INTRODUCTION

Women In The Life Of The Church I Grew Up In

The church I grew up in had very clear views about the role of women in church life. There was a thriving Woman's Fellowship. The women regularly formed a choir for performing in special services held at Christmas, at Easter and on other special occasions. Women were celebrated for the lavish suppers they provided for various church functions. Many of them taught children in Sunday School.

However, women were not allowed to 'teach or exercise authority' over men. This was understood to be the clear and unequivocal teaching of 1 Timothy 2: 12. It meant that women could not preach or teach in any situation where men were present and that they could not serve as deacons or elders.

Women were also required to wear hats for Sunday worship services and especially at the communion service which was held each Sunday morning after the main service. This was understood to be the clear and unequivocal teaching of 1 Corinthians 11 and it was simply a matter of obedience.

There were those who dissented from both of these views - that women could not in any circumstances teach or hold authority over men and that the wearing of head coverings was a universal requirement for all time and in all cultures. But the Biblical arguments used in support of the church's position appeared so strong as to be insurmountable without a degree in theology, which none of us had.

One particular controversy arose when a woman was nominated to lead the team responsible for a midweek club for children under eight. Unfortunately the 'ruling elder' had a problem with this. His problem was not with a woman being involved in teaching the Bible to children - that was fine. His problem was that there was a man on the team of leaders and on the basis of 1 Timothy 2: 12 he felt she should not be in a position of authority over him. So even though she was much more qualified in terms of experience, gifts, maturity and leadership ability, he was appointed leader instead of her. Some of us tried to question this but since the ruling was based on what appeared to be solid Biblical grounds, without an equally solid Biblical case, we found ourselves unable to argue against it and the overwhelming majority of the church therefore simply accepted it.

Women In The Life Of The Church I Attend Now

Fast forward thirty five years or so and I now belong to a different church, albeit of the same denomination. This church is very different. Women are involved in many different areas of ministry and often as team leaders. They have been serving as deacons here for nearly twenty years - based on the understanding that 1 Timothy 3: 11 refers to women deacons. Women can teach in mixed gatherings except when the whole church is gathered together for worship on a Sunday morning. In this setting women are frequently invited to lead the service and to take part in other ways but the main address is normally given by a man.

The only office from which women are excluded is that of elder. And again this is based largely on 1 Timothy 2: 12 which seems to prohibit women from being in authority over men. However, unlike the church I grew up in, the views of women - and indeed of all the members of the congregation - are sought and taken into consideration by the elders when any decisions are being made.

How I Came To Be Involved In The Debate

Which brings me to a Wednesday evening in March 2015. Earlier in the day I had received the routine weekly email of news and information from the church office. I knew that on the following Sunday evening a well-known husband and wife team were coming to give a presentation on the role of women in church. The lady in question had done some research on this and had recently published a paper on it. She was going to present her findings and there would be time for questions and discussion afterwards. The email reminding us of this invited us, among other things, to 'come and find out why we don't have women elders.'

At that stage I did not think this was particularly controversial. I had accepted that 1 Timothy 2: 12 taught that women were not to be in authority over men and whilst I had rejected some of the hard-line ways in which this had been applied in my previous church, I was broadly happy with the way in which the church I now belonged to were applying it. Nevertheless, it was a subject I had never really thought through for myself and I was interested in finding out more about it.

That same evening I was standing in my sister's house drinking coffee and enjoying traybakes with members of my extended family. I happened to mention just in passing that we had been invited to an evening in our church the following Sunday at which we would be discussing 'why we don't have women elders.' I was somewhat taken aback by the reaction of one of those present. 'If that's what you believe' she said 'I couldn't be a member of your church.'  I had not expected this from the person concerned and started to explain that I thought there were good Biblical reasons for our position which could not simply be set aside. She then began to tell me about all the women she knew who had been badly hurt by such teaching and who felt that their gifts and callings had been denied on account of it. She told me about some who were now ordained and whose ministries were clearly being blessed by God. What would our church say to them?

Her reaction was so unexpected and so strong in defence of women in ministry that a seed of doubt was planted in my mind for the first time. So I decided that between then and the following Sunday I would look into the Biblical case for the exclusion of women from church leadership for myself. To start with, this was more in the expectation that I would find answers by which I could better defend the church's position than that I would find any strong arguments against it.

My epiphany began almost straight away when I realised that the word translated in 1 Timothy 2: 12 as 'exercising authority' is not the word normally used for the rightful exercise of authority and that whatever male headship means it applies only to the marriage relationship and not to church leadership. With those foundations removed, the Biblical case for exclusively male elders seemed to collapse before me. Biblically, there seemed to be nowhere else to turn. And once I realised that Genesis 1: 27 mandates both men and women to 'rule' my epiphany was complete. But we'll come to all that later.

My Unanswered Question

Having come to the conclusion that there is no Biblical basis for the exclusion of women from church leadership I asked my pastor the following Sunday morning if it would be OK for me to question this at the meeting to be held that night and was told that this would be perfectly acceptable. One of the purposes of the meeting was to allow for open discussion on the issues to be presented.

The lady who gave the presentation that night did a great job. It seemed to me that she effectively demolished the usual Biblical arguments for excluding women from leadership but without realising it. Among other things she pointed out that the word translated 'exercise authority' should probably be translated 'domineer'. But she didn't seem to be aware of the implication of what she was saying. If 1 Timothy 2: 12 did not forbid women from exercising authority in church, what then was the case for excluding women from leadership? I asked this question repeatedly but was never given a satisfactory answer.

In her presentation, our guest had been concerned, quite rightly, to show that a range of ministries should be open to women in the churches of our denomination - far more than would have been the case, for example, in the church in which I had grown up. It would have been a great presentation to have heard back then! But in the church we were in now, she was preaching to the converted. In this church, the only restriction placed on women was that they could not serve as elders and this was what I had come to find out about. And it seemed to me that, in the light of what she had said, there was no longer any Biblical reason for excluding women from the office of elder but neither she nor her husband appeared to have thought about this and so when I asked what the Biblical basis for their exclusion was they were unable to give an answer and the matter was left hanging.

On reflection, it seems clear to me now that the couple were not aware that as church members we had been invited to come and 'find out why we don't have women elders.' This was what we had been told was the purpose of the meeting but I don't think anyone had told them! I imagine the lady in question had been invited to give a presentation on the paper she had published and her husband had been asked to chair the discussion that would follow. But neither of them had been told that part of their brief was to make the Biblical case for the exclusion of women from the office of elder. They simply hadn't come prepared for that!

Taking It Further

So for more than five years the issue was left hanging. Then in September 2020 our church was in the process of registering with the Charity Commission and we were having to revise our constitution in order to be able to do so. A number of aspects of church practice that had never been written into the constitution before were now to be made explicit. It was proposed that the phrase 'those eligible to serve as Elders shall be chosen from the male (according to biological gender at birth) membership of the Church' be entered into the newly expanded version of our constitution. To be fair, this was simply spelling out what the accepted practice of the church had been but I saw this as an opportunity to ask for the issue to be openly discussed, or at least for the elders to clarify what they believe the Biblical basis for the policy to be, especially in the light of the meeting that had taken place five years earlier and which had, in my view, failed to reach any conclusion.

I was assured that in due course, discussions would take place on the subject of what the Bible teaches about women. Unfortunately lockdowns and further restrictions due to Covid meant that these discussions did not take place straight away. However, eventually the elders were tasked with considering these matters and bringing their recommendations to the church. Following a series of studies, the elders recommended that we retain our current practice of appointing male-only elders and our pastor, Lee Campbell, presented the Biblical basis for this at two seminars for church members entitled 'Beautiful Difference'. 

While all of this was taking place, I began writing some notes in preparation for any discussions that might take place. I also did some further reading and submitted material for the elders to consider. When the seminars took place, and within the time constraints involved, I was given permission to challenge some of the conclusions the elders has reached and to present an alternative viewpoint with the aim of promoting mutual understanding and healthy discussion over issues on which we disagree and I believe we succeeded in that respect at least.

In this book I hope to bring together and expand on the material I originally wrote for submission to the elders and in preparation for the seminars. In doing so I hope also to explain and respond to the contrary arguments and objections I came across in the course of our discussions. I have been given access to the papers that were written by Lee for discussion by the elders and were eventually used as a basis for the presentations he gave at the seminars and, with his permission, I hope to quote directly from these in order to illustrate what I would regard as a typical 'soft complementarian' viewpoint. 

My Aims

I am basically writing to argue for my conviction that there is no Biblical basis for the exclusion of women from church leadership. In stating this conviction I anticipate two questions from many of my readers. But surely this is what the Bible clearly teaches? And isn't this what the church has always believed? The answer to both questions, as I hope to show, is a clear and resounding 'no.'

I believe the Biblical and historical evidence actually points to the equality of the sexes both in marriage and in the life and ministry of the church. So please note that I am not arguing that our church's teaching is out of date and needs to be brought into line with modern day feminist influences or with society's views of gender equality. No - the fundamental question that this paper seeks to answer is not what does our culture say but what does the Bible teach?

I am not arguing that Paul excluded women from church leadership for cultural reasons that no longer apply. I am arguing that Paul never taught that women should be excluded from church leadership. This was not what he intended; it was not appropriate then and it is not appropriate now. For some of you that will seem an impossible case to make - but bear with me and I trust all will become clear.

In order to argue my case, I hope to examine what the Bible says and what the church throughout history has taught about the role of women both in marriage and in church leadership since the two topics are closely connected. My aim will be to enable us to correctly understand and apply what the Bible teaches about women in our churches and to correct any unbiblical ideas we may have had that have had harmful consequences for women, the church and the gospel in the past.

My Sources

As part of my research into this topic, I read Women In the Church which is edited by Andreas J. Köstenberger and Thomas R. Schreiner and regarded by many as the definitive work on the subject from a complementarian point of view. I'll explain that term later - but basically this book sets out the Biblical case for the exclusion of women from church leadership which is the position our church currently takes. It has ringing endorsements from DA Carson and John Piper, among others. I have now also read Kevin De Young's recently published book Men And Women In The Church which is a shorter and much more accessible book on the same subject. It is written from the same point of view but is aimed at ordinary church members rather than professional theologians!

For the egalitarian point of view for which I am arguing - i.e. that there is no Biblical basis for the exclusion of women from church leadership - my main source to begin with was the book What The Bible Actually Teaches About Women by Kevin Giles. It was written to refute the arguments given for the subordination of women to men in marriage and in church leadership by Andreas and Margaret Köstenberger in their book God’s Design for Man and Woman: A Biblical-Theological Survey. For a clear and thorough explanation and Biblical defense of the egalitarian position I found this a great starting point.

For a historical perspective on what the church throughout history has believed and practiced in regard to men and women in the church and in the home, I read The Making Of Biblical Womanhood by Beth Allison Barr. Some of what she says has clearly been coloured by an experience she had in the complementarian church in which she grew up. Nevertheless, as a university lecturer in medieval church history, her historical analysis deserves consideration and the historical perspectives given in this paper are largely based on what she says.

As I dug further into the topic, there were many other books that I found helpful. Those from which I have drawn most heavily, and recommend most highly, are:

Discovering Biblical Equality edited by Ron Pierce

Man And Woman In Christ by Andrew Bartlett

How God Sees Women by Terran Williams

The Bible Versus Biblical Womanhood by Philip Payne

Bourgeois Babes, Bossy Wives And Bobby Haircuts by Michael F. Bird

The Role Of Women In Church Leadership And Marriage by Paul Marston.

I was grateful for the opportunity, as a Baptist, to attend a number of seminars organised by the Equal To Lead group which exists 'to encourage women and men in their shared calling to lead in the Presbyterian Church in Ireland.' I found these seminars extremely helpful and commend the recordings of them that are available from the Equal To Lead website at: https://www.equaltolead.com.

I also recommend, and have used material taken from the following websites:

https://www.cbeinternational.org 

https://terranwilliams.com 

I have provided full lists of recommended reading and online resources at the end of this book.