Women in Ministry

           The topic of the role of women in ministry, specifically pastoral jobs, is one of the most debated today that creates divides in Christianity. There are three primary views taken when it comes to this topic: conventionalists, dependents, and equivalents. 

           Conventionalists believe that women ought to be valued and loved just as men are. Women can and should play important roles in the church. Women can lead one another and teach one another. Yet women must also submit to their husbands that love them. God created men first and then created women from men. Women should not teach or have authority over men in the church. Women must dress modestly and submit as they would to God. Women are called to love God and serve him with all of who they are.

            Dependents also believe that women ought to be love and valued. Women are essential to the growth of the church. There are times when women are permitted to lead and have authority over men. Some dependents lean more toward conventional views while others lean more toward equivalent views. The common denominator that dependents own is that under the right circumstances, women can lead just as effectively and biblically as men.

            Equivalents believe that there is neither male nor female in Christ. Men and women are one together and ought to have authority as one. History and biblical evidence show that women can and have led effectively in the name of Jesus. God created both men and women in the image of God, therefore both have equal dominion over creation. Women should be encouraged to become pastors and missionaries, because that is what God has called humanity to do, not just men.

            Despite the vastly differing opinions when it comes to this issue, the church must not let such disagreements get in the way of the call of Christ. Paul addresses the issue of unity in the church far more than he discusses the role of women in ministry. If it was not a major concern for Paul, then why should it be today? Paul was concerned with the lost and the least of these. Paul wrote to almost all of the churches that he was related to about unity within the church. The church today is perhaps less unified than it has ever been. There are hundreds, even thousands of denominations in the United States alone. Christians let their views on topics such as homosexuality and women in the church distract them from what really matters, Christ’s redeeming death and sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ. While it is good and perhaps necessary to have differing opinions on this topic of the role of women in the church, we must not become so divided that we are hurting Christ’s cause. One thing is certain, that both men and women are made in the image of God and that they both are to play vital roles in the story that Christ has written for humanity.