I was told once that women have no place holding authoritative positions in the church. In fact, I was sitting in the cafeteria at Eastern, and I almost had to leave the table because of what was being preached to me (no pun intended).
This person’s argument – that women should not have authoritative positions in the church, nor should be given the opportunity to be leaders, deacons or pastors – was then followed by the claim that women need to be submissive to all of the men in their lives. I was in utter shock that these words were actually being spoken to me.
The real kicker: I was sitting at a table with four girls.
This conversation sparked a huge interest on my part and got me thinking. I was a youth deacon in my church: Should I not have been allowed to do that? I had a female associate pastor at my church: is that wrong too? Is my church back home completely ignoring the teachings of the Bible because they allow females to hold authoritative positions?
The girls at the table tried to use passages from 1 Corinthians 14:33-35 to prove their point. “For God is not a God of disorder but of peace 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.”
What these girls conveniently forgot to tell me was that this passage was not directed at all of the women in the church. It was specifically directed at the members of the church at Corinth who were conducting themselves in disruptive ways.
Also, the girls had neglected to say that Paul first spoke these words: “You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise” (Galatians 3:26-29).
To say that women cannot hold power in a church just because they are a female is absurd. From early on, Paul approved of women in the church, so for all of you females who have been told you don’t belong and you can’t have those positions, think again.
As far as all of those people who told you it is impossible, take their negativity as a challenge and prove them all wrong.