Yesterday I blogged about how The Courageous Church hopes to approach the issue of homosexuality. Today I want to discuss how our church will approach the issue of women in ministry. Several months ago I discussed this topic at great length here and will borrow greatly from that post today. I am very passionate in my belief that it is a gross error to prohibit women from particular areas of ministry such as Senior Pastor.
In the name of full-disclosure I want you to know that both of my daughters list "Pastor" as dream jobs, my mother-in-law is an ordained Pentecostal minister, my great-great grandmother was a Pentecostal minister, I have served under a female pastor, I go to a school that ordains women at every level of leadership, and both of the church planting organizations that I am affiliated with – ARC & Covenant – ordain women at every level of leadership. So, to say that I am personally invested in this issue is an understatement.
With that said, and the details on my thoughts listed here, let me tell you how our church will approach women in ministry in the simplest way I know how.
The Courageous Church will welcome and encourage women to serve in every level of ministry – from Senior Pastor, Executive Pastor, Youth Pastor, Tech Pastor, Worship Pastor, ministry directors and leaders, financial overseeing capacities, elders, deacons, or virtually any other role you can think of or imagine.
Let me call on my glorious Morehouse education to better illustrate our views….
De Facto is a Latin expression that means "of the fact" or "in practice" but not ordained by law.
Many churches that I admire and have relationship with basically allow
women to serve in every area of leadership, but disguise this by
calling them Directors and not Pastors. This is De Facto support for women in ministry, but, in my opinion, expresses a lack of courage.
De Jure is a a Latin expression that means "by law" or "the set standard."
The Courageous Church will have De Jure support for women in ministry. In other words, our support for women in ministry will not be undercover.
I’d love to hear your thoughts, concerns, criticisms, etc.
{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
Shaun,
I TOTALLY agree with you on this. It’s time for the church to be COURAGEOUS and step forward in this area.
For too long we have put women in the place of “prayer warrior” or “director”.
Let’s do it right.
I have seen women in ministry be great contributors to every area in which they participate. My spiritual father is a huge proponent of women in ministry (all areas) and it is a COURAGEOUS thing to pick up that mantle…
David,
Thanks for your comments man. It is actually progress for the American church that women are now in the place of director, etc., but it is simply not enough.
-Shaun & Crew
Pastor D.,
Thanks for your comments man! I think your comments reveal an important fact – many people that are ignorant on this issue have not really seen successful women pastors and ministers. For many, seeing will mean believing.
-Shaun & Crew
I recently had a friend (and fellow seminarian) preach at the oldest Af. Am. Baptist Church in L.A. The girl is bad!!!! She’s ordained, yet there were still issues w/ the older clergy members of the church calling her reverend/pastor. What encouraged me is that the pastor stood up and said that she had changed his heart that day with respect to women in ministry. It was a wonderful experience. Kudos to you for being Courageous bro.
Blessings,
J-Rich
Shaun,
I have a Methodist heritage and therefore am comfortable with women in the pastoral role. I have a lady on my launch team who will be a pastor. I do not have a problem with it.
I suppose one of the key issues here is the fact that women often are too aware that they are women!
Last year I read a book written by a great woman leader, Francis Hesselbein. She talked about being a woman leader and gave some great prescriptions for breaking through the “glass ceiling”. And now with no further ado, I will make a shameless plug for my own blog, because bloggers are shameless, right Shaun? ;-) I wrote a post highlighting her arguments which you can read here – http://paulpetersonlive.com/2007/01/28/women-leaders/
Hey John!
Thanks for your comments man! That is a great story indeed. Over 50% of US seminary students are women today. Some of the best and brightest preachers and pastors of tomorrow are the sisters in seminary today.
-Shaun & Crew
Hey Paul!
As you already know, a shameless plug is OK in my book man! Thanks for the reference.
Take care,
Shaun & Crew
Radical, but some things need shaking up
As a minister who was told I could be ordained privately but not publicly, could be called “worship leader” but not “worship pastor”, I totally agree with you. I have said for years that the SBC (the denomination in which I serve)does not TRULY believe that women cannot serve as teaching or senior pastors, no matter what the Baptist Faith and Message says because they send women as missionaries to plant churches all over the world……
So yes, let’s have the courage to publicly support what we actually do.