Marg Mowczko
Women in Ministry and Homosexuals *sigh*
Sometimes I really wonder why Complementarians[1] are so adamantly against women in church leadership. What is the big deal? Especially considering that several women are named in the New Testament who undeniably functioned as respected church leaders; women such as Phoebe, Priscilla and Nympha, etc.[2]
A recent blog entry on The Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood website entitled “A Sad and Slippery Slope” (April 23, 2010) seems to make the Complementarian concerns clearer. Are Complementarians actually more concerned about the issues surrounding homosexuals in the church, rather than the issue of women in leadership ministries? The blog implies that homosexuals think that they will be more readily accepted in a congregation overseen by a female pastor than a congregation overseen by a male pastor.
I am a woman studying to be a minister and I am against admitting anyone living with habitual sin into church membership. This includes unrepentant, practising homosexuals. Accepting homosexuals in church membership has nothing whatsoever to do with whether the pastor is male or female. There are many male ministers in some church circles who accept practising homosexuals into church fellowship, and even into ministry.
Ironically, it may well be that homosexuals think female pastors will be more accepting of them because of the Complementarians who keep connecting the issue of women in ministry with the issues surrounding homosexuals in the church.
The Bible never makes a connection between women ministers and homosexuals. And it is annoying and unjust for the Complementarians to keep making this association.
The failure of Complementarians to clearly identify and articulate the issues of homosexuals in the church – and instead cloud the issue with the women in ministry debate, will only confuse both issues to the detriment of the church.
Endnotes[1] Complementarians are Christians who think that leadership is a masculine quality. They have very specific and narrow ideas about gender roles which they claim are Biblical. However, they mostly back up their claims with anecdotes, or Scripture used with a great deal of bias and embellishment. Their flagship website is called The Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood. You may want to read my article on The Complementarian Concept of “The Created Order”.
[2] For more on women who were leaders in New Testament Churches, read my articles New Testament Women Church Leaders and Junia and the ESV.