How I Changed My Mind About Women in Leadership

By Dr. Jay Zinn

One day a missionary friend said to me, “Jay, for every four missionaries in the field, only one is a man, the rest are women. Without the women, we’d be reaching 75 percent less of the souls that have been reached for Christ on the mission fields.” That statement took me by surprise. More women are entering the mission field than men, yet how do we reconcile Paul’s mandate that women are to be silent in the church, not teach men, or be in any capacity of authority over men (1 Timothy 2:11- 15; 1 Corinthians 14:34)?

The Bible has many illustrations of women who have been in some capacity of spiritual authority and responsibility. Here are just a few: Deborah, a judge (Judges 4-5); Phoebe, a deaconess (Romans 16:1-2); Junia, an apostle and relative of Paul (Romans 16:7); and Lydia and Nympha, who both had house churches in their homes (Acts 16:14,40; Colossians 4:15). Some still debate the gender of some of the names, wielding their cases with a plethora of historical documents and Greek texts to prove their argument or disprove others’ disputes. For the longest time I felt comfortable with my side of the fence, until I became brave enough to read, research and study the arguments against my position. I’m a firm believer that truth can stand up to any scrutiny, but some points under review can seemingly cancel each other out. Such has been the case in my research, which has left me with a decision defined as balance.

When two opposing views on the same subject hold equal strength in their arguments by a litany of theological scholars and their bastion of proof-text scriptures, I believe the tension between the two requires finding not compromise or moderation, but the balance between the two in light of the practical outworking of such doctrine and the test of common sense. At the end of the day, I chose the side of the argument that best expresses love, benefits the body of Christ, empowers the individual, engages all the graces and gifts God has bestowed on women, and does not compromise my conscience or integrity. If a woman fulfills the qualifications of humility, temperance, character, morality, ethics and gifting required of a person in the role of leadership, then I am for it. That is the conviction I have come to – not by pressure from trends, not by pressure for convenience – but from years of study and prayer, and by seeing the benefits of empowering women to their calling rather than resisting it through a non-essential doctrine that is not a heaven-or-hell issue. As I’ve said before, I would rather err on the side of grace, than on the side of legalism when it comes to this subject.

I grew up with a strong mother and three sisters. I had a father who worked in construction and was a man’s man. He taught my brother and I to respect women. I loved my mom and I love my sisters. So I like and admire and respect women. I’m married, I have a daughter, and I also have a sixteen-year old granddaughter. I admire and respect all their various skills, talents and graces. My wife and I founded and pastored three churches over three decades. I’ve had exceptional women on staff as elders’ wives and in various forms of leadership. However, since I was staunchly complementarian (ministry roles differentiated by genders) in my beliefs the first fifteen years of pastoring, I relinquished the advantage God gives married couples when making decisions for the home as a team. A man’s perspective and a woman’s perspective were meant to complement each other in a constructive and healthy way. Making decisions through the eyes of a man alone can diminish the opportunity for a better outcome and a wiser one. I learned that the hard way when I was young and so determined to be the man of the house.

In my first two congregations, my elders and I thought we were the only ones who knew how to run the church and we made decisions that would impact men, women, and children. Notice the three categories: men, women, and children. As I look back on those days, I wonder how I missed the fact that decisions made for women and children might be better complemented through the eyes of a woman’s perspective. My wife had a gift for discerning and is a very wise woman, but I let my doctrine shut her down time and again, fostering that same mindset to a degree in other men. Inadvertently we were telling our wives they didn’t have the capacity or anointing to make spiritual decisions and direction for the church. According to scripture, that was the man’s job.

In my second congregation, the first crack in my doctrine came out of something practical. Over the course of two years I had lost two extremely talented and gifted worship leaders. I believe they carry the first half of the church service and lay an important foundation for a pastor’s sermon, tilling hearts to receive the seed. Both losses were unexpected and a blow to our church. Good worship leaders are hard to come by, especially if you’ve invested your time and money into them, only to be disappointed when they fail or drop out. I had only two choices then because we had no replacement: either I would lead worship or I would have my wife lead worship. Only one problem – I didn’t believe women could lead worship because they would be in a position of authority, leading men in songs and in giving exhortations.

My wife is extremely talented as a singer and a worshiper, but my dogma forced me to choose to lead worship myself. Big mistake. I was rusty. I hadn’t played guitar for years, and I was a 1+ at best on a scale of 1-10. I did this for a few months and it was a terrible time for our church. I was miserable doing it, and the people were miserable with me doing it. So I took another look at the scriptures and revisited my convictions. I looked at the writings of opposing views and discovered that I had not done my homework. I was conveniently content with my view until I came face-to-face with common sense and how impractical it was for me to ignore the obvious.

So I cut my wife loose. I gave her the authority and responsibility to lead worship and the team and she excelled so well at it, she surpassed the talent of the previous leaders and actually raised up leaders to succeed her. The most beautiful part about it is that I never have had to worry about losing my worship leader again. I am married to her!

The second most significant crack in my doctrine happened when I visited Hong Kong and saw the Walled City, a former military outpost that eventually became a place of prostition, gambling and drugs from the 1950s until the early 1980s. However, the Walled City was home to the ministry of an English woman, Jackie Pullinger. She came to Hong Kong in 1966 to follow her calling and fell into ministering to people on drugs in the Walled City. Her work resulted in more than 500 drug addicts delivered from their addictions. She brought the gospel to the narrow streets of that rat-infested, urine saturated city—as a woman. She was so successful, her book Chasing the Dragon, chronicles her journey. I read her book and met her at a conference she attended in Singapore. Today, at 66, she runs a ministry called St. Stephen’s Society, which provides rehabilitation homes for recovering drug addicts, prostitutes and gang members.

Since then I’ve come to read about other great women of God who have inspired and mentored me through their writings and testimonies. Women such as Maria-Woodworth-Etter, Kathryn Kulman, Jeanne Guyon, Mother Theresa, and Heidi Baker of Iris Ministries. These are only a few examples of exceptional, incredible women who were gifted and released to minister in capacities of spiritual authority.

Today, my elders are composed of men and women. Since I have changed my position on women in ministry, I have found that my third church is far healthier than my previous two churches. My wife is a submitted woman, under my covering, but she is also empowered as my co-laborer and an elder in our church to contribute to the direction of our church, facilitate a service, preach, exhort, teach and prophecy. My only regret is that I didn’t see this sooner in my early days. I missed out on much and my wife is my hero in enduring my convictions all those years.

This doesn’t dismiss the balance, however, brought together by both views. I believe in balance. I don’t believe in letting a woman who has a Jezebel spirit lead anything. I believe a woman in leadership roles must be called, qualified, motivated by love, have the heart of a servant, and be worthy of the hard work required of any person who desires a role of leadership.

Paul commended three women—Tryphena, Tryphosa, and Persis—for the hard work they did in the Lord (Romans 16:12). It doesn’t say what kind of work, but he placed a high premium on their efforts. When Jesus spoke to the woman at the well of Samaria, she ran back to town and gathered a crowd to come out to meet him. She declared the man, Christ Jesus, to them and they believed in him because of her testimony (John 4:1-42). She laid the groundwork for a great revival in Samaria when Philip declared the name of Christ to them (Acts 8:4-25). Her testimony sowed the seed of the gospel and made the name of Jesus known so well among the Samaritans, the fruit was ripe for the picking when Philip and the apostles came.

It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and other women who first testified, proclaimed, and declared to the apostles that Jesus had risen from the dead. They, too, were acting in the role of evangelists (Luke 24:1-10). How interesting that Jesus told the apostles he would rise, but when it came from the mouths of women, they were dismissed as speaking nonsense. In some ways, men still do that today.

Did Jesus tell the Samaritan woman to keep quiet about him because she was a woman? No. Did the apostles tell the women who brought back the report about Christ’s resurrection to not speak because they were women? No. Paul hadn’t even written the letters yet that allegedly tell women they can’t speak to men about such things.

Today I am convinced it was never the intent of Jesus to silence women or hinder the expression of their gifts. Jesus elevated women when he interacted with them. And I don’t believe it was Paul’s intent either to shut women down in their giftings. You see how much admiration and respect he showed for women in his letters when he greeted them. However, cultural elements and disorder in the churches prompted him to establish rules, but those rules were not for every church, every circumstance, or every generation. They were practical applications for the setting and the time.

In these times and in my culture, I choose grace, release and empowerment. And even if I was in a culture that kept women suppressed and subservient, I’d rather be known as one who set women free, as did Christ in his time, than to stone them for wanting the same freedom as men have had to be used of God. Setting my wife free from my former dogma has made me a better man, and a better husband. I’m not intimidated by her gifts and graces; I am empowered and completed by them.

Recommended reading on Women in Ministry:

Women Ministers According to Scripture – Judy L. Brown
I Suffer Not A Woman−Rethink­ing 1 Timothy 2:11-15 In Light of Ancient Evidence – Richard & Catherine Kroeger
Two Views on Women in Minis­try – Gundrey/Beck/Blomberg
Message of the Fathers of the Church−Women in the Early Church – Elizabeth A. Clark