The term hemiplegia is used by those in the medical profession to describe paralysis on one side of the body (such as occurs after a stroke).   In the same way, the body of Christ in the Western world can be described as hemiplegic. Half the body of Christ is, for the most part, not functioning because usually the women are left out of strategic roles. Even within the simple church context in the West, the majority of leaders are male.  

Traditionally, in many Bible-believing evangelical churches, women have not been in leadership. Women may run the Sunday school or a prayer ministry, but when it comes to leading the church as a whole, or being in a position that might give direction to the body of Christ, with some notable exceptions, women are usually not included, because certain Scriptures apparently limit their role. Currently among all of the Protestant senior pastors in America, just 9 percent are female: in addition, there are no women priests in the Catholic church. 

Down through the years, women in the church have been kept out of leadership for a number of different reasons:  

• “Of course under God, we are all equal; it is just that we have different roles.” (This sounds remarkably like George Orwell’s famous dictum from Animal Farm: “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.”)
• “Women can lead—they do it by exerting influence through their husbands.”
• “God does use women, but only when He cannot find a man for the job."

The belief that Scripture forbids women from teaching or leading within the church has led to some ludicrous situations. Chinese Christian author and church leader Watchman Nee learned a great deal from two gifted women preachers, but because they were not allowed to teach men, on at least one occasion, a large white sheet was hung across the hall for the men to sit behind while they listened to the message being preached by the women.

The movement of churches we were involved with in the United Kingdom initially subscribed to this philosophy. During the 1970s, we were going through a period of revival, and God was doing exciting and extraordinary things all over the country. But Felicity had to remain at home while Tony attended men’s leadership weekends. He always came back fired up and abundantly blessed, while she had been at home, coping with kids and diapers. It was not that Felicity minded being at home with the family—she loved that and was delighted Tony had met with the Lord—but she still felt excluded from the real movement of the Spirit, simply because of her gender. 

God clearly gifts both men and women with a passion for hearing His voice and then imparting that message to the body of Christ. But too often, women are told they can only exert influence through their husbands.  

Many women long to be where the real action is, which in many cases is in the men’s meetings. God often gives women the same desire as men to be involved in Kingdom strategy. That might not necessarily include public leadership, but it may mean wanting to be more involved with the planning and strategic thinking. And the fact that gender prevents this often leads to a deep and intense sadness and disappointment.  

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Felicity spent many hours in tears, year after year, feeling frustrated that she was somehow left out of the best that God was doing, simply because of her gender. She asked the Lord again and again why she had these desires to serve Him in this way. Had He given them to her, or were they just worldly, selfish ambition? And if He had given them, couldn’t He take them away so that she could be content to just sit on the sidelines like she was supposed to?  

The frustration and helplessness felt by women is very similar to that felt by people who are discriminated against in other areas, like race and social class. However, in Felicity’s situation, she wanted more than anything else for the Kingdom to be extended, and if this meant she was to take a backseat, that was what she would do. If the Scriptures really said that women were not to be involved, then she was willing to submit.  

When we moved to America, we eventually became involved in simple church. And in this move of God, there is no discrimination against women in leadership. Today in the simple church movement, women are fully functioning within the body of Christ. Some are starting churches; some are acting as catalysts for regional networks; others are teaching. There are women who are apostles and others who move prophetically. There are no barriers because of their gender.  

Jesus died to bring us liberty, not captivity. The whole trend of the Bible, especially the New Testament, is toward freedom and emancipation. Jesus epitomized this in His own attitude toward women, treating them as equals. Some of His most important theological conversations were with women, like Martha and the woman at the well. Women supported Him in ministry and stayed with Him even as He died. A woman anointed Him for burial, and the very first person He chose to show Himself to after His resurrection was Mary Magdalene.  

Throughout the New Testament, women served as beloved co-workers. Of the twenty-one specific people mentioned in Romans 16, seven were women, one of whom (Junia) was a leading apostle.6  

Christians have oft en been in the forefront when it comes to issues of emancipation. It was Christians like William Wilberforce and Harriet Beecher Stowe who fought for the abolition of slavery.  

But frequently, God uses society to speak prophetically to the church. Women are far more valued in today’s society than they have ever been before. How slow the church has been to even notice what God has allowed to happen in the world around us!  

In Galatians 3:28, we see that there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female; all are one in Christ. It is past time for women’s equality. This is not a militant feminism but merely the need for women to be recognized as equal in value and fully able to play a strategic role in the church.  

In 1983, we had the privilege of spending time with David (Paul) Yonggi Cho, pastor of what was then the largest church in the world. One of the most insightful things Dr. Cho said that day was this: “You people in the West will never see a move of God until you use your women. Women have been key to what has happened in Korea.”  

God is already using women this way in countries all over the world. In China, women and teenagers spread the gospel during the darkest days of Mao’s persecution, when the men were all imprisoned. In countries like India, many women are starting churches. One friend of ours, a homemaker in her sixties, has trained over eight thousand women, and as a result, more than six thousand churches have been started. Another American friend, a young woman in her thirties, currently works in an area of rural India. In the several years that she has been there, she has seen over seven hundred churches start.  

In Mozambique, Heidi Baker is a true example of a modern-day female apostle. With her husband, Rolland, she has witnessed the start of ten thousand plus churches, mostly in Mozambique and the surrounding countries of Africa.7  

Since the Holy Spirit (the author of Scripture) does not go against scriptural principles, it’s important to understand some of the more difficult passages in the Bible that seem to indicate that women have a lesser role to play.  

Let’s take one of the problem passages as an example. At first glance, 1 Corinthians 14:34-35 seems perfectly clear: women are to remain silent in church.  

Let your women keep silent in the churches, for they are not permitted to speak; but they are to be submissive, as the law also says. And if they want to learn something, let them ask their own husbands at home, for it is shameful for women to speak in church.  

The first indication of a problem, however, is that nowhere in the law does it say that women are to be submissive. We know from 1 Corinthians 11 that women can speak in church, since they are told to pray and prophesy with their heads covered.  

To really understand this passage’s meaning, we need to look at it within its context. First Corinthians 7:1 begins with these words: “Regarding the questions you asked in your letter . . .” (NLT). It is obvious that Paul is addressing various topics, apparently in answer to questions the Corinthians posed to him in an earlier letter.  

The word meaning “to be silent” (sigao) is used three times in 1 Corinthians 14, presumably in response to problems raised by the church in one of their letters. In verse 28, it is used in reference to people speaking in tongues when there is no one present to interpret. Paul tells them to be silent (sigao) and to speak to themselves and God. In verse 30, Paul is addressing the dilemma that occurs when more than one person has a prophecy at the same time. He says the first one to prophesy should hold his peace (sigao). 

The difficulty we have in understanding verse 34, where the term is used in reference to women speaking in church, is that the problem or question is not first discussed. Maybe Paul felt it was self-evident from the answer he gave. We can assume that some women were being disruptive by asking questions in the middle of the meetings, and Paul told them to be quiet (sigao) and ask their husbands at home.  

In neither of the first two situations would anyone presume the silence was to be permanent and in every meeting. The directive was only for a certain set of circumstances. Yet verse 34 has been used to keep women silent in church for centuries. There are some churches even today that literally forbid women to speak (even to pray aloud) in their services.  

Whenever we address this subject, women always come to us afterward in tears. The vast majority have been hurt in some way by the attitude of the church toward women.

Recently we have seen deep repentance by some of the men in leadership within the simple church movement over the way women have been treated down through the centuries. These have been times of healing, especially when they go on to validate women by declaring their freedom to do anything the Lord calls them to.  

Of course, not every woman is called to a leadership role (just as not all men are called to leadership). Many are more than content to look after their homes and families, and that’s fine—if it is what God is calling them to. For most women, there needs to be a season when children are their primary focus.  

For many women, however, the barriers against moving out freely into strategic leadership roles are still there—even if the obstacles are primarily in our own minds. We have a dog, a chocolate Labrador wannabe, named Sugar. She is pure mutt, but the Lab part of her loves to wander. Our home has a fence around it with an automatic gate. Sugar used to lie in wait for a car to exit, and then, just as the gate was almost closed again, she would make her bid for freedom. For various reasons, we decided the time had come to stop her from going AWOL. So we installed an invisible fence across the driveway in front of the gate. An invisible fence works because the dog receives a jolt of electricity from a battery on its collar if it crosses a certain line.  

Sugar is not normally a very fast learner, but it only took a couple of, shall we say, shocking experiences before she learned not to go out of the gate. From that time on, she would sit in the driveway, looking longingly at the open gate, without ever attempting to cross the line. Long after the battery in her collar had totally died, she would not go out the gate. She had become conditioned to stay within her boundaries.

Those of us who are women have become conditioned to gender-related boundaries. Even though these barriers are no longer in existence, we still do not feel free to exercise the liberty we have in Christ. As Christian women, we need to ask God for vision and courage to go beyond the limits of church convention and do all He would have us do.

Men also have a role to play in freeing women into their destiny. Tony is a very gifted communicator, but he came to realize that the only time Felicity would speak out was when he kept quiet. For many husbands, the only way they can help their wives to take their rightful place as equal ministers within the Kingdom is to willingly stand down and joyfully promote their wives’ gifts. At first, it might seem that the men of the church could have done the job far better than the women are doing. But that’s only because they have had far more practice. In the long run, allowing women to exercise their gifts will make for a much fuller expression of the body of Christ.  

We have seen how many men have led down through the centuries—through rivalry and competition, position grabbing and control, ego promoting, and a quest for the limelight. Women can learn from this. As we have opportunity to take strategic positions, let’s deliberately opt for the path of humility and service.  

As women, we are now faced with some choices. We can decide that the church owes us some status, that we deserve position and authority, and that we have the right to take what is legitimately ours. Or we can willingly choose to lay down our rights and to serve with humility in whatever God is doing. We have the advantage of centuries of learning how to serve and lay down our lives for others. The body of Christ will be richer as we willingly embrace that calling, moving ahead into whatever He would have us do.

This article is taken with permission of the authors from The Rabbit and the Elephant.

Felicity Dale is one of the authors of the new book, The Rabbit and the Elephant (with her husband Tony and George Barna).  It has been described as a " compelling manifesto on the future of church.  You can learn more about the book and download the first chapter for free at www.tonyandfelicitydale.com.