Men in Ministry?
Here’s a list of reasons why men should not be in ministry, specifically leadership:
10. A man’s place is in the army.
9. The pastoral duties of men who have children might distract them from the responsibility of being a parent.
8. The physique of men indicates that they are more suited to such tasks as chopping down trees and wrestling mountain lions. It would be “unnatural” for them to do ministerial tasks.
7. Man was created before woman, obviously as a prototype. Thus, they represent an experiment rather than the crowning achievement of creation.
6. Men are too emotional to be priests or pastors. Their conduct at football and basketball games demonstrates this.
5. Some men are handsome, and this will distract women worshipers.
4. Pastors need to nurture their congregations. But this is not a traditional male role. Throughout history, women have been recognized as not only more skilled than men at nurturing, but also more fervently attracted to it. This makes them the obvious choice for ordination.
3. Men are prone to violence. No really masculine man wants to settle disputes except by fighting about them. Thus they would be poor role models as well as dangerously unstable in positions of leadership.
2. The New Testament tells us that Jesus was betrayed by a man. His lack of faith and ensuing punishment remind us of the subordinated position that all men should take.
1. Men can still be involved in church activities, even without being ordained. They can sweep sidewalks, repair the church roof, and perhaps even lead the song service on Father’s Day. By confining themselves to such traditional male roles, they can still be vitally important in the life of the church.
I first saw this list at Adventures in Mercy. It made me smile, but it is also a biting commentary on the reasons we often give for women not being in ministry (something that I have admittedly done very little research on). Obviously, I think these arguments for men not being in ministry are bunk, especially since I’m married to a man who wants to commit his life to ministry.
Hubby D’s seminary has just as many women in the Masters of Divinity program as men, and there are ordained women a-plenty (including the Minister of the Chapel). In moving here, I confess that I felt pretty uncertain about women being ordained. But it was shockingly easy to let go of any hard-and-fast lines about who can and can’t, should and shouldn’t be in ministry! After attending several worship services led by ordained women, I could clearly see that they had wonderful gifts to share with their congregations as well as a strong sense of call. Not to mention, 2 women in particular had this incredible gift of speaking love right to my heart through the liturgy…something that I had not experienced with a male minister.
At that point, it seemed absurd to me to judge any woman who felt called to be ordained ministers in the Body of Christ. And whether I research the subject of women in ministry or not, I now firmly believe that God loves when I love and support his daughters, rather than judge them.
What do you think about women in ministry? Since my knowledge is small, I’d love to have more relevant ideas to chew on.
November 11, 2008 at 8:07 pm
lol… I can really relate with a lot of this post!
You know, looking into the actual scholarship, (and by that word I mean conservative Bible-honoring studies like this one: http://complegalitarian.blogspot.com/2008/11/thinking-again-about-1-tim-31-7.html and similar ones like that), I am more and more convinced that gender is not supposed to be a measuring stick. Whenever we use gender as a measuring stick, I think we really lose sight of the important issues. This whole pink-and-blue way of viewing things seems more like it’s a ruse to get our eyes off of the Target than it is to promote the glory of God.
That’s my two cents, anyways! Love your blog!
November 15, 2008 at 11:41 am
i’ll be honest with ya, that i definitely fall on the conservative side of this issue…janelle and i were talking about it just last week and it just turned into this awkward situation. mainly because like you i haven’t studied it a lot and thus don’t have any real “evidence” to back up my position. i understand women are just as capable as men at most everything. i do however think that for whatever reason God intended for men to head the church. that being said i also understand how a you could connect with a woman much more than any man being that we (the sexes) think so differently. it’s sticky. but that’s why God gave us small groups
)
November 15, 2008 at 12:26 pm
hey mike! thanks for your honesty. that’s exactly the kind of thing i want here! i have fallen on the very conservative side of this issue for a long time too…without doing research…i.e. just believing that the church culture that i grew up in was right. being at princeton, where there are so many woman who feel called to parish ministry, has really challenged me to think about it. at the moment, i’m totally ok with it, but at the same time, i don’t think i would pick a fight about it with someone who disagreed and i would not judge a church based on their stance. i’m kind of floating in gray, if you will. and i kind of like it!
November 15, 2008 at 12:29 pm
[...] stuff, which I’ll probable share more about later (and have already briefly touched on in this post). Here’s some food for thought from Christians for Biblical Equality [...]
December 22, 2008 at 9:52 pm
I fall on the same side as Molleth. The gifts that God gives to His people are meant to benefit all those who may benefit from them. In other words, not only women, but men also, should be given the opportunity to benefit from a gift of preaching that has been bestowed upon a woman of God.
The way that “head” is understood to mean “leader” or “boss” in the above phrase, “head of the church” is a bit telling. We must be cautious to not read present-day meanings of words into ancient texts, for instance.
best…