We are very reliably informed that a recent visitor to a PCA church circled all the names of the church’s officers in the printed worship bulletin and wrote, “Where are all the women?” on the page, which he or she duly folded and dropped in the offering plate, thus registering a passive-aggressive, egalitarian complaint.
Here’s a serious question: If the church in question had added (under “officers” or “leaders”) to its official publications the names of women having unofficial, unordained roles and titles—such as shepherdess, session advisor, deaconess, member of the unisex “diaconate” or the lately-popular “mercy team,” or (quite unlawfully) deacon—would that have placated the egalitarian visitor and made them more likely to return?
It is more or less admitted by some elders in the PCA that soft-pedaling the denomination’s doctrine of male-only officers is helpful to them in their “contexts”—which often happen to be large cities or purple suburbs with lots of university-educated, working women or young people with egalitarian expectations. Some elders have convictions about the office of deacon that lead them even to deny male deacons ordination4 because females cannot be ordained to the same office. But in some cases, the ecclesial fudgification and innovation (or omission) seem to be pragmatic attempts not to offend certain demographics. The motives may, of course, be noble—evangelism, outreach, giving no offense other than the offense of the cross, but the effect is to undermine key aspects of the PCA’s polity, including the doctrines of office and ordination.
Brad Isbell | “Where Are All The Women” | March 18, 2025
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Brad Isbell
Brad Isbell is a ruling elder at Covenant Presbyterian Church (PCA) in Oak Ridge, TN, board member of More In The PCA, co-host of the Presbycast podcast, editorial member of Presbyterian Polity, and treasurer of the Heidelberg Reformation Association.
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Still waiting for our visitor to circle all the name of the church officers in the NT and ask where are the women, and no, the mention of Phoebe isn’t a slam dunk, but is at best, an exception.
Not going to happen because of the general lack of
1. Scripture,
2. sound doctrine, never mind the analogy of Scripture.
Among other things, the doctrine of God, who is the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost. Not The Mother, the Daughter , the Holy Spirit.
We got problems with that, we GOT PROBLEMS, never mind that to whom much is given much is required. Be happy with your sphere of authority/responsibility without coveting more, is good counsel to all, male and female.
Not sure if by visitor you meant me, but as Dr. Clark and I pointed out NAPARC denominations do allow women deacons and there are plenty of books and writings pro women deacons/deaconess fro esteemed reformed scholars, many revered in their fields. No one would argue they do not have sound doctrine either. We might disagree with their position, but let’s not disparage these faithful men.
Ben, I understand Calvin allowed for unordained women to serve in the hospitals in Geneva, but what I see happening is the drive for ordination; first as deacons, then as elders. I was not impressed with the arguments I heard at the time in the RPCNA and am not now. YMMV
cheers
Ben, it is certainly “thinkable,” the question is: Is it commanded or recorded in the biblical narrative? It’s also good to ask why and when the ARP and RPCNA began allowing women officers. I’ve heard that in both cases, it came at denominational low points when they were flirting with/resisting liberalism.
I’ve heard some argue that it is commanded/promoted. (Some sort of women in some sort of diaconal role)
Both the ARP and RPCNA have had women deacons or deaconesses for over 100 years. Perhaps it came from low points, maybe a historian like Dr. Clark would know more about that and the decisions there. I will be the first to admit I know nothing of that history!
The question of deaconesses is difficult. The word deaconess has been used in the church for a long time to describe a variety of functions. The other challenge is that even today the office of deacon or deaconess functions differently in various Presbyterian and Reformed settings. A deacon in a Presbyterian context may have one role and a deacon Dutch Reformed church quite another role or authority. Further, the discussion is complicated by the fact that in the history of the CRC (and perhaps the RCA, I don’t know) progressives who wanted to see ordained ruling elders and ministers started with the deacons. So, in our context it is a loaded question because of the history of the CRC and the URCs over the last 40-50 years.
The best case I’ve seen for deaconesses is a collection of hitherto unpublished writings by Bob Strimple, who was a theologian in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church who taught at Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia and Westminster Seminary California, where he was the first president and Professor of Systematic Theology. He was convinced that Paul taught that females should or could be ordained to the office of deacon (he disliked the term deaconess, which he saw as demeaning).
I don’t think the case is as strong as Bob thought it was. It relies on too many inferences. The strongest argument for deaconesses is Phoebe in Romans 16 but the truth is that though she was doing important work and the congregation was to help her with it, we simply don’t know what the word means in that context. It’s ambiguous and we don’t have enough information to be able to say with certainty that she held the office of deacon/deaconess.
As a matter of hermeneutics, we want to let the teaching passages norm the narrative passages (and not the reverse). Without a clear indication to the contrary it’s best to understand Paul’s instruction in the pastorals to limit the office a deacon to males. This is what we do in the Belgic Confession, which in the French and Latin texts makes clear that males are in view. There are some English translations which substitute person for men but that’s a tendentious translation especially in our context when this is a contested issue.
As to deaconesses in the history of the church, I don’t know the ARP/RP history well enough to comment. It is sometimes claimed that there were deaconesses in Geneva in the 16th century but it doesn’t seem to me that the women who worked in the hospital held an ecclesiastical office equivalent to what we understand as deacon.
Thank you for all of this information!
Did Bob Strimple also write the minority report for the OPC study regarding women deacons? I remember reading the report years ago and I thought his name was attached to the minority.
Yes, I think he did.
Brad, I’m in full agreement with you here, but could you please elaborate just a little on your parenthetical statement “quite unlawfully.” The reason I ask is that within the last few days I was searching for a PCA church for a friend in a Houston suburb and noticed three women listed as Deacons…..I was quite surprised. I’m just trying to gain a better understanding and determine if I should or should not recommend this church. Thank you, very much appreciated.
I’m not here to give church recommendations, but if women are listed as deacons this is clear contravention of the BCO, specifically 7-3, which reads:
7-3. No one who holds office in the Church ought to usurp authority
therein, or receive any official titles of spiritual preeminence, except such as
are employed in the Scriptures. Furthermore, unordained people shall not be
referred to as, or given the titles of, the ordained offices of pastor/elder, or
deacon.
Thanks Brad, I don’t need a church recommendation, just an explanation of “(quite unlawfully) deacon.” All I’m looking for here is better understanding, not pointing fingers or finding fault in any way. This is for my own learning. Are you talking about PCA policy or Biblical spiritual law (or both)? I presume that the women on the list were actually ordained, so 7-3 above doesn’t seem to help. Can you provide a reference? Like I said in my initial comment, I am in full agreement with you, but I want to learn in what ways this might be unlawful.
Much appreciated.
It’s unlawful because it’s unlawful to apply such titles in the PCA to unordained people according to our BCO.. It is unthinkable that the women would be ordained—that would be a much greater offense than the misapplication of a title. What you may not know is that many PCA churches have stopped ordaining even male deacons as a sort of protest against NOT being able to ordain females as deacons. It’s chaotic…and disorderly.
As someone who tends to agree with the general position of ARP RPCNA and some reformed churches on deaconess or the like, why would ordaining women in that sort of role be unthinkable? Genuine question.
I agree that scripture is very clear that only men are ordained elders and leaders. I don’t see (as of now) why this is unthinkable regarding a deacon/deaconess role