How many of the original apostles were female? Why do elder and deacon qualifications include being a “husband?” Shouldn’t the evidence be more overwhelming than appealing to culture if we are to question biblical teachings?

I have rarely had someone talk to me about my vocation and disagree respectfully. It’s interesting to me that people will judge my calling, my relationship with God and tell me flat out I am sinning, and have no concern that they are being hateful and judgmental. There seems to be alot of concern about men being threatened in some way. That is sad to me. In my opinion we all earn the right to lead. It doesn’t matter if our title is pastor, husband, etc., no piece of our anatomy or title will truly qualify us to lead others. Our character , wisdom and relationships will. We need to be just as concerned about treating one another with respect and love as we are with defending someone’s right to lead.

I would urge any of you who speak to a woman in ministry leadership to remember that we take our calling more seriously than anybody else possibly could. We have examined the scriptures, we have prayed and sought God, we are on our faces over this issue because to us it is VERY personal, it is our life.

I wrote an article on being a woman in ministry a few weeks back. Stop by and read it if you’d like:
http://aworshipfulheart.typepad.com/a_worshipful_heart/2008/04/thoughts-on-bei.html

It might help those of you who have never walked this path to understand a bit more.

I once had to “chaperone” some college kids on their retreat after their pastor left. The speaker they had invited was not someone I knew…if I had known which seminary he was attending (a seminary that didn’t ordain women)—would never have invited him. As a female ordained minister, I had developed quite a chip on my shoulder re: the men who had questioned my call. I was not ready to hear any blessing from this guy; even my body language was defensive and unloving. Even convinced myself that his preaching was going to be shallow or at least theologically questionable, but hearing this guy preach and speak about the love of Christ did something in my heart and I was moved and blessed. For whatever reason, I really felt the Holy Spirit pushing me to confess the way I had judged him though no one knew it, so I approached him and his wife and did just that…the way he humbly accepted my confession was nothing less than Christ. He shared with me that being of African American descent and working in an Asian American church context, he had often felt dismissed or otherwise hurt by some of the church leaders so my confession meant a lot to him. We agreed that we didn’t see eye to eye on the ordination of women, but for whatever reason, it didn’t seem to matter too much in that moment. We kept in touch and I even ended up inviting him to speak at a church event later that year. I share this story not as a touchy feely testimony, but to speak in a different voice to this conversation of why women should or should not be in greater leadership ordained or otherwise. I really appreciate all the comments (okay, if I’m honest, I suppose I appreciate the ones support women in leadership a little more) and esp. you, Eugene for this post and really all that you do in ministry friend. However, there isn’t too much in these comments that I haven’t already heard or read on both sides and it occurs to me that at some point, we have to ask the question, now what? How do I live in a community that has such great diversity in theology, hermeneutics, and paradigms and still try to live out Jesus’ prayer that those who follow him be one? Thinking about this story made me realize that this can’t be a one time decision or a moment of spiritual eureka. Maybe it begins when we choose the hard journey of being in meaningful relationships with people who are very different from us and even disagree with us in the things we regard as fundamental to the things that define us. If we are convinced that the living, loving God calls us, what do we have to lose or be afraid of—though I supposed dying to oneself in any manner is never an easy task. I wish I could end this story by saying that this guy and I are still friends and struggling together. We lost touch…partly b/c we both got busy, but for me, because it just became too difficult to support the ministry of someone who didn’t validate my call as much as I validated his—it hurt my pride too much and it was just emotionally confusing. Now I wish I had pushed through that a little bit more—not easy to be in any relationship, but to walk in that kind together, not held by common views and perspectives, but by the power of Christ to reconcile and to love in community– I’m sure would have been a life changing and transforming experience worth the time and energy.

Great blog!