Controversy On Women In Ministry

asks her to run away with him, to flee the country and leave everything else behind. Dede read

She has been blessed to teach and mentor 7th grade girls, write various Bible Studies for the middle school student ministry at her home church, speak to women’s groups of various ages, plan and help lead women’s retreats, and write women’s Bible Studies. Over the past several years Jenifer has been heavily involved in women’s ministry.

question me about my beliefs in God. This took me to several different passages to show her the

Women in church leadership; I believe women are encouraged to teach other women (Titus 2:3–5). I also believe that the Bible also does not restrict women from teaching children or teens. The only role women are restricted from is teaching or having spiritual authority are over men. (1 Timothy

1 Timothy 2:11–15 states: “11 Let a woman learn quietly with all submissiveness. 12 I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet. 13 for Adam was formed first, then Eve; 14 and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor. 15 Yet she will be saved through childbearing—if they continue in faith and love and holiness, with self-control.” 1 Corinthians 14:33–35 states: “33 For God is not a God of confusion but of peace. As in all the churches of the saints, 34 the women should keep silent in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak, but should be in submission, as the Law also says. 35 If there is anything they desire to learn, let them ask their

The bases of keeping women out of the ministry in most religions are more or less tradition. A Bible scripture such as (Mat. 10:2) as Jesus was searching for His disciples he only chose men. Even when he had to replace them, He only chose men. In most of the passages in the bible, Jesus never chose a woman nor did He address the public by speaking to the woman specifically. Some would believe that Jesus was a sexist, but during the times it was only tradition for a man to be the head of everything and the role of a woman during the biblical times were to listen to the man, nurture her family and husband. During the biblical times when Jesus walked this earth, Christianity was a very warous event. People were not accepting of the Christ therefore it leads to wars and battles. (Mat. 24: 6). During those days women did not do battle. As of today the tradition still holds and it plays a significant part in our everyday lives as well as our religious worship. We

As early as the beginning of the Christian Church women had some important but very defined roles within the church. There were roles women could not play, of course, but that does not mean they did not have value to the Christian movement. Unfortunately, there have also been a lot of things overlooked that have been done by women, especially in the New Testament. There have also been arguments that the Christian Church is a "man's church" because men wrote the books of the bible and women did not have much say, apparently, in what happened during that time and how it was recorded. Even though not everyone was certain of the way women were treated in Christianity and whether they were accepted and applauded the way they should have and could have been, there were still many mentions of women doing great things. Scholars have begun to look into what women did during Old Testament and New Testament times, in an effort to have a better understanding of Christianity and the role women played in it in the past.

There are various views of women in ministry. Some of these views are very conservative while others are very liberal and then there are those that trail the middle of the road. There are three major views, The most conservative view is the traditional view. The traditionalists believe that male and female were created differently and should hold different roles. They hold strong to Genesis 3:16, "Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you". Another Scripture that this group uses is 1Timothy 2:12, "I do not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority over a man, she must be quiet" (Calagna, Paragraph 4).

calls him a coward and tells him that his love is worth nothing to her

First, a woman’s position in the church as a teacher has many standards set by God. The Lord sets some standards of who a woman is to teach in the church. Gilbert Bilezikian in his book Beyond Sex Roles, states, “According to the Epistle, women were

Until recently, women were not allowed to preach or even speak in the Christian Church, but in modern times women are beginning to play a more significant. While sects of Christianity still hold the traditional teachings about women, others have given them equal status within the church, an increasingly accepted interpretation.

The stories told about women in the bible illustrate the importance of their role and contribution to society. Although the Bible does not explain God’s relationship with women as with Moses and other prophets, it illustrates love and devotion women had for Him. The stories of the bible describe brave, nurturing, and God fearing women whose decisions impacted the existence of the Israelites.

Now I want you to realise that the head of every man is Christ, and

does not have a gender, and there are a number of ways God can be addressed

The second paper, written by David Norris, focuses mainly on the history of Pentecostal women in ministry. He gave a brief mention to the emergence of Holiness women preachers, and then fast-forwards to the Pentecostal movement. Because many of the people involved in the Pentecostal movement had once been a part of the Holiness movement, women were generally accepted as ministers. However, even here women were relegated to the margins. They took the broken, burnt out, run down churches that no one else wanted. Many times these women would revitalized a run down church only to step down, or be shunted aside, so a man could take over as pastor. According to Norris, at the founding of the UPCI nearly 22% of the licensed ministers were women. This number has steadily declined over the past 50 years until only 3% of the licensed ministers are women. Norris gives four possible reasons for this: 1. Because women did not learn how to theologically defend their position at the beginning of the movement, they do not know how now that the climate has changed to where they must defend their calling. 2. There were many more denominations involved in the Pentecostal movement than just the Holiness groups who were not willing to license women. 3. There are little or no role models who promote women in