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Men and Women in the Presbyterian Church

In recent years, it seems as though the question of how men and women are to serve together in the contemporary church is a never-ending conversation. But it remains an important one for the church to wrestle with. Every generation of church leaders needs to be able to explain to the men and women in our churches why we order and govern ourselves in the way that we do. We also need to be willing to examine our own practices in the light of the Scriptures to make sure that in every age we walk in the freedom the gospel gives us while still following God’s good ways.

Those of us who see a distinction between how men and women should serve in the church are too often defined by what we seem to be against, rather than what we are for. We have struggled to present a positive vision that rightly emphasises the equality that God gives to men and women, while also upholding the different patterns that we see in Scripture regarding women and men. Men and women are called to lead in God’s church, while maintaining that Scripture gives a different shape to that leadership. More specially, the scriptural pattern is that qualified men serve in specific offices, while other men and women lead in a variety of positions and ministries across the church.

This position is based on several key biblical and theological concepts. First, is the picture that we see in Genesis 1-2. Men and women were both created in the image and likeness of God, to have dominion over creation (Genesis 1:28), and to exercise this dominion together as co-rulers upon the earth. This was a responsibility that the man could not fulfil alone, but only with a ‘helper, fit for him’ (Genesis 2:18). The description of the woman as ‘helper’ is not a demeaning title. Rather, it is a word that is often used to describe the Lord in Scripture (e.g. Hosea 13:9; Psalm 115:9; Deuteronomy 18:4). The woman therefore was the man’s corresponding partner called to lead in creation with him as they have dominion in creation together.

Second, there is a privilege of primacy given to the man in the Genesis account of creation, and in the way the New Testament interprets Genesis. God uses the word for ‘man’ to describe all of humanity (Genesis 1). God created the man first, and centres him in the narrative (2:7). He speaks to the man before he creates the woman (2:16), and he addresses the man first after the man and the woman sin together (3:8). The man is given the responsibility for naming the creatures of the earth (2:19), and he names the woman twice (2:23; 3:20). In the New Testament, despite Eve sinning first, we are told that sin entered the world through one ‘man’ and that death reigned ‘in Adam’ (Romans 5:10; 1 Corinthians 15:22). Finally, it is Adam who is given the distinct honour of being humanity’s covenant representative with God (1 Corinthians 15:45).

The third principle is that there is a pattern through both the Old and New Testaments of men being called to lead in specific and exclusive offices that are different from other pictures of leadership where both men and women lead. God’s promises were given in the Patriarchal period to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph. Under the Mosaic period we see men exclusively being called to lead as kings and priests. Elders who govern in the city gates were consistently described as men. In the New Testament, Jesus chose twelve men to be his disciples, and God exclusively chose men to be the authors of the entire New Testament. Without ignoring the valid discussions about the nature of Junia and Phoebe’s ministries, the overwhelming picture of people who were formally installed as elders in the early church were men.

Finally, while recognising this pattern, we ought not deny the many types of leadership exercised by women through the Old and New Testaments. In the Old Testament, Moses’ sister Miriam was called a leader of Israel alongside her brother Aaron (Micah 6:4). She was also called a prophetess (Exodus 15:20) and she led the people in the worship of God (Exodus 15:1-3). Deborah was a prophetess and judge speaking God’s word and leading (or ‘judging’) Israel (Judges 4:4). Huldah was a prophetess who declared God’s judgment on Judah (2 Kings 22).

In the New Testament, women were the first to witness Jesus’ resurrection, and who were the first to worship him (Matthew 28:6,9; Mark 16:5-6). They were the first to proclaim that he had risen from the dead (Matthew 28:7, Mark 16:7). After Jesus’ ascension, women prayed in the upper room with the other disciples and the Spirit fell on them at Pentecost just as he did on the men, in order to proclaim the gospel (Acts 2:3-4). Women engaged in theological discussion with Jesus (John 4:1-26, 11:1-44) and in one instance this led to an incredible missionary work led by a woman (John 4:39). Of the 28 people that Paul greeted in his letter to the Romans in chapter 16, nine of them are women. Most prominent was Phoebe who delivered the letter and likely read it to the church in Rome.

Similarly, Junia is specifically listed as being ‘outstanding among the apostles’. Priscilla and her husband Aquila instructed Apollos in the way of God more accurately (Acts 18:26). Married women, single women and women from different nations were all commended for serving the Lord well as part of the church. The consistent point is that the pattern of scripture in both the Old and New Testaments is qualified men serving in specific, exclusive leadership positions with men and women leading and serving alongside them in a huge variety of other ways.

The General Assembly of Australia in 2023 issued recommendations to ministers and elders to think about roles that women can fulfil in church. This includes roles in Sunday services and in public worship such as Bible reading, leading the congregation in prayer, song leading, sharing a testimony or word of encouragement, leading aspects of the service (1 Corinthians 11, 14), leadership roles outside of the office of eldership, and other ministry roles through the week.

It was also recommended that all Sessions consider how best, within their local context to engage with women in key decisions of Church leadership. This could include Sessions setting up a women’s advisory group whom they talk to about specific issues. It could mean Sessions inviting key women of their church to Session meetings for a discussion that would inform its decision making. It could mean choosing to appoint key women in their church to a ‘co-worker’ position and giving them the privileges of an associate while Session sits. It could look like many things, but it should look like men and women leading together, even when only men serve as elders and ministers.

For more information about any of the above, or to read the paper in full, you can go to wmpca.org.au or email the convener of the WMPCA committee, James Snare, at jamessnare@livingchurch.org.au.

– James Snare, minister of Living Church, Queensland