The biblical submission of a wife to her husband is a beautiful act of love. It is an expression of unwavering commitment to the blessing of her husband. In no uncertain terms does this mean that the wife is: inferior, less valuable, dependent, has no voice, can be abused, should put up with everything, has to ask for permission etc. etc. Husbands, if this is how you think of your wife’s submission then you didn’t get this from the Bible. Likewise, wives, you must not think of your submission to your husband in these terms either. The Bible makes it very clear, wives are co-heirs in the gracious gift of life. Wives are of equal value. Wives are of equal worth and should never be treated or made to feel otherwise.

The Apostle Peter writes that:
Wives, in the same way submit yourselves to your own husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behavior of their wives, 2 when they see the purity and reverence of your lives. (1 Peter 3:1-2)

Here you see the biblical definition and benchmark for what a wife’s submission is. It means committing to blessing your husband before yourself. His good is what matters especially his salvation. This means that submitting to the husband can’t mean just doing whatever the husband says, otherwise your salvation would also be on the line. Rather the wife’s submission is the means by which the husband is actually won over to God and so blessed.

This is why the Apostle Peter goes on to emphasise the inner beauty and the worth of the wife’s quiet and gentle spirit. See if the wife by her submission is going to win her husband over to God then she must be someone who;

1. Knows the love of God
2. Is able to share the love of God

All of this is to say that she is someone who is spiritually strong and mature. Not distracted or unsettled by the temptations and trappings of this world but rather she has a sense of calm and certainty in her soul. Her gentle and quiet spirit is actually her strength and dignity and reflects Jesus’ own gentle and humble heart which gave rest to the weary and burdened. It is this heart, this spirit, which allows husbands to find rest in their wives, as burdens are taken away from them. Can you see why husbands are won over for God when their wives are committed to adding to their husband’s blessings and taking away their burdens. This is the gospel lived out in marriage!

Now, if the wife is committed to the blessing of her non-believing husband, how much more should she be to her believing husband. If he is on the same page, following the same God, living and loving like Jesus their Lord and Saviour, then it should be easy right? And here is where Peter gives the example of Sarah’s relationship with Abraham and shows that biblical submission is beautiful but by no means easy. For as faithful and as righteous as Abraham was, Sarah would be the first to say that there were times when she just didn’t believe him and or God, laughing at the thought of it, but yet in the final assessment was committed to walking side by side with her husband in the promised blessings of God.   
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The Christian Wife and her submission to her husband is what’s so good about the Christian family because it blesses the husband to be the man of God. 

Boon Guo Quah

The strategy behind Overseas Council Australia (OCA) is simply this:
Choose the best theological college within a context, with strong governance and accountability: support the college with funding and resources, to enable it to do what it does best, so that the college in turn becomes an enabler and leader to other neighbouring colleges to assist them to become leaders and enablers to others also. Through this process, thousands of new leaders are trained each year for work in the church as pastors, evangelists and church planters.

THE BIG PICTURE OF OCA
It’s a strategy which recognises that in most countries there is an existing competent church. In many ways the efforts of mission societies over the past two hundred years has been a success and so a church not only exists but now is able to raise up its own leaders. By supporting leading Bible colleges more competent church leaders can plant new churches, train more leaders and head up missions in their own area.

In many parts of the world there is very fast growth of the church and what is needed most is a supply of competent leaders to ensure the church matures in line with the Word of God and in a way that is sensitive to the local context. OCA chooses partner colleges that have these two concepts at the heart of their training: the Scriptures and the context.

At this time Australian Christians have a wonderful opportunity to partner with the church in the developing world by assisting with the training of leaders. Who knows how God will lead his people in the decades ahead and which church will support which, but for now we are able to assist with our finances, our prayers and in other ways. The relationship that OCA encourages allows for Christians in Australia to be blessed through the partnership with his servants in the developing world.

By building up Bible colleges in each country several systemic problems are avoided: the brain drain to the West of the church’s best leaders is undermined; future leaders learn ministry in a context which is relevant to their actual ministry, rather than learning irrelevant concepts from another context, and; the local church is seen as belonging to the country and not an alien Western thing.

OCA contributes to each college in deep dialogue with the local leaders. We do not have a cookie cutter agenda of how things should proceed. We do not start Bible colleges, own Bible colleges, nor go on their boards. Rather we come alongside the leaders and encourage them in their strategic plans so that their vision is bolstered and the church prospers at every level.

Our strategy is a little different from many other missions and we invite discussion and questions about how we do things and why we do them. You may like to read about the big picture vision of our work in the article ‘The two hundred year goal of Overseas Council’ http://www.overseascouncil.com.au/site/defaultsite/filesystem/documents/The_200_year_goal_of_Overseas_Council.pdf 

​Rev Stuart Brooking (OCA)