Today, we jump feet first into a boiling debate over whether female church leaders should

be called pastors.

The question comes to us from a listener named Nick.

Hello, Pastor John.

My church is changing its view on the use of the word pastor to include women, saying Ephesians

4-11 is the only place in the Bible where the Greek word for pastor is ever used, and

there it doesn't have any specific qualifications.

You can fill this rule and still be under male headship, and a male elderboard almost

more like a deacon or deaconess who leads specific ministries in the church, like a pastor

over worship, or a pastor over women's ministry.

But would this change in title be in line with other parts of scripture, Pastor John?

What do you have to say to Nick?

Well, let's clarify first that this is a kind of intra-complementarian debate.

It is a debate among complementarians, a debate among those who agree that the New Testament

calls for spiritual, mature, gifted, qualified men to bear the official responsibility in

the local church for governing and teaching leadership.

Complementarianism means more than that, more than just those qualifications for church leadership.

For example, in the home and in society, but that's the relevant part for this debate.

It's a debate among those who agree on that point.

The question is whether it's biblical or wise or misleading to use the word pastor for

various roles that women can play, various appropriate roles that women play.

That's the issue that I'm addressing and that I've been reading about recently.

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