Women in Ministry // Part 01

Last weekend was Mother’s Day and I was particularly excited because we had women preaching in each of our morning services. It would be the first time a woman preached in a church service in that particular facility. I was stoked! The worship in both services was attended by a powerful sense of the presence of God. There was a general excitement in the air. I knew as our local spiritual family came together to worship Jesus and honor women and mothers, the church all over the nation was doing likewise.

Amy Lyle, who spoke during our second service, mentioned that she had been experiencing much mental and spiritual warfare throughout the week. She said she had read blogs written by men stating that women who were planning on speaking at a church service on Mother’s Day would be in direct rebellion against the scriptures and in sin against the Lord. When I heard this, it honestly took me a minute to gather myself. I was deeply agitated and then moments later sickened that this was her experience. My extreme displeasure only remained for a moment because Amy was absolutely rocking the house (message).

I have championed women in ministry for as long as I can remember. I grew up in a church where the pastors were a husband and wife who both regularly ministered in a variety of functions in the church. It was very normal for me to receive from women who were powerfully anointed to preach and teach the Word, counsel, prophesy, cast out demons, and lead in a variety of tasks. It wasn’t until much later in my Christian walk that I bumped into the doctrine of complementarianism. I have long discounted it as a misunderstanding of Scripture. Though I believe there are many sincere and godly believers who subscribe to this view, I also believe they are unfortunately, extremely misinformed about the Biblical role of women.

The fact that this continues to remain an issue in the church has compelled me to weigh in and offer a Biblically sound perspective on the role of women in ministry. Over the next several days, I’m going to publish a series of blogs that will offer biblical examples of women commissioned by the Lord into leadership as well as exegesis on the most difficult New Testament passages that are used as “proof texts” to support the idea that women aren’t allowed to preach or lead in the church. Stay tuned as we jump into this topic. I believe the Lord is going to set many women free to step into their calling and anointing through the truths the Scriptures offer!