A Woman’s Place Is in the Church

For ten years I knew the joy and blessing of leading the women’s ministry in my church. I knew, without a doubt, that I was serving smack-dab in the middle of God’s calling and purpose for my life. I was alive and thriving in my relationship with him, and the ministry, an exciting part of the fabric of our church, was growing.

When my season with this ministry ended and I stepped out of that role, I wondered, What next?

A series of experiences late in my tenure had shaken my confidence. When my heart and mind were in concert, I knew the time to transition leadership was right, and I celebrated it. I believed the Lord had handpicked the next generation of leaders. I believed I was not only being called out of women’s ministry in my church, but I was being called to something else. To something more. But in the deep places of my heart, I was hurting. Unsure. Feeling dismissed. Irrelevant. Doubting the more, doubting my calling, doubting my gifts.

Debate over the role and authority of women in the Christian church is as old as the church itself. We have only to read the letters Paul wrote to the churches he founded to glean that Paul himself had no hard-and-fast rule.