A Journal for The Contemporary Church

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Women in Church Leadership Roles – Biblical Perspectives

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There are a few ways to approach the question of what light Scripture sheds on women in  leadership in the Church. Perhaps the most obvious and straightforward is to look for precedent in the early Church, as reflected in the earliest extant Christian documents, the letters of St Paul. The assumption behind this is that biblical precedent should inform current practice. This is  undoubtedly true, but it is not enough. If there is precedent, that would undermine any current argument against women’s leadership, particularly since today’s world is less patriarchal than that of the first century – in patches anyway. But lack of precedent would not rule against including women in church leadership today, since the Church’s application of the Gospel grows and develops through time, as the Holy Spirit guides her into all truth.