Women in Ministry

1.  In CREATION, men and women are equal (Genesis 1:27).

2.  In REDEMPTION, women and men are equal (Galatians 3:28).

3.  In EMPOWERMENT and GIFTS, women and men are equal; "I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and daughters shall prophesy." (Acts 2:17).

4.  Creation focuses on God the Father; redemption focuses on Jesus Christ; empowerment focuses on the Holy Spirit.  These are the CENTRAL TRUTHS in the Christian faith  All other biblical statements about men and women should be interpreted in the light of these great biblical truths, not vice versa.  For example, the puzzling statement by Paul that women should be silent must be interpreted in the light of Genesis 1:27, Galatians 3:28 and Acts 2:17, not vice versa.

5.  Impact of the fall upon women; "he shall rule over you." (Genesis 3:16).  The creation norm of reciprocal intimacy is marred, but not totally lost.  According to Gilbert Balezikian, "the woman wants a mate and she gets a master; she wants a lover and she gets a lord; she wants a husband and she gets a hierarch."  The punishment of women (Genesis 3:16) has too often been accepted and legitimated as the norm for women in society and even in the church.  The end result is domination by men and second-class citizenship for women.

6.  In contrast to the impact of the fall upon women, note Jesus' treatment of women; Mary Stewart Van Leeuwen writes:

"It is difficult for us to realize how revolutionary Jesus' teaching on men and women must have sounded to his hearers.  But the rabbinic and other extra-biblical Jewish writings of the period show that the Jews of Jesus' time had an overwhelmingly negative attitude toward women---an attitude that the women, moreover, simply seemed to accept, since to do otherwise would have been to risk having no place in the community whatever.  Through the whole of the Old Testament period, Genesis 3:16 was working itself out in predictable fashion."

Reversing the Effects of the Fall

"Into this setting comes a rabbi who almost never tells a parable using male images and activities without also using a parallel one involving women.  To a culture that allowed easy divorce and even polygamy for men, but not women, he insisted on monogamy and the elimination of divorce by appealing to God's original intentions for both men and women. (His disciples were so stunned by this teaching that they suggested it would be easier not to marry at all!)   To a culture that was obsessed with blood ties, and in which barren women were a disgrace, he taught that the family of God was so much more important that it might even divide parents from children.  In a culture that refused to recognize women as teachers or as witnesses in court, he allowed women to be the first witnesses of his resurrection and a woman to proclaim that event to his male disciples. . . . Over the course of the four gospels, there is a total of 633 verses in which Jesus refers to women, and almost none of these are negative in tone."

7.  Paul is famous or infamous for his teaching that women should not teach men (I Timothy 2:12) or that women are to be silent in church (I Corinthians 14:34-36).  Paul is not as well known for his recognition of women as ministers and leaders in the church.  Larry Lutz writes:

"Paul refers to no less than ten women in Romans 16, referring to some as 'fellow-workers' a term which he uses to describe male workers in the church as well."

8.  Men and women were created the same and different.  They are both persons created in the image of God and they were created different---as male and female.  Women and men have more in common as persons than they have differences is body (sex) and in gender (social roles).  Differences which lead to husband and wife, mother and father roles are obviously significant and important, but these differences must not be overemphasized so they transcend the common personhood in the image of God.  Social roles must not be constructed in such a way as to dominate or damage personhood.

9.  Larry Lutz contrasts the traditional biblical interpretation of men and women with feminist biblical views:
     * Traditional: "Women have spiritual equality before God, but limited freedom in church and family."
     * Feminist: "Women have spiritual equality before God and social equality as people." Gal. 3:28
     * Traditional: "God commanded woman to allow her husband to rule over her."
     * Feminist: "God declared that as a result of sin, man would rule over woman." Gen. 3:16
     * Traditional: "Man as head is ruler and authority over woman."
     * Feminist: "Man as head is source, nurturer and servant-leader." I Cor. 11:3

10.  By 1900 more than 48 women's missionary societies were recruiting, funding, and sending women to, and supervising them in missionary fields around the world.  By 1929, 67% of all North American missionaries were women.  By the 1990s, nearly half the pastors in the Philippine Free Methodist church were women.  Women are both the face of poverty in many countries and the key to family and community development.