Women preaching in church - do we have a responsibility?

[sushistar]

Ok, bit random, but...

I preach sometimes at our church. I enjoy it, i'm not a wonderful speaker but I can do an ok talk based on the bible which hopefully is useful to someone, and is what I feel God is saying.

I am the only woman who preaches at our church. Sometimes, when things feel a bit much, I think about not doing it anymore. BUT I think it's important that different voices - from women as well as men - are heard from the front, so I kind of feel a responsibility to carry on. Does that make sense? Or is it really not my problem?

(BTW, I know some people reading this will come from more traditional denominations where only the ordained person speaks. In my church the church leader usually does the sermon, but other people do it sometimes too.)

Haven't read all the responses, so this is my response to the OP.

It isn't unBiblical for women to minister in church in any way. There were plenty of female ministers in the early church. It was decided by the organised church in the early days to play the role of women down, they did this by declaring Mary a prostitute and banning women from ministering.

There is a passage that says that women shouldn't speak in church, but you have to understand the background of why that was said. Most women were uneducated in those days and were causing disruption in the service by asking their husband (who would have been sat in a totally separate area to them) what the minister was talking about. The next verse does say "And if they want to learn something, let them ask their own husbands at home".

As with anything in the Bible you have to ask yourself these questions:

Who was it written for
When was it written
What was the situation the writer was living in
Why was it written
Where was the writer and the reader living
How was it written.

If we try and make the context fit today without understanding those questions it will seem confusing and contradictatory. I'll stop cause I can go on forever on this topic.

It's so lovely to have a reasoned and thought out conversation on such a controversial subject!
Kay, I relate to some of what you say about looking into scripture ourselves before accepting what someone else says it means. I think lots of the more 'embarrassing' episodes in church history (like some South African church's approval of apartheid)perhaps might have been avoided this way...
I also relate to what was said about still not being sure of everything myself, so not judging others for their different interpretations of scripture. But I have visited churches which have a theological objection to women preaching, and extend this objection to a hard-and-fast rule - "we think this is wrong for us, and for everybody else too!" sort of thing, which I do find hard.

I have lots of friends in churches like that, Sushistar. In fact one of our cloeset friends is a (male) minister who strongly disapproves of women in leadership / teaching roles. Oh well. I've grown up with hearing women preach and so it wasn't until a couple of years ago that I'd even have seen it as an issue (although I'd have seen the overall leadership of a church by a woman as an issue - the old 'headship' debate).

Culture has a lot to do with it, probbaly much more than we realise. As it did in new Testament times, of course...

Coming back to the OP, I come from a church where there is a long tradition of female preachers - and indeed a long tradition of lay preaching, so that our preachers offer us an enormously wide variation in:

• gender
• age
• background
• intelligence
• comprehensibility

I think there are differences in the way men and women approach things, so it is healthy to have female viewpoint. But if preaching is becoming a chore that is conflicting with family life, you need to look at that as well.

Is it feasible to set firmer boundaries about how much preaching you will take on. And also start a campaign to get some other sisters up to the lectern!

(I am a worship leader and do a lot of all-age teaching. I know all about how the level of commitment can creep up and up and up. You need to be constantly reassessing what you can offer and be firm about it. People will cope if you say no. They really will!)

Ummmm. I'm considering your question, sushistar. I'll get back to you.

Smithagain, your post so made me smile! But your church should be proud that it has such a diverse teaching team. Even the incomprehensible ones will never improve if they're never given the chance to practice
I think that's wise advice about putting limits on it. It's something I'm able to do to serve God and my church family, but it's not my ONLY job, or only MY job! I would so love it if some other women in the church would be willing to preach sometimes. I've broached the subject with a couple, but they weren't keen...

Roseylea, don't get me started on 'headship'

Thanks Sushistar!

Actually, it's great to see how many of those who start out timid and incomprehensible gradually gain in confidence and authority over the years.

And one of the best preachers I ever heard was a 17 year old girl who stood up there in her black, scruffy gear, with her hair all over her face and knocked everyone's preconceptions out of the window! She was so honest and sincere and full of insight.

I love the diversity of preaching we get. It's one of the things I like about my church tradition (Methodist). The inconsistency can sometimes be an issue - but it's also good to hear so many different approaches.