What does the Bible say about women as church leaders or preachers?

God made men and women as equal creatures. I do not believe there is a distinction between men and women in their value to God and their accessibility to salvation. They’re both perfectly equal.

Furthermore, God ministers through both men and women. You read in the Bible about both men and women teaching and preaching, in the capacity of prophets and evangelists, or giving Bible studies, as Priscilla did with her husband, Aquila (Acts 18:26). However, there is no example in the Bible of a woman serving in the capacity of priest, pastor, or elder.

When Jesus chose the 12 disciples, I do not believe He was merely accommodating the traditions of the day when He selected only men. Several offices have uniquely male symbolism. For example, the men were to be the priests of their families. That means servant-leaders, not dictators or despots. Consider Moses’ family: Amram and Jochebed had three children: Miriam, Aaron, and Moses. All three were prophets. Their sons both served as priests, but Miriam did not. She was a prophetess, but not a priest. She led the women in prophetic songs and in teaching.

You’ve read about Anna in the temple (Luke 2:36, 37) and Deborah as a prophetess and a judge in Israel (Judges 4:4), but you’ve never read of women offering a sacrifice. In the Bible, a priest is a male role because he symbolizes Jesus, our High Priest. A similar distinction was made for the Passover sacrifice. The Israelites were instructed to take a male lamb because it was a symbol for Christ.

God has distinctions in the genders and in roles within the family. I don’t think these identities evaporate when people walk through the doors of the church, which is really an extension of the individual family unit.

Key Bible Texts

And there was one Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Aser: she was of a great age, and had lived with an husband seven years from her virginity; (Luke 2:36 KJV)