Are Women Pastors the Real Issue?
Why We Need to Rethink How We Approach the Debate.
After teaching a couple nights back, a new friend asked me a great question regarding my view of women pastors. If you are unaware, some Christians believe women should not serve in any teaching capacity over the congregation within the church. Others believe women possess the same ministerial authority as men, including serving as the senior leader of a congregation. Between those two positions lies a wide spectrum of views, each claiming to be grounded in Scripture.
After briefly sharing my own view, I was quick to concede that while I hold a justifiable position, I am not the best person to moderate the debate. As one who teaches why Christianity is true (apologetics), I recognize that this is an issue best left to theologians who examine the intricacies of Scripture.
Since then, however, the question has continued to nag at me. Wanting to better understand the issue, I dove deeper into the discussion and quickly realized just how fiercely debated it really is.
As I studied the various arguments, I discovered that what bothered me most was not the dispute itself, but the way many approach it.
I have no desire to add to an already saturated debate or to convince anyone to adopt a particular position. Rather, my goal is to explore how Christians can engage this issue charitably when questions arise, whether from fellow believers wrestling with Scripture or from those outside the Church seeking to understand what Christians believe and why.
Where Christians Agree
The debate surrounding women pastors can quickly stir emotions and lead to misunderstandings, so it is important to first recognize where there is agreement.
Regardless of where one lands on this issue, most Christians would affirm the following:
This is not a salvific issue. One’s position on women pastors does not determine whether they are saved. Salvation comes through faith in Jesus and His finished work on the cross. Those who trust in His life, death, and resurrection are saved by grace through faith.
Men and women are equal in value, dignity, and salvation. Both are created in the image of God.
Where Christians Disagree
While men and women are equal in dignity as God’s image bearers, they are not identical. Both Scripture and nature reveal distinctions between men and women. For example, a man cannot give birth to a child. He lacks that ability, yet this does not make him less valuable than a woman. Likewise, men are generally physically stronger than women, yet women are not worth less because of it. Equality and function are not the same thing.
The debate surrounding women pastors centers on the question of function within the Church, not value. More specifically, it concerns what roles and offices God intends men and women to hold.
The following positional labels are often debated and can mean slightly different things depending on who is using them. For that reason, I am intentionally keeping the descriptions broad so that we can focus on the larger issue rather than getting lost in terminology.1
Egalitarian
Egalitarians generally believe that men and women may hold the same offices and exercise the same authority within church leadership. This includes serving as elders and senior pastors.
Patriarchal
Patriarchalism, sometimes described as “father rule,” maintains that while men and women are equal in dignity, positions of authority over men in both the home and the church are reserved exclusively for men.
Complementarian
Complementarians believe women may serve in many positions of ministry within the church, but the offices of elder and senior pastor are reserved for qualified men.
There is, however, significant diversity within complementarianism itself. Internal disagreement exists on what other leadership or pastoral roles women may hold.
The Real Issue
Christians should desire to conform themselves to God’s design. Questions surrounding church leadership are not trivial and should not be treated as such.
But where we often go wrong is in how we view those who disagree with us. Too often, each side assumes the other has arrived at its position not through sincere study of Scripture, but through a desire to justify sin.
The egalitarian is often accused of compromising Scripture to accommodate modern cultural pressures regarding men and women. Conversely, the complementarian is often accused of oppressing women and suppressing the gifts God has given them.
While such motivations may occasionally exist, it is unfair to assume they are the primary reason faithful Christians disagree.
For example, my friend who asked me about this issue shared that someone had compared his complementarian position to those who reinterpret Scripture in order to affirm homosexual behavior. While I understand the concern being expressed, the comparison is flawed.
A person who refrains from homosexual behavior cannot be accused of committing that particular sin. Regardless of one’s temptations, desires, or theological uncertainties, not engaging in a behavior removes the possibility of guilt in that area and assures obedience altogether.
The debate surrounding women in ministry is fundamentally different. There is no neutral position that guarantees obedience. The egalitarian believes it may be sinful to restrict women from roles God has called them to fulfill. The complementarian believes it may be sinful to disregard God’s intended male structure for senior leadership within the church.
In other words, all sides are actually attempting to avoid sin and remain obedient.
That does not mean both positions are correct. One interpretation may ultimately be more faithful to Scripture than the other. It also does not mean abuse does not occur. But before we can have a productive conversation about which view is right, we must first acknowledge that most Christians on both sides are not attempting to justify sin.
They are attempting to avoid it.
Recognizing that reality makes it possible to have the debate with the charity and humility it deserves.
We’re the Problem, Not God
Scripture discusses distinctions between men and women in church leadership.2 At the same time, Scripture also speaks of shepherding and teaching as gifts given by God, and nowhere does it explicitly state that such gifts are only reserved for men.3 In fact, much of the New Testament clearly affirms women exercising these gifts.4
This is where the debate lies. If a woman possesses the gift of shepherding, what does faithful obedience to God require? How can someone exercise a pastoral gift without, in some sense, functioning as a pastor? Yet if Scripture places limitations on certain church offices, how should those limitations be understood and applied?
At some point, these passages must be reconciled. Faithful Christians disagree not because they reject Scripture, but because they disagree on how Scripture should be harmonized.
This does not mean God has failed to reveal what we need. The problem is our own limitations. Our minds are finite, our hearts are imperfect, and our ability to interpret even clear truths is often clouded by sin, bias, and weakness. Issues that are straightforward to God are not always straightforward to us.
That is precisely why grace is so essential. Thankfully, that grace is freely available to all of us through Jesus Christ.
So, when defending the Christian faith and the topic of women pastors arises, I believe humility and honesty are the best approach. We should be prepared to explain and defend our position, but we should also acknowledge that faithful Christians wrestle with this.
We can confidently affirm that God created both men and women with equal value, dignity, and worth. The debate centers on how their distinct functional roles are to be expressed within the life of the Church. In our brokenness, we are striving to understand and obey God’s design.
The debate exists not because Christians are looking for excuses to disobey God, but because we are trying to obey Him as faithfully as we can.
And that reality should move us toward charity, not suspicion.
Mike Winger, “Things I Didn’t Know as a Complementarian: Women in Ministry, Part 6,” BibleThinker, video, 2:13:20, accessed June 10, 2026, BibleThinker: Women in Ministry Part 6.
See 1 Timothy 2:11–15; 3:1–7; Titus 1:5–9.
See Eph. 4:11; Rom. 12:6–8; 1 Cor. 12:4–11, 27–31.
See Acts 2:17–18; 18:24–26; 21:8–9; 1 Cor. 11:5; Rom. 16:1–2.