Leadership

Reconciliation to Christ Alone: Women in Ministerial Leadership

by Kristen Wicker
11/11/25
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Abstract  

This paper argues that Scripture affirms full ministerial leadership for women through mutual submission, not hierarchical subjugation. Beginning with Galatians 3:28 as hermeneutical cornerstone, it examines Pauline household codes (Ephesians 5) as counter-cultural equity, Jesus’ commissioning of Mary Magdalene (John 20) as the inception of the Great Commission, and Revelation’s feminine imagery (Rev 12) as eschatological fulfillment. Rahab and the Genesis “helper” (ezer) frame women as divine agents of redemption. The Holy Spirit’s outpouring in Acts 2 confirms no gender distinction in gifting. Against complementarian readings, the study asserts that biological difference does not limit spiritual authority. The church must reject male gatekeeping and embrace the whole Body for the Great Commission.

Keywords: women in ministry, Galatians 3:28, mutual submission, Mary Magdalene, Revelation 12, egalitarian theology, Great Commission, women in the church

Introduction

            A great divide comfortably rests between the dogmatic hierarchical beliefs surrounding men and women that have been carefully preserved across history. Through the anchor of desire for submission, power, and structure, a new creation order of sorts has been born through human works that defies the very nature of Christ’s character, heart, and commitment to equity- and its ultimate contribution to the Great Commission. The question must be asked: what should be said to millions of young daughters across the globe as they seek their identity in a Christ who promises life through a new creation being born in them as a disciple of His heart and Word? Will it fulfill God’s salvation for the world that they be told they are unworthy of all parts of purpose, call, and giftings in becoming a new creation in Him, thus they are wise to consult a man to direct them to the parameters of their new being in Christ? When the male-led church becomes the gatekeeper to God for women and young daughters who are seeking the Shepherd, at that moment, the church is operating as a pseudo church. It is here the Church exists well beyond the parameters of Scripture and the character of God through their subjugation of women as a formal praxis to solely elevate men through leadership and teaching.

            Women are gifted by the outpouring of the Spirit with no differentiations. Acts 2:17 says, “I will pour out my Spirit on all people; then your sons and your daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, and your old men will dream dreams.”^[1] When  individuals unmask their orientation to a hierarchical structure across creation, they become free to see the power intentionally inlaid across Scripture through the interactions, purpose, and divine use and elevation of women through her reconciliation to God, alone. The fullness of the Body of Christ is only seen and fully whole through the mutual inclusion and leadership of both men and women who are free to receive direct and personal giftings of the Spirit, rather than preemptive disqualifications of giftings being improperly asserted based on one’s biological sex. The purpose of this paper is to explore the topic of women in ministry leadership through an analysis of texts from the Gospels and Acts, Pauline literature, and the General Epistles and Revelation to reveal that God’s mighty work is only accomplished through the whole Body of Christ who are free to be anointed and used by God in purpose and gifting as He desires, rather than by worldly interpretive attempts to limit a woman’s capacity to be used according to God’s will.

Pauline Literature

For the post-modern church, the Apostle Paul’s words have been the center of great debate as they relate to the roles of women under Christ, and more importantly, in how they offer definition to the equity of women among men within ministry leadership. Galatians 3:28 provides the cornerstone from which all other understandings can flow within the formation of relational dynamics and questions of hierarchical authority. Galatians 3:28 offers a compelling and concise view of the Body of Christ, “There is no Jew or Greek, slave or free, male and female; since you are all one in Christ Jesus.”^[2] Illuminating further, Author Craig Keener shares, “When Galatians 3:28 declares there is neither slave nor free, it is not ignoring unjust power structures in society. It is announcing that in Christ, all believers are equal… are all called to serve one another in love. How we treat each other in the church has implications for what the church should work for in society. . .” ^[3] Conversely, first century historian Josephus Flavius said, “the woman is in all things inferior to the man. A man must pronounce three blessings each day: Blessed be the Lord who did not make me a heathen...blessed be he who did not make me a woman...blessed be he who did not make me an uneducated person.” ^[4] The argument surrounding the modern, daily implication for the lives of women, as well as for the collective Commission across the Earth is held by a hermeneutical grip of Galatian 3:28. However, it should be underscored that the Apostle Paul takes great care to profoundly detail that there is no division among humanity in God’s creation among Jew or Gentile, they are in one Body, and one’s identity in Christ supersedes all others. ^[5] Therefore, it is through the formational work of Galatians 3:28 that all other understandings can exist properly under Christ’s design for male: female relationships as it relates to hierarchy, power differentials, and authority. To be God’s servants encompasses all parts of the human and spiritual experience, including ministry and leadership.

The Epistle to Ephesus has rested at an uneasy existence. It has bred an uncomfortable paradox in how the church ultimately relates and views God, as well as His divine creation of women, and their subsequent roles and accompanying equity.  However, the paradox of such a fulcrum is that the Apostle Paul did not seek to admonish or condemn through his Epistle to Ephesus, but rather to bring unity and exhortation to the people of Ephesus through an unquenchable and pioneering path to live in honor, equity, and love. Therefore, in reading Ephesians, one may question the household code for husbands and wives, as well as the implications for today’s church within male: female authority within roles and relationships. The Epistle to Ephesus was seeking to provide encouragement and direction through a spirit of unity for early Christians as they wrestled with pagan and idolatrous influences from Greco-Roman society. Above all, Paul’s readers would have understood that he was highlighting oneness and strength in such a way that would be entrenched in Truth to honor God. Therefore, he offered household code standards of how one should relate to another through a theme of service: in their shedding of their old selves, and in embracing their new lives in Christ.

Additionally, each person is reconciled to one another, in the same manner they are all reconciled to Christ. One way Paul sought to clearly and definitively provide insight to male: female equality was by offering the pinnacle gender standard of marital reconciliation between husbands and wives that contrasted both Jewish and Roman marital dynamics. This would have represented a supreme standard of equality to the readers of the Epistle to Ephesus that would have permeated all such matters of hierarchical patterns of relationships between men and women, offering a bold, transccending example and opportunity for the audience to shift their understanding of male: female dynamics away from familiar cultural norms of power and subjugation. Kelvin Mutter shares, “This suggests that the introductory phrase to the Ephesian household code employs a change in vocabulary that shifts the power dynamic of the marital relationship away from the unilateral subjection of women by men to a mutual yielding of men and women to each other.”^[6] Therefore, Paul provides a compelling framework of gender relations, using the husband-and-wife union and subsequent roles as a cornerstone model, poised without authority differential, but rather marked by individual differentiation and mutual submission.  As a divine, supreme standard of equality, men and women in marriage are to seek one another in humility and gentleness as one unified body in Christ before God in a basin of love and respect through a mutual filling of, and submission to the Spirit. ^[7] A critical understanding when reading the Book of Ephesians is to fully embrace that it was written in a spirit of exhortation, reverence and unity, not condemnation or subjugation. The Epistle of Ephesus was written to new Believers of mixed backgrounds; thus, this exhortation is underscored by the Epistle’s opening conveying excitement and blessing. This is seen by Paul giving the people of Ephesus a magnified, reverent claim to who they were as a whole under Christ, referring to them as, “Faithful Saints in Jesus Christ at Ephesus”. ^[8]

Paul continues further by developing a key praxis. He powerfully partners the Earthy physical existence of men and women in relationship to spiritual oneness with each other and to God. There are two spiritual people as detailed in the Epistle to Ephesus, the husband and wife: male and female, and Paul directs both under the name of Christ that they are to mutually engage in submission to one another. It is critical to recognize that Paul was writing to husbands and wives that were accustomed to Jewish and Greco-Roman beliefs surrounding men and women, and also marriage. Therefore, his immediate recognition of two spiritual beings being one in mutual submission under Christ would have starkly contrasted that of the audience's formative experiences and beliefs surrounding behaviors of husbands and wives. However, great care had been taken to ensure the people of Ephesus were ready to receive this call from Paul. While the Epistle is not one of political origin, but rather a unifying exhortation of the Body through equity, it is in essence teaching elevation of God’s law above, and in divergence, from that of the cultural influences and normatives of patriarchy. This supreme truth was critical to precede any forthcoming directives in order to create the landscape of proper understanding of additional truths given regarding relationships between men and women.  Therefore, when Paul then directs wives to submit themselves to their husbands as the Lord, the audience would have readily made the connection between the spiritual reverence, commitment, and responsibility of the relationship to the other person within their own Christhood. This equipped the reader to accept and view marriage togetherness outside of self-centric frameworks or patriarchy, but, instead, one of a mutually congruent dyad born in equity and mutual submission within the context of servanthood.

 Therefore, the Believers of Ephesus were subsequently primed to receive Paul's ultimate call for unity, submission, and works of new life through personal acknowledgement of who they were in Christ. The Epistle then goes on to offer a view of a pulsating life that now dwells inside of each of them through their Salvation. Thus, this created a tangible shedding of their old, sinful ways for God’s Holy ways. Author and Theologian Darrell Bock shares, “we may confidently affirm that Ephesians was written to promote unity, particularly between Jew and Gentile, and to affirm the supremacy of Christ over every power and to remind Believers of their privileges in Christ.” ^[9] Paul takes great care to also first name that the Jews and Gentiles are equally reconciled to one another, instilling the framework of mutual reconciliation under Christ, likewise, in his calling himself a servant of the Gospel.^[10] Paul’s layout and order of the Epistle stood to create a soft reverence in the hearts of those in Ephesus, in communion between Paul the servant, Jews, Gentiles, and all of Ephesus, as equals. Author F.F.Bruce poignantly highlights, “Already in his time the Jewish morning prayer probably included the passage where the pious man thanks God that he was made a Jew and not a Gentile, a free man and not a slave, a man and not a woman. All three of these privileges are hereby wiped out: real as they were in the Judaism of Paul’s day, they are abolished in Christ.”^[11] This would have been offered as a group thought of tender togetherness that was thirsty for the Life source that could bring such unity to such a place of mixed people. Therefore, when Paul seeks to underscore the primary theme of all Believers in how they are to live with one another, and, specifically, the relational household code for husbands and wives, this model of male and female within the pinnacle form of togetherness would have been received as the rockbed standard of submission to Christ. Through the Holy Spirit's operation in Paul's ministry, those in Ephesus were inwardly prepared to embrace this Truth with intended humility and reverence—united in the recognition that all stand as equals before God and serve as co-laborers in His collective work without division in functional spiritual capacity.

General Epistles and Revelation

Rahab, by all accounts, was a woman far from God, and many could have offered that she was not worthy to be used by Him. However, Hebrews 11:31 says, “Rahab did not perish with the disobedient, because of what she did by faith. Her heart melted in fear of the Lord, but by faith, it was re-built strong again.” God fulfills His promises, and He had promised the land of Jericho to the Israelites. Rahab, a woman, and a lowly woman with a sordid past, found new life in God by which He fulfilled a divine promise that forever changed the trajectory of Israel, and God’s people. Rahab and her family were alone spared from devastation, also in fulfillment of promise. However, when God prepared the Israelite spies to stand at Rahab’s doorstep while she was an active prostitute, God knew she was not new in Christ when He chose her. Therefore, it stands to show that God intentionally chose a woman, rather than a righteous man, to fulfill His promise to Israel in offering them the City of Jericho. He also offered her a path of redemption. Detailing further insight and strength to God’s use, love, and equipment of women for His great work, Rahab was not a Jewish woman and did not belong to the people of Israel. Rather, she was a pagan Canaanite woman who was engaging in prostitution, defiling her body and the bodies of men. However, God chose Rahab and used her future lineage to usher in the Messiah, thus she was chosen by God as one of the foremost signs of the Great Commission. ^[12] Thus, this precisely offers affirmation that God does not minimize the work, impact, or usability of women based on hierarchical structures, or in a creation order of subjugation of women under men.

In echoing the testament of God’s sight of equality among men and women across Scripture, the Book Revelation provides a rich overlay to the powerful work of God through Him choosing Rahab. God shows that He infiltrates one’s present-day to usher in change for His Kingdom. God will equip and partner with those who are seemingly unworthy of partnership with the Creator of the Universe, and in doing so, He reveals His sovereignty and understanding which supersedes human thinking. In the Book of Revelation, God robustly fills the void between the cosmic and rational, and uses the imagery of women as power symbols of faith overcoming oppression and dark forces. “A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars, and she was pregnant and she cried out, being in labor and in pain to give birth,” reads Revelation 12:1-2. Many Christians understand the woman to be Mary and the child to be Jesus, while others believe the woman is Zion, the prophesied city of God’s glory with His people, and some believe the child is Jesus the Messiah who manifests the glory of the city in person, according to theologian, Kevin Miller. ^[13]  Miller goes on to share, “The text and symbols of Revelation definitely have roots or connections in other biblical and extra-biblical literature; however, Revelation has its own internal logic and use of those symbols.” ^[14] Revelation depicts symbology of good versus evil with the birth of the righteous paralleled to the Babylonian Prostitute representing the wicked and oppressive, yet with alluring powers that overcome the world. (Rev. 17:1-18) It is clear, John, the author of the Book of Revelation, partners bona fide feminine imagery to showcase the return of Jesus to Earth.

Theologian Emily McGowan asserts based on the primary use of women in showcasing the prophetic events of Jesus’ return, “while there are clearly two kinds of women, representing the two kinds of people among humankind and their eternal allegiances, both are actually the flip-sides of the character of the first woman. … all people are still like Eve, either at her tragic worst or her faithful best.” ^[15] However, in light of McGowan’s statement that all are a version of Eve, it is conversely noted, “John sets this symbol paradoxed to that of the virtuous woman, who represents poise, harmony, beauty, and life-giving creation.” ^[16] Therefore, the woman of God’s creation in Genesis that was created alongside the man to thoughtfully take dominion over the Earth is seen in the final days of the Earth raised as the cosmic cornerstone of virtue and life that will represent God and His people. Therefore, God’s creation of women has not been with the intent for them to be born into inferiority, but rather to be a powerful and sacred life source for all of Creation in the spiritual and physical. God has carefully crafted women in giftings, strengths, vision, and purpose, some of which, which cannot be fulfilled by men. However, this does not relegate the male, nor create standards of actions or servanthood by division. Men and women therefore offer aspects of complementarianism through biological and innate differences; however, they are well differentiated in purpose without difference to their servanthood capabilities under Christ. Christ alone equips His Saints by the Spirit for His work in leadership and ministry. God desires, provides, and commands the mobilization of the full breadth of the Church for the work of bringing the Gospel to the ends of the Earth, men and women alike, as witnessed by the great work of the Apostles’ Paul and John.

In Jesus’ time on Earth through the witness of His physical body, He took profound care and time to offer the world undisputed examples of His view of women within ministry. One must understand the ways in which Jesus would have conveyed this to the hearers and observers of His words and actions. Jesus’ ministry was laced with repudiation of tradition or repetitions that undermined God’s sovereign plan and love for His full Body of Priests. Jesus was a boundary breaker, pushing deeply into the smooth grains of time of the early Palestine culture that ran far and wide providing a deep care for connection, rather than rule, alone. In chapter one of the Gospel of John, Jesus asks two of his first converts, Andrew and John, “What are you seeking?” (John 1:38). Jesus seemingly strikes to the heart of the true substance of life that they were indeed seeking by following Him, impervious to all barriers^[17] by posing the question. This offered both Andrew and John the critical opportunity to recognize and become one with their own truth in seeking to follow Him. Jesus intentionally asks what, rather than who, they are seeking, indicating a noun in the form of a substance. The Hebrew word for seek is zēteō, which means to seek in order to find.^[18] Jesus is teaching His disciples and those who wish to follow Him that their decision to do so is firmly planted within a life of action of seeking with the intent to uncover and reveal something.^[19] Later in the Gospel of John, God again affirms the essence of meaning for those who follow Him by seeking in order to find. In John 20:15 Jesus says to Mary Magdalene, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?...Mary!” This was a familiar question being posed in sameness just as it was posed to John and Andrew. However, this time it was asked by Jesus to a woman. Jesus only sought to uncover one’s motivation for what they were seeking through Him, rather than being concerned with who was seeking. Therefore, Jesus offers a compelling view into His heart for both men and women as they serve in His Kingdom, and it looks just the same, without lines of division based on biological sex. Jesus cares for the substance one is seeking and the heart in which they seek, yet He offers clear insight there are no standards or divisions applied to who is seeking.

 When Jesus calls again to Mary after He rose from the tomb, He calls her by her given name.  He shows His personal relationship with her from His otherworldly transitional state offering Mary, a woman, the very first sight of His transcendence after He was crucified and then being in His risen state. It would have been understood that Jesus was showing that He knew her, even from His mystic state, when Mary had arrived at His tomb in great faith seeking His physical body in reverence. Jesus knew she was seeking the Bread of Life, thus He boldly instructed her while showing unity with her and instilling authority to who she was, “Stop clinging to Me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father, but go to my brothers and say to them, I am ascending to My Father and Your Father, and My God, and Your God.” (John 20:17) Mary did as Jesus asked and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord!”, telling everyone that Jesus had said these things to her. (John 20:17) Jesus instructed Mary Magdalene, a woman, alongside Disciples John and Andrew, to go and proclaim that He was the Messiah. Further egalitarian recognition and alignment are seen by this missional ethos of Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew as He commanded His disciples to go tell others through the work of the Great Commission. ^[20] Just as men are called to go and tell of Jesus, Matthew provides additional compelling insight illuminating God’s view of women and their missional role within the Body of Christ,

And the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid; for I know that you are looking for Jesus who has been crucified. He is not here, for He has risen, just as He said. Come, see the place where He was lying. And go quickly and tell His disciples that He has risen from the dead; and behold, He is going ahead of you to Galilee. There you will see Him; behold, I have told you.” And they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy, and ran to report to His disciples. And behold, Jesus met them [b]and said, “Rejoice!” And they came up and took hold of His feet, and worshiped Him.Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go, bring word to My brothers to leave for Galilee, and there they will see Me.” (Mat. 28:5-10)

According to theologian Frederick McLeod, “Jesus would have been understood to be asserting that He is honored by all as the true Son by reason of His union with God the Word. He thus differs by His nature as God, indicating in this way the difference existing between the Creator and His creatures.”^[21] Therefore, when Jesus asked Mary Magdalene, as He did Andrew and John, what do you seek? He would have been uncovering faithful assurance of their desire to seek something greater: the God of life. Likewise, Jesus’ hearers would have also understood Jesus to be asserting His divinity and the primal mystical connection between God as the sovereign life source of His creation through asking what they are seeking.  It is revealed in The Gospel of John that those who sought to serve Him, Jesus met directly through personal connection, curiosity, and proclamation. Jesus only sought to reveal the sincerity of their faithfulness through their seeking. He did so without any division among men and women, and without hesitation or variance in His command for them to go tell the world He was the Messiah.

 Additionally, in the Gospel of John, Jesus inquired about the nature of one’s spiritual seeking through the same manner of questioning with no regard to biological differences.  He commanded both men and women to engage in missional proclamation. Therefore, Jesus’ authority given to men and women as teachers of His work is clearly evident; however, in separation, Jesus chose a woman to be the first person He spoke to after His death, and commanded that she be the inception of the Great Commission under the New Covenant. Theologian Body Luter shares, “women disciples were the only ones present at the first viewing of the resurrected Jesus. …a number of other trustworthy female disciples went to give their testimony to the apostles and to "all the rest". ^[22] It was through Christ’s visitation that women's liberation of the time and across history as God’s standard was set in motion under the New Covenant of Christ and His Kingdom work. ^[23] The Greek translation for all the rest, loipos, means, ‘with a certain distinction and contrast, the rest, who are not of a specific class or number’.^[24]Therefore, it would have been understood by those of the time that women were not relegated to subservient roles in God’s Kingdom based on a woman being chosen as the first proclaimer of the resurrected Christ. Additionally, in consideration of the harsh Grecco-Roman rule and subsequent standards for women within hierarchical structures, it is possible that Jesus’ choosing to come to Mary Magdalene was a testament to His great regard and future use of women in His Kingdom work of making disciples across the nations.

Theological Integration

Jesus was a servant. He was the quintessential standard of a helper, as told by Scripture.  Genesis 2:18 is widely asserted as having momentous intent defining the origin of all roles of women in relation to men within a hierarchical system. Genesis 2: 18 reads, “And the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper- meet for him.”  Author LeAnn Flesher shares, “The KJV translates the Hebrew ‘ezer Jpnegdo' found in Gen 2:18, 20, as “help meet,” which according to Merriam-Webster is a literary term for “helpmate.” Merriam-Webster defines “helpmate” as “one who is a companion and helper; especially a wife,” “helper” as “one that helps; especially: a relatively unskilled worker who assists a skilled worker usually by manual labor,” and “help” as “to give assistance or support to, e.g., help a child with homework.” ^[25] It is through this translation that a tradition was born of women being viewed as an ‘unskilled’ helper to those who have authority and rule. However, when one looks at the use of the word ezer in Old Testament texts, ezer does not correspond to that of a subservient helper to the one who reigns in power. Ezer was used 21 times in the Old Testament in reference to Eve, Priests, Kings, and God himself, as a wise one offering help. The word ezer does not connote subordination, but rather salvation. Therefore, Eve is not being designated a servant to males in Genesis 2, but a savior of some kind to man. ^[26] Subsequently, it is surmised that Eve, made from the pre-form of human creation, the same material as Adam, was brought into mutual existence as a savior of a solo existence within the world, rather than to be a subordinate helper. God offers a compelling historical context of the woman. She was created to be a servant under Christ in mutual submission to Adam, but through differentiation, to offer wisdom and sanctification across the collective Body, and to men. God imparted authority and great faith within women by decisively and uniquely creating woman after man for a specific purpose within the Body of Christ. It is revealed that God has chosen and anointed women with a profound faith to support God’s divine works within the Kingdom.

In congruence with God’s powerful use of women within ministry, the Holy Spirit veils prominently across women during the formation of the early church as shown within the Book of Acts. There was no separation between men and women in the upper room, or gifts of the Spirit given as they gathered together. Women were equally demonstrated as receiving miracles and being powerful conduits of works. ^[27] Theology professor Bradley McLean shares regarding women in the Book of Acts, “Christian women play prominent roles in the Apocryphal Acts. With the exception of the Apostles, they are consistently portrayed as being superior to men and models of self-control, faith, and endurance in the face of adversity.”^[28] Tabitha, as shown in the Book of Acts, is illustrative of the great faith and endurance McLean speaks of. Tabitha was humble of circumstance, but a powerful servant, serving other women who were in secondary oppressive circumstances without resources after they became widowed herself. When Tabitha became ill and all those she had served wept in a great outpouring, Peter took profound witness of their sorrow, faith, and desire to be in communion with Tabitha. Moved by the Spirit, Peter raised Tabitha from the dead through prayer and power through the Father. (Acts 9:36-43.) In recognizing that a woman was raised from the dead after the witness of faith and love that flowed from her servanthood, Galatians 3:28 succinctly confirms the standard of distinction as it relates to men and women in Christ, offering that there can be no male or female in Christ.

While things of the world as it pertains to being male and female provides physical difference and distinction, one’s identity in the Body of Christ as a disciple for His great Commission suffers no subjugation. Mary Elizabeth Baxter shares regarding prophesying women in the Book of Acts, “The wisdom of those days, when the language of the Holy Ghost was so fully understood, had not led men to quench the Spirit, or to despise prophesying, because He might choose only a woman as His instrument.” ^[29] The Holy Spirit is the giver of Gifts superseding the understanding of human temporal abilities. Men and women are able to be gifted and equipped for all positions of ministry work, as the Spirit reveals, with no distinctions offered to one being male or female. The Holy Spirit gives in accordance with His will alone, and men and women will break bread with one another, with sincere hearts, having everything in common, and will praise God. (Acts 2:42-45)

Conclusion

Through Jesus' personal example, and the works of the Spirit across history, God details His great care, love, and anointing of the full Body of Believers. Further, He extends His divine use across all of humankind, not merely the Body of Believers, just as He did with Rahab using her to usher in Jesus’ life and fulfill a promise to the Israelites. This illuminates His sovereignty as the God of the Universe, and His will to employ His great works through people without regard to status or lines of division, including that of male or female. Giftings of the Spirit are promised in the Book of Acts across all Believers without relegation or attachment to personal identifiers. Further, women are used as a witness of ‘savior’ in both Genesis and Revelation, the beginning and ending of time, offering the same power that was given to Mary Magdalene as the inception of The Great Commission. However, today, the post-modern church divides itself over projected matters of hierarchy in the name of order within the Church. Through the subordination of women and relegating giftings of the Spirit to those deemed acceptable by male church governorship, the church has seemingly lost its anchor in the Spirit. In testament to all that God has revealed through His actions, promises, and fulfillments, may the church begin to look beyond dogma that divides, and instead become one with the God of the Universe that requires His full Body to be active participants in His work across the Earth through the Spirit. The church must replace relegation with mutual submission to one another, in the basin of reconciliation to God alone. The church must rebuke all that stands counter to the nature of God’s character for His creation, His love, and His gift of anointing without limit, of the full Body of Christ. Scripture is succinctly clear God does not view women as subordinate, disallowed, or incapable to lead in ministry in equality. Conversely, God creates powerful roles for women that are born in might, faithfulness, and impactful leadership to usher in His divine works across humanity. May the church be reborn and cleave to that which originates from God, alone.

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