It appears that the glass ceiling is still securely in place in our society.

The second cultural obstacle that I would mention is the fact that the Bible, including both the Old Testament books and the New Testament books, was written against the background of male dominant/patriarchal societies. I am assuming that most, if not all of us, are committed to equality of the sexes. And I am assuming that most of us believe that the weight of the Scriptures, the trend or trajectory of the Scriptures supports the concept of equality. But we cannot deny the fact that there is much in the Bible that seems to assume and reflect as well as seeks to regulate and mitigate male primacy. If this were not true, we might not need to deal with this topic in this symposium.

The third cultural obstacle has to do with the universal church—the Church Militant as it is sometimes called. Christianity is divided today on the role of women in the home, in society and in the church. But the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches as well as a host from the Reformed tradition constitute a huge majority holding to a male dominant structure of the church. And they believe it to be sanctioned by the Bible and the unbroken tradition of the churches.

The fourth cultural obstacle comes even closer home to us. Among fundamentalists and evangelicals who accept the inerrancy of the Scriptures, a great number have minds firmly closed on this issue. A few key prooftexts are all that they need to make certain of God's plan. And they have written articles and books, preached in great superchurches and on television and radio, until the Christian public is saturated with their position. This is especially ironic since it was evangelicalism that gave bitrth in the nineteenth century to the original women's rights movement.

The more I read and study the louder is the testimony of God's Word to the equality of the sexes.

I believe that we must build our scriptural support on what I will call three "towers" of gender equality in the Scriptures.

The first is Genesis 1:27-28, in which the author makes clear that God created male and female, both were His handiwork, both were in His image, both were given authority to subdue the earth and rule over the fish, birds, and living creatures. The equality of creation persisted until the fall of Adam and Eve in Genesis 3 and then rule by the man was part of the penalty-not part of God's original plan in creation nor part of the plan under redemption.

The second tower is in Galatians 3:28 where Paul declared the remedy of redemption for the curse of the fall: "There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus." While equality under redemption between Jew and Greek was implemented by the church in the New Testament age, the equality of slave and free was only achieved in the nineteenth century, and the full equality of male and female is yet being worked out.

The third tower is one that binds the Old Testament and the New Testament together. It first appears in Joel 2:28-29 as a prophecy of the messianic age, predicting that God's Spirit would be poured out on men and women alike and that both sons and daughters would prophesy. It was fulfilled in Acts 2:1ff. when 120 men and women proclaimed the wonderful works of God in the languages of all the nations represented at the feast of Pentecost. And Peter tied it all together when he claimed it as the fulfillment of Joel's prophecy-equality of ministry in proclaiming God's message.

The Old Testament reveals that God has called, worked through, and blessed the ministry of women such as Miriam (prophetess, leader), Deborah (prophetess, judge-highest authority in Israel at that time), Isaiah's wife (prophetess) and Huldah (prophetess).

In the New Testament, Jesus' attitude toward women and their prominent mention throughout the Gospels, Acts and Paul's epistles are totally in contrast with the culture of the times. Phoebe is described as a deacon, Junias as an apostle, Priscilla is depicted as the leader in her home and in the instruction of Apollos. Peter and Paul both speak of women as prophesying.

And yet in the same contexts Paul seems to place restrictions on women, forbid them even to speak in the congregation. We must emphasize those passages which clearly indicate God's use of women in ministry. But we cannot ignore those passages in tension with such a concept. We must attempt to understand their meaning in the context of the totality of scripture. We must also recognize that some seem to defy understanding, as there are verses for which no consensus of interpretation has been achieved. And we must recognize that within the Scriptures God has at times temporarily adapted to His service cultural aspects which were not part of His eternal purpose. Jesus Himself pointed out that the Old Testament statute of divorce, commanded by God, was really God's adaptation to the hardness of the hearts of His people. And the New Testament Church in Acts 15, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, set aside the covenant mark of circumcision as unnecessary in the redeemed fellowship.

We need to recognize that what Dr. David L. Thompson, our colleague at Asbury Theological Seminary, calls the trajectory of Scripture eventually made it impossible for the Church to tolerate slavery, and so the trajectory of Scripture also makes it impossible to continue tolerating the subjugation and limitation of females in the redeemed community. The eternal principles revealed in the Scriptures require the equality of the sexes in privilege and ministry.

The fifth cultural obstacle actually underlies some of what I have already mentioned. It is the widespread concept that women are by nature inferior to men, and particularly that they are far more easily deceived than are men. J. Lee Grady treats this one well in Ten Lies the Church Tells Women (pp. 119-134). This was a view widely held by Greek philosophers, ancient Jews, many early church fathers, and is still held to the present. David Cloud is a writer whose articles are distributed by the Fundamentalist Baptist News Service. Grady quotes (p. 122) an article Cloud wrote in 2000:

The woman has a different makeup than the man. She was designed for a different role in life—that of a wife and mother. Her emotional, psychological, and rational makeup are geared perfectly for this, but she was not designed for leadership. In the Garden of Eden the devil deceived her. This was not true for Adam. He sinned, but he was not deceived. Eve had allowed herself to be thrust into a position of decision-making she was not supposed to occupy. It is no coincidence that women have been responsible for starting many of the false Christian movements and have played key roles in spiritism, New Age, mind science cults and such. Human nature has not changed, and neither have God's restrictions against women preachers.

One wonders whether Cloud has ever tried to enumerate the stupid errors of men or the false movements started by men!

The sixth cultural obstacle deals with our own kind. The steadily narrowing concentric circles I have referred to up to now have left a relatively small group committed to equality in our terms. Included are the Quakers (the first group to deliberately seek and practice equality), the Salvation Army and most of the holiness and Pentecostal denominations as those most open to women in the ministry. And yet even among these, there are many traces of male dominance and inconsistencies in application and practice. Women are usually limited to serving under the leadership of their husbands or in positions not able to secure male ministers. And while mediocrity is widely accepted for male ministers, only the most highly gifted and effective women come close to equal opportunity—that is, opportunity equal to that of mediocre men!

The seventh cultural obstacle is one that plays on the fears of all the church groups I have mentioned. It is the reaction of genuine Christians against the apostasy brought on by liberalism in its many forms. These include the radical feminists who are agnostics or atheists or even pagans. Some have taken a cue from the female personification of Wisdom in the Proverbs and worship a female deity called Sophia (the Greek word for "wisdom"). Also included are the "mainline" liberal denominations which have just recently begun ordaining women and are lending support to radical feminism. Some of them have already accepted the ordination of practicing homosexuals and others are debating the issue. Also included are rank social liberals who promote the ordination of women in the same breath with which they promote the ordination of practicing homosexuals.

The eighth cultural obstacle is the shortage of readily available models of women in ministry and the lack of teaching that supports such a role for women. [Few] have been exposed to responsible principles of biblical interpretation on the controversial passages about women, such as studying the statements in context; understanding the difference between descriptive and prescriptive passages, and carefully examining the general tenor or direction of Scripture in order to arrive at the meaning or principles to be applied to the specifics.

There is a ninth cultural issue on which I must confess I have difficulty getting a grasp. I am told repeatedly by district superintendents that often the persons in local churches most strongly opposed to women ministers are other women. On the surface this seems strange. Many of the most zealous champions of women in ministry are women. Why would others be in the forefront of opposing it? My wife tells me that surveys have shown that many women prefer to work for a male boss rather than a female. Is it jealousy? Is it such a departure from past experience there is fear of the unknown? Is it a confidence that a male pastor can be manipulated more easily than a female pastor? What psychological tensions are revealed here?

Andrew D. Lester, in an article entitled, "Some Observations on the Psychological Effects of Women in Ministry" (Review and Expositor) LXXXIII: 1, Winter 1986, pp. 56-57), speaks to this tension. He suggests three reasons:

(1) The jealousy which wives feel toward any professional woman with whom their husbands work; they feel disadvantaged by the woman who appears competent, nicely dressed, free from burdens of homemaking and intellectually sharp.

(2) The resentment that some women feel toward radical feminism with its put down of those devoting themselves to the vocations of motherhood and homemaking; they may assume a woman minister will do likewise.

(3) Some women will be jealous because they wish they were doing something more creative with their own lives.

Disarming the Cultural Challenges

It is my conviction that we male leaders must take the initiative in bringing about positive change for women in ministry. We must be the ones vigorously pursuing the development of proper strategies and initiating them.

For young women, including my own granddaughter, who are preparing for ministry, I hate to repeat the sad old refrain—you will continue to need great patience. Seize opportunities for ministry small and large, as they come. If you see something that needs to be done that no one is doing, undertake it. Our women in ministry in the past had to create their own openings, start churches without assistance. You may have to find ways to do this again. Quite a few in the past paired up, two women called of God to minister and finding ways to do it while supporting themselves.

And I am sorry that it is necessary to give women entering the ministry this admonition. Do not become belligerent. Do not become bitter. You will win much more quickly with grace and beauty of spirit. I believe we are on the verge of a breakthrough. May God grant that it be so.

[To read Dr. Haines complete address to leaders of The Wesleyan Church, click here. Then click on "Women in Ministry."]