Dr. Augustine Pagolu

1. Introduction

The main concern in this paper will be to explain the place of women in Christian ministry. This subject is not new but it assumes new significance in the light of the unprecedented attention given in the last three decades to women’s issues, such as the centuries of their discrimination and subordination to men and failure in acknowledging their invaluable contribution to the family, church and society. The notion that women could be involved in Christian ministry is not contested as many women in the history of Christianity and in the Bible did involve in God’s work in various ways. The more sensitive question, however, is whether women could be leaders just as men in Christian ministry and whether similar opportunities and training for leadership be given to them. The question becomes even sharper in the light of the raging commotion among radical as well as biblical feminists who argue for equal rights and opportunities for women in ministry, and for their equal value and dignity as complete humans. Evangelicals in general have approved traditional roles for men and women arguing from the Bible that women must be silent in the church and subordinate to men, and be excluded from its ordained ministry. The Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches, and many traditional Protestant Churches still follow this teaching. In what follows I shall attempt a brief survey of the developments leading to the modern debate in order that we keep the whole in its proper perspective.

Introduction: Family[1] is the first human institution that came into existence. Before there was a society, there was a family. Before there was a school, there was a family. Before there was a Church, there was a family. Before there was any other human institution, there was a family. God the creator is the one who established this institution. A family is society in miniature and Church in miniature. What happens in the home or family invariably affects the Church and the society. What we see in the society is a reflection of what happens in the family. If the family functions as it ought to, for the purposes for which it was established, it flourishes and the society also flourishes. But if the family looses a sense of purpose, the whole human society looses a sense of purpose and direction. If there is chaos in the family, there will be corresponding chaos in the society. On the contrary, if there is order in the family, there will be order in the society. For any person in the world, the family is the first school, first Church, and the first training ground for interpersonal relationships. God gives such central importance to the family in human existence in this world that He has given us lot of information about many marriages and families in the Bible. The marriage of Isaac and Rebecca is a classic example (Gen. 24). The family life of Abraham and Sarah intertwined with their ‘faith journey’ is described in great detail (Gen. 12-25). The information about all the marriages and families is sandwiched between the first marriage that God himself performed (Gen. 2) and another grand marriage with the greatest wedding feast that will take place in the future at the Second Coming of Jesus Christ (Eph. 5: 32; 1 Thess. 4: 16-18; 5: 10-11; Rev. 19: 7-9).