On Women and Leadership in the Church

The issue of women in church leadership has been around forever. I’ve been interested in this subject since I was a small girl attending church, and asking questions. And after much consideration, I’ve decided it’s time to start writing on this subject on my own blog.

There are primarily two camps in Christianity regarding the role of women. There are those who are considered Complementarians, those who believe women are equal to men but are not allowed to have authority over a man because of God’s original design for humanity in the Garden of Eden. Women can do the things they’re gifted to do, but in a limited scope and never in authority over a man. John Piper and Mark Driscoll are complementarians and still today, many denominations uphold a complementary church polity.

The other camp, the one where I sit, is the camp of those called Egalitarians. Egalitarian Christians believe God’s original design for humanity was that both Adam and Eve were asked to tend to the earth, and take care of it. Both Adam and Eve were made in God’s image, and both Adam and Eve had gifts to be used for God’s glory. We believe the hierarchy of relationships, the subjection of women, if you will, is a consequence of the fall and a direct result of the damage of sin. In Christ, the old system of patriarchy can be overturned. Egalitarians believe the church is called by God to model a new way, the way of equality, of gentle love, the way that lifts up the voiceless and marginalized, that women should be free to use their gifts, and the church is only as whole as it represents the whole body of Christ.

There has always been a great deal of debate concerning Eve, and about God’s intent when God created her. What was her role in Genesis? Eve was Adam’s partner. The Hebrew word used to describe the need for said partner for Adam was the word Ezer, which is the Hebrew word for helper, the very same word used to describe God’s way with us. God is our Ezer, our help. Adam was alone, as in there was no one of his kind, and he needed help to fulfill the task God had given him to tend to and care for the garden. So, God made woman.

First, there is no indication in the limited verses of this ancient text that God’s intent was for Eve to play a subservient, dictated role from the man. There is also no indication in the Genesis 2 account that she is anything other than partner, lover, helper — as in she is another person assigned to help with the task of tending to and caring for the garden.

Secondly, she was created by God in God’s image, not by Adam in his image, which means she is accountable to God for her life, not her husband. This is clear because she too is made in God’s image. This is helpful for us because it means God is not one-dimensional. God’s image is not an image of a male with male genitals or anything of the kind. It’s also significant because it means that women were not man’s idea, like some kind of Weird Science experiment. We are God’s design, made in God’s image, and mandated with a task, the very same task God gave to men. Women are to care for and tend to this earth.

The damage, all of it, the desire to know good and evil, to experiment with said good and evil,  the pain of working hard for very little return of investment, pain in childbirth, the subsequent violence of Cain against Abel, and extorting the earth for our own use is a product of the damage from the fall.

In Christian theology, Jesus was sent to redeem those under the curse of the fall, and Jesus is now making all things new. Jesus is repairing the damage, so to speak. Unfortunately, much of the time, we chalk up redemption to be some kind of behavior management program, but it’s a lot more than that. Jesus is the firstborn of a new creation. The age of the Kingdom of God ushered into this world, through the life and works of Jesus. The Kingdom of God is upon us in Jesus, but the kingdoms of this world are still ever-present.

I’d like to suggest the redemption of all things is three-fold. I think there are three over-arching themes of redemption at work on the earth right now.

First, our relationship with God. Our life with God is restored through Christ. Our souls are restless until they rest in God. We ache to worship, to know and be known, and we ache to be seen. The work of God in our lives first and foremost restores us to a good, loving relationship with our creator, the one who loves us and calls us by name.

Secondly, the work of Jesus has the potential to restore our relationships with one another. The relationships people have with people. This is why the glorious verse in Galatians resounds so overwhelmingly to us, in every generation. All are one in Christ. In Jesus, there is no male or female, no Jew or Greek, slave or free. The church is called by God to live this out, or at least die trying.

And finally, in Christ, we are called to tend to, restore, and take care of this planet. We have misused this planet, extorted it for our own use, and we have harmed the very ground beneath our feet.

The role of women, in the church and in the world, has to do with the second aspect of the redemption of all things. When it comes to the relationship men have with women there is a temptation toward several things. In the account of Genesis, Adam, was not sufficient on his own. He needed a suitable partner. Need is the appropriate word. The tendency for fallen man is to resent his need for the woman and blame it on her, and then harm her into a subservient role so that he doesn’t look weak. This is a temptation we know all too well.

The temptation to make it so that a man needs a maid or a servant, someone to wash his clothes and butter his toast instead of the need for an equal partner, reach into the heart of the Genesis account. The Genesis account says men need women to fulfill the task of being human. I think there’s a temptation for men to despise their weakness and push women into subjection so they might feel stronger. This is the classic temptation John Piper and Mark Driscoll buy into with their damaging complemenatarian theology.
(This is, obviously not the temptation of every man. It’s merely one aspect of the damage I see between men and women due to the fall.)

Women have different but similar temptations. We might be tempted to buy into the lie that we are less than men, and take on the role of subservient partner. Women are tempted to buy into the lie that men create their identity and that they are accountable to a male leader rather than to the God who created them. Some women throw men out altogether.

If Jesus Christ came into the world to redeem us from the curse of the fall and to usher in the possibility and the blessing of a new creation, then it is imperative to start with the original intent and go from there. As Christians, when it comes to the roles women have in the church, the idea that women should have complementary roles and should not be in any kind of authority over a man and should not preach from the pulpit, is unbiblical and damaging to the whole body of Christ.

Church, it’s time to change. 

Up next on the blog: Taking a deeper look at a few difficult passages in scripture.

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