Must Ministers Be Men?

"Ministers Must Be Men" is in the works and Canon Press is buzzing -- another slim tome, this time about men being men, by Canon's founder, Christ Church pastor, CREC co-founder, and hearty Reformed man of chest Douglas Wilson. The subject is hardly a departure for him, but this time his serrated edge is wielded toward the pulpit.

Wilson believes, according to a post yesterday on his curiously named Blog and Mablog, that Christian denominations that have ordained women have violated Scripture and, because of it, become cesspools of sexual debauchery and theological idiocy. I'm paraphrasing, of course, but accurately; his post was capped off by yet another clever usage of "sodomites," and my paraphrase may not do it justice. I'm a bit more mild.

The truth is, many denominations that currently don't ordain women as pastors did so at their founding. The Christians and Missionary Alliance, Nazarene Church, and Evangelical Free Church all have in their histories women ministers, and even the Southern Baptists have a spotty but clear historical record of women's pulpit ministry. Unfortunately, they bowed to societal pressure -- the dreaded "conformed to the culture" error of Christiandom -- and denied women's ability to use their Spirit-granted gifts. It's a pity, and it's been a tremendous loss for the Church and the world it seeks to reach.

Currently, the conservative Evangelical Free Church and the Evangelical Methodist Church ordain women, and non-denominational churches like Willow Creek support the leadership of women in all church offices. Incidentally, they all hold to a conservative interpretation of the Bible regarding homosexuality, which Wilson probably knows.

You could hardly say that these groups have fallen into sexual immorality and theological chaos. Now, you could say that, and I could say that, but Wilson will undoubtedly keep beating, in his own inimitably masculine way, the drum of male-only leadership in the Church. (No sign yet, however, of a men's drum circle in the woods off of North Polk extension).

Anyway, I don't know what he does with verses like Galatians 3:28, with Paul's encouragement of women's prophetic teaching in the Church, or with Phoebe's diaconate, Priscilla's authoritative teaching of Apollos, Junia's being named among the first century apostles, Lydia's and Chloe's prostasis, or patron/leadership, of the churches that met in their houses. He undoubtedly recognizes that the Samaritan woman was the first preacher of the Messiah's coming to her people, and I don't know how he discounts the tremendous witness of the women at the tomb, the women God entrusted with first announcing the good news of the resurrection. And if he doubts that respected, conservative Evangelical denominations that now don't ordain women did, in fact, in their earlier histories, he can check out a book by Evangelical historian Janette Hassey, "NO TIME FOR SILENCE: Evangelical Women in Public Ministry Around the Turn of the Century." He could check out the study of 1 Timothy 2:12 by conservative theologians Catherine and Richard Clark Kroeger, "I Suffer Not A Woman;" or New Testament scholar Linda Bellevue's "Women Leaders in the Church," or the Gilbert Bilezikian book I've quoted from on Prevailing Winds.

He won't. I know that.

It's lucrative and satisfying, I'm sure, for Wilson to tout masculinity as the hope for the Church, but it's wrong. It's self-affirming for him to direct his followers and colleagues to an unBiblical emphasis on men and masculinity, and since only men lead in the Kirk and the CREC, he's not likely to encounter opposition.

But there is one Man who won't be convinced, and to whom Wilson, et al, must answer. I suspect that exchange will be a bit less than favorable to Wilson's vision of a masculine millennium ushered in by men who ignore Spirit-giftedness in favor of an arrogant assumption that once gifts are given, their use must be restricted in ways that -- imagine! -- are always favorable to the men.

Meanwhile, great is the company of women -- and men -- who proclaim the victory. May God keep us all.