Jeff,
I am very happy for you! You will find the church experience very different from the KH. I attend several different churches periodically and I like all of them. I'm not a regular at any, still looking for the one I feel most home in. But one thing is for sure, I always leave feeling refreshed and upbuilt instead of guilty and downtrodden like I did when I left the KH.
It takes some time getting used to the differences and the fact that we may not agree with everything we hear. The WT had us thinking that we HAD to all be in agreement with every letter of the Bible but this is a wrong view. The Apostle Paul said we see things "in a hazy mirror" and that where we disagreed on doctrine, our LOVE would suffice to settle the matter.
About women in the Church - the WT has a practically "stone age" view of women. The whole organization is like a good ol'boys club and the women are placed in such a subservient position spiritually which is wrong according to the scriptures. In the Bible, women were used extensively in both in the OT and NT. They were prophetesses, deaconesses, evangelizers, were Spirit Anointed just like the men, opened their homes up for services, ministered to the Lord, many of Jesus disciples were women, Paul praised many of them for their faith, etc.
I wrote an article about women in the early church and you can find it on the freeminds site under "womens issues". Or, if you'd like, pm me your email address again and I will email a copy to you. It may help "ease" your feelings about women taking the lead in the church. Peace, Lilly
