Can Women Preach? Why We Need to Reframe This Age-Old Debate
Author Angie Ward comes from a complementarian background, believing men and women have different roles. Now, she sees more eye to eye with egalitarian views, which argue that men and women are completely equal, meaning women can be pastors, for example. Ward says that nowhere in Scripture do we see God restricting specific callings to one gender.
So rather than talking about power, she says, it’s important to focus on partnership.
“Our God-given calling is lived out in the reality of human systems,” Ward says on the Charisma News podcast on the Charisma Podcast Network. “And some of those systems have a different understanding of Scripture as far as the living out of that calling, and what places are appropriate for that. Really, what I like to do is reframe the question. Because ‘Can a woman preacher, pastor and leader teach?’—that sounds like it’s really focused on permission and power over [someone]. So if I give you some power, then I automatically lose some.
“We need to just reframe the conversation to partnership and principles of mutual accountability, stewardship and community, which are biblical principles and things that apply to all of us, men or women. So can a woman preach? I think you can make the case from Scripture, and obviously, there are organizations that [feel] very strongly on both sides.”
For more encouragement on being confident as a female leader in ministry for God, click here for the entire episode.
