SERVICE OF WOMEN IN THE EARLY CHURCH

Leela Jolly Thomas

In the mid 70's I joined the theological college to do my B.D. in response to God's calling and with a strong commitment to serve him. The college encouraged women to study theology, but my experience from my local parish was otherwise.  There were men students studying in different theological seminaries during that period from my local parish. They had the privilege to involve themselves in the various activities of the parish and were encouraged to assist and speak during worship services.  I was an independent student, not a candidate of the church, and hence seldom received any encouragement from the local parish. I realized that people looked at me with different eyes, with a question writ large on their faces, "What could this girl do by studying theology which only men usually study?"  My father, a theologically trained layman engaged in ministry along with his profession, encouraged me and he was the sole source of my strength.  I have always dreamt  of a church where men and women together, in fellowship, served the Lord.

God created male and female in his own image and God saw it good. Since men and women are created in God's image they are equally blessed and commissioned to carry out his mission in the world.  In God's plan they are complimentary to one another and there is no subordination intended. Later on in man's plan woman became subordinate, to be under his control.  It is painfully astonishing that this discrimination is seen in the church, which is the Body of Christ, leave alone other realms of our society.  Church is the community of men and women where women are equal or more in number but tragically pushed into silence and discriminated .

Many women followed Jesus and participated in his ministry while he was in the world.  In the apostolic period and in the early church women took active participation in the ministry of the church in various capacities. But later on in the hierarchical system women got excluded and they were denied equal participation in the activities of the church.  In the present times, in society, women are actively involved in all walks of life proving there caliber, and there leadership and contribution are commendable. This demands a rethinking, prompting us to envisage a new model of church where man and woman are treated as equal partners and they work in fellowship for the Kingdom of God. With Jesus, women enjoyed more freedom and acceptance than what they had in the contemporary world trapped under the clutches of patriarchal principles and values.. He respected them publicly and was bent on bringing them to the main stream  of the society. He treated women as fully human, equal to men in all respects.  He held their position high in society because they are created in the image of God. We see this attitude in Jesus wherever he encountered women in his ministry. His conversation with the Samaritan woman and his public acknowledgment of the crippled woman in the synagogue as the 'daughter of Abraham' are glowing instances of Jesus' positive attitude towards women.

As we read in Luke-8:1-3, during Jesus' ministry many women accompanied him along with his disciples, sharing in his ministry, and they accompanied him up to the cross where even his specially chosen disciples  deserted him. Thus they showed their unadulterated devotion to the Lord.  Their ardent love for their master took them to the tomb early in the morning.  Their faith in the Lord and their commitment to him made it possible for them to be the first   witnesses to the resurrected Jesus.  The encounter of the risen Jesus with Mary and the commission given to her to proclaim the message to other male disciples show that women are indeed worthy and have a significant role to play in proclaiming the gospel.

Thus Jesus gave new meaning to the life of women who were once neglected and had a very low esteem. When the society considered women inferior Jesus openly acknowledged their dignity and status in the society.  He gave women a new responsibility and a new vision in their life by restoring and redeeming them to a high status.

By allowing women to participate in his ministry, Jesus showed the disciples and the church an example to emulate.  That is precisely the reason why women had an active and significant role in the apostolic church and the early church. In continuation of the resurrection experience, women who witnessed the risen Jesus proclaimed the good news to the other disciples as were commanded and commissioned.  The first hand information and the eyewitness gave women importance in the early church. They were respected and acknowledged by the gospel writers by truly recording their role in the whole episode.  All the four gospels in their resurrection narratives stress that the women were the first witnesses and they were commissioned to go and tell it to others.  Thus the gospels vividly testify to the significance Jesus attached to women as channels of his mission.

An unbiased examination of the book of the Acts of the Apostles will reveal that the women had an obvious and active participation in the life of the church.  Acts 1:14 says that along with the disciples, women were actively involved in coming together, praying together and sharing their life experience with the Lord.  It shows that following the model Jesus had set, the disciples recognized and respected women as their fellow workers.  The church followed the pattern of Jesus and gave them equal standing both in their community and the society at large.

Women were permitted to participate in the early church in praying and studying the word of God together where as in the contemporary Jewish society women were not permitted to read from the Torah during prayer services. Nor were they permitted to pray aloud.  Jesus' impact on the early church in this regard is indubitable."  So he created an object lesson for his followers concerning the full presented and ministry of women."1  The New testament proves that women were accepted into full membership in the life of the church. Women including Mary, the mother of Jesus joined the other disciples in prayer and in waiting upon the Holy Spirit. Women and men received the power and the gifts of Holy Spirit. In the early church, the four daughters of Philip had a very significant role in the ministry. They functioned as prophetesses (Acts:18:24-28). A prophet, male or female is a servant of God and speaks for him. 

There are many other women in the ministry who were recognized and were well respected by the early church, held in a position equal to anyone else in the church. We notice that Paul acknowledged women for various types of ministry they had done. They opened their house for prayer to the Christian community. They showed hospitality to the apostles.  The house of Mary, the mother of John, was one of the many houses open for church fellowship (Acts-12:12). Tabitha served the Lord as a disciple and her service is acknowledged in the scripture(Acts-9:36). The faith of all these women was commendable and even persecution in no way dwindled it (Acts:8:3) Priscilla along with her husband played a very significant role in the church.  Here is a woman engaged in teaching ministry at a time when teaching was done only by men and women were not even allowed to study the Scriptures! Paul praises Priscilla as fellow worker in his ministry.  During their travel Priscilla preached the word of God along with Aquilla.  Appollos had been instructed in the way of the Lord more accurately by this couple. "Here we see the account of a woman teacher along with her husband educating an already learned man of great ability."2  The early church surely owed a lot to these women for its life and growth.

A closer examination of Romans-16:1 shows that Phoebe was a deaconess in the church of Cenchrea.  Her role as a deaconess was very important in the early church.  Paul asked the members of the church of Rome to receive her and give any help she needed. This bears evidence to the recognition the early church gave to the ministry by women in the church, even in the hierarchical structure which was minimal though.  In Romans chapter 16 we see Paul greeting a number of women -ten of them- who were very prominent in ministry.  He praises and commends them for their hard work.  Along with Phoebe and Priscilla others like Junia, Julia, Mary, Tryphoena, Tryphosa, Persis, mother of Rufus and sister of Nereus are also mentioned.  They all worked hard for the Lord and some were acknowledged as outstanding among the apostles.  Names of other women workers are mentioned elsewhere in the letters-Chloe (1 Cor:1:11), Euodia and Syntyche (Phil:4:2) about whom Paul comments that they are fellow workers in the gospel. Paul gives equal importance to their work along with the men Nympha (Col: 4:15) and Apphia (Philemon:2) who served as leaders in house churches.  There could be a lot of other women also who silently worked for the Lord and whose names are not mentioned.  It is evident that the first century church honored these women and their leadership.  All of them worked hard in the Lord and made significant contribution to the spreading of the gospel and the building up of the church.
   
Ministry of women in the present day church -A critique The role women in the ministry of early church should act as a backdrop against which we examine the present day church in terms of women's ministry.  This introspection is to enable the church to seek the enrichment of its ministry by opening avenues for better involvement of women.  Socially, today there is hardly any job that women are unwilling to take up.  Politically, women are actively involved in leadership.  Our times have seen women at the helm of affairs in many nations all over the world proving the leadership quality in women. Several women from the Christian churches are elected to various offices in the local Government.  In secular fields women have entered into all areas of life and have attained to the highest position, equal to men.  But when it comes to church women participation is inadequate, to say the least.  Their involvement in the decision making bodies are limited, though we have a democratic system in the church.  Many churches follow a hierarchical system were women do not figure any where.

Churches are giving more importance to tradition than to the word of God.  In the light of the biblical teachings there is no objection for women to have equal participation but tradition objects it. Are traditions more important than the word of God?  Do traditions demand better obedience than the teachings of Jesus?  Should women who constitute 50% or more of our congregations be paralyzed and rendered ineffective without being given enough participation in the community of  Christians.  If we are to follow Christ, we see that Jesus challenged the custom of  'belittling women by showing respect for women.’3 Jesus was deliberately breaking Jewish customs and traditions that were degrading to the self esteem of women.  Jesus had set a precedence which the church failed to recognize as time wore on..

Though the church failed to recognize their leadership by giving them equal opportunity and position, there are several Indian Christian women who made significant contribution in ministry though silently.  Women are capable to do God's ministry too, if in the secular field they  have proved that they are not behind men.

Women's ministry was once confined to field evangelism, mission activities, school teaching, medical work, service in orphanages or being Bible women workers. They were never allowed leadership in conducting worships, the main church activities or in decision making. They had only a secondary position in church and they rarely held any office in the church.  Women's areas of activity in the church were mainly with children and women.  They were under the male dominated hierarchical structure. Today in church worship their participation is limited to reading the Bible lessons and preaching occasionally.  But even this is a major step taken by the church.

Many committed women took up theological education in obedience to the calling of God.  Earlier the women involved in mission and evangelical work had only the minimal Bible school training. But now as some theological colleges have opened their doors wide for women to study at higher level, with their male counterparts, the number of women who earned B.D, M.Th and doctoral degrees is on the increase.  Some denominations like the C.S.I, C.N.I and Methodist have accepted women into full time ministry, granting ordination.  But in other churches, particularly those in the eastern tradition, ordination is still a dream.  The theologically educated women are not given privileges or rights equal to that of theologically qualified men.

The church is a community of men and women and they equally share the divine image and qualities.  It is high time all the churches took necessary steps towards giving women full participation in the ministry.  Also the church must give equal opportunities to the theologically qualified women. When God calls them to serve in the church and community let not man be a hindrance to her divine call.  Jesus is our example who used the service of women in his ministry.

The disciples and Paul continued that ministry in the early church which was a challenge in the then society.  The church which is the body of Christ must ensure full participation of women by encouraging team ministry at parish level.  Women should be encouraged more to study and teach in theological colleges/seminaries.  They have to be appointed by the church by providing equal economic security as of men.

The service of women can be increasingly made use of by appointing them in the area of counseling, chaplaincy in schools, colleges and hospitals, even in the churches where ordained ministry is an impossibility. They can serve as youth workers as well as equip other women through leadership training programs.

The present structure and attitude of the church need a radical change- a shift to a new model where in Christ “their is neither male nor female.”


Bibliography:

Ralte, Lalrinawmi, et.al.,  Envisioning a New Heaven and a New Earth,
New Delhi: ISPCK/NCCI, 1998.
Athyal, Sakhi M.,  Indian Women In Mission, Mission Educational Books, 1995.
John, Mercy K.,  Dignity of Women In Paul's Letters, C.S.S., 2001


Articles from the Internet:

Stacy Bongarts,  “The Diversified Views Of Women In Early Christianity.”
Rev. Kathryn J. Riss, “Women Teachers In Early Church.” 
Rev. Kathryn J. Riss,  “Women Prophets.” 
Rev. Kathryn J. Riss,  “Women's Ministries In The Early Church.”
Richard M. Riss,  “A Brief History Of Some Women In Ministry.”