Women in Leadership

In many churches, women can teach children, lead the music and run the kitchen, but cannot preach to a room with men in it or serve as pastor. The rule is taught as God's design, and it usually comes with two verses from the letters. Women who feel called to teach are told, kindly or not, that the door is closed.

Christians who love Jesus disagree here, and many women hold the traditional view themselves. Let's look at what he did with the women around him, and at the verses on the other side, as fairly as we can. You don't need anyone's permission to follow him, inside a church or outside one.

Measured against the center