Some don’t believe that women can be pastors. Perhaps some even believe they can’t hold other leadership positions either. The office of a pastor is one of five special spiritual offices that are invaluable to the elect, who is the body of Christ. These offices are entrusted in some (not everyone) to help build the rest of the body of believers to reach full potential and function in Christ. These offices are part of who the specific person is and, if faithfully walking with God, they can consistently and very naturally operate in these areas.

The five-fold ministries are those revealed in Ephesians 4:11…”And He has appointed some with grace to be apostles, and some with grace to be prophets, and some with grace to be evangelists, and some with grace to be pastors, and some with grace to be teachers. And their calling is to nurture and prepare all the Holy believers to do their own works of ministry, and as they do this they will enlarge and build up the body of Christ (TPT).

I highlight the word ‘some’ that proceeds the listing of every office, which is such a valuable and clear witness in defense for women. The Greek word for ‘some’ includes ‘the, this, that, one, he, she, it’ (Strongs Ex Concordance 3588). For someone to say that a woman can’t be called to one of these offices would be trying to say that the five-fold ministry offices—apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers have specific genders attached to them, but since the same Greek word proceeds each office, that cannot be true. Also, the old testament prophet Joel divinely prophesied, which was later reaffirmed by Peter (Acts 2:17), that in the last days God would pour out His Spirit on ALL people, meaning both male and female. We have been in the last days since the cross, so this applies to now.

Someone may point out 1 Timothy 3:1-7, especially mentioning only having one wife, but compare that to 1 Timothy 33:1-7, where the qualifications of a deacon of the church are also mentioned. Like 1 Timothy 3:2, it also states that if a man is in that position, it also mentions a wife (that he must be faithful to his wife), but if you’ll read Romans 16:1, Paul recognizes the female Pheobe as a deacon, which is the original word in the Greek and that means a minister and servant. The Strong’s concordance states that a deacon is technically a Christian teacher or pastor. So, if we believe that Paul does not contradict himself between the Timothy and Romans verses, then it would suggest that he was not writing the two Timothy verses in the way of saying that only a man can have authoritative roles, but perhaps letting the reader know that if a man is seeking these positions, then they can only be married to one woman…he would especially have to mention this detail because that culture had some men who took multiple wives.

I could also add that God created both men and women in His image (Genesis 1:27), so both bear His authority and each have a needed piece/reflection of His character and righteousness that is needed to represent Him in this world through the church.

So, women as well as men are called into leadership roles in the church! Truth is truth, in Jesus’s Name!