Saturday, March 15, 1997

What's wrong with a woman being called to pulpit ministry?

By NANCY MOORE

I am a woman who has been called to pulpit ministry. I believe I was called by the same Jesus who spoke to the Apostle Paul on his way to Damascus, and I find no conflict in my creation as a woman in conjunction with God's call to me.

In the first letter to Timothy, Paul wrote that a woman should not have teaching authority over a man. Many Bible scholars believe Paul's statement was written in response to inappropriate behavior on the part of some women recently converted from paganism. This would seem logical as Paul also addressed inappropriate behavior of the recently converted, men and women, in his letters to Corinth. In those letters Paul reminded his readers that God is, after all, a God of order.

But Paul did not object to women, any more than men, praying or prophesying in public worship, as long as it was done decently and in order. In the first letter to the Corinthians, Paul appears to assume that both men and women would lead in public worship. But he demanded that the services be kept worshipful and reverent and that they stay within the customs of the time. Thus men were admonished to lead with their heads uncovered and women to lead with their heads covered as a public indication of their respect for accepted social custom.

Paul also told the Galatians that "You are all the sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus." In the Spirit, in the things of God, there is neither male nor female.

Our bodies are made male and female, and we have certain social customs that shape our behaviors. I enjoy being feminine. I enjoy a man holding a door for me or graciously giving me his place. I accept these things and embrace them as part of my femininity in our culture.

But when God, who is almighty and omniscient, chooses a vessel of the gentler mold through which to preach, to be his hand extended, there is no conflict. I can be a woman with my femininity intact and still proclaim the gospel in pulpit ministry.

For any pastor, the message proclaimed should always come from a heart genuinely affected by the Holy Spirit. It matters not whether the tongue is soft spoken and gentle or rough and loud, in the context of order. The authority placed on the vessel by God is what gives creedence to the message.

The book of Judges records that God placed a woman, Deborah, to be a judge over Israel. Even the mighty men would not go into battle without her word. Though she spoke the word of God, she was also a wife. Her gender was embraced, not shamed. God's strength was shown forth in her weaker frame.

A woman called to pastor and preach should not be rejected because ofher God-given gender. Instead men and women should hear a pastor's message and judge its content in light of the pastor's character and the evidence of the gifts and fruit of the Spirit in his or her life.

The are the marks that determine whether the message comes from God.