Our Lord Jesus Christ is the Head of the church.  We desire to honour Him in our coming together and to give Him the pre-eminence (Col. 1:18).

In I Corinthians 11:3-16, headship is addressed.  The Lord instructs the man to have his head uncovered (a symbol) and the woman to wear a suitable head covering (a symbol).  The purpose of these symbols is to display the order of authority that God has placed in the church, ie. "...the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God."

The man is not to cover his head when praying or proclaiming the word of God (V4).  By covering his head, man would be symbolically covering the glory of God, which should not be covered.  The woman is to cover her head when praying or proclaiming the word of God (V5).  The head covering on the woman's head covers the glory of man (V7).  The glory of man must be covered over and the only glory to be seen is the Head of the church, the Lord Jesus Christ.  This is a sign to those looking on, even the angelic hosts (I Corinthians 11:10).

We encourage all men and women to follow these instructions in all the meetings of the assembly.  However, we realize that there are different convictions, by godly people, regarding head coverings.  It is therefore, the position of the elders at Bethel Bible Chapel, that head coverings will not be an issue among us.  Let each be convinced in his/her own mind before the Lord.  We ask that each person respect the individual conviction of the other in love.

We take literally the instruction of the New Testament with regard to the responsibilities of men and women in the church.  Each is a valuable asset to the functioning of the assembly.

Regarding the church meetings, we believe that it is the responsibility of men to do the speaking and teaching in these gatherings (I Corinthians 14:34-37; I Timothy 2).