The church annual business meeting unanimously agreed "that deaconesses should be appointed." The elders met to discuss the situation and were brilliantly vague in their understanding of the duties of deaconesses and what relationship they should have to the officers' board. It was decided to approach a cross section of the Melbourne churches and ask, "What is the practice with regard to deaconesses in your church?"

A Survey on Deaconess Appointments

      The following is a summary of replies received from 21 churches:

      Six churches had no deaconesses; 15 churches had from two to seven deaconesses appointed annually.

      Eight of these churches had no regular meeting of deaconesses nor any direct link with the officers' board, except in some cases, informally, through the preacher. Only two of these churches required an annual report from their deaconesses.

      Of the remaining seven churches:

      Three appointed deaconesses to meet with the officers' board, having the same responsibility and status as the deacons.

      One invited the deaconesses to attend officers' meetings as observers.

      One had a regular quarterly meeting of officers and deaconesses. One had a regular report handed to the officers for their monthly meeting.

      One had a provision whereby deaconesses were to be consulted on women's work whenever necessary.

      Though this survey left the elders with no clearer understanding of what to recommend re the appointment of deaconesses, it gave a sharp picture of the general attitude of Churches of Christ towards the place of women in the administration of church business. In at least 85% of the churches there is no opportunity given to women members to take responsibility in helping to guide or administer church business.

The Restricted Ministry of Women

      This is not the only area of church life in which Christian women are restricted by taboo, prejudice and un-Christ-like tradition. How many churches leave open the opportunity for women to preside at the Lord's Table? or to read? or to help? or to lead in prayer? There are certainly no women elders or ministers!

      "What is the place of women in the Churches of Christ in Australia?" We can confidently reply, "Their place is in women's auxiliaries, Sunday schools and girls' clubs. There is no place for them in the preaching or eldership ministry. There is no place for them in leadership of mixed public worship and very little in the administration of the business life of the church."

      For churches that claim "the priesthood of all believers" and that "there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus" (Gal. 3: 28) there is need for repentance, for change of thinking concerning the place we give Christian women in the total life of the Church.

"The Priesthood of all Believers"

      "The priesthood of all believers" has been maintained amongst Churches of Christ as a basic element of our faith. The false ecclesiastical barrier between the ordained ministry and the so-called "laymen" has been broken down. Why is this true only of the men? We rigidly maintain a priesthood of all men and relegate women to the "lay" amateur positions. To fulfil the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers women must also be permitted to answer a call to the ministry of preaching, presiding, reading the Scriptures, baptising candidates, administering church business, etc., within the total life of the Church. It may be noted that amongst themselves women are permitted without question to perform these ministries, but when in fellowship With men it is considered improper. Does the mere presence of men in the congregation cause these undertakings to be too "sacred" for women Christians to perform, or is there a false barrier raised arbitrarily on distinction of sex and sub-Christian traditions?

"Neither Male Nor Female"

      Paul's affirmation of Gal. 3:28 is accepted in all phases except in relation to male and female, We believe and practise that people of all races, colour and social status can enter the Kingdom of God and answer any call to service, provided they are male Christians. For the Church to be a complete worshipping and witnessing unit, we must believe and practise the latter part of Paul's statement as well as each of the preceding sections. Christian women must be permitted the opportunity of making their particular contribution to "the body of Christ" in all areas of Church life.

Restrictions and Limits

      There are natural limitations placed upon each person in comparison with others. These limitations automatically regulate the contribution a person is able to make to the community with which he is associated. Physically a person may not be able to contribute much as a laborer. Mentally he may excel as a clerk, and make his contribution to the community in that area. Though these limitations are recognised within the Christian Church we do not put up unnatural barriers to prevent a man from presiding, preaching or participating in the administration of the church. It is not ruled, that, because a man is physically weak and somewhat effeminate in personality that he shall not preside at the Lord's Table nor be a member of the officers' board. His call to either of these tasks is dependent, usually, upon his ability to fulfil them. He is permitted to contribute to the fellowship of the Church according to his talent.

      This is not so with Christian women. Their contribution to the fellowship of the Church is not limited merely by differences in physique, mental capacity or spiritual insight. Arbitrary laws, spoken and unspoken, limit the full use of their talents in the total life of the Church. In our brotherhood we have women capable of presiding over the Lord's Table, as capably as any of the men, and more effectively than some; there are women who can read the Scriptures with greater clarity and meaning than many of the men who now read Sunday by Sunday; there is many an astute Christian housewife with business sense that would bring new life and vigour to the administrative work of the officers' board.

      Christian women should be granted the opportunity of filling any office or position within the life of the Church for which they may be mentally and spiritually equipped. The failure of our congregations to make use of educated and devoted women in the total life of the Church is not only a denial of the priesthood of all believers but also a hindrance to the Holy Spirit. By placing human restrictions based on sex and sub

      Christian traditions on the possible service the female Christian can give, we prevent the Holy Spirit using the total resources of the Church for the extension of His Kingdom

Paul's Restrictions

      Invariably as soon as the question of the status of women ill the churches is raised, the directions of Paul to the Corinthians, and to Timothy, are brought forward as arguments that should quieten the Christian conscience for all times.

1. 1 Cor. 14: 33b-35.

      "As in all the churches of the saints the women should keep silent in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak, but should be subordinate, as even the Law says. If there is anything they desire to know, let them ask their husbands at home. For it is shameful for a woman to speak in church."

      Some of the women in Corinth were questioning their place in public worship, their right to exercise the gifts of the Holy Spirit (praying, talking in tongues, prophesying, etc.). Paul appeals to the common practice of other churches (v. 33) and the Law (v. 34) and denies them the right shared by the men.

2. 1 Tim. 2: 11-12.

      "Let women learn in silence with all submissiveness. I permit no woman to teach or to have authority over man; she is to keep silent."

      In this direction to Timothy, Paul bases his reason for the subordination of women on a rabbinical (for men only) argument concerning Adam and Eve. 1 Tim. 2: 13,14. "For Adam was formed first and then Eve, and Adam was not deceived but the woman was deceived and became the transgressor."

The Influence of the Synagogue and Society

      There is no doubt that the ministry of women in the early Church was hedged around with many restrictions. Many of the traditions and practices of synagogue worship of the Jewish faith were carried over into Christian worship. Amongst these traditions were laws prohibiting women from taking part in the conduct of worship, they were not permitted to teach, their heads and faces were to be veiled, they were segregated from the men and were to remain silent, apart from repeating the "Amen" at the end of prayers; they were observers of worship rather than participants.

      These rules were a reflection of the very inferior status of women in the 1^st Century. Some idea of the degraded position of women can be gathered from the prayer of thanksgiving of the orthodox Jew that he had "not been born a woman." It was considered degrading for a man to be seen even talking to a woman in public. A rabbinical teaching of the day ran, "A man should hold no conversation with a woman in the street, not even with his own wife, still less with any other woman, lest men should gossip." Josephus, the well known Jewish writer of the 1st Century wrote, "In every respect woman is inferior to man." Jewish women of those days possessed no legal rights. A man could write out a bill of divorcement and be rid of his wife without appeal to any higher authority.

      Paul's restrictions on female Christians were obviously dictated by the prevailing traditional religious and social place of women in his day, rather than by the full application of the Spirit of Jesus to the problem. Paul's deepest insight perceived "there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus," but the weight of prejudice, custom, and the social position of women, prevented his application of the principle in the male-female relationship. A similar limitation can be seen in Paul's attitude to slavery. Paul nowhere condemns it. His advice to slave and master was used as authoritative Christian argument for the continuance of the practice of slavery, as late as last century. Today We would not consider such argument to carry the weight of authority of Christ. We know Jesus condemns slavery. Why do we hesitate then in casting off the shackles of Paul's ruling on the place of women in the churches? It is obvious that these restrictions were likewise created by the religious-social-culture pattern of his day. It was natural that Paul's application of the great principles he enunciated was limited by the concept and ideas of the culture in which he lived. Neither the practice of the early churches, nor the appeal to Jewish Law, nor an appeal to rabbinical interpretations, are adequate in this case to establish the "inferior" place of women in the Church as valid. It is a denial of the attitude of Jesus and the highest insight of both Paul (Gal. 3:28) and Peter (1 Pet. 2:9).

Jesus Raised Women to New Status

      Jesus cut through all traditional practices and teaching to lift women to their rightful status within the Kingdom of God. He condemned the teaching of the Law on divorce, with His own legislation, "from the beginning of creation 'God made them male and female.' For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one. What God has joined together let no man put asunder." Mk. 10:6-9.)

      He condemned the traditional attitudes and practices of His day by His own deliberate actions. He spoke to a woman (one with a reputation at that), in the light of midday, at a public place, at the Well outside Sychar in Samaria. He shocked His disciples (cf. John 4:27) but lifted the woman to the rank of evangelist. Both married and single women were amongst Jesus' closest followers. He permitted them to travel with His itinerant party on their preaching tour through Galilee. It was these women who provided for both Jesus and His disciples from their own possessions (cf. Lk. 8:1-3; Mk. 15:40-41) and there "was not a breath of scandal to hinder His work."

New Status of Women in the Early Church

      It is significant that Jesus appeared after His resurrection first to a woman (John 20: 14) and on the day of Pentecost there were women amongst the 120 disciples who received the outpouring of the Holy Spirit (cf. Acts 1:14). Inspired by their memory of the friendship of Jesus and by the indwelling presence of His Holy Spirit, Christian women played an ever increasing part in the worship and service of the early Church, in spite of restrictive legislation and continuance of Hebrew prejudice.

      The mention of Phoebe, the deaconess from Cenchrae in Romans 16:1-2, suggests there were women counter parts to male deacons early in the life of the Church. (In passing, it is of interest to recall that there is no indication of deacons ever constituting a "church board" nor that they conducted church business excluding deaconesses).

      In the case of Priscilla and Aquilla, Priscilla is generally mentioned before Aquilla wherever the names of the wife and husband are mentioned together (cf. Acts 18: 18, 26; Rom. 16: 3; 2 Tim. 4: 19), indicating a precedence in the Christian community over her husband. It is quite likely that she played the leading part in correcting the teaching of Apollos (Acts 18: 26).

      Women in the church at Corinth took part in public worship, leading in prayer and in preaching at least up until the time Paul ruled against it. In 1 Cor. 11:5, 13, he advises that the accepted practice amongst the churches was that women who pray and prophesy should have their heads suitably veiled.

      It is to the point to observe the number of homes in which the early Church met that were owned and administered by women. Acts 12:12. The Jerusalem church met in the home of Mary, the mother of John Mark for prayer. Col. 4: 14. Paul sends greetings to "Nympha and the church in her house," Acts 16:10. After his release from prison at Philippi, Paul visited the home of Lydia, met the brethren, the nucleus of the first European church, exhorted them and then departed.

      Euodia and Syntyche of Philippi "laboured side by side in the gospel" together with Paul, Clements and other men. (Phil. 4:1-3.)

      The restrictions of religious laws and customs, and inferior social status could not prevent the enthusiasm experienced by the women who knew the status Jesus had given them and had shared in the gift of the Holy Spirit, from seeking to find release from bondage placed on them by religion and society. Like the question of slavery it has taken the Church centuries to draw close to the Truth, to grant women their rightful status. The Church has yet to acknowledge that God is "no respecter of persons," class, color, race or sex. He will use whom He chooses. But, we place human restrictions on God's instruments and not the least of these is that placed on women Christians by the Church.

Women Missionaries Find Their Place

      During the last century the activities of women missionaries ha e done much to cause the Church to rethink the problem of "women's place in the Church." Even here women had to fight to be permitted to answer God's call.

      What Christian women battled against in gaining the opportunity to serve is illustrated in a letter from Bishop Wilson from Calcutta in 1842.

      "I object from my experience of Indian life, and indeed upon principle, to ladies coming out unprotected to so distant a place with a climate so unfriendly and with the utmost certainty of marrying within a month of arrival. I object on principle. I imagine the beloved Persis, Tryphena and Tryphosa, Julia and others who 'laboured much in the Lord,' remained in their own neighborhood and families, and that no unmarried female would have thought of a voyage of 14,000 miles to find out a scene of duty. The whole thing is against Apostolic maxim, I suffer not a woman to speak in the Church!' Nevertheless, says the Scotch report, despite 'principles' and 'apostolic maxims' and the practical difficulties and dangers of life in the Orient, it is in the far off places in the earth that the Church in the homeland first allowed her women members to find a sphere of service." (From "Life and Work of Women in the Church," p. 20.)

      Today we do not question the right of women Christians on the mission fields to perform the ministries of preaching, teaching, healing and administration. (Does this suggest we consider there is a different status for the dark skinned Christian male that he should be permitted to endure the "inferior" ministry of women which our white communities will not tolerate?) It is time to reconsider our position in the homeland of the place we give our women in the total life of the Church.

Tambaran Findings

      Throughout most of the Christian world today this problem is coming up for review. Typical of the ferment is this extract from Tambaran International Missionary Council report. (Report of International Missionary Council World Convention. Held at Tambaran, 1938, pp. 178-179.)

      "We are concerned that in some lands the younger married women and large numbers of business and professional women are drifting away from the Church. By the loss of the former, the Church is losing its hold on the younger generation. For the lack of the latter, the Church is deprived of experienced women, many of them capable of outstanding service.

      "For many years the Church was the sole agency for reconstruction in the community; but in modern civilisation there are many a gencies working outside the Church for this end. These agencies afford to women large scope for their varied abilities. In the official life of the Church, women are offered relatively few opportunities which call forth their ful l allegiance and command their abilities and energies.

      "We recognise with gratification that women in a number of countries have rendered constructive service as ordained ministers, elders, deaconesses, members of Religious Communities and lay readers. We believe that more women should be included in the membership of executive boards and councils of the Church. In these as in other spheres women should be trained in order to make the fullest use of their talents and opportunities. . . . Christian women are urged to assume their full responsibility and prepare adequately to meet it. The unity of the Church can never be fully realised until all its members, women as well as men share more fully in its task."

      Churches of Christ in Australia who so firmly believe and practise the Priesthood of All Believers amongst men must lead the way in applying this principle to women, that we might all rightfully share in our service to Christ according to the talents He has given us.

      S. F. DAVEY, who graduated from the Federal College of the Bible, Glen Iris, in 1947 comes from Cottesloe, W.A. After graduation he served the W.A. Youth Department for a period as part, then full-time Youth Director before returning to Ivanhoe, Vic., where he has been minister during the past four years.