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In Christ there is no difference between male and female (Galatians 3:28). Pentecost is the fulfillment of the divine promise that in the last days the Holy Spirit would equip God’s sons and daughters for ministry (Acts 2:17,18). We need to delight in our Pentecostal heritage of women in ministry. We need to affirm the pioneering work that women have done across our nation and around the world. In our official statements we need to endorse women who are called by God. There is a God-ordained equality of man and woman in His original creation. The New Testament affirms the equality of women in ministry. It also describes women as equal to men in their spiritual giftedness and identifies women’s ministry roles and titles identical to men’s, on all levels from that of disciple to, and including, that of apostle (Romans 16:7). There were many female ministers who attended the first General Council of the Assemblies of God. For many years we have had a large number of female missionaries. Women planted many of the churches across this nation, and women pioneered many foreign fields. To not heartily endorse the ministry of women would produce effects that would be felt very keenly. First would be the loss of many of our denomination’s clergy. Second would be the forfeiture of the contributions of laypeople (both male and female) who value the equality of women in the marketplace and long for it in the church. (See sidebar, A/G Ministers Report, 1999: Credentials, Marital, and Ministry Status by Gender.) If we believe that God calls women for ministry, we need to be intentional in our endorsement of women currently in ministry and in our encouragement of those investigating the call of God. We need to promote women in ministry, advocate for this cause, value their contributions on all levels, and do what we can to place women in positions of public visibility as models for this generation. We need to look at our official documents and update the language. Today the idioms of contemporary English are much more careful to connote inclusivity. When we are not intentionally inclusive, our audiences hear exclusivity. Endorsing women in ministry will produce positive results. We will enjoy access to a much larger pool of ministry candidates. We will invigorate our Fellowship with fresh perspectives. We could unleash a tidal wave of Pentecostal pioneers. And best of all, our daughters may–if God wills–enjoy the same awesome anointing and incredible experiences that our founding mothers in ministry did. DO I REALLY BELIEVE THAT
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Deborah M. Gill, Ph.D., is senior pastor at Church of the Living Hope Assembly of God, in Shoreview, Minnesota. |
ENDNOTES
1. In 1989, sociologist Margaret M. Poloma noted from her survey of 184 A/G ministers: "While 64 percent of the 48 ministers over the age of 50 were very supportive of women in ministry, only 27 percent of their cohorts under age 30 indicated a similarly strong support." She interpreted this variation in support for women in ministry as arising from positive exposure of older ministers to effective female ministry. The Assemblies of God at the Crossroads (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1989), 108, 116.
GOD’S PLAN OF MINISTRY INCLUDES WOMENGod has placed several godly women at strategic and crucial times in my journey. I never relegate women in ministry to second-class status, because they have had a first-class impact on me. Even though my godly mother died when I was 12 years old, I have never forgotten her moral and spiritual teachings. Her sterling character and Christlike example were constant reminders of how I ought to live. After my mother’s death, I had desires to go down the path of sin, but the godly influence of my mother kept me from making disastrous choices, even though I had not yet committed my life to Christ. I never took a drink of alcohol, even though I had many invitations to do so, simply because she taught against it. Despite my mother’s untimely death, her spiritual impact on me continues to this day. The greatest gift anyone could have, after salvation, is a spiritual mother. When I was 16, a lady evangelist came to our church. During the third week of the revival, I got saved. I remember her pleading, with tears running down her face, for sinners to come to Jesus. God used a woman who did not graduate from high school and would not have recognized a three-point sermon if someone had given her one. It never occurred to me that God didn’t call women to the pulpit. Two years later, after struggling with a call to ministry, I accepted the fact preaching was going to be my life’s work. I had no invitations as an 18-year-old freshman in a secular college. An itinerate lady preacher told me I needed to go to Bible school. She gave my name to Southwestern Bible Institute (now Southwestern Assemblies of God University). After a few weeks, I enrolled and later graduated. Every pastor knows the value of women in leadership. Without their ministry, no church could survive. No job is too small and no task is too hard, but what some praying woman will take it and turn it into a trophy of victory for the glory of God. I would not want to pastor a church that made no provision for the ministry of women. How could we measure the impact that women in ministry have had upon our nation and the world? Abraham Lincoln has been quoted as saying, "The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world." The Bible has many examples of women who were used mightily by God. One is Mary, the mother of Jesus. God chose a woman to bring man’s only hope into the world. Try to imagine what it was like to have Jesus as a member of the family. But Mary handled the challenge well. God’s plan of ministry includes women, for He is no respecter of persons. He is looking at faith, not gender: "There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus" (Galatians 3:28, NIV). —Charles E. Hackett is executive director of Assemblies of God Home Missions, Springfield, Missouri. |
