Your word is a lamp to my feet
and a light to my path.-Psalm 119:105
In my blog post, “Can Women Lead and Teach?” I explored the question of whether or not it’s biblical for women to lead and teach in church. Another related question which I would like to explore is the question of whether or not a woman can be the pastor of a church.
There are those who hold a complementation view (that ministry roles differ by gender) and those who hold an egalitarian view (that there should be equal ministry opportunity for both genders). Those who hold either view are frequently people who respect women and who back up their beliefs with scripture.
Many God-fearing Bible scholars will state that they simply don’t know one way or another.
Within the Trinity there is hierarchy with Jesus, the Son, submitting to the will of the Father. God instituted hierarchies in relationships here on earth as well to help us understand Him better. He commissioned husbands to lead their families. And, I will clarify, leading them means empowering them and giving them a voice as well as sacrificing himself for them. This is the ideal anyway. If a husband is incompetent, has some sort of personality disorder or has some physical or mental disability, etc., then it should stand to reason that the wife will step into the role of primary leader.
A church is like a family and men often naturally rise to leadership. 1 Timothy 3 details the requirements for church leadership and deacons. The only thing, however, which indicates that church leaders and deacons should be male is the statement that they “should be the husband of one wife.” Many use that expression to back their belief that only men should be pastors. This phrase, however, is used idiomatically. There was a deacon named Phoebe who Paul greets in the last chapter of Romans, and she, we can safely assume, was not a husband, nor did she have a wife!
This may then imply that women may also be called by God to lead churches as long as they have a stable, loving home life which glorifies God.
I don’t claim to have all the answers to these difficult questions, but my prayer is that the Holy Spirit helps me to understand His word and share with others what I’ve found.
Sources:
https://margmowczko.com/pauls-qualifications-for-church-leaders/
Anna Sojourning 