Anne Graham Lotz and Women in Church Leadership

In the Washington Post online, Anne Graham Lotz says Jesus calls women to serve and to lead in the local church. She recounts a deeply humiliating experience she had when addressing a group of 800 pastors. En masse, they turned their chairs to face away from her as she spoke her message to them - their backs turned to her. She was understandably confused and deeply hurt.  Such a shameful event should have never happened.

The moment created a crisis in her life. Are women supposed to just "...help in the kitchen, in the nursery, or in the secretary's chair, but it is unacceptable for a woman to take leadership in a teaching position?"  Lotz told the Lord, "I had never had a problem with women serving in any capacity within the church."  She based that on Galatians 3:28, because it declares that male and female are one in Christ. Further she draws upon Acts 2:17 and God outpoured Spirit on sons and daughter for prophecy. She asked God to convict her of wrongdoing and the story of Mary Magdalene in John 20 came to her mind.

She noticed how Jesus told Mary to go and tell his disciples, who were men, that he had risen. Lotz interprets therefore, that Jesus Himself did not have a problem with women in ministry. She calls Mary the first Evangelist. She concludes: "Women are commanded and commissioned to serve Jesus Christ in whatever capacity He calls them, within or without the organized church, in word or in deed."

Imprecision is the handmaid of confusion, and confusion the prelude to bondage (John 8:32). We would do well to make a distinction between women in ministry (which the Bible affirms) and women in the pastorate (which the Bible forbids - 1 Timothy 2:12).  Mary seeing Jesus and being commissioned to tell the disciples of his rising is indeed an honor, but certainly does not qualify her to take the role of an Elder or Pastor to men. Lotz is right to notice how the Spirit empowers both men and women to prophesy (1 Corinthians 11:5), but prophesying is not a biblically authoritative act. Children, servants, even unbelievers can prophesy, therefore it must be tested against Scripture (1 Corinthians 14:29, 1 Thessalonians 5:20-21).

Her reading of John 20 seems to be colored by the history of her own beliefs: "I told the Lord that I had never had a problem with women serving in any capacity within the church."  Every one of us has to be wary of merely finding in Scripture, what we bring to Scripture. There is also a tendency to pick and choose only the passages that seem to affirm one's own identity or preferences and not take into account all the Bible says on any one question.

To read the entire Bible for what it says, no one could deny that Jesus calls women to serve. Yet, by that same reading, no one can show that Jesus calls women to lead men. In fact, there are many examples where the Bible prohibits women from taking on the burden of church leadership. Is it the voice of the Spirit of Jesus Christ women hear when they discern an inward call to pastor?  Since the Spirit and the Scriptures agree, that would suggest they may be hearing another voice.

I grieve that someone in a decision-making role, did not wisely preclude a woman from speaking to a large group of pastors who chose to express their biblically sound concerns in such a shameful fashion.  The commands to speak the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15), are equally as important to obey as the command for a woman not take spiritual authority over men.

At the end of the day, it is the role of pastors and men to lead their congregations and families in understanding God's design for the home and the church. When this kind of biblical leadership is lacking, sadly shameful things can happen.