Women's Leadership

WOMEN IN CHURCH LEADERSHIP, 2023

Women have contributed immensely to the survival and thriving of the church. Notably, the needs of family, adolescents, and couples are better addressed when women are in leadership positions. Embracing female leadership plays a huge role in helping Christians understand the feminine nature of God

2019

A brief exploration and critical analysis of the debate regarding inclusion of women into ecclesiastical leadership.

2012

Priscilla Papers, 2002

Author: David M. Scholer Publisher: CBE International I want to share with you my personal reflections on my forty years’ involvement with women in ministry, trusting that I am old enough and have been at it long enough that such personal reflection is not in poor taste.

Priscilla Papers, 1992

Author: Kari Malcom Publisher: CBE International In Tulsa, Oklahoma, I had the privilege of preaching in the church where the Reverend LaDonna Osborne is the pastor. With a twinkle in her eye she told me about her grandson, who hears her preach every Sunday. On Christmas he visited a Baptist church to see his cousins participate in a Christmas pageant. After the program the pastor stood up to make his closing remarks.

Conspectus, 2023

This reviews Nijay K. Gupta’s TELL HER STORY (IVP Academic, 2023). “Book Review: Tell Her Story: How Women Led, Taught, and Ministered in the Early Church”

Advancing Women in Leadership Journal

In addressing leadership, there are often two interlocking strands. One of these strands centers on thecontributions of leadership grounded in men's leadership experiences (Regan & Brooks, 1995). The secondinterlocking strand includes feminist attributes. This contributes to nuances of meaning that arise fromwomen's experiences of leadership. Regan and Brooks noted five attributes of leadership among women:collaboration, caring, courage, intuition, and vision. Often these attributes are embedded in firmly heldbeliefs which are at the heart of a notion of relational leadership. Over twenty years ago, Jaggar (1983)further emphasized that "feminist theory is at its best when it reflects the lived experiences of women, whenit bridges the gap between mind and body, reason, and emotion, thinking and feeling" (p. x).

Pentecostal and charismatic churches should be at the vanguard of raising female leaders. They share a history grounded in the pioneering ministry of Spirit filled women. They have formal structures of ordination based in giftedness rather than gender. And they develop their theology out of a shared spiritual experience that overcomes the barriers of class, race and sex. Despite these potential forces for equality, women in many churches still experience sexism, and find it much harder than men to rise to senior positions of leadership. This book responds to this situation. It is driven by a passion to reclaim the tradition of empowering women. It seeks to provide the next generation with theological and practical tools that will help them follow the leading of the Spirit in the pursuit of their goals and dreams. Raising Women Leaders brings together the expertise of authors from various scholarly disciplines, exegetes, theologians, historians and philosophers, along with leadership theorists and practitioners, all from diverse denominational backgrounds. Together, they share the belief that the gospel facilitates liberation from oppression and encourages all people, women and men alike to flourish in life and ministry

The question of whether or not women can serve as leaders in congregations has been significant in churches over the last few decades. Even the larger US culture struggles with the role of women in leadership. 1 The emotions run deep when the issue receives prominence, for reasons that are undoubtedly complex. In this brief article I will consider how our view of scripture informs the way we think about life in the Christian community; how particular biblical texts might be reconsidered in light of their historical contexts; the significance of both Jesus' and Paul's treatment of women; and how we in the church might approach the issue of women in leadership with grace, peace and maturity.