Should women be senior pastors?
We had a very interesting discussion tonight at our UnderCurrent. Somehow we managed to get on the topic of Paul telling women that they needed to be silent in church. I made the observation that to understand what they meant, we had to understand the culture. Anyways, we started talking about women senior pastors. (For the record, I don't really have an opinion one way or the other. If a woman wants to be a senior pastor, I say go for it.) I mentioned that my observation has been that it's been very tough for women that are senior pastors to lead men. We never came to a conclusion but some of the observation were the following:
I believe that women have great things to contribute and shouldn't be told to "be silent". I just think that men are very hard to lead and it takes a very wise woman to be able to do so.
Keeping in mind that this conversation was about women as senior pastors, not other pastoral roles, do you have anything to add/subtract to the conversation?
- Men have big egos and are hard to lead
- Sometimes women can feel the need to become more dominate in order to lead a man
- Trying to dominate a man doesn't work in his mind
- It takes a special kind of woman to lead a man
- If men would be better husbands and dads, we wouldn't have this problem
- To lead a man, you've got to understand how he ticks
- If you wanna lead a man, you've gotta get him on your side and make him feel good about himself (stroke his ego...he'll do whatever you want)
- Because of a man's big ego, it's easier to take criticism from a man than a woman
- It's easier for a man to lead a man because if there is a dispute, at least they can pound it out in the parking lot if need be
- Could it be possible that the way a marriage is set up, with the man supposed to be the leader, spills over into church as well?
- Why did Paul say that elders in the church should be men?
- Is this a cultural statement of their day or is it timeless?
I believe that women have great things to contribute and shouldn't be told to "be silent". I just think that men are very hard to lead and it takes a very wise woman to be able to do so.
Keeping in mind that this conversation was about women as senior pastors, not other pastoral roles, do you have anything to add/subtract to the conversation?
Good topic. We just had our AGM a couple of weekends ago and the church voted on weather or not women should hold postition at the board level. All of our membership, with the acception of two, voted in favour of the motion.
As far as a lead / senior pastor role? I don,t have problem with it. I could work under their leadership. The pespective from the pulpit would be interresting. The only area that would be a problem for me is if I had to go to them and talk about guy stuff. I wouldn't feel free to speak...plainly...I would hold back. On the same hand, women probably feel the same way about male pastors. I think that is why our spouses are so vital to ministry. They do compete us. I, as a man, can't feel how a woman is feeling, but my wife can. Partners in ministry. I don't think that I would want it any other way.
Just some thoughts from the 'loops. God bless you man.
Posted by
one1light |
9:30 AM
how does scripture condone women as lead pastors? why not share that information first before asking this type of question. i hear it touted as okay but have yet to see it work in any practice for my 45 years as a believer. personally i don't think it is biblical at all. you might want to refer to your sermon two weeks ago regarding "submission". otherwise some would look at it as doublespeak.
bear
Posted by
brandermcdonald |
8:13 PM