Recently two different Christians that I know well have asked me what I thought about woman’s in ministry,
“Can a woman be a pastor?, Can a woman run a church?”
My answer to that is quite simple, no, but its not a no for the reason you might think.
The modern definition of pastor, the job title as the guy at the top of a hierarchy. The person who orchestrates church meetings. The person who is “in charge” of the church.
I recently watched a male pastor cry before his congregation about his insecurities and struggles in following God. After 30 minutes of this he said crying “well… and I am your leader…” and continued in the struggles and confessions of confusion, difficulty and turmoil. It was refreshing honesty about his weakness and need for others and his need for help.
This man was not qualitied to be leading Christians around, but not becuase of anything to his fault. No Christian is. The best of the best is not qualified for that. Paul himself would plant churches, disciple the new believers and train them to be led of the Spirit then he would leave them alone to the leadership of Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit. He did not place himself or his loyal men over that body of Christians. He was sensitive and careful not to overstep his place and intrude on the Spirit of Jesus Christ.
The role of pastor that the vast majority of protestant Christianity (and the role of Priest in Catholacism) has embraced does exactly that. It intrudes on the Spirit of Christ over other Christians. It usurps itself over the Holy Spirit. Amazingly most the time these other Christians crave that intrusion because they don’t know how to be led of the Spirit. I craved exactly that for most of my time as a Christian.
I love and appreciate pastors but don’t look to them for much of anything. I don’t look to them for anything beyond what I look to any Christian for. Fellowship, friendship and if fortunate inspiration from the spirit of Jesus. But not leadership. If they say or teach something that I know is not of God I don’t get mad at them. Any more than any Christian. Most of them mean well, most of them are just meeting a demand in the body of Christ. But as they meet that demand it does not necessarily mean they are following the spirit of Christ. Nor that I should listen to them more than my teen who is seeking Jesus and has the Spirit of Christ within.
As leaders, we can fake it, we can feign confidence and train ourselves to preach with excellent words of eloquence. And we can even bring in business consultants and call it “building the kingdom” but… it’s just not.
Jesus exclusively does that… through whom he choses, and how he choses. Ministry then is what God gets out of our lives as we surrender and yield ourselves to Jesus Christ.
So then NO, women cannot be clergyman pastors, but then again, neither can men. Unless of course we take the role of pastor as the scripture defines it. An older mature elder in the Lord who is able to teach who leads a life of self control and who is able to disciple young Christians.
That role is all over in the New Testament filled by both men and women in different ways. It may not pay well, it may not have a salary attached to it. It’s not going to feed your ego, or the pride of our lives all that much. But it is there and it is world-changing and it is the most important job on planet earth.
The modern definition of pastor, the clergyman (or clergywoman) is not a thing of Jesus Christ. It is not a spiritually legitimate profession. It may fit well into Satan’s world system of religion. But I’m with Jesus exclusively and Jesus does not fill pastor-ships like that. We do, tradition does, we inherit and hand down the concept of clergy, a professional class of religious leaders. It never should have been adopted by Christian churches, but it was.
Clergymen attempt to orchestrate and control Christian gatherings and think it their responsibility to orchestrate what the Spirit of Jesus wants to orchestrate. Through all his followers together, one by one. They go in and out for us, telling us when to come in and sit down, when and what to “repeat after me”, when to stand up, sit down, and pay the tenth and stop the talking, they entertain us with song and eloquence of speech.
As they do this… as we demand they do this. I can’t help but believe that Jesus is watching shaking his head saying ‘no thanks, none of that.’ I can’t help but believe he’d prefer the little old lady in the back row with little to no money and who is not cool. And who has a gentle, meek demeanor, that she should take the microphone from the proud one on stage and teach and exhort the people.
Pastors are legitimate ministry gifts but our definition is not Jesus’ definition, nor Paul’s definition.
The truth is, God can, and does, and has used women to minister as much as men. Any person, male of female who is being led of the Spirit is a minister of Jesus Christ.
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