PK

I did a search on Google on women in ministry & this site came up so I am 6 mos. late but would like to respond for what it is worth…

First, I see many are hung up in this conversation over syntax & culture. A lot of you are REALLY stymied by the word “leader”, “pastor”, or any other word we use today for someone in “charger”. I love what Jesus tells us in Matt. 28:18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

If you are going to make a “disciple” OR you are going to “teach”, you MUST have some form of authority. Responsibility WITHOUT authority is an incredible injustice! But Jesus Himself gave US that authority to lead others, no matter how you slice it. However you “title” that authority is a mute point. You can split hairs here.

I am recognized as a “pastor” in my church, my denomination, & the state in which I live, yet I try to lead by example & love those in my congregation. I am against “shepherding” in the sense of ordering people around telling them what to do, however, I WILL protect those in my church to the point of costing my life, therefore a shepherd. (And please don’t respond by saying I don’t understand the magnitude of what I just said. I have lived in Siberia for 10 years with the FSB on one side & the mafia on the other persecuting us.)

But being “pastor” of a church ALSO comes with an unspoken responsibility. I am “legally” responsible as the CEO of a corporation. For a church to have “non-profit” status, it must be incorporated. IF we are going to split hairs as to say that we are doing church the wrong way because of syntax, then WHO will step up to bare responsibility? Who will MAKE disciples? Don’t be fooled! If you “lead” someone to Christ, you ARE a “LEADER”!

Second, I have been “called” by God to serve. I LOVE the fact that the Matt. 28 passage is NON-gender specific. Jesus called ALL of us to make disciples. The inflection in that passage by-the-way is an “imperative”. There are 3 imperatives in fact.

1. Make disciples. 2. Baptize. 3. Teach.

The imperative is NOT “go”. THAT is assumed & would equally be correct if it was translated, “While you are going”.

The point here is that we ALL are going to be at a “spiritual” level along this journey & we ALL have to submit to SOME form of authority. Though some of your comments are technically correct, the word usage authority, leader, pastor, etc. ARE implied throughout scripture. Scripture IS “trans-cultural” & you must agree that our culture IS different than the first century church.

To those of you who are purist, there are too many examples of women in leadership throughout scripture to say that women don’t have a place in leadership. God appointed Deborah to be judge, prophetess, leader over generals, & yet be a WIFE.

Some of the earlier comments I would like to address quickly that made me chuckle…

In comment #15, David C. Norrington is quoted as to the correctness of HOW we should have church & that many of our practices are “non-biblical”; driving a car is non-biblical, playing baseball is non-biblical, & so on. I bring up MY silliness because there are SOME things that are WRONG & SOME things that are DIFFERENT. We need to be careful to NOT judge things that are DIFFERENT as being WRONG.

GREAT blog Cheryl! My wife is a wonderful woman of God who can out teach me yet I’m not too bad of a preacher. We compliment each other VERY well & my church has already said that if I die, she can move in. :o) I just hope it won’t be too soon. lol