Rev. Dr. Abraham Smith, Professor of New Testament, Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University

I support women in the ministry for three major reasons. The first reason is biblical. If one truly accepts the egalitarian vision of Gal 3:28 as a fitting paradigm for life, one cannot just oppose race and class oppression. One must oppose gender oppression as well. The second reason is historical. Although the annals of church history have often given women short shrift, the life-blood of churches has always been the work of women. As Marian Wright Edelman has stated, for example, “Women are the backbone of the black church without whom it would crumble.”[1] Thus, I support women in the ministry because women throughout history, including women in the ministry, have supported the church. The third reason is theological. I can no more conceive of a deity who would deny women the right to preach, pastor, or otherwise lead in a parish than I can imagine a deity who would wholesale deny such a right to a group of people because of the color of their skin, the size of their bank account, or the hemisphere into which they were born. 

[1] Quoted in Barbara Dianne Savage,  Your Spirits Walk Beside Us: The Politics of Black Religion (Cambridge: Harvard, 2008), 247.

Rev. Dr. Stephen V. Sprinkle, Emeritus Professor of Practical Theology, Theologian-in-Residence for the Episcopal Church of St. Thomas Apostle, Dallas, TX

 Women are the main reason I am in ministry at all, and I believe that holds true for so many of my male colleagues. The matriarchs of the Hebrew Bible and the women at the empty tomb who were the first witnesses to the Resurrection of Jesus started the great faith tradition of ministry, and I am grateful to the great cloud of female witnesses who accepted me as a fellow servant with them.

Dr. Christopher R. Hutson, Professor of Bible, Missions, & Ministry at Abilene Christian University, Author of First and Second Timothy and Titus (Paideia Commentaries, 2019)

I support women in ministry because I take seriously the Apostle Paul’s argument that for people who have been baptized into Christ and have thereby clothed themselves with Christ, “there is neither Jew nor Greek, neither slave nor free, no longer ‘male and female,’ for [we] are all one in Christ Jesus” (Gal 3:27–28). I can no longer endorse any construal of faith that privileges one ethnic group over another, or one social class over another, or one gender over another. All such claims of privilege and dominion are relics of the fallen and broken world that is passing away. Because of Christ, I choose to live into God’s glorious future in which such distinctions are done away.

Nelson Ross, 1st Gentleman of First Baptist Church of Pittsfield, MA

I remember when my wife, Pastor Sheila, informed me she would not be married to a preacher, I told her “Okay,” because I knew all the time God was calling her; and not me. How did I know? God did not need a third party to advise who was being called into ministry. I support this woman of God, not because she is my wife, but because she is a vessel of God, who I know without a doubt has been called to deliver the Good News.

Rev. Mark Wingfield, Executive Director and Publisher of Baptist News Global, Author of Why Churches Need to Talk about Sexuality (Fortress Press, 2019)

If the gospel really is good news to be shared with all people, why would the Creator disqualify half the world’s population from proclaiming that good news? A gospel that can only be declared by men is not good news for all people.