Women occupy leadership positions in every sector. However, one area that many have continued to raise eyebrow is women occupying leadership positions in the church. Women’s Editor, TEMITOPE OJO, found out that for most people, it is a carry-over of the sentiment people have against women.
For these people, their stance is based on 1 Timothy 2:11-14: “Let a woman learn in quietness, in entire submissiveness. I allow no woman to teach or to have authority over men; she is to remain in quietness and keep silence (in religious assemblies).For Adam was first formed, then Eve. And it was not Adam who was deceived, but (the) woman who was deceived and deluded and fell into transgression.”
Only recently, a cleric said, “Putting women in leadership positions in the church is contrary to the perfect will of God; no matter the anointing the women are carrying. The Bible has no room for woman evangelist, deaconess, ushers and woman pastors, including the pastor’s wife,” he stated.
Analysts have continued to question the cleric’s stance, with many asking if this implies that those who appoint, ordain or accept to be ordained as female leaders stand the risk God’s condemnation and judgment? Does this mean that only men are called into ministry by God?
What then happens to a pastor’s wife who loses her husband? Should the church be allowed to shut down? Should she step in and take the lead or should others take over the administration of the church while she has little or no say?
They added that over the years, female pastors, deaconesses, evangelists, bishops, reverends, general overseers and prophetesses have in no way performed lesser than their male counterparts. In fact, many have been able to break grounds and cross barriers with amazing testimonies attached to their ministries.
Observers say even those who have had to take up the mantle of leadership due to the death of their husbands have not disappointed in their duties, especially as they have continued to wax stronger by the day. Notable among those who make this list are Rev. (Dr.) Margaret Idahosa of The Church of God Mission International and Bishop Nkechi Iloputaife of Victory Christian Centre. For over 17 years, these women have been able to lead and move the ministries founded by their late husbands forward.
Speaking on the issue, Apostle Alexander Bamgbola, Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) Chairman, Lagos chapter, stated that people interpret the Bible differently and as such come up with diverse doctrines, adding that God can use any person to do His work, irrespective of whether the person is a male or female.
“People interpret the Bible according to their own (understanding). People have different opinions. There are different doctrines; men create doctrines all over the place.
“We are praying for one another. The church that is the Church of Christ understands the Word of God and cannot be misled.
“The Lord created man and woman on the same day; He created them male and female, but formed them on different days. The Bible tells me not to get into anything that will lead to strife. I will not argue with anyone. I believe in the Word of God.
According to him, God can use anybody. “Supposing God raises a female to be greater than Pastor Enoch Adeboye in her generation, won’t we accept her?” he asked.
“God can use a woman even if man doesn’t want to use a woman. What can man do? In the Old Testament, women were used by God to do great works. If any man does not want a woman to be pastor in his own ministry, that is his choice. It does not mean it is scriptural.”
Chairman, Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN), Lagos chapter, Bishop Sola Ore, said from the days of old, women have been used by God to do great things, even as he noted that the likes of Bishop Bola Odeleke (a female) held crusade everyday for three years, a feat which no man has recorded.
Ore linked the controversy to the mindset of some African men concerning leadership positions.
“We had ladies or women who were evangelists, like Priscilla in the Bible. When you talk about women leaders, Deborah was a successful judge in Israel.
“The Bible says there is no male or female. I think the problem we have with some of our preachers borders on the African mentality of men being the head of the family and not wanting women to compete with them. The truth is that there are great women who are doing great things for God,” Ore said.
Speaking further, the cleric noted: “Bishop Bola Odeleke is doing great things that some men cannot do. I am yet to see any man do what Bishop Bola Odeleke did; some years ago this woman had crusade everyday for three years. I don’t know of any male evangelist or preacher who has done that.”
On her part, Pastor Peace Goddy opined that there is no gender discrimination with God, as He sees all His children as equal.
Citing two scriptures, she stated: “Galatians 3:27 to 29 said ‘For as many (of you) as were baptised into Christ (into a spiritual union and communion with Christ, the Anointed One, the Messiah) have put on (clothed yourselves with) Christ. There is (now no distinction) neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is not male and female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ (are in Him Who is Abraham’s Seed), then you are Abraham’s offspring and (spiritual) heirs according to promise.’
“Also Acts 2:17,18 said ‘And it shall come to pass in the last days, God declares, that I will pour out of My Spirit upon all mankind, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy ([a]telling forth the divine counsels) and your young men shall see visions ([b]divinely granted appearances), and your old men shall dream ([c]divinely suggested) dreams. Yes, and on My menservants also and on My maidservants in those days, I will pour out of My Spirit, and they shall prophesy ([d]telling forth the divine counsels and [e]predicting future events pertaining especially to God’s kingdom).”
She recounted that Reinhard Bonnke once said that when the husband is called and he refuses to go, then God will send the wife, and if she refuses, He will send the son or daughter.
Explaining further, she said: “When there is a drowning man that needs to be saved (like a sinner), he/she does not care who comes to save him/her. He/she just wants to live and not die.
“If we say that female pastors stand the risk of God’s judgment, will those being saved daily by women pastors through God’s power and anointing go to Heaven or Hell?”
By the way, according to Pastor Goddy, there were 120 disciples in the upper room waiting for the Holy Spirit. “Jesus speaking, asked his disciples to wait for the promise of the Father. He never discriminated against women and proved it in John 4 by speaking to a Samaritan woman at the well, though she was a woman with questionable character.
“We have many of these chauvinistic men of God around, and it will be so till Christ comes. We have to go ahead and preach the Gospel, heal the sick, cast out devils and raise the dead,” she stated.
Another female cleric, Prophetess Christiana Egwu, pointed out that the curtain of the temple, which was torn at the death of Christ, pronounced freedom from any form of restriction to women functioning as pastors, evangelists, etc.
According to her, “When the Holy Spirit visited the early Christians in the upper room, gifts were not only given to the men, but to the women as well.
“If I may ask, is it not the same God that created a woman that deposited gifts in her? Would you now say because she is a woman, the gifts of liberation and pulling down kingdoms should die with her? I tell you, the same way God created a man is the same way He created a woman. God made the man to fall asleep and in the process He formed the woman.”
Egwu added that when Christ said it is finished at his death, the veil of the temple was torn into two. “That was when the yoke got broken, that is a sign of freedom for women to show that we are no more bound and are no more captives.”
Serving Overseer of First Love Assembly, Pastor Simeon Afolabi, corroborated that when the Holy Ghost fell on the day of Pentecost, he fell on both the men and women, and that there is no line of the scripture that says the Holy Ghost is for men only.
He stated that the scripture of women learning in silence is being quoted out of sentiment and misunderstanding of the Bible, as Apostle Paul was addressing the chaos in the Corinthian church.
“Jesus said, thou shall receive power after the Holy Ghost is come upon you and you shall be My witnesses and you shall preach in Judea, Samaria and the uttermost part of the earth. So why should the Holy Ghost be given to men to enable them preach, while the one given to the women is not meant to empower them for preaching or leadership?
“I think it’s a carry-over of the sentiment people have against women. Paul said to the Corinthian church that their women should learn in silence because there was chaos in that church, and he was just trying to set things in order. Some of the things Paul said to the Colossians he didn’t say to the Corinthians because he was addressing their peculiar situation,” he submitted.