Question:  I am struggling in my understanding of men and women as being equal in God’s eyes.  Pastors tell me that we are created equal, but have different roles.  Somehow these “roles” seem to limit women.  We are “allowed” to do certain things in the church, but ALL things are fine for a man to do.  Because there is no specific scripture that states a woman was a pastor (which, by the way, where is there a scripture that states a man was a pastor?) women are not “allowed” to be elders or pastor a church.  But when I read about women’s roles in the Bible I see them as prophets, judges, evangelists, etc.

            This is a stumbling block to me.  Could you help me, through scripture, clear this up?  I know scriptures can be interpreted in different ways, and perhaps because of that this question will be reserved for when I see Jesus.

            Thank you for your very open and honest answers.

            Nancy

Answer:  Dear Nancy,

            This issue can be extremely frustrating for women – as is evident in your note.  You seem to be asking about women being pastors – as in senior pastors.  There are denominations and individual congregations where women may serve as senior pastors, and there are, as you are well aware, many where they do not.

            Scriptures?  Well, it depends on how one views Paul’s statements.  Some see them literally and universally, applicable for all time – while others see them through their cultural setting, and that they are not necessarily universal and timeless.  Suffice it to say this is one of, and has been for some time, the biggest controversies facing Christianity.

            I don’t know if I can help you clear this up through scripture via E-mail because this is a huge topic and involves many subsidiary issues.  There are, for example, denominations that ordain women as senior/presiding pastors, but many congregations within that denomination will not employ them in that capacity because of the controversy.  There are also congregations where this is the case.  The difficulty for some arises when these choices are not available within their denomination – or the congregation they usually attend – or the town in which they live.

            If you have specific questions about one specific biblical passage with which I could help, please let me know – otherwise the above represents an overview, from my perspective.

            In Christ,

            Greg Albrecht