THE PLACE OF WOMEN - PART 6

Women Pastors

� 2000 William R. Cunningham
July 9, 2000

I think it is time that I deal with one of the most controversial issues in the church community. Can a woman be a pastor of a church? I define pastor in this case to mean the leader of a particular church. This also applies to our concept of a Bishop. If there are restrictions to women pastors then the source of those restrictions needs to be identified? Why? A church may declare as a matter of fact that women are not allowed to be pastors. This is a form of Dogma. However, that restriction may not be due to Christian doctrine, rather the church's own doctrine or that of the pastor himself. Therefore, there are a few things that we need to investigate before we can affectively answer this question else I will be left giving you my opinion, which by itself is mere dogma to you. So let's look at a few things first and build ourselves up to the answer.

What church do you belong to? The answer to this question would be varied depending on whom you ask. However, our perception of this question and consequently church will show that the concept of church has been altered over the history of Christianity. If you were to ask a first century Christian this question then you would perhaps get a strange look and an answer something like, "What do you mean what church? I am a Christian. There is only one church" (my speculation to show a point). Our concept of church has shifted from the spiritual to the material. We typically think of a local church building when we think of church. How unfortunate. From this misconception grow other misconceptions as to the Kingdom of God and the true nature of the Christian faith. For example, the mainstream church scene preaches more materialism (prosperity, blessing measured by the car you drive or the house you have, etc.) then spirituality and true righteousness.

Therefore, I think it is expedient that we discuss the concept of Church. After all, the "law" stating that women are not allowed to be pastors is a church "law". The current concept of church is not what it was at the beginning of Christianity nor is it the true concept of church. The church as we know it is composed of two components: the charismatic and the institution (administration). The charismatic (comes from a Greek word that means gift) is the foundation of the true church (the body of Christ). It identifies the church organism, which is a living body, the spiritual component of the church. The charismatic, not to be confused with the charismatic movement, is the life of the church, the body of Christ. This is the most significant part of the church.

The spiritual component of the church was established first, as it should have been. Without this component, a church organization would be no different then any worldly organization. The Holy Spirit that empowers and joins the people together to form one body and one church sets that church apart from worldly organizations. The apostles first began to preach the resurrection of Jesus Christ. They taught the people the Gospel of Jesus Christ and those that accepted that Gospel became part of the body of Christ, the true church.

The apostles traveled to different parts of the world preaching the Gospel of Christ and changing the lives of thousands of individuals. The apostles did what they were commanded by Jesus Christ to do, namely make disciples of the entire world. These disciples included men and women. There was no distinction in the charismatic since it was spiritually founded and therefore gender became irrelevant.

You must realize that in the charismatic (the spiritual foundation of the church body) that there were no leaders as what we are familiar with. The Holy Spirit was the leader of the church. The apostles were servants of that Spirit. The people considered them leaders because they were the ones with the original message of salvation after Jesus ascended to Heaven. The head of the church was Christ not any one person. As a matter of fact, the early Christians did not think of church as a place of worship as we think of it today. It was a body of believers that could be anywhere in fellowship.

As the church grew in numbers, there became a need for organization. More and more people became born again and part of the body of Christ. The apostles could no longer administer the spiritual component of the church and the administrative. Church offices began to be created to deal with the administrative aspect of the church (Example: deacons, bishops). This brings us to the next component of the church.

Organization is necessary when people begin to come together. The church was no different in this respect. More and more people joined the body of Christ and therefore the church began to become unmanageable by the apostles. There also was a need to establish proper protocol for worship services. We must remember that the church is surrounded by the powers of the world, namely the government. The church therefore cannot exist in isolation of that governmental structure without itself abiding by it.

There is also a need for structure within the church body. People began meeting together regularly and the number of people consistently increased. A need for church leaders developed to maintain organization and give structure to the organization. However, notice that the word church is now being used differently. The word church does not exclusively refer to the body of Christ. Now the word church may refer to a specific congregation or local church.

It is important to understand that this component of church is man-made though ideally it should allow the spiritual component to illuminate. In many cases the organization has overshadowed the charismatic (again, not to be confused with the charismatic movement). The church has therefore come to be defined organizationally instead of spiritually or charismatically. It is universally understood that when we speak of church that we are referring to a particular local church and not the body of Christ.

There are many offices in the typical church. Originally the elders were the leaders of a church organization (local church). The elder was usually a senior male that oversaw the operation of the church organization. His authority only extended to a particular congregation and not the body of Christ as a whole. He was responsible for the congregation and was a protector of the truth of the Christian faith. The office of elder was reserved for men. There was no law that stated that a woman could not be an elder. However, the church offices and thus organization was influenced by the surrounding culture, which was based on a man's world. Here we have a silent exclusion of women in leadership, though they played a significant role in the charismatic (spiritual component of the truth church).

As time progressed the church began to be identified and known as an organization instead of a living body (organism) that is organized. A new perception of church evolved to the point that we now perceive church as a structured organization as I said.  You may have heard it said many times that a church should be run like a business.  However, such is contrary to the way that the church should be run.   Consider the following scripture.

Matthew 20:25-28 (NKJV) But Jesus called them to Himself and said, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them. Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. 27And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave-just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many."

Here Jesus makes a distinction between the organization system of the world and of the church. The church is based on a system of servitude not authority. Jesus Christ has sole authority over the church-all of the people. The charismatic component of the church consisted of pastors, teachers, prophets, evangelists, and apostles (see 1 Corinthians 12:27-31 and Ephesians 4:11-12). The administrative component consisted of elders, later bishops, and deacons. Over the centuries the administrative component has become the defining agent of a church. The pastor, which is a gift from God to the body of Christ, has become a title of an office in the church organization and associated with one with authority. That however was not the purpose of the gift of pastor. Men and women, in their quest for power, have succumbed to the temptation of power and prestige and have organized edifices and great institution in the name of Christianity when all along they have only built a religious worldly organization. The terrible thing about this is that we have fallen for it like sheep going to slaughter.

The spiritual church is practically absent from the minds of the people, even those within the church. The charismatic is no longer the defining component of the church. Our definition of church has shifted from the living organism to the organization that we pledge allegiance to every Sunday or whenever it summons us. There is therefore a separation in the church. The spirit of the church is a separate entity to the church organization whereas they should be joined to produce an affective church during any time.

I really want to emphasize the fact that the church today is very different then the early church of Christianity-in principle. For one thing, the church of today is defined differently then it was then. For example, asking a Christian in the first century, "What church do you go to?" would have been ridiculous. There was only one church-one body of Christ so there could only be one church. The meeting place was just a matter of course or a particular congregation of the church. However, if we asked a Christian today that same question then you are likely to get an answer such as "The Church of Holy Water" or whatever their church's name is.

Another thing that we have found is that the church of today has a high component of administration as opposed to a high component of charismatic as the early church. Remember that the word charismatic here is not referring to the charismatic movement of the 19th and 20th centuries. The word charismatic here refers to the gifts of the spirit (from the Greek rendering). Churches today are judged by how successful they appear to be. People always want to know how many members a particular pastor has at his church. It doesn't matter how many members a church has? We all belong to one body-the body of Christ-the true church.

We also found that the administrative development of the church organization is not "God breathed" though it may be influenced by God's ways. Some churches' administration is more godly then others. Some administration mimics the world system instead of the Kingdom of God as Jesus revealed in Matthew 20. Therefore, the administration and corresponding laws of a particular church organization is influenced by the beliefs of one or more people who have usurped authority over the congregation. This means that a church's "law" or statement of faith is determined by the conviction of people more so than the doctrines of Christianity.

It is fitting that the administrative development of the church organization be consistent with its surroundings (cultures and customs). However, it is not fitting that the administrative development of the church organization (a particular local church for example) transcends Christian doctrine. For example, the restriction of women in ministry is both cultural (for a particular region) and it is man-made since there are no scriptural restrictions of women in the charismatic (spiritual) aspect of the body of Christ.

Therefore, we have two "laws" in affect. We have the "law" of the Spirit and we have the "law" of the organization. The restrictions placed on women as well as other such restrictions are from the "laws" of the organization. It is very important to understand this else we will perceive such restrictions and "laws" as being part of fundamental Christian doctrine, which they are not.

Now let us get more specific in our quest for the woman pastor issue.

Let's start this discussion by identifying what a pastor is. Consider the following scripture.

I think it is important at this point to define the ministries that Paul lists here in order for us to take the ministry of the pastor in its context.

• An apostle is someone that is sent to accomplish a mission in the name or authority of the sender.
• A prophet was someone that was given a message from God to be given to his people at a certain time and for a certain situation.
• Evangelists are people that proclaim the gospel of Christ. The word literally means "one who proclaims good tidings." The evangelist was not attached to a particular local church. They traveled over a wide geographical area.
• A pastor was someone that was the feeder, protector, and guide, or shepherd of God's people in the New Testament. The pastor was closely related to the teacher and for all practical purposes was also a teacher.
• A teacher is someone that expounds on a particular subject in a effort to induce understanding. A teacher is one who instructs or imparts knowledge to.

Notice that the word pastor at this time in church history DID NOT REFER TO A TITLE OR POSITION IN THE CHURCH (Church leader)! It was a ministry within the body of Christ just as the apostle, prophet, evangelist, and teacher. The concept of a pastor being the leader of a church or the title within the church did not come until later.

Ephesians 4:11 refers to ministries within the body of Christ that was given to the Body as a gift from God. These do not represent the titles of responsibilities or leadership within a church organization.

The Pastoral ministry is closely associated with teaching (Ephesians 4:11) as God's gift to the church. Such ministry fulfills its God-ordained purpose when it trains church members to be mature in faith and equipped for ministry and unifies the church in Christian faith and knowledge (Ephesians 4:12-13). Self-promotion and political divisiveness run counter to the biblical ideal for pastoral ministry. In laying down His life for His sheep (John 10:11, 15), Christ set the standard for pastoral ministry that goes beyond words to deeds. His sheep recognize His voice as a trustworthy guide (John 10:3-4). Pastoral ministry is an expression of love for Christ (John 21:15-17).

The pastoral ministry is one of feeding and caring for God's people. The pastor is basically a servant to the people. The pastor's life is found in the ministering the truth's of God's word to the people so that they would be edified to do good works. So we cannot talk here about the pastor of a church because this scripture does not refer to that at all. We can talk about a pastor in the Body of Christ as one who serves in the area of teaching, protecting, and guiding God's people. This ministry therefore might apply to any disciple of Christ that teaches the word to others in an effort to protect them (with the truth) and to guide them (by the knowledge of that truth) through the medium of instruction.

There arose a need for two classes of officials within the church body, as we have already discussed. These two classes are as follows.

1. Charismatic-(Greek for gift) were the spiritual component of the church. The ability to serve within the church originated from the Holy Spirit. Ephesians 4:11 list these ministries. Men and women served in these charismatic ministries.
2. Administrative-These officials carried out the governmental and organizational functions of the church. Their service came not directly from God but from a majority vote of the people or some other approved decision-making method. Typically only men served as administrative officials.

The problem is that we have the concept of a pastor as being an administrator when originally a pastor was a spiritual ministry. Since the administrative office is subject to the customs and culture of the locale, then we see that there may be a restriction of women built into the organizations structural makeup. People generate the governing "laws" of a particular local church organization. We will talk about the importance of that later.

The Bible speaks of a pastor as a spiritual ministry designed to promote edification of the body of Christ and not necessarily of a particular organization. The spiritual ministries, from Ephesians 4:11, precedes the administrative office. The term pastor is not used to identify a church leader (of a congregation or particular local church organization).

Now consider the following.

Here we see the qualifications for a bishop. The word bishop actually means overseer. So a bishop oversees a particular congregation or meeting. Also notice that the office of a bishop is assumed to be a male since it doesn't mention the "wife of one husband." Again we see the significance of the administrative and the charismatic components of the church. During this time, the culture was primarily Greek in nature. The Greek culture thought of women as either being inferior or a distraction to men. Therefore, it would have been very unlikely that a woman would be accepted as a leader in any organization-even the church. Again, this is separate from the Christian doctrine that doesn't place such restrictions. We'll discuss this in more detail in a little while.

We can see from our previous discussion on what a pastor is that gender is insignificant. What are the qualifications of a pastor? Actually that is a mute point because pastors are a gift from God. God ordains pastors in the sense that God has empowered them with the gift of shepherding and caring for the people. The word pastor is actually not a title in church government even though we use it that way. However, since we have lost the true meaning and significance of the word pastor, we normally think of a pastor as the leader of a church or the head of a church (or ministry). Actually a pastor is a shepherd to the body of Christ. He or she feeds the people the word of God through instruction and ministry.

A pastor therefore should know the word of God that pertains to his or her particular ministry. However, this knowledge will be present since pastors are from God and not men. If God anoints someone as a pastor then rest assured that that person would be qualified to do what God wants him or her to do. A women or man can teach the word of God because the power in the word is from the Holy Spirit and not the person. If God ordains someone as a gift to the church as a pastor, then the approval or ordination of man is not needed.

For example, in my life there were people that called me "their pastor." Why? It wasn't because I was forming a church. As a matter of fact I resisted such thoughts. It was because I was teaching them and just operating in the gift that God gave me. Another example is when I applied to Bible College. I filled in the profile and the college recommended that I take the Pastor curriculum. They saw in me the gift of pastorship (not leadership). I am not a leader in the sense of administration. I am a visionary but I don't react or operate well in the realm of administration, which is why I pray that God would send an administrator to me for this organization.

Typically we are referring to the leadership role when we speak of the qualifications of a pastor. However, the real role of a pastor is not in leadership per se'. The true role of a pastor is a servant, whose qualifications are established by God and no man can elevate someone to this "position." People can elect or vote on the pastor the leader. However, people have no say so in the establishment of someone as pastor the minister. These are the distinctions of the spiritual foundation of church (the charismatic) and the administrative component of church. Pastor in the charismatic is a gift of God to feed the people. A pastor in the administrative component of church is the leader (boss) of the organization).

The leadership position of the church was actually the elders or bishops, not the pastor (in the strict sense of the word). Note that when Paul discussed the officials or offices of the church that he did not mention pastors (See 1 Timothy 3). Pastors are listed with the gifts of the Holy Spirit in 1 Corinthians 12.

So since the true pastor is a gift from God then gender is not significant and is not part of the qualifications. God determines who pastors really are since they are really ministers to the people and servants to the body of Christ. Since the church leader that we call pastor is an office in the church then people appoint these. Since men believe that only males are allowed to be pastors then part of the qualifications of a pastor is that a man occupies the position. This as we can see is a man made qualification and it has nothing to do with the true biblical concept of pastor, which is a servant not leader.

From our previous discussion we have found that there are really to aspects to the word pastor. One is related to the charismatic (spiritual) classification or component of church and the other is related to the administrative classification of church. The Charismatic reference to pastor is that of ministry. In this classification a pastor is a servant and a gift to the body of Christ who teaches and nurtures the people by the use of the word of God. These people are ordained by God and therefore do not fall under the power of men and their standards or qualifications. Who can dispute what God has established?

The second classification of pastor is that of a church leader. In this instance the word "pastor" is used as a title and not in the realm of ministry. A pastor is typically seen as the leader or head of a church or the head of a ministry within the church (youth pastor for example). However, usually we think of a pastor as both the minister and the administrator. Unfortunately this loses the true aspect of the ministry of the pastor.

So the bottom line is that there is no biblical reason why women cannot be a pastor in the true sense of ministry since this ministry is from God and not man. However, there may be restrictions on women pastors as leaders or administrators because of man-made laws. If men run the church organization then all people within that organization are subject to the man-made rules and regulations. However, realize that the restriction on women leaders is not founded in the biblical teaching except where culture or customs are enforced. Basically, women have the right to be pastors both in the charismatic sense and the administrative sense. They are capable of having the gift from God since God doesn't show favoritism between the sexes and they are capable of having the administrative abilities like any other person. Again, the restriction on women pastors is a man made restriction and should not be considered as Christian doctrine, which it is not. Can women be pastors? Yes. Women have the right to be pastors in the body of Christ if indeed God has given them the gift of a pastor as described in Ephesians 4:11-12 and 1 Corinthians 12:27-31. Nothing can hinder anyone, male or female, from operating in the gift that God has given him or her. We are all subject to man-made rules and regulations, even in the church. However, that should not hinder us from operating in the gift that God has given us.

You do not seek to be a pastor. Instead, as one minister explained to me, you realize one day that you have the gift of a pastor. You will find that you have been operating in that gift for a long time but didn't call it pastor. A woman that seeks to be the leader of a church congregation or organization will have to deal with the man-made rules and regulations imposed on and operating within the organization.

So you see that women have to deal with the same dual aspects of church that all people deal with. They deal with the spiritual side and the administrative side. All church organizations have to deal with administrative concerns such as dealing with the government. In addition to this, women have to deal with the biased, prejudice, and basically non-Christian mindset of men and women regarding women leaders in the church. So again, Christian doctrine does not prohibit women from being pastors in the body of Christ or leaders of a church.    The problem occurs when people conjure rules and regulations based on their own prejudices and bias.

Questions

Answer the following questions to test your grasp of the information presented in this lesson.  Whether you agree or disagree with the conclusions in this lesson, it is important that you at least understand what I was trying to present to you.  You can't argue for or against if you don't understand.

1. What are the two components of church described in this lesson?
2. What is the true church?
3. What does charismatic regarding church refer to as described in this lesson?
4. What does administration regarding church refer to as described in this lesson?
5. Give examples of charismatic offices or ministries in the church.
6. Give examples of administrative offices in the church
7. What are two perceptions of church (the two concepts)?
8. What is the purpose of the charismatic in the church as described in this lesson?
9. What is the purpose of the organizational structure or administration as described in this lesson?
10. What is a pastor?
11. Where do the qualifications of a pastor originate?
12. What is the difference between pastor as a ministry and pastor as leader?
13. How does the charismatic and administrative components of church affect would be women pastors?
14. Can women be pastors?  Be able to explain your answer.
15. Do you agree with the conclusions of this lesson?  Why or why not?  Be able to explain.

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