By Darryl Izzard!!
GospelToday.com
Is it right for women to be allowed to Pastor? This is an age old question with strong opinions on both sides. This month Gospel Today talks with seven powerful women who serve at the forefront in the body of Christ as pastors. Each of them have a heart to serve people, a will to obey God and a passion to win the lost.
The church has long been the domain of men who held all leadership roles within its ranks; however, the past few decades have seen a rise in female pastors joining men in leading their churches through spiritual and religious services.
In 2008 Gospel Today Magazine was pulled from LifeWay Christian Bookstores across the United States. Why? The cover, and topic, was “Female Pastors”. According to the Southern Baptist Convention, owner of the LifeWay Christian Bookstores, it was pulled because it went against their belief on Women’s roles as pastors, that it’s only a role reserved for men.
This month Gospel Today Magazine continues the conversation with insightful profiles of seven amazing female leaders who are making a dynamic impact on the kingdom.
Many mainstream denominations like the Southern Baptist Church are clear and very firm on their position regarding this issue. Their statement of belief reads: “While both men and women are gifted for service in the church, the office of pastor is limited to men as qualified by scripture.”
Other denominational mainstays like the Africa Methodist Episcopal Church have become open to the idea of women pastors and ordained it’s first in 1960.
“I think the church has always been run by women,” Rev. Kim Anderson, senior pastor of the Metropolitan A.M.E. Church. It’s just that the pastor has always generally been men. Women are beginning to mount the pulpit but we’ve always been running the church. You take women out of the church, you don’t have a church.” Rev. Anderson is the first female pastor for Metropolitan A.M.E. Church in it’s 107-year old history.
Recent US Federal Labor Statistics document that one in every eight clergy members is female.
Even with the rise of the acceptance of women as pastors, there are a number women who feel that a woman’s proper place is to serve as a helpmate to her husband.
“I am a woman. I have been happily married to a God fearing man for twenty-two years, and it has been the best of my life. I see my husband as the head of the household. He is head Elder in our local church. He is also a lay Pastor. I would never dream of usurping his authority in the home or the church. The marriage in our home and in the church works because we live the Biblical principles of a husband and a wife. I honor him as head of the home, and he honors me as his helpmate, companion, and friend.“ – GT Reader
Get this month’s edition of Gospel Today Magazine. You will be inspired by the stories of these seven pastors.
What are your thoughts? Can women ministers become pastors? Would you attend a church if the Pastor was a female?
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