Bible Students

The model I propose is that of a married couple at the head of the church with male and female shepherds under them. I am by no means an egalitarian. Additionally, while I do think non-married head pastors are fine, speaking about it with a married couple as an example is more helpful to explain what I mean.

Essentially, I believe there are two kinds of “authority” a “pastor” should have. By authority, I mean an area where the congregation submits to the pastor. By pastor, I refer to the role which has this authority. The first authority is that of a position of mentorship. Shepherds in the church are disciple-makers who have personal relationships with the flock and lead them on the one-on-one. This requires good character, as discipleship is one of (if not the) primary responsibility of the shepherd. For this kind of role, there should be both men and women who are given the job, as a shepherd in the church, to disciple those of their same sex. In this case, a woman does not have the “authority” to personally rebuke or correct a man in the way of discipleship (as a woman should not be discipling a man). In the same way, a man does not have the “authority” to personally rebuke a woman, as a man should not be discipling a woman. In terms of personal shepherding, no man has authority over a woman, and no woman over a man. This is true except in the case of marriage, where the husband leads his wife in this way of discipleship.

The second kind of authority is the broad kind of authority over the church, not on the one-on-one level, but determining the direction of the church. This is what is reserved for a man, I believe. When reading about Anselm, he gave some interesting thoughts on why God is referred to as primarily male in the Bible. He said when speaking about the differences between men and women, the man is the one where the seed comes from. In other words, when speaking about child rearing, the role of the man is established and the initiator. In the same way, Jesus, who came as a man, is the established and initiator of the church. The wife, and the church, has the role of sustaining what has been given. Because Paul references the Garden of Eden in 1 Timothy 2, he may be calling back on the essential differences in nature between man and woman. For this reason, I believe the “founder” or “establisher” or “initiator” of the church should be a man.

Now, in terms of the reference to women not teaching in 1 Timothy 2, I do not believe this is referring to teaching as we see it today, as a disconnected teaching without personal followup. I believe teaching/preaching, apart from personal discipleship, is open to anyone. This is because, similar to prophecy, the one who teaches the Word does not do so on their own authority. Women are allowed to prophecy and be prophets, as they are not exercising personal authority over anyone (specifically males), but giving the authoritative Word. This is the same for preaching (at least, it should be) today. The preacher often does not have personal discipling relationships with the congregation. In this case, I see no problem with a woman teaching the Word, not on her own authority, but on the authority of the living Word, so long as she is not discipling men. The key difference is that preaching in this sense is disconnected from personal discipleship.

To give an example: I know a female youth leader who teaches the middle-school. She delivers the message, and then the middleschool breaks up into break-out groups. Though she is delivering the Word, she is not personally discipling the young men. That is the job of the break-out group leaders. This is a great example of what I mean. Though she teaches, she does not have personal spiritual authority over the young men in the group, rather this goes to the break-out leaders.

In terms of why there is a married couple at the head of the church, this simply makes things less complicated. The husband disciples and leads the men shepherds (has “authority” over them) as well as his wife. The wife disciples and leads the women shepherds in the church. The role of church leader (as a whole organization, in the direction they are moving) goes to men, as there is something inherent about the nature of men to fit them in this role. In some sense also, which I believe is lost today, the women are to be sustainers of the organization. How this plays out exactly, I do not know, though I can see where this can be done.

And so, there is the model I propose. A man and his wife at the head of the church. Only men can be the authoritative directors of the church. Only shepherds of the same sex can have spiritual authority (discipleship) over the members of the same sex. The only overlap, where a man has spiritual authority over a woman, is in marriage. The head wife disciples the female shepherds, who personally disciple the female congregation. The head husband disciples the male shepherds, who personally disciple the male congregation. Anyone can preach, so long as they are not personally calling out individuals of the opposite sex (and, in that way, exercising authority over them).

I believe this makes the most sense of a very complicated biblical issue. I am open to whatever verses one can find to oppose this view and would love to hear them!