Can Women Be Pastors?

The short answer: This is a question faithful, Bible-believing Christians genuinely disagree about. Some believe the role of pastor or elder is for men; others believe it’s open to both women and men. All of them agree that women are equal to men in worth and that God gives women gifts to serve His church.

This is one of those questions where you’ll find godly, Bible-loving Christians on both sides, and churches you respect may answer it differently. So this chapter won’t pick a side. It will show you what each side sees in Scripture, and what they all agree on, so you can understand your own church and respect others.

Where Christians agree

Start with the common ground, because it’s bigger than the disagreement.

• Equal worth. “God created man in His own image... male and female He created them” (Genesis 1:27). Women and men are equally made in God’s image, and equally saved by grace: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28).
• Real gifts. When the Holy Spirit came at Pentecost, Peter quoted the prophet Joel: “Your sons and daughters will prophesy” (Acts 2:17). The Spirit gives gifts to women as well as men.
• Real ministry. Women supported Jesus’ ministry out of their own means (Luke 8:3). Women were the first witnesses of the resurrection: “Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, ‘I have seen the Lord!’” (John 20:18). Paul greets women who worked hard for the gospel.

No Christian view says women matter less, or that their gifts don’t count.

Where Christians differ

The complementarian view. Many Christians believe God made men and women equal but with some different roles, and that the role of pastor or elder (the leaders who teach and oversee a church) is given to qualified men. They point to passages like “I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man” (1 Timothy 2:12), and note that Paul bases his reasoning on creation, not just local custom. They also point to the qualifications for elders, which describe men. Most churches holding this view gladly have women teaching, leading ministries, serving as missionaries and much more. The difference is mainly about the office of pastor or elder.

The egalitarian view. Other Christians believe all roles in the church, including pastor, are open to women and men alike, depending on gifting and calling. They point to Deborah, “a prophetess... judging Israel” (Judges 4:4); to Priscilla, who with her husband “explained to him the way of God more accurately” to the preacher Apollos (Acts 18:26); to “our sister Phoebe, a servant of the church” (Romans 16:1); and to Junia, whom Paul calls “outstanding among the apostles” (Romans 16:7). They read 1 Timothy 2 as addressing a particular problem in the church at Ephesus rather than a rule for every church.

Both sides wrestle with the hard verses, and both have to explain passages that seem to point the other way. Some Christians land in between, too. These are serious Christians reading the same Bible carefully and reaching different conclusions.

What does that mean for you?

First, don’t let this become a reason to look down on any church or Christian. Neither view denies the gospel.

Second, respect the leaders of your own church, and if you have questions, ask them. A good pastor will be glad to show you why your church holds its view.

Third, if you’re a girl and you love God’s Word, love people and want to serve, God has work for you, whichever view your church holds. The history of the church is full of women who prayed, taught, wrote and carried the gospel to places no one else would go.

Think about it: What does your church believe about this, and do you know why? Who could you ask?

Go deeper: Women Who Moved Heaven — Lottie Moon, a brilliant young woman from a wealthy Virginia family, spent forty years in China teaching and evangelising, gave away her own food in a famine, and kept asking the churches at home, above all, to pray. Start with chapter 8, “Lottie Moon — The Woman Who Gave Everything to China”.