Editors’ note: We at womentoday.international are proud to post this video and text of the following announcement, shared in the various ministry centers of the Chicago ICOC Church of Christ this summer, by the Midwest Teachers Circle — a long-established group promoting biblical teaching in the churches of the Midwest Family of Churches in the USA. 

Church family, We are excited to share a meaningful and historic development in our congregation. On Saturday August 23 (a Congregational Teaching Day in the Chicago Church of Christ) we will publicly be appointing two new teachers to serve our teaching ministry: Tanner Versage as well as Matina Montes up in the North. These appointments reflect the continued growth of our Teaching Ministry and the fruit of years of training mentoring, study and discernment. The Teaching Ministry is a vital gift to the church, not a position of authority or direction but of spiritual formation, scholarship, and equipping the body for maturity in Christ.

How are teachers recognized in our fellowship? In our Midwest Family of Churches, we follow a careful process that includes personal calling, community recognition, theological training, and participation in groups like the Midwest Teachers Circle or MTC. Candidates are mentored, given teaching opportunities and evaluated in collaboration with teachers, evangelists, elders, and ministry leaders. 

Why is this moment historic? With deep joy we also recognize that this marks a milestone in our church’s history, the Chicago church: Matina Montes will become the first woman formally appointed as a teacher in the Chicago church of Christ. Matina has long been a faithful and respected member of the MTC and representative on the Regional Teachers Service Team, and a collaborator on numerous teaching efforts across the ICOC fellowship. Her appointment reflects not only her unique gifts, but also a wider, prayerful process. For several years leaders in our region have studied, taught, and dialogued about the role of women in the teaching ministry. This led to the development and discussion of papers like, “Seeking a Clearer Hermeneutic, the Role of Women,” a Midwest Teachers Circle collaboration reviewed by elders, evangelists and leaders throughout the midwest and beyond. Through this work, we’ve come to affirm that women, like men, may be recognized and appointed in the Teaching Ministry, which functions in a non-governing, equipping capacity under the authority of the church leadership.

Precedent and LegacyMatina joins a growing list of women who have served in this way throughout our global fellowship: Sherie Gayle of Georgetown, Carolina Hermida of Mexico, Mary Benton of Virgina, and Triin Leesman of Estonia. Additionally, many women have made outstanding contributions to the Teaching Ministry over the years: Jeanie Shaw, Tammy Fleming, Suzette Lewis, Kay McKean and Deb Anton. These sisters have served faithfully on the Teachers Service Team and in their local churches helping shape a rich tradition of biblical scholarship and spiritual maturity. We are incredibly grateful for the ways God continues to raise up teachers in our fellowship, so please join us on August 23 as we celebrate and pray over Tanner and Matina, and continue building a church where both men and women are empowered to teach, serve, and glorify God together. Amen! — Midwest Teachers Circle 
Matina Montes has an MBA and works as a Marketing Manager in Client Advocacy for RR Donnelly -- a company who specializes in Marketing, Packaging, Printing and Supply Chain Expertise.  

Matina’s LinkedIn profile reads: "My RRD experience includes being an Subject Matter Expert within RRD's digital marketing agency as a team lead, e.g., software product manager (Digimag, Digicom, AR) and Solution Architect. While in the Corporate Marketing department, I synthesize strategies for our vertical markets to help sellers and clients understand how to execute successful opti-channel solutions.

Avocationally, in Christian ministry, I serve families and individuals in crisis with my husband and am a biblical teacher specializing in adolescents' psychological and spiritual formation. Graduate of Abilene Christian University, MACM.

Nothing worth doing can be achieved in our lifetime;
therefore, we must be saved by hope.
Nothing true, beautiful, or good makes complete sense in any immediate context of history;
therefore, we must be saved by faith.
Nothing we do, however virtuous, can be accomplished alone;
therefore, we must be saved by love.

– Reinhold Niebuhr”

Congratulations, Tanner and Matina!