Women in Church

  The role of women in Church is probably one of the most highly debated topics in the Church right now.  I believe the key to understanding a woman’s role in the Church is to step away from cultural beliefs and emotions and look at what the Bible tells us.  It is not about how we feel but what God says.  We come together to worship God, and He is to be worshiped in the way He prescribes, not just whatever we feel like doing.  The role of women in the Church is not about worth, it is about the roles that God has assigned to men and women.  We are all one in Christ and of equal worth before God.  However, there are different roles for different people based on both their gender and the gifts God has given them.

We read in Galatians 3:27-29, “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.  There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.  And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise.”  We do not merit higher standing with God based on who we are or what we have done.  All that we have is in Christ.  Our value is not based on what we do or how we contribute to the Church.  Our worth is in Christ and all of the Church is in equal standing before God.  However, there are different roles for everyone in the Church.  We can’t all lead or there is no one to lead.  We cannot all teach or there is no one to be taught.  We must consider the role God has for us in the Church so we can contribute in a way that is both edifying to the Body of Christ and in accordance with God’s commands.

Not everyone has the same talents and abilities.  God has gifted people in the church with different abilities so that we can all work together to build up one another in Christ and to witness to the world around us.  One job, such as elder, is not more important than another job, such as custodian.  We all need one another and are to use the gifts that God has given to us.  Romans 12:3-6a states, “For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.  For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function,  so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.  Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them.”  We must seek out ways to serve one another according to the gifts we have been given.  However, how we use those gifts must still be in accordance with the roles God has established for the Church.  For example, there are certain requirements given for those who serve as elders or deacons in the Church.  Those who do not meet those requirements should not hold those offices.  

Women have been given a role of submission.  As children, they submit to their parents.  As wives, they submit to their husbands.  All church members should also submit to the authority of the elders in their church.  1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1 outline qualifications for the elders of the church.  Women are not to be considered for these positions.  Women should learn quietly and submissively, not exercising authority over men.  Women should not be in positions of leadership, nor should they be teaching in a context in which men are present.  They should remain submissive to both the leadership of the church and their husbands (or fathers, if they are unmarried).  1 Corinthians 14 encourages women to ask their husbands at home rather than to speak in church.  This passage is talking about orderly corporate worship.  While I don’t believe this passage is saying that women must be completely silent in church, it is saying that women shouldn’t be standing up and teaching or questioning during corporate worship.  They are told if they have a question they should ask their husbands at home.  Likewise, 1 Timothy 2:11-12 says, “Let a woman learn quietly with all submissiveness.  I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet.”   While women may be gifted in teaching, they are not to teach men in the church.  

There are many ways women can minister in the Church.  Titus 2 outlines how older women are to be teaching younger women.  They are to be mentors helping and training younger women to fulfill the role God has for them as godly women, wives, and mothers.  Women can provide works of mercy, caring for widows, orphans, and others in need in the Church.  Women can teach children in separate areas, such as a Sunday School situation.  The roles outlined for the Church are not to deny women the use of the gifts they have been given.  He provides an orderly structure for the Church and allows women to use the gifts they have been given within that context.

The world has been inundated with feminist ideas that say that women must be and act just like men to be equal.  Worth is equated with what you do.  However, God’s structure is different.  All of us find our worth in Christ not in what we do.  Men and women were uniquely designed with different abilities to fulfill different roles.  Embrace God’s plan to teach and learn and edify and grow within the context of the Church and the role God has given you.  Encourage other women to embrace their calling as a woman and to honor God by following His design for the Church.