Tonight in my small group, we got to talking about women in ministry. I have a question to post to all of those opposed to women in ministry–and to those who limit the role of a woman in ministry to women’s ministry and children’s ministry. If you believe that women can be leaders in the church, I would love to hear from you too.
If you are a Christian, you should believe in Creationism–that God created the heavens and the earth, the animals, men and women, right? God is a creative God. He thought of armadillos, duck-billed platypuses, you, me, the Grand Canyon, the Pacific Ocean, dung beetles.
Who were the people that realized that Jesus had risen, that the tomb was empty? Who stuck it out with Jesus to the end? While most of the disciples (ummm…the men) were hiding out, was it not the women who were walking alongside Jesus?
So why then is it that you claim that women cannot be leaders in the church? Can God not use women? Please do not come at me with the scripture aobut women being silent in church. That will just prove to me that you are using scripture out of context.
**Edit**I am interested in scriptural references. I apologize if that was unclear. What I do not want is scripture presented out of context.
Deneen White 
I WOULD LOVE TO HEAR THE ANSWERS TO THIS ALSO..lol. I’AM AN ORDAINED MINISTER, AND I’AM ALSO A WOMAN.. I HAVE NOT BEEN MET WITH AS MUCH OPPISITION AS MY FELLOW SISTER MINISTERS..
I HAVE BEEN CALLED INTO THE DELIVERANCE MINISTRY, AND I DEAL WITH ALOT OF DEMON POSSESSION, WITCHES , SATANIST AND THE LIKE..lol.. NOT TOO MANY WOMEN OR MEN WILLING TO ANSWER THAT CALL OF MINISTRY..SO, I REALLY HAVE NOTHING TO WORRY ABOUT, I JUST THINK THEY ARE ALL HAPPY THAT SOMEONE ELSE IS DOING IT SO THEY WON’T HAVE TO..(hahaha)
BUT I WAS RAISED AS ALOT WERE, THAT WOMEN JUST DID NOT PREACH, AND THEY MOST CERTAINLY DID NOT PASTOR..
WELL MY FRIENDS, I HAVE NEWS FOR EVERYONE.. GOD WILL USE ANYONE, AND OR ANYTHING TO GET HIS POINT AND HIS WORD ACROSS.. HE EVEN USED A DONKEY AND MADE HIM TALK COZ THE BROTHER WOULD NOT TAKE HEED..SO HE HAD TO USE SOMETHING THAT WOULD GET HIS UNDIVIDED ATTENTION, HE MADE THE DONKEY TALK, AND MORE OR LESS REBUKE HIM..
SO MY WHOLE POINT BEING, THAT THE SCRIPTURES PLAINLY SAY: “MANY ARE CALLED”.. BUT NOT EVERYONE IS WILLING TO ANSWER THEIR CALLING..
SO GOD WILL THEREFORE USE ANYONE THAT IS WILLING TO BE A VESSEL OF HONOR FOR THE LORD..
NO I DO NOT THINK IT WAS GODS PLAN THAT WOMEN SHOULD PASTOR, BECAUSE HE MADE MAN FIRST, AND HE MADE THE WOMAN TO BE A HELP-MATE TO THE MAN.. BUT IF THE MEN ARE NOT WILLING TO ANSWER THEIR CALL, AND TO MAKE SACRIFICES TO LINE UP WHERE GOD CAN USE THEM, THEN GOD WILL USE WHOEVER IS AVAILABLE..INCLUDING WOMEN..
AS A MATTER OF FACT, THERE WAS A PASTOR WHO WAS SUPPOSE TO ORDAIN ME AND REFUSED TO..
BUT GOD DID SEND ANOTHER PASTOR, AND HE TOLD ME THAT GOD CAME TO HIM EVERY NIGHT FOR 2 WEEKS STRAIGHT TALKING TO HIM ABOUT ORDAINING ME.. AND HE DID WHAT GOD TOLD HIM TO DO..PRIASE GOD..
BUT THE PIECE OF PAPER DOES NOT MAKE ME A MINISTER, GOD DOES..
AND ONCE AGAIN BECAUSE OF MY UPBRINGING ( BAPTIST) I RAN FROM MY CALLING FOR 2 YRS..UNTIL ONE NIGHT IN AN IN HOME PRAYER MEETING, AND THRU THE GIFTS OF THE SPIRIT.. TONGUES CAME FORTH, AND ANOTHER INTERPRETED IT: ” YOU HAVE RUN FOR 2 YEARS FROM MY CALLING TO PREACH, YOU WILL ANSWER MY CALL THIS NIGHT!!”… AND I DID, GOD BROKE ME FROM RUNNING…
ALOT OF PEOPLE TAKE INTO WHAT OTHERS WERE TAUGHT, AND IT IS NOT ALWAYS GOD’S WAY.. OR HIS WORD.. HE SAID THAT WE ARE ALL MINISTERS, AND HE DOES NOT SEE MALE OR FEMALE, HE SEES A MINISTER, AND HE SEES AND JUDGES HIS WORD AND HOW IT IS PREACHED BY THAT MINISTER..
GOD DOES NOT NEED HIS CHILDREN FIGHTING OF THE CALLINGS IN THEIR LIVES.. NOR OVER HIS WORD.. HE IS GOD ALL BY HIMSELF, AND HIS WORD CAN STAND ON ITS ON, WE ARE ONLY SUPPOSE TO CARRY IT..
I CAN SEE NOW THAT I’M FREE FROM THIS, THAT SATAN IS BEHIND IT. HE IS TRYING TO TEAR APART THE CHURCH FROM THE INSIDE OUT, WHY?.. BECAUSE A HOUSE DIVIDED CAN NOT STAND..
SO WHERE YOU STANDING?…
SINCERELY, MIN.”T”
It’s hard to know what it is that you’re looking for as a response. If you simply want a debate, I can’t oblige; but if you would like some direction from the Scriptures, I’d like to help.
I guess that’s where I’m confused. You wrote, “Please do not come at me with the Scripture about…”
It seems that you may have already decided what the Scriptures mean. In that case, I don’t know how anyone could respond, because Scripture is the only possible ground for any doctrine. If we set it aside, logic, reason, tradition, and argument are of no value.
You don’t give any explanation of what you believe the context for that verse is, but you do imply that anyone who interprets it differently than you is obviously using it out of context. Have you ever considered that you may be the one taking it out of context, in order to make it say what you want?
Context is important. And we should be careful not to build doctrines on one word or verse without considering all the teaching of Scripture.
Nevertheless, if a person has already decided what they want to believe, it often won’t make much difference what the Scripture says.
I mean these words gently. I hope that they don’t offend you. Just some thoughts…
I suppose, in answer to your final question, God can and does use women. God uses everyone: men, women, children; elders, teachers, evangelists; single, married, widowed; young, middle-aged, old…
But God does not use everyone in the same way. He uses each according to the role that he has fit them for.
A few words that Paul once wrote on another subject come to mind. “But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, Why have you made me like this? Has the potter no right over the clay?” (Romans 9:20, 21)
Yes, the divine potter does have right over the clay. He has a will for each of us. Our duty is to know that will and to follow it.
God bless.
I’m sorry if I came off as closed-minded about wanting scripture reference. What I do not want is for people to quote one scripture: “Women be silent in church.”
I do want a discussion. I want dialogue.
Thank you for your response.
Again, I apologize if I seemed abrasive.
~D
Now, you knew that I was going to put my hat into the ring…I belong to a denomination that ordains women every day…Does that mean that they are completly accepted??…Absolutely not!!!…But, I do think that God does call women to lead in a pastoral role…I think that the devil loves to try and twist scipture so that he can put a wall between the followers of Christ, so that instead of using energy to reach souls for Christ, we will battle amongst ourselves about what “WE” think women can and can’t do in the context of God’s church….(chill pastor is now coming up for breath)
When the issue of women in pastoral ministry comes up, I always gravitate to 1 Corinthians 16…At the very end, Paul references Priscilla and Aquilla, the husband and wife team that has a church that meets in their home…Paul always talks about them toghether as his partners in the gospel…The same Paul that tells women to be silent is partners in pastoral ministry with a husband and a “WIFE”…
Keep seeking Him as He leads you towards the ministry He has planned for you….
chill
Min T,
Thank you for your response. I was going to mention the donkey in my original post…thank you for doing so in your comment.
May God bless the work of your hands!
~D
Chill,
Thanks for throwing your hat into the mix. I appreciate your words of encouragement…always!
~D
Same idea, different question: Can young children be “pastors”? ….?
It’s not a matter of value or importance that determines roles in the church, but rather one of divine order and headship.
Is Christ less important than God the Father? No… but Scripture clearly teaches that God the Father is the head of Christ; and that Christ’s role is one of submission to the Father. “I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, the head of a wife is her husband, and the head of Christ is God” (1 Cor. 11:3).
Maybe we’re asking the wrong question though. Rather than asking who can be a ‘pastor’, maybe we should ask whether God ever intended the church to have a single man as “pastor” of a church.
The Word of God is our only guide. Experience does not overrule it. Tradition cannot veto it. The only surefire way to know God’s will is to study his Word. It is not opinion or experience that is “profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness” – it is “all Scripture.” (2 Tim. 3:16)
Our personal interests or experiences often taint our perception of God’s Word. Just because there are many denominations, doesn’t mean that God wants it to be so. Just because there is a pope, archbishop, or minister leading some church somewhere, doesn’t mean that he is fulfilling God’s will. Just because a man may have a ‘huge congregation’ doesn’t mean that he is pleasing God.
Likewise, just because my church has ‘a man pastor’, ‘a woman pastor’, or ‘a child pastor’, doesn’t mean that it is God’s will. We must search the Word of God to see if what men teach is the truth. We must be like the Bereans who “were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so” (Acts 17:11)
Read Scripture carefully, more carefully, and then still more carefully and you will find daily guidance for life (as well as a complete pattern for church practice).
Divisions in the church must sadden God so. But there is one thing that saddens him more, and that is disobedience.
So many speak of a fear of offending other Christians or other unbelievers. But I ask, Why isn’t anyone afraid of offending Christ?
Better to please Christ, and displease everyone else; rather than to please myself and others — and yet offend Christ (Rev. 3:16). Paul offended others, but he pleased his Lord. He said, “At my first defence, all deserted me … but the Lord stood with me.” (2 Tim. 4)
I believe that Scripture clearly addresses this and every other issue, but I don’t wish to argue with any whose minds may be made up.
Let me ask this though: Regardless of ‘which side of the debate’ you are on – if I could prove to you from Scripture beyond a shadow of a doubt that what you have always believed, practiced, and taught is wrong and contrary to God’s Word – would you change the way that you’re living? … a searching question….
If you want to know what God’s mind is on any matter: Read your Bible, and let the Holy Spirit teach you.
Yours humbly in Christ … mm
email: morning_meditations (at) yahoo (dot) com
PS … (sorry for the long post deneen)
No need to apologize for a long response. I appreciate what you have to say.
Thank you!
~D
Just wanted to clarify my last comment, particularly the 4th paragraph where I wrote:
“Rather than asking who can be a ‘pastor’, maybe we should ask whether God ever intended the church to have a single man as “pastor” of a church. ”
By “single man”, I didn’t mean ‘an unmarried man’, but rather ‘only one person’. The statement should have read, “We should ask whether God ever intended a church to have only one person as pastor or leader.”
A careful study of Scripture will reveal that New Testament churches always had “elders” or “pastors” (plural, not singular). For example, “they appointed ELDERS in every church” (Acts 14:23). “Paul sent to Ephesus and called the ELDERS” (Acts 20:17). “Appoint ELDERS in every town as I direct you” (Titus 1:5).
These “pastors” (or “shepherds”, or “elders”, or “overseers”), although described as “skilled to teach”, were distinct and different from the “teachers”, “evangelists”, and “prophets”. The job of a New Testament “elder” or “pastor” was not to preach to the flock, but rather to shepherd and care for the flock and to guard it.
I should also note that Paul was an apostle, and although he had the heart of a shepherd, Scripture doesn’t teach that he was ever a pastor or elder in a local church. (Peter was [1 Peter 5], but Paul wasn’t). Neither does Scripture teach that Priscilla or Aquila was ever an elder. These are assumptions that many have made, but they are not the teaching of Scripture.
Again, we must read the Scripture carefully, more carefully, and still more carefully.
Perhaps one of the difficulties is that we seem to have fallen into a trap in the church today of thinking that only ‘ministers’ or ‘preachers’ can serve God. I think when we stand before the Lord, we will be surprised to find that those who have done the greatest service for Christ may be those whom no one else has ever heard about. Perhaps it will be some person who was so severely disabled that they could not walk or talk; and while everyone else wrote them off, they were enjoying the presence of Christ and serving him as best they could while trapped inside their suffering, disabled body. “Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required.”
I do not want to discourage anyone from serving Christ, but rather to encourage you to serve him in the way that he desires. Remember what Paul said about the Christian life, “An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules… think over what I say for the Lord will give you understanding in everything” (1 Timothy 2:5, 7).
Funny thing is…when you said, “single man” I understood it to be one man, not one, unmarried man 🙂
Thank you, again, for your insights. It is much appreciated. Though it may appear that I had my mind made up, this is something with which I am wrestling.