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On a Sunday morning while living in Sydney, I woke to a brisk winter day. I jumped at the opportunity to wear my purple felt cloche hat to church. Why? Because it was amazing, and I was looking for any and every opportunity to wear it.

While milling around after church for morning tea, an elder sidled up to my husband and me and said to Vaughan, “I see your wife is choosing the biblical approach to women’s dress at church.” He was making a good-natured, light-hearted comment. I found it deeply unsettling.

Did he really think I should be wearing a hat to church every week? Why didn’t they teach that, then? Should I be wearing a hat to church? If this is what it means to obey God, why didn’t they just teach it? Do they have beliefs they are afraid to teach publicly?

I deeply wanted to honour God with my whole being. I was profoundly unmoored by the thought that there might be biblical teachings that were not being taught or implemented by those entrusted by God to do so. I wanted the safety and security that comes with following Jesus wholeheartedly and surrendering everything to him. This little, light-hearted joke by a kind elder unsettled me.

This article is not about head coverings. I have since wrestled with the Scriptures myself and formed my own convictions. This is about how women can flourish in the church of God. This is about calling the leaders of our church to be convicted about what God’s Word teaches and to make decisions in alignment with that conviction. This is about the male-only eldership debate in the Presbyterian Church of New South Wales.

There is a generation of women whose voices have been largely absent from this debate – not because we have been silenced by some malevolent party, but because we are busy: raising families, caring for elderly parents, serving in our churches, volunteering and working in paid employment.

These women, of which I am one, believe the Bible teaches male-only eldership (1 Timothy 2-3; Titus 1). We are convinced God’s Word teaches a plurality of male-only eldership, and that this is the way God wills his church to be governed. We are here, serving in the Presbyterian church of NSW, because we are convicted this church most closely aligns with God’s word. We earnestly desire to belong to a denomination that is wholly and unapologetically obedient to God’s word

When I received the PCNSW survey on the proposed change to male-only eldership, I was grieved.  The framing of the survey suggested that faithfulness to Scripture may harm women. It asked questions about the effects the change would have on emotional wellbeing, safety, bullying, and other psychosocial outcomes – unwittingly implying that a change to male-only Eldership may have a negative effect on women. I have come to know that true safety and wellbeing are found only in obedience to God’s Word. God’s Word is not a psychosocial hazard.

I am a woman, a mum to three daughters, and a ministry wife in the PCNSW. I have walked alongside women who have been hurt, mistreated and abused by men in their lives, and men church leadership. I absolutely have skin in this game. For a woman to be safe, loved and valued is of upmost importance. The antidote to women being hurt by men in leadership is not to add women to the eldership; it’s to ensure the eldership is populated with strong, godly men who are qualified according to the Scriptures to shepherd and protect their flock. God has designed his church is such a way that women can flourish. I wholly reject the spirit of this age that says male-only eldership inherently harms women; on the contrary, we must affirm that a woman’s safety is found in a church governed by God’ s Word.

I acknowledge that I am not engaging directly with the arguments of those who support female elders; that is outside the scope of what I intend to do here. My purpose is to cut through the noise of the psychologised concerns of our age and plead with those who are convicted that God’s word teaches male-only eldership to stand firm. There are women in the PCNSW depending on you. You are the shepherds God has appointed to protect women in his church and provide a place for them to flourish. We know that this safety and flourishing comes in a church that is governed as God designed. We are looking to you to lead with conviction and act accordingly.

It is time to affirm and maintain male-only eldership in the Presbyterian Church of New South Wales.

Fellas, it’s time to get this done.

– Alison Smith