Women as Church Leaders

Baptists Today reports that the Georgia Baptist Convention plans to disfellowship Druid Hills Baptist Church in Atlanta “for the crime of calling a female co-pastor,” Rev. Mimi Walker. You may remember that the Halifax Baptist Association disfellowshipped Central Baptist Church of Daytona Beach after it called Rev. Sonia Phillips as co-pastor.

John Pierce, editor of Baptists Today, writes that the argument of some fundamentalist Southern Baptists that 1 Timothy 2:11-12 is the clear statement of the Bible on the issue of women serving as pastors, ignores parts of scripture that affirm women in leadership roles. It also ignores the instructions in verse 9 calling for women to dress modestly without “braided hair or gold or pearls or expensive clothes.” I agree with his point.

Defenders of slavery took the approach of choosing verses of the Bible that supported their way of looking at the world, such as Ephesians 6:5 (“Slaves, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling”) while ignoring the broad biblical message of human worth and equality.

I am glad that New Hope Baptist Church decided long ago not to restrict the roles that women can play in our church. We have women serving in almost every area of the life of our church including teaching.

“Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence,” says 1 Timothy 2:11-12. We recognize that just as slavery was accepted in Bible times, so was the subjection of women. At that time in history, to own slaves and to keep women from being educated and becoming leaders were accepted as a normal way of life. Have we not recognized the gospel truth on both of these issues?

We live in a society that respects women in leadership in any realm of life you can name: education, business, politics, science and the list runs on. If a woman came to me as the pastor of New Hope and said, “I believe I have teaching and shepherding gifts from the Holy Spirit, and I believe God is calling me to be a pastor,” I would listen and try help to her find her calling. There are some Baptist churches today that will call women to serve them as pastors and co-pastors. Georgia Baptists and the Halifax Baptist Association won’t have fellowship with them, but thank God for churches that respect women and know that the Holy Spirit gives gifts without regard to gender.