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5 Cultural Reasons to Include Women Leadership in Your Church
While qualified and called men are to serve as pastors/elders of the church, there are many other places and spaces for women to serve as leaders.
Male and female relationships are more than complicated in our world today. Possibly even more complicated in the church than in culture. We struggle to thrive as brothers and sisters because of suspicion, church scandals, poorly formed theology, or we’ve just never seen it done well before. What should be a source of encouragement, partnership, and camaraderie is instead one of struggle.
But it doesn’t have to be this way! The church—the people of God, created male and female, in his image, to partner together for God’s glory and mission on earth—could and should be different. Church, we have a chance in an age of confusion and scandal to be a porch light on a dark night. What if we stood out in our world as a beautiful example of how men and women can spur one another on toward a mutual and beautiful goal? What if we were the people others looked to for an example of how men and women honor, respect, and cheer one another on?
To that end, as a co-laborer in the mission of church planting, I want to encourage you to prioritize one crucial yet often overlooked aspect: the inclusion of women in leadership. While qualified and called men are to serve as pastors/elders of the church, there are many other places and spaces for women to serve as leaders. As a seasoned sister in the faith, I urge you to be intentional about this decision from the start.
In my last article, I offered five biblical reasons for making a woman an early church plant hire. You, as the planter, are the first hire. Secondly, you need a righthand man—an Executive Pastor or an Associate Pastor of some kind. Making your third hire a female will be beneficial to you, your male elders and leaders, your congregation, and your whole community. Below are five cultural reasons to make a female your third church plant hire.
1. Blindspots Revealed
Church planters and the men on planting teams, elder boards, and church staffs, benefit from the input and influence of godly female leaders. We know from Genesis that creation was incomplete when Adam was yet alone. God’s image is only fully expressed in both men and women together. Eve’s creation was an intentional filling of what was lacking. Likewise, male leaders lack important perspectives, experience, and wisdom when they go it alone. Blindspots are real, and no one is immune. Every church planting team needs the perspective and wisdom of spiritual mothers, grandmothers, and sisters. Consider how Apollos benefitted from Priscilla and Aquilla (Acts 18:26) and how Paul considered Rufus’s mom to be like a mother to him (Romans 16:13).
2. Value Added
Your congregation will benefit from seeing a female in leadership. Titles, positions, and pay illustrate what an institution values. We hire and compensate those who are mission-essential. When you hire a female, it tells your planting team and your future congregation that a female’s voice is not optional but essential. Women, men, boys, and girls in your congregation need to see that you consider the voice, wisdom, experience, and efforts of qualified women essential to the mission. Jesus certainly did—and does.
3. Safety Given
Women and girls in your congregation need a visible woman in leadership to go to. As church leaders, we hope that every person in our new faith family will feel at home and bring all of themselves to church and to one another. We want to foster intimacy, accountability, and—as the cliche that we say far too often goes—“do life together.” There are many parts of life that women and girls need to bring to other women and girls. So many female stories require a deep feeling of safety and sensitivity. Women and girls need to see who their qualified and capable big sisters are so they can go to them for careful counsel. Without women in leadership, women are likely to keep these massive and likely painful areas of life to themselves. They (and everyone) will suffer as a result. Making qualified women visible and accessible to your faith family will increase a sense of safety and security amongst your female attendees.
4. Connections Made
Women and girls in your congregation benefit from a woman in leadership to look up to. Representation and connection really do matter! At least half of your church plant and future congregation is women—probably more than half, as most Christian churches are 55% female. It doesn’t make sense to exclude females from leadership when there are so many females in the body (for example, if your church were half or more Spanish-speaking, you’d have Spanish speakers in leadership). When a young sister in the faith sees a big sister rightly handling the Word of God, teaching, counseling, discipling, and growing in a vibrant faith, she will be inspired to do the same. More is caught than taught. Create opportunities for the young women in your church to catch a hunger for God’s Word and presence in their lives from the older women there.
5. Complement Realized
Female leadership illustrates that your church plant genuinely believes men and women are distinct, and therefore both genders are necessary to fulfill God’s commissions and commands for His people. Men and women complement one another in the ministry of the church. We can hold fast to convictions of male headship while also including women in vital roles of leadership. Female leadership is a complement to male leadership.
The inclusion of women in church leadership is an essential component of a thriving and well-balanced faith community. By addressing blind spots, demonstrating value, fostering safety, providing representation, and embracing complementarianism, churches can cultivate a leadership culture that fully reflects the image of God. When women are given visible and meaningful roles in leadership, the entire congregation benefits—men, women, and children alike.
As you embark on the journey of planting a church, let this be a cornerstone of your mission. A diverse and inclusive leadership team will not only strengthen your church but also model the unity and cooperation that God designed for His people. By intentionally integrating female leaders into your planting team, you are laying a foundation for a healthier, more dynamic, and more representative church body—one that truly reflects the heart of God.
