Preston Sprinkle: ‘Why I changed my mind about women in leadership’

I was raised with a complementarian background, where women could not be given positions of senior leadership over a church congregation. But I have since changed my mind. With Dame Sarah Mullally installed as the Archbishop of Canterbury this year, it’s a great time to reveal a new egalitarian, scripturally backed position on women in leadership.

Women play a vital role in God’s redemption plan through the Bible. I believe the same should be true in our churches today. I’ve been buried in sacred texts trying to figure this out, and I’ve found it’s much more complex than some people make it out to be.

Let’s talk about Paul

When you read about Jesus, what’s not to like? I know atheists who like Jesus! But then you get to Paul. There are several passages in scripture where his words sound offensive to our modern ears. Some might even consider him a bigot.

Paul’s problem passages – for example 1 Corinthians 14:34: “Women should remain silent in the church” – are not the best place to begin, otherwise you miss the depth of his writing. Once you get under the surface of what Paul is talking about, these passages are not as problematic as they first appear.

Just three chapters earlier, in 1 Corinthians 11:5, Paul describes women prophesying and praying in church. It’s pretty hard to be silent when you’re prophesying to a whole congregation, so, is Paul contradicting himself? Or is there something more going on?

If Phoebe wasn’t a leader, she’s the only person named by Paul and described as a servant who isn’t also a leader

When you look at the actual Greek wording Paul uses to the Corinthians – the words ‘silent’ or ‘submit’ do not mean ‘absolute silence’ but are instead a call to regulate disruptive speech across the whole church. He’s not just singling out the women. All of chapter 14 is about disruptive speech – and this verse fits in that context. We must see the wider perspective in Paul’s writing before we extract single verses that point a finger at women.

Paul is way more complex than his ‘problem’ passages – including “Wives submit to your husbands” (Ephesians 5:22) and the instruction in 1 Timothy 2:12 that women “must be quiet”. If you read them apart from the whole New Testament, you can easily form a complementarian argument. But Paul says several things that uphold the dignity of women – including that in Christ, “there is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female” (Galatians 3:28). We are all equal. 

Few people realise that Paul talks more about helping the poor than he does about being justified by faith or encouraging the Church. That’s a big deal. Make sure you take all of Paul on board before you use him as a dogmatist.

Let’s talk about Phoebe

I have done a lot of research on Romans 16, where Paul describes the ministry of three women: Phoebe, Pricilla and Junia. I came to the conclusion that there is a really strong, cumulative case to be made that these women were doing leadership in the church.

How do we know? Paul calls Phoebe a ‘servant’ (v1) – and there is a lot of evidence that ‘servanthood’ is a leadership term. Wasn’t Jesus described as the “servant of all” (Mark 9:35)? If Phoebe wasn’t a leader, she’s the only person in ministry, named by Paul and described as a servant (diakonos) who isn’t also a leader.

Paul also describes Phoebe as a ‘patron’, or ‘benefactor’. In Greco-Roman society, that’s also a leadership term. Phoebe carried letters, which in the first century may well have led to reading, embodying or interpreting the message too. It was a leadership role. If men carried out these activities, we’d assume they were leaders, because that’s how they were portrayed in the first century.

Pricilla and Junia were carrying out leadership activities too, and were influential in the early Church. Women in leadership should be no less influential today.

Let’s talk about leadership

Looking at the nature of Chrisitan leadership in the first century, I think we often assume some kind of modern structure of leadership existed: a lead pastor, an eldership team, then deacons or small-group leaders beneath that. But this structured, hierarchical terminology really isn’t drawn from the Bible.

Firstly, the terms ‘pastor’, ‘elder’, ‘bishop’ or ‘overseer’ are only used in three of Paul’s 13 letters. But he does use other terms much more regularly, such as ‘servant’ and ‘carer’. He even describes people as “working hard in the Lord” (including three women, Tryphena, Tryphosa and Persis, in Romans 16:12) or simply opening their homes to host gatherings (including Priscilla in Romans 16:3). The fact they are mentioned means they were significant. They were leaders, but they weren’t part of a hierarchy.

People might argue that I’m just speculating – and a lot of history is just speculation. But when you look at women like Lydia (Acts 16), who owned a home and hosted church gatherings, she would certainly have been considered a leader in Phillipi. She was influential in the city, and she was a follower of Jesus. She was wealthy, but she was also a servant. She was a leader in the early church.

Let’s talk about the Old Testament

In the ministry of Jesus, women are mentioned a lot less than men, which makes sense in a patriarchal culture. But, for every ten men, there’s one woman named. And when women are mentioned, they embody radical qualities.

Throughout scripture, the women of the Bible display the faithfulness, courage and strength it takes to follow the Yahweh of the Old Testament, and the Jesus of the New. They model the kind of sacrifice that God demands – in contrast to some of the masculine heroes.

It’s pretty hard to be silent when you’re prophesying to a whole congregation

My favourites are in Exodus 1-4. Were it not for women, God’s plan of redemption would have ground to a halt. Before we even get to Moses, we meet midwives who resist the king (Exodus 1:17-20); Moses’ mother who rescues her son (Exodus 2:4); Moses’ sister who stepped out boldly (v7); Pharoh’s daughter who showed compassion (v8-10) and Moses’ wife Zipporah, who fearlessly took a homemade knife to circumcise own her son and save her husband’s life (Exodus 4:25-26).

Moses, on the other hand, was weak. He had a stutter; he pleaded with God to show him sign after sign; he doubted and tried to wriggle out of his calling. Meanwhile he’s surrounded by bold, courageous women. Why were they even mentioned in an ancient context? Because women play an absolutely critical role in God’s plan of redemption, both through ancient scripture and in our churches today.

Let’s talk about polarisation

As we try and figure out our differing and evolving views on the topic of women in leadership, I hope we can proceed with genuine curiosity and desire to understand one another.

We must see the value in having differing opinions, and each person deserves to be heard, respected and understood. Yes, let’s ask hard questions – but let’s do so with genuine curiosity. There is no reason to fear different viewpoints.

Make sure you understand before you refute. Listen before your mind starts accusing that person of being wrong. It’s not easy, and it might not come naturally, but it’s a discipline we all need to foster in our journey of faith.

Let’s see each other as created in God’s image – whether you end up agreeing or disagreeing. We all have bad ideas, but that doesn’t make us terrible people.

If we all took this posture, it would be a game changer.

Preston Sprinkle was speaking to Esther Higham on Premier Christian Radio. Listen to the full interview here

Preston’s latest book, Genesis to Junia: An honest search for what the Bible really says about women in leadership (David C Cook) is available now