Misguided! Pastors say women do have a place on the pulpit
Published:Thursday | May 21, 2015 | 12:00 AM
SPANISH TOWN, St Catherine:
THE REVEREND Andrew Steele, pastor of New Life Community Church in Spanish Town, St Catherine, has said women preachers do have a place in the Church, and those who are against the phenomenon are misguided.
"I have been in the Church for 30 years, and I thank God for the women. If women were not taught that they are talented and gifted, I don't know what the Church would look like today," Steele told Family and Religion.
Acknowledging that it is a limited view held by one television ministry, Steele said this view is not supported in the Bible.
"The scripture, in Corinthians, where the Apostle Paul, in speaking to a church, said, 'I suffer a woman not to teach or usurp authority over a man' should be viewed in its historical context and who was being spoken to," said Steele.
not fulfilling international mandate
The New Life Community Church pastor said research on churches worldwide shows that the institutions that have blocked women preachers have not been very effective in carrying out their international mandate.
"A few of them that promoted the idea that women must not preach are only impactful in their small area of influence. They have not done any credible work across the nations of the world," Steele stated.
He said because they have literally closed down the women?s department and only used men, they have contributed to the abandonment of useful female talent. Steele said when one looks into the wider Church, women are playing significant roles outside of being wives, mothers, and "keeping house".
One television ministry - 'The Truth of God' - in an open critique of women pastors, claims that the same scripture in Corinthians has no ambiguity about God's command.
When Family and Religion spoke with some male and female members of the Spanish Town branch, they were adamant that they would never attend a church where a woman is leader.
Bishop R.J. Edwards, chairman of the St Catherine Ministers? Fraternal, supported Steele, noting that those who are in opposition to women preachers are using the scripture incorrectly.
"God has liberated both sexes to preach. In fact, women are more committed than men," Edwards highlighted, adding that more women are resisting this incorrectly held view about their role in the Church.