Do Women Have a Place in Ministry?

I am fascinated having read chapter 197 of Godcast. In it Dan Betzer makes a point from silence (not the best foundation for doctrine, but making for an interesting story). Where the Bible is silent, we see a point being made. Michael Card writes that when John is silent on events of Jesus’ life that the other gospel-recorders included, we should pay special attention. John was substituting something else, a living parable. In John 8 as John records Jesus’ encounter with the convicted adulteress, it mentions Jesus silently stooping to the ground before requesting that those without sin cast the first stone against the sinful woman. What impact in his silence!

So this Assemblies of God pastor communicates the impact of the silence covering 33 years of Abraham’s life after Sarah’s death. Though they had their rough patches, during Sarah’s life Abraham was the faith father, involved in all sorts of actions, journeys, acquisitions, encounters, prayers, promises, and fulfillments. Immediately after her death Abraham sends the head of his household (not just any old servant) to great distances to find a wife for Isaac. This was very important to Abraham. Why? Maybe because his wife was very important to him. He wanted Isaac to be blessed by a woman whose worth was far above rubies.

And after that, we have a paragraph recording the last fifth of Abraham’s long life. He married again and had more children. But as far as we know he was the spiritual giant during his marriage to Sarah. I caution again putting too much credence in this narrative factor.

Pastor Betzer titles this chapter “Do Women have a Place in Ministry?” If you think about Sarah’s support of her husband as her place in ministry, or if you consider the impact that her presence had on her husband’s faith, you get a beautiful picture of what I believe is a woman’s place in ministry. (Sarah is also held up as an example to other women, especially in the way she submitted to her own husband. I believe that women have a more direct ministry to other women as “teachers of good things.” – Titus 2)

I shouldn’t be surprised that the semi-charismatic denomination has produced a man who, rather than interpreting the significance of the Sarah factor in Abraham’s life in light of biblical directives to women to submit, nor to teach or have authority over men; takes this beautiful picture of helpers meet for their husbands and finishes with a praise of the female ‘ministers’ and ‘pastors’ who founded very large, spiritual and missions-minded churches. These women, he says, have positively impacted him. Though he often mentions his wife in other chapters, this author fails to mention here her help in his ministry, which would be a more honest and biblically sound application of the Sarah principle.

To God be all glory.