoming book, The Silent Queen: Why the Church Needs Women to find their Voice. Although the book doesn’t come out until Christmas, I thought you’d might like a taste now. The following article has been cut from the Introduction… Since its inception, [...]

First look at Paul’s new book (and how to get your name in it!)

October 14, 2020 // 3 Comments

Here is the world’s first glimpse of the cover of my new book: Like it? The Silent Queen: Why the Church Needs Women to Find their Voice, is my first proper book in two years. And if you act fast, your name could be in it! What’s the book about? It’s about how God has given every one of us a story, a [...]

Submission doesn’t mean what you think it means

October 7, 2020 // 10 Comments

Bad theology hurts women. Sometimes it even kills them. In his book Ten Lies the Church Tells Women, Lee Grady tells the story of a woman called Doris who suffered through an abusive marriage. Doris’s husband, the head deacon at their church, would sometimes come home from work in a rage and physically assault [...]

Who submits in marriage?

October 2, 2020 // 14 Comments

When Camilla and I were writing our wedding vows, my future wife told me that she had a problem with the word submit. We had dug up some traditional vows based on Ephesians 5:22: “I promise to love, cherish and submit to my husband as to the Lord.” “I’m not going to say that,” said Camilla. I didn’t [...]

6 awesome things that will happen when Christ returns

September 24, 2020 // 21 Comments

Judging by the number of books written on the subject, we ought to be able to predict Christ’s return down to the minute, but the fact is nobody knows the hour or day. Jesus could return before the end of the year, or he might return after you have died of ripe old age. Only God knows. From time to time a wave [...]

If a woman can’t be a husband, she can’t be a pastor, right?

September 17, 2020 // 41 Comments

What sort of person makes a good pastor? In his letters to Timothy and Titus, Paul lists sixteen desirable qualities (see 1 Tim. 3:1-7, Tit. 1:5-9). Pastors or overseers or elders should not be new converts, he says. Nor should they be money-grubbing alcoholics prone to fits of temper. Ideally, they should be [...]

Is the King James Bible (KJV) sexist?

September 10, 2020 // 20 Comments

Recently I asked the question, “Is the Bible sexist?” It is and it isn’t. It is in the sense that it records the sexist stories and laws of patriarchal societies. But it isn’t in the sense that it reveals God’s heart for equality and freedom. Men and women were made equal in God’s image (Gen. [...]