What can a woman do in the church? Anything God calls her to do!
That's the issue at stake, and that's the clear teaching of the Bible to which those who would exclude women from preaching, teaching, or any other ministry to which God calls them must answer.
Most - although I'm sure not all - men advocating for the exclusion of women from certain ministry roles will agree that God has, at times, called a woman to do a "man's job." The Old Testament Judge, Deborah, is a prime example.
Was Deborah an exception? Perhaps. In fact, why don't we follow that line of reasoning and assume that she was?
If Deborah was an exception, who's to say that the women God is calling to preach and teach in our day are not exceptions as well?
Based on the decline in church attendance and membership under male pastors over these last couple of decades, this seems a real possibility. Factor in the growing abuses of men in ministry positions, and we've got a growing authority problem with the so-called men of God in positions that supposedly only they can serve.
One of these authority abusers lost his church and moved to a new location where he picked up where he left off. Not long ago, I saw a logo advertising the men's ministry of his church - a clenched fist.
When I see a church's men's ministry advertised with a clenched fist, alarm bells go off in my spirit. Jesus didn't go to the cross with a clenched fist. In fact, he commanded Peter to unclench his fist and drop his sword.
"But what about 1 Timothy 2:12-14?"
Ah, the unassailable Timothy passage, the bedrock foundation for excluding women from teaching or having authority in the church. The center of the biblical universe around which everything else revolves.
If we apply the passage in 1 Timothy using the "Deborah exception rule," here's what we get -
So women, who are weaker and more easily deceived, are only allowed to teach and have authority over men when God has absolutely no other choice.
I can imagine it now - Almighty, Sovereign God lets out a great sigh, wrings his hands, and paces back and forth until finally, he says, "There is NO other choice; I HAVE to call a woman to do this work."
This doesn't sound like the Sovereign God taught by so many opposed to women pastors.
God's calling is eternal, it is purposeful, and it is undeniable. It is never a last-minute decision. Never a last resort. AND SOVEREIGN GOD DOES NOT SETTLE FOR ANYTHING!
God chooses and calls who he wills, when he wills, as he wills. Period, paragraph, end of discussion.
What qualifies someone for ministry -any ministry- is God's calling. And once again, period, paragraph, end of discussion.
If a woman says God has called her to pastor/preach, anyone who has an issue with that should think long and hard before telling her God has not called her.
Gamaliel, the famous Rabbi, had some good advice for those who so vocally and publicly and unashamedly oppose women pastors and teachers.
Leave these (wo)men alone! Let them go! For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail. But if it is from God . . . you will only find yourselves fighting against God. (Acts 5:38-39)
If you don't believe God is calling women to serve as pastors in churches today, that's okay. Don't attend those churches. Don't listen to those women teachers.
But let me ask you a question - How far are you willing to go in opposing women pastors and teachers? What if you are wrong? What if we are living in days when God is calling women to these positions of service in his church? How far are you willing to go in opposing women in ministry?
A group of religious leaders once told a carpenter turned itinerant preacher from Galilee that God never called him. They went as far as to accuse him of heresy. They were willing to do whatever it took to put a permanent end to his ministry.
From his cross, he looked down at these same men and said, "Father forgive them; they don't know what they are doing."
For all you women out there called by God to pastor and preach, I pray that the loving, forgiving Spirit of Jesus would guide you in your relationships with those men (and women) who oppose you.
And that brings me to a final word shared with me over three decades ago by a godly male elder who served as my mentor in ministry - "Dan," he said, "don't ever forget, we can be right and be wrong, and we can be wrong and be right."
In Christ,
Dan
Thank you for encouraging women to follow God's call instead of telling us God don't call women to ministry!
Thanks for sharing. This is the kind of give and take and respect we need for one another in the kingdom to which we are called.