This book was born out of the questions of women seminary students: “What can women do in the church? We want to serve, but we don’t want to disobey the Lord. What does the Bible teach concerning the role of women in church ministry?” Conveying these concerns to the dean resulted in the formation of a course at Talbot School of Theology to address this subject. At first two men taught it, I (Bob) and another of whom the same questions had been asked. But the complementary relationship of men and women that we found in the Scripture soon suggested a complementary teaching of the course. Thus the two editors of this work have taught the course together for several years, also using the expertise of the other contributors to this volume. As two individuals, we could never fully portray the characteristics of man and woman. Nevertheless, both men and women students often noted the masculine and feminine dimensions in the class with positive reaction, making their understanding of complementarity more comprehensive and holistic.
The confusion over this issue in the church today makes the questions of the women students completely understandable. On the one hand, some assert that there are no gender distinctions whatsoever in the roles of men and women in the church. Both can serve in the same functions and offices with no restrictions. On the other hand, we find churches where the ministry of women is stringently limited, particularly in the teaching and leadership roles. The focus is on those Scriptures that restrict them from certain functions. In many instances, women feel as if they have less voice in their church than in any other area of their lives, including their Christian families.
The thesis of this work is that neither of these positions adequately represents the complementary relationship of man and woman portrayed in Scripture. Created to complement each other, men and women are different, resulting in distinctions in life roles. The denial of these gender distinctions by much of our contemporary society has led to confusion among both genders as to who they are as man and woman.
But the created complementary nature of man and woman also leads to complementarity in all of life. Each needs the other to fulfill the human task to the glory of God. We see this most clearly in the family where husband and wife, working together, helping and teaching each other, contributing their strengths for the good of the other, serve and grow together. In Christ we, as man and woman, are being renewed to the true humanity for which we were created, a humanity of man and woman together in complementarity. The purpose of this work is to encourage the church toward a greater realization of this truth.

Women and Men in Ministry: A Complementary Perspective PDF

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