Women in Ministry: Practical Application of Biblical Teaching -- By: Randy L. Stinson

Journal: Journal for Biblical Manhood and Womanhood
Volume: JBMW 13:1 (Spring 2008)
Article: Women in Ministry: Practical Application of Biblical Teaching
Author: Randy L. Stinson


Women in Ministry: Practical Application of Biblical Teaching

Randy L. Stinson

President, The Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood
Dean of the School of Leadership and Church Ministry
The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
Louisville, Kentucky

Christopher W. Cowan

Associate Editor, The Journal for Biblical Manhood and Womanhood
Adjunct Instructor of New Testament Interpretation
The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
Louisville, Kentucky

Introduction

It is not uncommon for churches and individual believers who hold to a complementarian view of gender roles to be unsure how to apply these principles in specific cases. Given this need, we offer the following application-oriented suggestions for consideration. Not all complementarians will necessarily agree with every aspect of this essay. However, we believe there is a need for this kind of practical outworking of the biblical teachings on manhood and womanhood and, thus, submit to you our own understanding of how this teaching applies to various ministry contexts. What follows is obviously not intended as hard and fast rules to be accepted on the level of Scripture, nor do we expect that this will address every possible ministry position or scenario. Yet, as with any text of Scripture, while correct interpretation is necessary, it must be joined with biblically faithful application.1

By God’s grace, all men and women who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ receive spiritual gifts to equip them to serve together in Christ’s body—the church. God grants these gifts through his Spirit to all believers without distinction and for the edification of all (1 Cor 12:4–11). No member of Christ’s church is unneeded; each is gifted by God’s will so that the church, though many parts, may be one body (1 Cor 12:12–26).

In particular, the Bible affirms the valuable and necessary role of women serving in Christian ministry.2 A church in which women are not encouraged and granted opportunity to serve as vital members of the Christian community is both disobedient and unhealthy. Yet, while every believer is equipped by the Holy Spirit indiscriminate of gender, how each man or woman serves the church falls under the framework of Scripture. God’s word is clear in its affirmation of women in ministry, yet it also gives specific instruction regarding the roles of men and women in the church. In 1 Tim 2:11–15, Paul writes,

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