Female Pastors in the Church

Good day and welcome to a very interesting subject, a subject where we have many a female pastor who is leading the sheep in the church.

And the question is, is this Biblical or not?

Let’s check AI for the following:

q: how many female pastors in America

a: As of recent statistics, approximately 12.9% of pastors in the U.S. are female, reflecting a gradual increase over the years. This percentage has risen from just 5% in the early 1990s, indicating a significant shift in the representation of women in pastoral roles.  Zippia

Female Pastors in America

The landscape for female pastors has evolved significantly over the decades.

• Current Percentage — Approximately 12.9% of pastors in the U.S. is female.
• Historical Context — In the early 1990s, only 5% of senior pastors in Protestant churches were women.
• Recent Trends — The number of female pastors has doubled in the last decade.
• SBC Representation — There are currently 149 female pastors across 99 Southern Baptist Convention churches.
• Lay Ministers — In the Roman Catholic Church, 80% of lay ministers are women.

Let’s look at: https://www.zippia.com/pastor-jobs/demographics/

Pastor demographics research summary. Zippia estimates pastor demographics and statistics in the United States by using a database of 30 million profiles. Our pastor estimates are verified against BLS, Census, and current job openings data for accuracy. Zippia’s data science team found the following key facts about pastors after extensive research and analysis:

• There are over 29,944 pastors currently employed in the United States.
• 12.9% of all pastors are women, while 87.1% are men.
• The average pastor age is 51 years old.
• The most common ethnicity of pastors is White (68.3%), followed by Black or African American (11.7%), Hispanic or Latino (9.0%) and Asian (6.6%).
• Pastors are most in-demand in Argyle, TX.
• The education industry is the highest-paying for pastors.
• 16% of all pastors are LGBT.

Wow, I have been watching various you tube videos on whether a female should or should not be pastoring a church.

Should a woman have a diminished or subservient role in the church? The answer is no for God is the God of order and he has given various roles for the woman to fulfil in the church, in her personal life and to witness out in the world.

So, let’s turn to the Bible as the authority who will give us the answers—Turn to 1 Peter 3, where Peter addresses both wives and husbands.

Peter begins to say that wives be submissive to husbands and this is done as the husband is to be the role as the “spiritual head of the household” and for both partners to be cooperative voluntarily out of love and respect for God and for that person.

Peter shows men to look for inner beauty as outer beauty fades in time and husbands would be won over by their love rather than looks. True beauty begins inside and outer beauty is a fleeting moment.

Peter, when speaking to husbands in verse 7 is not implying that women are morally or intellectually inferior, but recognizing that women have physical limitations such as criminal attack and family abuse, less pay than men in the workplace. 

As we close out verse 7, family relationships are affected when men use their position to mistreat their wives, thus effecting their relationship with God and their prayer life.

As one turns to the book of Titus, the above verses will show us the roles for older and younger women: Titus 2:3-5 says ³ Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. ⁴ Then they can urge the younger women to love their husbands and children, ⁵ to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God. 

Older women are to be examples to show the younger women how to live in a way that honors God and are encouraged to teach other women and teaching children. 

God, in Ephesians 5:22-24 says that wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.

As you read these verses, a wise and Christ-honoring husband is to serve his wife. This Christ-honoring husband will not take advantage of his leadership role nor will the wise and Christ-honoring wife try to undermine her husband’s leadership.

Let’s look at 1 Timothy 2:11-12 ¹¹ A woman^[a] should learn in quietness and full submission. ¹² I do not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority over a man; ^[b] she must be quiet.

I wish to utilize the following article as a reference: https://www.gotquestions.org/women-pastors.html

In the church, God assigns different roles to men and women. This is a result of the way mankind was created and the way in which sin entered the world (1 Timothy 2:13–14). God, through the apostle Paul, restricts women from serving in roles of teaching and/or having spiritual authority over men. This precludes women from serving as pastors over men, since pastoring definitely includes preaching, teaching publicly, and exercising spiritual authority.

There are many objections to this view of women in pastoral ministry. A common one is that Paul restricts women from teaching because in the first century, women were typically uneducated. However, 1 Timothy 2:11–14 nowhere mentions educational status. If education were a qualification for ministry, then the majority of Jesus’ disciples would not have been qualified. A second common objection is that Paul only restricted the women of Ephesus from teaching men (1 Timothy was written to Timothy, the pastor of the church in Ephesus). Ephesus was known for its temple to Artemis, and women were the authorities in that branch of paganism—therefore, the theory goes, Paul was only reacting against the female-led customs of the Ephesian idolaters, and the church needed to be different. However, the book of 1 Timothy nowhere mentions Artemis, nor does Paul mention the standard practice of Artemis worshipers as a reason for the restrictions in 1 Timothy 2:11–12.

A third objection is that Paul is only referring to husbands and wives, not men and women in general. The Greek words for “woman” and “man” in 1 Timothy 2 could refer to husbands and wives; however, the basic meaning of the words is broader than that. Further, the same Greek words are used in verses 8–10. Are only husbands to lift up holy hands in prayer without anger and disputing (verse 8)? Are only wives to dress modestly, have good deeds, and worship God (verses 9–10)? Of course not. Verses 8–10 clearly refer to all men and women, not just husbands and wives. There is nothing in the context that would indicate a narrowing to husbands and wives in verses 11–14.

Yet another objection to this interpretation of women in pastoral ministry references women in positions of leadership in the Bible, specifically Miriam, Deborah, and Huldah in the Old Testament. It is true that these women were chosen by God for special service to Him and that they stand as models of faith, courage, and, yes, leadership. However, the authority of women in the Old Testament is not relevant to the issue of pastors in the church. The New Testament Epistles present a new paradigm for God’s people—the church, the body of Christ—and that paradigm involves an authority structure unique to the church, not for the nation of Israel or any other Old Testament entity.

Similar arguments are made using Priscilla and Phoebe in the New Testament. In Acts 18, Priscilla and Aquila are presented as faithful ministers for Christ. In verse 18, Priscilla’s name is mentioned first, suggesting to some that she was more prominent in ministry than her husband. (The detail of whose name comes first is probably inconsequential, because in verses 2 and 26 the order is reversed from that of verse 18.) Did Priscilla and her husband teach the gospel of Jesus Christ to Apollos? Yes, in their home they “explained to him the way of God more adequately” (Acts 18:26). Does the Bible ever say that Priscilla pastored a church or taught publicly or became the spiritual leader of a congregation of saints? No. As far as we know, Priscilla was not involved in ministry activity in contradiction to 1 Timothy 2:11–14.

In Romans 16:1, Phoebe is called a “deacon” (or “servant”) in the church and is highly commended by Paul. But, as with Priscilla, there is nothing in Scripture to indicate that Phoebe was a pastor or a teacher of men in the church. “Able to teach” is given as a qualification for elders, but not for deacons (1 Timothy 3:1–13; Titus 1:6–9).

The structure of 1 Timothy 2:11–14 makes the reason why women cannot be pastors perfectly clear. Verse 13 begins with “for,” giving the “cause” of Paul’s statement in verses 11–12. Why should women not teach or have authority over men? Because “Adam was created first, then Eve. And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived” (verses 13–14). God created Adam first and then created Eve to be a “helper” for Adam. The order of creation has universal application in the family (Ephesians 5:22–33) and in the church.

The fact that Eve was deceived is also given as a reason for women not serving as pastors or having spiritual authority over men (1 Timothy 2:14). This does not mean that women are gullible or that they are all more easily deceived than men. If all women are more easily deceived, why would they be allowed to teach children (who are easily deceived) and other women (who are supposedly more easily deceived)? The text simply says that women are not to teach men or have spiritual authority over men because Eve was deceived. God has chosen to give men the primary teaching authority in the church.

Many women excel in gifts of hospitality, mercy, teaching, evangelism, and helping/serving. Much of the ministry of the local church depends on women. Women in the church are not restricted from public praying or prophesying (1 Corinthians 11:5), only from having spiritual teaching authority over men. The Bible nowhere restricts women from exercising the gifts of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 12). Women, just as much as men, are called to minister to others, to demonstrate the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22–23), and to proclaim the gospel to the lost (Matthew 28:18–20; Acts 1:8; 1 Peter 3:15).

Fellow Christian, the above article gives you the reasons as to why you should not attend a church that has a woman pastoring over you. Yes, you may have attended that church for years and the church you attended was Christ-like, but like so many other churches they have fallen away from what the Bible says so it fits today’s society or their present agenda.

Women are no less important, by any means, but God’s design for the role of the woman in the church does not include pastoring over a church. Can you name me one female in the Bible who pastored over a church? None, for God’s design is perfect, thus he placed a man as the pastor of his sheep in following the same way Jesus is our shepherd and we are his sheep.

As we close, the above article explains that women have talents or gifts of hospitality, mercy, teaching, evangelism, and helping/serving, praying, prophesying, exercising the gifts of the Holy Spirit, witness to others, demonstrate the fruits of the spirit and proclaim the gospel to the lost, but not to have spiritual teaching authority over men.

 In closing, God does all things in perfect order such as the creation, everything has its place and its function for God, in Ephesians 5:22-24 says that wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.

Christ, the head of the church, man, the pastor over sheep the same way Jesus is our shepherd and the woman to use her talents in the church as well as in the public.