Expert: Rev. Robert Woods - 9/8/2009

Question
What is the Baptist doctrine on women as the head shepherd in the church? (Preacher/Reverend) 1st. Timothy 3rd. chap speaks of the desire of a bishop. This does not speak of a woman in that position. There is so much confusion on this subject. Can you give some clarification on this subject.

Answer
Blessings and thank you for your question.

Short answer: Officially, Baptists vary in their position over whether a woman may serve as the senior pastor of a church.  American Baptists and more liberal baptists have no problem with women serving in these positions.  Most Southern Baptists and Independent Baptists would not allow it.

Long Answer:  As far as Baptists are concerned, you would get several different answers.  First of all, Baptists uphold the Bible as the standard for everything.  But, the way in which we interpret it varies greatly.  
For example, for a great majority of fundamental Baptists, they believe that no woman should teach any man or boy over the age of 12.  That would really narrow down what they could do in the church.  This is true both for the past and the present.
For conservative Baptist Churches, like the Southern Baptist Convention, women were traditionally not allowed to teach men or to serve an any office in the church.  In the last 50 years, this has changed.  Now in most SBC churches, women can teach and hold any office but deacon.  Some even allow women to serve as deacons.  SBC churches in the past did not allow any women to be ordained into ministry of any kind.  Most SBC churches will ordain women into any ministry position but Pastor.  Even some of them will ordain women as pastors.  Although they are few and far between.  SBC seminaries only allowed men to study and earn degrees.  That too changed in the 1950's.
American Baptist Churches have been the most liberal in their treatment of women.  At the beginning of the century, they held the same views as other Baptists.  But they were the first to allow women to serve in any office of the church including deacon.  ABC churches also ordain women into any Ministry position.  In fact, there are a lot of women pastors in ABC throughout the country.
African American Baptist churches traditionally do not allow women to serve in the office of deacon or to be ordained into ministry.  
The thing to remember is that EVERY Baptist church is autonomous.  That means each church has the right to have its own rules.  No convention can dictate to any Baptist church what it can or can not do.  So in some churches you would find women pastors and in others you would find women serving in no way.

Women in church leadership

The apostle Paul’s view of women in ministry, as defined in Scripture, is neither restrictive nor exclusive.

1. Paul had women on his ministry team. The Bible clearly records the names of the women who served as deacons, pastors, prophets and apostles in the New Testament church. They include Priscilla, Phoebe, Euodia, Syntyche, Nympha, Traephena, Traephosa, Philip’s four daughters and Junia (see Rom. 16:7)—a female apostle who spent time in prison with Paul. (Her Roman name was always listed in early biblical manuscripts as feminine until the 13 th century, when some translators decided to change the gender in English.)

2. Paul supported these female ministers fully. Fundamentalists claim that Paul pushed women to the back of the church and muzzled them, but that is far from the truth. He traveled with Priscilla and her husband, Aquilla, and the Bible says Priscilla taught the man Apollos and launched him into ministry (in other words, her ministry was not just to other women; see Acts 18:24-26). Paul said of Phoebe the deacon, “I commend to you our sister,” instructing early Christians to back her (Rom. 16:1-2, NASB). He praised Traephena and Traephosa as “workers in the Lord,” obviously because they labored diligently to expand Christ’s kingdom (Rom. 16:12).

And when Euodia and Syntyche experienced friction in their relationship, Paul did not order them to get out of the ministry. Instead, he told his colleagues in Philippi to “help these women who have shared my struggle in the cause of the gospel” (Phil. 4:3).

3. Paul’s restrictions on women were not universal. Bible scholars have varied interpretations of 1 Timothy 2:12, which demands “silence” of women. Many agree that Paul was dealing with a specific situation in Ephesus in which a woman or a group of women were teaching heresy. If Paul had believed in a blanket prohibition of women in ministry, he never would have supported Priscilla, Phoebe or any woman in a leadership position. He would, however, have expected illiterate and untrained women to adopt a submissive attitude while learning God’s Word.

** Paul shared Jesus’ view of gender equality. Paul allowed women to preach and prophesy in church meetings (1 Cor. 11:5) because he believed the gifts of the Holy Spirit are distributed to people regardless of race, class or gender. He made this clear when he told the Galatians, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus,” (Gal. 3:28).