Dear Sisters:
For centuries people have told women they are not as valuable to God’s work in the world as men are. Even today, men are taking actions against women who are ministering, leading, and pastoring to spread the love and grace of Jesus Christ.
They are wrong.
You are created in the image of God (Gen. 1:27). God’s likeness lives in you. God invites you to participate in God’s purposes as much as men (Gen. 1:28-30).
After the first woman and man ate the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden, God gave consequences for sin to the serpent, the woman, and the man (Gen. 3:14-19). It was not God’s intent that men would rule over women, it was a consequence of sin (Gen. 3:16). Rather than believing the consequences of sin are God’s design, we invite you to join us in reclaiming the knowledge that God’s design included you being made in the divine image.
Throughout the Bible, women lead God’s people. Miriam led the Israelites as a prophet alongside her brothers Moses and Aaron (Exod. 15:20-21). Deborah was a judge and military leader (Judges 4:4-15). Huldah is a prophet that King Josiah asks for help (2 Kings 22:11-20). Lydia planted the first church in Europe (Acts 16:13-15). Phoebe was a deacon at the church in Cenchrae who carried Paul’s letter to the churches in Rome and preached it to them when she arrived (Rom. 16:1-2). And those are just a few of the named and unnamed women whose ministry is included in scripture.
Jesus did not place any limits on women’s roles. Women followed Jesus (Luke 8:1-3) and were exemplars of discipleship (Matthew 26:6-13; Mark 12:41-44; Luke 7:1-3, 10:38-42, among others). Women were even the first preachers of the gospel when the resurrected Jesus chose to appear to them and commanded them to preach the good news (Matt. 28:1-10; Mark 16:1-8; Luke 24:1-12; and John 20:1-18).
Jesus did not make a mistake by calling the women present at the resurrection to preach the gospel, and he has not made a mistake in calling women to pastor, minister, and lead today. When anyone treats you as if you are not worthy to do God’s work, they are challenging Jesus’ own actions.
You are worthy of God’s calling. You are valued by God equally to the way God values men. You have the right to be seen as made in God’s image, not as a secondary afterthought God designed to always be under the authority of men. When men say you must be limited for there to be unity in the church, they are not seeking true unity that brings all people, men and women, together. They are only protecting their own power.
There is far too much work to be done in this world for us to limit how God’s people can participate in sharing God’s redemption and wholeness with others. Imagine how much more God can do when we, women and men, join together in God’s work equally.
The perpetuation of male authoritarianism has led to far too much abuse, pain, hurt, and sorrow for women. We invite you to find freedom from this pain in Jesus Christ, and to reclaim God’s design of men and women both being created in the image of the limitless God.
In these days when Law is spoken to keep you from expressing all your gifts in God’s service, never forget that you are beloved, you are whole, and you are free.
Sincerely,
Baptist Women Who Are Pastors and Our Supporters
(This letter can be signed by anyone made in God’s image)
