Female preachers

I am just curious how most of you on here feel about female preachers. I have attended churches with both male and female pastors but in the back of my mind have always worried about whether this is right or wrong. I would like to know others thoughts.

well at the risk of starting something;

I do not feel that a female should lead a congregation. Youth ministers / leaders sure, other church offices you bet, but Deacons and Preachers, no. It seems wrong, and while I can't lay my hands on the correct passage I believe that the Bible infers this position as well. (Please correct me if I am wrong)

I know. I was worried about starting something negative but it was sincerely an honest question of concern. It is something I struggle with.

Keith that is what I've been taught from the KJV Bible.

I've been taught ladies can teach, even preach, in an all female group but not to a mixed congregation.

Same thoughts here.  Men are supposed to lead where there are other men.

I can't remember the verse but I'm pretty sure it's in one of Paul's letters. My understanding is that many of the temples in that area employed prostitutes to entice people to come to the temple. Paul told that church that they should not use female preachers (presumably because it would give potential Christians the wrong idea about what Christianity was). The question is whether or not this advice is universal and timeless, or if it just applied to that particular church at that particular time. As far as I know, Scripture isn't clear on the issue.

In my personal opinion, I don't think a woman is necessarily unfit to preach or lead a congregation, but I don't know for sure. The fact that God (the FATHER) chose to come to earth as a man and not a woman (and the fact that all the apostles were men), suggests that there is something about the male mind/psyche/attitude that is fit to lead a church. It's possible that a woman could do it but she would be unusual.

Since our move we have attended two churches with women pastors.  I told my husband I don't know why but it makes me uneasy.  I have read what I could find in the Bible and also do not feel it is what we are being taught.  These ladies were wonderful people so this is not putting them down at all.  I just wanted someone to help me find my reason for being uncomfortable with it.  I think my DH and I are going to try some other churches just to see how we feel.  Thank you all for your answers.

I do not belive that women should be preachers or deacons. The bible says that man is the head of the household, and the proector, and the stronger vessel. A lot of resposability is placed on the man to be the leader of the house and the church. Paul talks a lot about the rolls of preachers and decons (mostly in first and second Timothy, and Titus) One thing is clear that a woman should not speak in Church, he even goes as for as to say that women should as thier husbands if they have questions, and not ask the church.

1CORINTHIANS 14:33 For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints.
34 Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law.
35 And if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church.

God is the same yesterday, today, and forever; so yes these scriptures (even if they seem unjust to us today) are still as true today as when they were written. Even though the Church structure has changed to where we now have women's classes the worship service (in my belief) is what this is refering to.

This point was not questioned (at least as far as I know) until the womens lib. movement. Equality is a great thing, but it does not mean same. God created man and woman with equal, but differant roles. (Paul also talk some about this) The woman's role in marrage/life/family/and church is equally important as the man's role, but very differant. "Modern" thinking is just now figuring this out. There are many studies that show that children who grow up in a home with BOTH a Father AND Mother (statistcally) do much better in most aspects of life.

Even with all of that aside. No matter who the preacher is, if you have an uneasy feeling you should not ignore it. You should find out if it is conviction due to sin in your life, or is it the Spirit telling you something is wrong in this Church. I have been know to pack up my family and walk out during a Church service because the Spirit was telling me I should not be there.

I hope this helps. God bless,
Chad

Not to disagree with anyone else about this matter of women preachers but here is what I have found in my study along this line:

Should there be women preachers? That is a very interesting question and one that deserves a Bible answer as much as possible. I’ll not let my personal feelings get in the way here, at first, and just see what the Bible says about this.

As we consider this question we need to ask “Did God use women to preach and lead the people? Here is what I found:
Women in the Old Testament who were Prophetesses:

(Exodus 15:20) And Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a timbrel in her hand; and all the women went out after her with timbrels and with dances. (KJV)

(Judges 4:4) And Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth, she judged Israel at that time. (KJV)
Deborah was one of the Judges of Israel. This means she was a leader chosen of God.
Deborah was evidently given the Spirit of God and was the instrument God used to convey his will upon Israel. She judged Israel as a prophetess as God’s mouth to them.

We read of Huldah the prophetess in II Kings 22:14.

Joel prophesied about women preaching or prophesying.
(Joel 2:28) And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: (KJV)

This came to pass in the early church.
(Acts 2:4) And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. (KJV)
In the New Testament there was Anna.

(Luke 2:36) And there was one Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Aser: she was of a great age, and had lived with an husband seven years from her virginity; (KJV)

Then, we also find a very difficult verse about this very thing:
(1 Corinthians 14:34) Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law. (KJV)
This verse says that women are to keep silence in the church and it seems to be contradictory to the other verses quoted above. I will admit that I don’t have all the answers but can give some of my own thoughts along this line.
Perhaps the women in the church of Corinth were taking advantage of being able to speak in public and were disrupting the assemblies of the church with too much speaking.
It may have been that in the day and setting of which this instruction took place that it was not an accepted thing for women to speaking in public assemblies.
These are just some thoughts. I do not believe the Bible contradicts itself and we have plenty of verses that tell us women are permitted to deliver a message or lead in the church.

Now for my personal opinion. I do believe that there is a place for women preachers in today’s churches. It is not my choice, I’d rather see and hear men preaching God’s Word. I have personally heard and known some powerful women preachers who were certainly blessed and used of God in their ministry. I know a few cases where both the wife and pastor are ordained ministers and they were a great help to one another in the ministry. So I have to admit that women preachers are permitted as far as what I understand the Bible to teach. I will no doubt, in the future, if opportunity presents itself, go and listen to a woman preach.
I hope I did not confuse anyone with this post. I am sure there are other thoughts that could be shared about this question.

Thanks for putting my beliefs into words, Chad.  

Christianity is special in that both women and men are seen as equal in the sight of God.  Check out those other religions views on women.  No such equality.  

We are different however. Every cell is different.  Our brains even work differently!  We are each set  up to do a special job.  

Instead of celebrating our differences we some how feel that different cannot be equal.

Rohn, to me the difference is that most of the women in those verses seem to be either prophetesses or teaching other women for the most part. To me women have a place in the church to preach and to teach, but they are just not to preach and teach men.

Farmfresh wrote:Rohn, to me the difference is that most of the women in those verses seem to be either prophetesses or teaching other women for the most part.  To me women have a place in the church to preach and to teach, but they are just not to preach and teach men.  

You have Deborah who was a judge in Israel. She didn't judge the women only but the whole nation of Israel. Where do you see that Anna just taught other women?
Again I would rather hear a man preach but cannot throw out women preachers either because of what I read in the Bible.

Very interesting thoughts on this subject.  I have read and re-read everyone's posts.  Several things really stuck out to me and one was that God created us equally but with different roles.  I have always wondered why so many have such a difficult understanding that.  For example:  My DH can fix any piece of equipment on the farm or at his work and I could not figure it out nor lift most of it no matter how hard I tried.  I can cook about anything you asked me to or get a stain out of anything but my DH, well lets say he tries but I definately wouldn't want him to "try" on a night we had guests.  When my gpa was ill I went and stayed a week with him.  When I got home my oldest daughter who was around 6 asked me why her teacher asked if her mommy was gone for a few days and then proceeded to re-do her pony tail.  He does clean but for some reason it just doesn't look the same as when I clean the house.  Different roles that are both very important.  Maybe since I am happy with my role and I do feel that I am an equal partner to my DH it is hard for me to get passed this or maybe the why factor?  I have had women Sunday School teachers my whole life and I myself have been one many times.  That feels right or in place to me but I just don't know about preaching.  
 
Rohn makes great points as always and really makes you think.  
 
As Chad said it doesn't matter who the preacher is if you don't feel it is the right place maybe it is God telling you to keep looking.

Good discussion. All good points and enjoyable.

On the light side -
I tell my wife (jokingly) that she preaches to me all week and I preach to her on Sunday!    

This is kind of nit-picking here, but equal DOES mean the same. That is why men and women are NOT equal. That is not to say that one is better than the other of that one is worth more than the other in the eyes of God. I think that when we try to claim that men and women are equal (often due to political correctness), we fail to appreciate the differences God made in man and woman--differences that are important because when we marry (as God intended), the whole becomes greater than the sum of the parts.

I do like the part about a marriage being more than the sum of the parts.

On equality however equal means even, not sameness. By making this distinction I mean to point out that there are things I simply cannot do, that any member of the fairer sex are simply designed to do. Men and Women do not think the same way, the thought processes are just different, even though both can come to the same conclusion.

Good points Lanichiii and Keith.

So many great things to think about and to research.

Keith, I think you're missing my point. Equal originally (and, to me, still) means the same. Many people today use equal(ity) to means of equal worth. I believe that this blurring of the meaning was the intention when the modern women's liberation movement started. I think changing the meaning of language stifles legitimate debate (e.g. people are often reluctant to state that men and women are not equal for fear of being labeled misogynistic) and this was the intent when the language was chosen.

Then again, I'm a word nerd so I'm probably more sensitive to this than most people are.

Reguardless of any movement the soul of a man and the soul of a woman ARE of equal worth to God. Also, men and women have very differant roles to fill, but both equally important. My wife is a Housewife, she is proud of that title. It is not an easy job, and she enjoys it very much. The women's lib movement would have us believe that she is of less importants than a "career woman", but I hold that she is more important because she is fullfilling the role that God intended for a woman in the family unit. The family unit is intended to be a man working to provide and protect, and a woman taking what the man provides and putting it to good use, and both the man and woman training up the children to follow God. This is how God intended it to be, and this is how it works best. If either the man or the woman is missing much work and care must be taken to fill the void, so yes man and woman ARE equal, but differant. That is to say equally important and of equal value, but not of the same role.

God bless,
Chad

exactly Chad

Amen Chad.

Thank you Chad. That was very well put.

Spot on interpretation Chad!