Definitions: Complementarianism is the belief that men and women, while equal in dignity, were designed by God to have differing but complementary roles. Specifically, men are called to lovingly lead women through a Christ-like protection and provision, and women are called to respectfully submit to men through a Christ-like gentleness and humility. On the other hand, egalitarianism is the belief that men and women are not only equal in dignity, but they are created equal in their roles.

The logic of complementarianism has been applied to three arenas: marriage (e.g., “Are wives called to submit to their husbands?”), church leadership (e.g., “Can women be ordained as pastors?”), and vocation (e.g., “Should women fight in the military?”). This article will focus only on church leadership.

The doctrines of complementarianism and egalitarianism have historically served as litmus tests for churches. Complementarians sometimes view egalitarian churches to be susceptible to compromise and disorder, while egalitarians often view complementarian churches to be susceptible to abuse and oppression. Both sides have often shown a lack of charity toward one another.

On the one hand, many complementarians are quick to claim that their side is the “biblical” side. Many people have actually not been exposed to biblically based arguments from the egalitarian side. On the other hand, many egalitarians are quick to lump all complementarians together. In fact, those who fall under the label of complementarian are actually quite diverse.

In reality, when it comes to church leadership, there are actually six types of churches on the complementarian/egalitarian spectrum.

Many of these churches may not be obviously clear, whether in writing or in practice, which of these six churches they actually are. Some may not actually have discussed or thought through all the different possibilities. But nonetheless, from my experience, almost all modern churches fall into one of these six types.

I will be labeling the six types A, B, C, D, E, and F—with A being the most complementarian and F being the most egalitarian. I will depict the views in the table below, and I will give brief biblical defenses for each view (as if I was an adherent to each view).

Can a woman be a/an…?

	A	B	C	D	E	F
Adult Sunday school teacher	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Bible study leader	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Worship leader	No	Maybe	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Preacher at a retreat or conference	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Preacher at a church service	No	No	No	Maybe	Yes	Yes
Deacon	No	Maybe	Maybe	Yes	Yes	Yes
Elder	No	No	No	No	Yes	Yes
Pastor	No	No	No	Maybe	Yes	Yes
Lead/senior pastor	No	No	No	No	No	Yes

A

Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 14:34-35, “Women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission, as the law says. If they want to inquire about something, they should ask their own husbands at home; for it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church.”

Similarly, he writes in 1 Timothy 2:11-12, “A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. I do not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority over a man; she must be quiet.”

These commands align with the overall biblical narrative on the complementary roles of men and women. Men are called to lead, while women are to submit, both in the home and in the church. Therefore, Paul’s commands that women should be silent in church should be interpreted as literal and binding for all churches. While women may certainly teach other women and children (Titus 2:3-5), they should not have any teaching or authoritative role in mixed-gender settings in the church.

B

There are clear examples of women teaching or prophesying in the Bible. Philip’s daughters were prophets (Acts 21:8-9), and Priscilla privately taught Apollos (Acts 18:24-26). Also, nowhere in the Bible does it seem like the spiritual gifts of teaching or prophecy are limited to men. In fact, at Pentecost, Peter quotes Joel in announcing that prophecy is available to both men and women: “Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy” (Acts 2:18). There must therefore be some arena for women to exercise these gifts in the church.

Nonetheless, the women-being-silent passages should still be honored. The issue at hand must not be the exercising of the teaching or prophetic gift, but an issue of authority. The biblical mandate is not to forbid women from teaching in general, but only to forbid women from exercising authority by publicly teaching to the gathered church. 

Mixed-gender Sunday School classes and mixed-gender Bible studies are perfectly appropriate settings for women to utilize their gifts of teaching, because those are somewhat private environments. Any teaching in a public church environment, however, is not appropriate. Worship leading and serving as a deacon are also possible options, depending on how much authority those roles exercise.

Note: In regard to deacons, 1 Timothy 3:12 says that deacons must be the husband of one wife. Some take this to mean that women cannot be deacons. However, some point out that Phoebe may have been a female deacon (the word “diakonos” in Romans 16:1 is translated as “servant” or “deacon”), and they thus interpret 1 Timothy 3:12 not to mean that deacons must be male, but rather that they must not be adulterers.

C

Women are not only permitted to teach in private settings, but they may also preach in any public Christian setting outside of the local church service. This may include Christian retreats, conferences, and workshops. In fact, all Christians, men and women alike, would do well to occasionally hear from and learn from the teaching of women.

Nonetheless, women must not preach in a Sunday service, as the jurisdiction of the local church still falls under male authority. In non-church-service spaces, speakers often do not have relationships with their audience, and hearers are often not mandated to obey them. However, in church services, believers are in a covenant relationship with one another, and they are obligated to hear and obey the teaching of its preachers. Therefore, the Sunday service preacher must be male.

Note: Some complementarians associate the verb “to preach” with having authority, so they would not use that verb with women. They would rather say that a woman is permitted to teach or share, but not preach.

D

Women may exercise their spiritual gift of teaching and hold high levels of leadership, not only in Christian spaces generally but also in the local church. After all, Paul seems to assume that women will prophesy in church services (1 Corinthians 11:4-5), which connotes some level of authority. Therefore, women may possibly be able to preach occasionally on Sundays, and they may even take on the title of “pastor,” as long as they do so under the authority of an all-male elder board.

However, women are not qualified to hold the office of elder, which is the highest level of authority in a local church. The New Testament (1 Timothy 3:1-7 and Titus 1:5-9) lays out the qualifications of a church elder (or overseer, depending on the translation), and one of the conditions is that an elder must be a man of one wife.

Note: The term “pastor” is not clearly defined in the Bible. It is never used as a formal office in the New Testament. Thus, churches differ in how a pastor is defined. Some churches functionally equate “pastor” with “elder.” These “D” churches would not allow female pastors. Others maintain a distinction—pastors are specialized staff employed by the church, while elders are the ruling board of the church. These churches may be open to female pastors.

E

How local churches in America operate today is very different from how local churches in first-century Europe and Asia did. It is therefore impractical to draw strict lines based on how the apostle Paul gave instructions to individual churches in the New Testament. What we should do instead is to unearth the universal principles behind the context-specific instructions. For example, the passages that describe elders as a man of one wife must not be interpreted literally for all churches (otherwise, Paul wouldn’t be able to be an elder, since he does not have any wife). Rather, they simply convey that church leaders must be maritally faithful.

Nonetheless, there seems to be the timeless principle that God has called men to be the ultimate responsibility-bearers of creation, and this ideal should be carried out in the local church. This is reflected in the fact that God confronted Adam first even though Eve ate the fruit first (Genesis 3:8-9), and the fact that Paul says that sin came into the world through one man (Romans 5:12). It follows then that the individual(s) with the highest level of authority in the church should be male.

Note: A case can be made that D and E are essentially the same position, except that they only differ in ecclesiology. D churches have a plurality of leaders at the highest level, usually called elders, while E churches have, ultimately, a single leader at the highest level. Depending on the tradition, this single leader could be a rector, a bishop, a priest, or a lead/senior pastor, who in some traditions is considered the “first among equals” among a plurality of elders.

F

There are no limitations for women in church leadership today. While the New Testament includes several passages that restrict the role of women in the church, these were written primarily to assure that church services were orderly and not disruptive to social norms at the time. Paul was not endorsing these norms as the standard for all churches throughout history (similar to how he was not endorsing a system of slavery for all), but he was simply providing practical guidance to individual churches struggling with division or discord.

The idea that women should submit to men is actually not Christian at all. Rather, it is a direct consequence of the Fall (Genesis 3:16). Ironically, the large majority of Christians throughout church history have inherited patriarchy from their respective sinful cultures, applied it to the church, and justified it with misapplied theology.

On the contrary, the overall heart of Scripture is to empower both men and women for leadership. There are clear examples of female leaders throughout the Bible, including Deborah the judge (Judges 4:4), Huldah the prophet (2 Kings 22:14), Junia the apostle (Romans 16:7), and Phoebe the deacon (Romans 16:1). The reason why there aren’t more female leaders is not because of any theological restriction, but because of social limitations.

Jesus taught that “the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves” (Luke 22:26). Paul exhorted, “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28). Passages like this show that the kingdom of God does not employ traditional power structures, and all image-bearers of God, regardless of social status or gender, are welcome to participate in all aspects of the church.