Ministry, Protestant

Women and Protestant Ministry

In 1853, Antoinette Brown, a Congregationalist, was the first woman in the United States to be ordained. Her ordination occurred at the congregational level, as was the practice of the Congregationalist church. However, it would be another 100 years before women gained acceptance into the ordained ministry at the denominational level in the so-called Mainline denominations. The United Methodist Church and the Presbyterian Church (USA) began giving full ministry access to women in 1956, the Lutheran Church in America (the predecessor of today's Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, which is the largest Lutheran denomination in the United States) in 1970, and the Episcopal Church (USA) in 1976

Other denominations such as the Southern Baptist Convention and Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod do not allow women to serve as senior pastors. The Southern Baptist Convention recognizes the gifts of women to minister within the church but maintains that the role of senior pastor is for men only. Similarly, the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod maintains that the office of senior pastor is reserved for men and that women are only to assist the pastor within his role.

Outside of the United States, women have had instrumental roles within Protestant ministry. In Latin America, women have been particularly drawn to Pentecostalism, where their participation has helped redefine gender roles. Although Latin American women have found freedom within Pentecostalism to express their spirituality and have served informally within the church, in many cases they are not interested in entering into formal positions within the church's ministry, even when those positions are offered to them. Throughout some areas of Africa, women are being given the opportunity to receive theological education to prepare for ministry. However, in denominations that do ordain women within Africa, African women are facing the obstacles of male denomination and patriarchy.

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