Women in Ministry: What does the Bible Say

Women in Ministry:
What does the Bible say?

by Sharon C. Pearson

Pearson, S. C. (May, 1989). Women in ministry: What does the Bible say? Vital Christianity, 22–26.

Did the church send forth men or women to preach the gospel? The church sent forth such as God called, whether male or female, though, because of social conditions, most of those sent then, as now, were men. In Christ Jesus there is neither male or female. God has in both the old and new dispensations called women to his work and has set his seal of approval upon their labors. There are today multitudes of souls who have been brought to Christ through the ministry of faithful, Spirit-anointed women. To condemn their work in such a capacity is to condemn the God whose blessing is upon their labors and who saves souls who hear them. Beware lest you fight against God.
—C.W. Naylor, The Gospel Trumpet, April 25, 1918.

The question is still alive. "Beware!" is still included in the answer—but for some that warning is against the ministry of women in the church. From our earliest years, the Church of God has affirmed the ministry and leadership of women in the church. "It is probably safe to say that no other movement either religious or secular in this period of American history, except the suffrage movement itself, had such a high percentage of women leaders whose contribution was so outstanding.”1

Always too, from the beginning, the authority appealed to was the Bible. The fervent commitment of the early pioneers was to submit the life and thought of the church to the claims of Scripture. Into our second century of witness the Church of God reformation movement must again answer the question with all of its life and thought, "Did the church send forth men or women to preach the gospel?" May we be, more than ever today, a distinctive voice in the church and in the world.

The vision of the church, then and now, is properly born of the revelation recorded in Scripture. The event of Jesus Christ is the proclamation of its pages. It seems natural then for those who expect to find some answer, some direction from Scripture, first to investigate the record of Jesus' life and ministry among women. Who were the women he encountered? How did he relate to them? How did they respond to him? We know because they became a part of the gospel story. His impact upon their lives was recorded for us.

Three of those women became known as leaders among the group of women: Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of Joses, and Salome. Others include the woman unclean with her feminine infirmity, the despised Samaritan woman who asked Jesus for "the crumbs" for her daughter, and the woman who anointed Jesus. And there are many more.

The significant aspect of every story about Jesus and the women he met is that Jesus crossed all lines of propriety—religious and social. He did not do what was "proper" according to his day. His very actions were a challenge to the cherished traditions of his own people...

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