As we live into this new denomination, occasionally our Cabinet will come across a church needing a pastor and someone on the Pastor/Staff-Parish Relations Committee will share that they don’t want a woman pastor. It always makes me deeply sad. Some of our most gifted pastors are women, and when someone says that they don’t want a female pastor, they are potentially missing out on gifts and blessings that God wants to share with them.

Having served in appointive ministry for several years now, I’ve learned the reasons people don’t want a woman pastor are varied. Some think scripture doesn’t allow for women to be pastors. Sometimes the reason is that the person has come from a different faith tradition (Southern Baptist, Roman Catholic) and they’ve been taught women cannot be ordained. Others wrongly assume that women pastors are all theologically liberal. Still others are used to having had a male pastor their entire life and the thought of having someone different takes them too far out of their comfort zone. Surprisingly, at least to me, often the latter view has almost always been expressed to me by other women.

Does the Bible Support Female Pastors?

There are two passages of scripture that I have noticed people tend to lean on when they argue the Bible won’t support ordaining women: 1 Corinthians 14:34-35 and 1 Timothy 2:11-12.

Looking at 1 Corinthians 14, the Apostle Paul was addressing worship and ensuring it was done properly. In verses 33b-35, he wrote

As in all the congregations of the saints, women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission as the Law says. If they want to inquire about something, they should ask their own husbands at home; for it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church.

At first glance, it may seem that Paul was stating women cannot speak in church. Logic follows that if a woman was not allowed to speak in church, then she couldn’t be a pastor because part of the pastor’s role is to preach and teach.

The problem with that argument is that just a few chapters earlier in the very same letter (1 Corinthians 11:3-5 - also on the topic of worship), Paul wrote

Now I want you to realize that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God. Every man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his head. And every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head – it is just as though her head were shaved.

It is very clear in this passage that Paul approved of women praying and prophesying in worship. Accordingly, either Paul contradicted himself later in 1 Corinthians 14, or he was fine with women as pastors and was speaking to a very specific situation going on in the church in Corinth and addressing that specific problem.

It’s easy to read Paul’s letters and forget they were written 2,000 years ago to specific communities addressing specific issues. What we call the Old Testament would have been the only Bible Paul knew. Paul had no idea his letters would end up becoming part of the New Testament.

In Corinth, some wives were turning worship into a question-and-answer session. They were disrupting worship! Paul was admonishing them not to do that. God is a God of order, not of chaos. Worship should be in order. He was writing to the congregation in Corinth that these women should allow worship to proceed and ask their questions at home. Paul was not saying that women should not be pastors.

1 Timothy 2:11-12 is the other passage that is often used to justify women not being ordained. In it, Paul wrote, “A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. I do not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority over a man; she must be quiet.” This is one of those passages where we are truly limited by only reading the English translation. In the original Greek, you understand that the Greek word translated as “I do not permit” means specifically in this instant matter. It does not mean that Paul does not permit women to teach in the church for all time.

As Asbury Theological Seminary Professor, Dr. Ben Witherington, III, has stated, it becomes apparent in the Greek that Paul was concerning himself with the issue of usurping authority. In 1 Timothy 2, he was referring to high-status women who had likely been priestesses or perhaps vestal virgins in other religions. Those women were wrongly assuming their status gave them authority to preach and teach in the Christian church. Instead, Paul was saying worship must be conducted properly. These women must first learn about Jesus and the faith before they have earned the right to lead and teach in church. Again, Paul was writing about a specific circumstance, not forbidding something for all time.

Are There Women Pastors in the New Testament?

People who focus on the two above passages in 1 Corinthians and 1 Timothy also tend to forget that the New Testament is replete with female church leaders. In Acts 21:9 we learn that Paul, on his journeys, traveled to Caesarea and stayed with Philip. Luke records that Philip had four unmarried daughters who were prophetesses. In Acts 18, Paul met Aquila and his wife, Priscilla. Paul brought Priscilla and Aquila with him on his travels before leaving them in Ephesus. While in Ephesus, Acts 18 tells us Priscilla and Aquila encountered Apollos who would become one of the great early leaders of the church. Apollos arrived in Ephesus knowing about John the Baptist, but Acts 18:26 shares, “When Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they invited him to their home and explained to him the way of God more adequately.” Priscilla became a teacher in the church who is partly responsible for training one of its great early leaders!

Romans 16 is a treasure trove of the Apostle Paul acknowledging women in church leadership. As Paul was wrapping up his letter he sent greetings to various folks. In Romans 16:1-2, he wrote, “I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a deacon of the church in Cenchreae. I ask you to receive her in the Lord in a way worthy of his people and to give her any help she may need from you, for she has been the benefactor of many people, including me.” It’s important to note the same Greek word for deacon was used by Paul to establish the clerical office of deacon in another of his letters. Phoebe was clearly a pastor/leader of the church. In Romans 16:3, Paul called Priscilla and Aquila my “coworkers in Christ Jesus” giving Priscilla equal status to himself. In Romans 16:7, Paul wrote, “Greet Andronicus and Junia, my fellow Jews who have been in prison with me. They are outstanding among the apostles, and they were in Christ before I was.” Paul referred to Junia, a woman, as an apostle!

In Philippians 2:3-4, Paul wrote, 

I plead with Euodia and I plead with Syntyche to be of the same mind in the Lord. Yes, and I ask you, my true companion, help these women since they have contended at my side in the cause of the gospel, along with Clement and the rest of my co-workers, whose names are in the book of life.

Again, Paul was referring to women, Eudia and Syntyche, as co-workers for Jesus. Paul referred to himself as an apostle. If Paul was an apostle, then Eudia and Syntyche were as well. With these examples (and others), it becomes very hard to argue women were not pastors in the New Testament.

Why Do Other Faith Traditions Ban Women from Being Ordained?

The Roman Catholic Church is the largest faith tradition (one billion+) that does not allow women to be ordained. Wrongly, many people think that’s because the Catholic Church holds that scripture does not allow women to be priests. That is not the case. The Catholic Church acknowledges that the New Testament allows for women to be ordained. In 1976, the Pontifical Biblical Commission under Pope Paul VI issued a document that clearly stated there was no scriptural basis preventing women from being ordained as priests. The Pontifical Biblical Commission (now under the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith) is the Catholic Church’s primary group that studies scripture and ensures proper interpretation is being followed. You can read the report here.

Pope Paul VI, however, issued an encyclical called Inter Insignores in which he ruled that women could not be priests because a female could not adequately represent the male Jesus in serving the Eucharist. Remember, that our Catholic friends believe that during the celebration of Holy Communion, the bread and wine transubstantiates into the actual body and blood of Jesus. Pope Paul VI used that – not scripture – as the basis for his decision.

Other church leaders (Catholic and Protestant) have stated that since Jesus called 12 male disciples, priests can only be men. That, however, ignores the fact that Jesus did have female disciples. In Luke 8:1-3, we read

After this, Jesus traveled about from one town and village to another, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God. The Twelve were with him, and also some women who had been cured of evil spirits and diseases: Mary (called Magdalene) from whom seven demons had come out; Joanna the wife of Chuza, the manager of Herod’s household; Susanna; and many others. These women were helping to support them out of their own means.

As Professor Ben Wayman points out, if one is basing that stance on the Twelve being all male, one must wonder, however, that the 12 Disciples were also all Jewish…do all priests and pastors have to be Jews?

But We’ve Had a Woman Pastor and She was Theologically Liberal

We have come out of a denomination that also ordained women. There are no statistics, to my knowledge, that state what percentage of female clergy in The United Methodist Church were theologically liberal, but from my own experience and the interactions of many others, it was the majority. Here’s the good news: we don’t have theologically liberal pastors in the Global Methodist Church! Male or female!

I know every female pastor in the Florida Conference of the Global Methodist Church. I can say they are all dedicated, orthodox, theologically conservative pastors. There’s not one exception. They all love Jesus deeply. Just like men they have different strengths and weaknesses. Just because you’ve had a female pastor in the past who was theologically liberal, a bad preacher, or an ineffective leader does not mean all will be. That’s true of men, too. You cannot throw the proverbial baby out with the bathwater.

Methodists Have Appointed Females from the Very Beginning

I don’t know any scholar who has studied John Wesley in depth who wouldn’t argue that, by far, the most important influence on his life was his mother: Susanna. Susanna preached and led Bible studies. We have copies of letters from Samuel Wesley (John’s father) sharing his anger with Susanna that while Samuel was away at a church meeting, Susanna was drawing larger crowds than Samuel did. (You should read her reply if you want to laugh!)

John Wesley sent out what he called “female local preachers” to serve Methodist societies and to evangelize. Wesley understood that scripture teaches that God has gifted women for the work of ministry. It’s part of our Wesleyan DNA.

In every church I’ve served, I’ve been blessed to serve beside strong and gifted women. At the last church where I served before moving into appointive ministry, my associate pastor was a woman. She was my pastor!

In The United Methodist Church, I appointed a gifted woman to a small, rural church. The chair (a woman) of the Pastor-Parish Relations Committee called me to say the church had a female pastor before and she was very ineffective. People would not be happy. I told her they didn’t know the blessing they were in for and that in six months I predicted the chair would call me to thank me for sending the pastor to them. Five months later (one month early!) she called to say if I ever thought about moving their pastor, I’d have a riot on my hands. Years later, she's still there. People who are open to God’s movement are open to His blessings!

The Florida GMC Gladly Appoints Women

The Florida Conference of the Global Methodist Church has amazingly gifted women among its clergy ranks. I am humbled to watch their dedication, love, leadership, and preaching. They challenge me and make me a better disciple of Jesus. Our churches will be far more blessed if they do not limit themselves to just men as pastors.

Women are supposed to be pastors. It’s the way God intended it to be.

All God’s love,

Jay

P.S. For great, short videos expanding on what I’ve written, I commend these three videos from Seedbed’s Seven Minute Seminary:

https://youtu.be/_jit-j_D4AU?feature=shared

https://youtu.be/r2M6HswlH3A?feature=shared

https://youtu.be/u5VQe_nuNJg?feature=shared