Liberating Women For Ministry?
[Guest Post by Kurt Wiliams]
Recently I wrote a blog series about women in ministry. I have found that in most evangelical circles, women who are in ministry do not have the same opportunities as men. Why is this? It comes from a deep seeded belief that core leadership of a biblical church is found in men alone. Here is the kicker; I think that Scripture might tell a different story. What you will find is that I take the old saying very seriously: “A text without a context is a pretext.” My hope is that our “pretexts” (previously held beliefs) would not dictate our reading of relevant passages, but only a solid contextual exegesis.
The first thing that we must do is to look at the texts that seem to forbid women from leadership and teaching roles. There are two passages (often called the “silencing texts”): 1 Corinthians 14.34-35 and 1 Timothy 2.11-15.
In the Corinthian passage, when we study the broader context of the letter, we ought to ask: Why in 11.2-16, has Paul already stated that women may pray and prophesy in church as long as their head is covered in appropriate cultural dress? It is impossible to prophesy for the building up of the body in silence! This means, something else must have been going on. We know that in the cultural setting of Corinth that many women were not educated and may have not been proficient in Greek. The worship gatherings, being conducted in a language they could not understand, may have led to disruptive chatter. So Paul essentially said: “Women, be quiet! Ask your husbands at home.”
As for the 1 Timothy passage, we would do well to note that the dominant religion surrounding Ephesus was the cult of Artemis/Diana. Women were set up over men and this ideology began to creep into the church. The point of the passage is that women should be permitted to learn in submission to God, and that men and women ought to be given the space to develop gifts and then employ them. This is not a “given” just because they are women and can exercise authority over men, but must be done in love with the principle being that all who teach must first choose to learn. NT Wright brings out the intended meaning of verses 11-12 in the following way: “They must be allowed to study undisturbed, in full submission to God. I’m not saying that women should teach men, or try to dictate to them; they should be left undisturbed.”[1]
We also should look at the various women in the New Testaments like: Philip’s four daughters (Acts 21.8-9), the female gift of prophesy (1 Corinthians 11.5), Junia (Romans 16.7) who is identified as an apostle, and Priscilla (Acts 18.24-26) (who is usually named before her husband and was a bible teacher).
That is a short introduction to the issues surrounding women and ministry. My conviction is that the Bible frees women up to function at every level within the body of Christ. It is imperative that we create a culture within our youth ministries that cultivate gifted young ladies to become fully empowered for whatever God may call them to within the body. If this becomes commonplace, the church will be equipped with many new gifted leaders and teachers that will serve to move the kingdom of God forward into her mission. May we become a church where there is: “neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, neither male nor female, for…all are one in Christ Jesus.”
Part 1: Liberating Women for Ministry? (Key Texts)
Part 2: Liberating Women for Ministry? (More Key Texts)
Part 3: Liberating Women for Ministry? (The Whole of Scripture)
Part 4: Liberating Women for Ministry? (Bridging the Gap from ‘then’ to ‘now’)
Part 5: Liberating Women for Ministry? (Closing Thoughts)
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Bio: Kurt Willems is a Mennonite Brethren church planter/pastor and is currently working towards a Master of Divinity degree at Fresno Pacific University. He is considers himself an: Anabaptist, lower-case evangelical, fairly charismatic, sometimes contemplative, follower of Jesus. Kurt’s passions include theology, spirituality, social justice, creation care, ethics, church ministry, and leaving behind the right answers. He blogs at: Groans From Within and is also on Twitter and Facebook.
[1] N. T. Wright, Women’s Service in the Church, 11-12.
Kurt has adeptly dealt with the passages that those who oppose women, use to alleviate them from ministry, and leadership in church.
For me the show dropped, when Romans 16:7 came alive,
“Greet Andronicus and Junia,” Outstanding among the Apostle’s” To follow in the footsteps of Kurt, it is very hard to, “Apostle” the church if you have to put a tape over your mouth…!
As Gordon Fee has challenged all comer’s, and few would want to tangle with him or are qualifed to do so! He is an expert scholar in the Greek Language, as a former textual critic he flat knows his stuff forwards and backwards! “Nowhere in all of Greek literature is any man called Junia, and any, and all, real Greek scholars know this!”
Women can, did, and do, have great gifts of grace to minister in the church, and should do so. It is a calling and a grace, and has nothing to do with gender.
My aunt in Cali, Colombia, has a church of 2500 people, and several other churches of 500 or so, and she is the pastor of other men, and it is one of the best churches and most fruitful that I have ever witnessed. Go for it ladies…!
John, I want to go hang out at your Aunt’s church! She sounds rad!
THANK you for diving into this. I’m learning to really appreciate the middle ground of context…that helps get to the bottom line of GRACE. Women are more than half of the church, surely He doesn’t want us to be silent…we are His vessels to be used…there is neither male nor female. His grace through our relationship with Him is all the empowerment we need.
Dawn, thanks for your encouraging words! I am very glad to have encouraged you in grace. May we be the generation of liberation for women to be all that God created them to be!!!!!!