Does It Really Matter

The big problem with the church's history of restricting public ministries to males is not that women didn't get to minister.  They never quit ministering.  The problem was that by refusing to recognize the public ministry of women, the church taught by example the very opposite of what Paul had been teaching in Galatians 3.  Ultimately the insult of ignoring the public ministry of women was not so much against the women who were called to serve but against the teaching that Jesus' life, death, and resurrection had effect on human social institutions as well as on human hearts.

It is impossible to separate our rejection of slavery with our rejection of limited gender roles.  It is impossible to separate our rejection of racism and ethnic hatred from this passage in Galatians.  Jesus' life and ministry were not just to redeem our hearts but to reconcile all the relationships of human life.  Recognizing all forms of women's public ministries is a part of recognizing the scope of Jesus' work in the world.

Here is a short timeline of the important events in our denomination's recognition of women in ministry.

1816	Female Union Society for the Promotion of Sabbath Schools formed
1818	Formation of the first women’s missionary societies
1840	Elizabeth Cady Stanton (a Presbyterian) and Lucretia Mott attended the World Anti-Slavery Convention in London, which refused to seat women delegates
1844	The historical marker of the Newbern Presbyterian Church, Newbern, Alabama, records, “Two women served on early Board of Elders contrary to Presbyterian Rules of Order.”
1851	Sojourner Truth, a freed slave woman preacher, toured the country. Responding to a man saying her sermons were no more than a flea bite, she said, “Maybe not, but the Lord willing, I’ll keep you scratching.”
1916	PCUS (southern church) General Assembly changed the 1880 ruling that women could not speak in assemblies of both men and women
1918	Lillian Herrick Chapman became first woman licensed to preach in PCUSA (northern church)
1922	Women ordained as deacons, PCUSA (northern church)
1930	Women ordained as elders, PCUSA (northern church)
1956	Margaret Towner became first woman ordained as a minister of Word and Sacrament in PCUSA (northern church)
1978	Requirement that all churches elect women as elders and deacons added to the Book of Order, UPCUSA (northern church)

For Further Study

Women's Ministries History in the PCUSA
Presbyterian Women