a letter about being a woman in ministry
Dear Orchard,
What a week! It’s hard to believe that I am closing out my final weeks with you. Sunday, November 24 will be my last sermon. In it, I plan on talking about Thanksgiving and sharing with you the many things I am thankful for. This coming Sunday, I am going to talk about being a woman in ministry. Here is a preview…
When I was called to ministry, I didn’t realize that there were churches and movements who didn’t believe I could lead or preach. That message never got through. In fact, when people tried to mention that ministry might be a struggle for me as a woman, I shrugged it off. As a believer in my teens and early twenties, I had the same opportunities as my male peers.
I was passionate for God’s word during that season and resonated deeply with the call of Jeremiah. “But if I say, ‘I will not mention his word or speak anymore in his name,’ his word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in; indeed, I cannot” (Jeremiah 20:9). Heart burn for Jesus. I couldn’t hold it in. I was called.
Naively, I believed that God’s people would never put out such a fire – a fire intended to draw people to the Lord. Jesus was too good to keep to myself. But over time, I absorbed the doubt in women that was in the evangelical air I breathed. You could even say that I was discipled by “the Church” not to trust the very gifts God had given me.
Stepping into the co-lead position at OCC, and out of the more culturally accepted position of second chair/ associate pastor, I had to rebuild my confidence in the gifts that the Church had eroded. Passages like Acts 2:17, where it says that God’s “sons and daughters will prophecy” were my hammers. The mutuality of the first man and woman in Genesis 1:27-28 and the conviction that hierarchies are a part of the curse we are called to resist were my lumber. The female leaders the Apostle Paul names in Romans 16 were the nails. I reminded myself that Paul contradicted his texts that forbade women to speak when he admonished Phoebe as a deaconess, Mary as a worker, Junia as an apostle, and Prisca as a coworker in the gospel. Jesus himself poured the foundation for my build when he commissioned Mary Magdalene to tell the disciples that he had risen (John 20:17).
I regularly remind myself that many Biblical scholars are saying that the Apostle Paul would be grieved by the treatment and minimization of women by the modern Church. He saw his sisters as co-workers. They were a major reason why the gospel spread so quickly (cf. Lydia in Acts 16:14-15)!
Why share this with you now? (deep breath) Nearly everyone who sits in our pews on Sunday was raised or discipled to believe that women should not preach or lead. At some point in the next year, you will yet again, be faced with the choice of whether or not to hire a woman to lead and preach.
Exposure to the cultural church effectively erodes our counter-cultural convictions over time. (Do not misunderstand me – this erosion happens just as effectively (if not more so) when you do not prioritize relational Christian fellowship. – This is not a good reason to stop going to church!) For you to emotionally and theologically support women in ministry, you may need to go to the “Home Depot” of Scripture and seek out the tools and materials necessary to rebuild your belief that women can lead and preach. It’s possible that you have never done this work yourself and God is calling you to it.
Just like I would consult an expert (contractor) if I was building a home, you may also need some tools created by experts to build the conviction that women can lead.
Here are my suggestions:
The position paper resource from the ECC Website: called-and-gifted-body-r2-for-web.pdf
A global ministry seeking to support the mutuality of men and women in the church and the home: Biblical & historical case for women’s equality – CBE International
The Mutuality Matters Podcast (Christian for Biblical Equality)
Orchard Covenant has been a Jesus community that has been uniquely good for men and women in Western Massachusetts – there was even a female preacher early in our history. There are few other churches in greater Springfield that have both a high view of Scripture AND support women to preach and lead. It is my hope that Orchard will continue to be a beacon of hope for the full inclusion of women as it looks towards its future.
Pastor Nick is also a great resource when it comes to the issue of women in ministry. Please reach out to him if you would like a guide as you build.
With much love,
Pastor Karen
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