Female Leadership: An Evaluative Study of Preaching and Governing Roles for Women in the Evangelical Church in Zambia (Ecz) in Lusaka
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Johannesburg South African Theological Seminary
Abstract
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In the Evangelical Church in Zambia (ECZ) women can serve as deaconess, teach and preach during women fellowship and youth services but they cannot serve as elders or pastors of a congregation and are not allowed to preach in a service where men are present. Therefore, the study attempts to evaluate the stance of The Evangelical Church in Zambia in Lusaka regarding women preaching and occupying governing roles considering the Scripture. That is, the study engages complementarianism in The Evangelical Church in Zambia in Lusaka. The study begins by examining the traditional church teachings about the role of women in preaching and teaching and governing roles. This chapter brings out the theological, hermeneutical, and cultural reasoning behind the preventing of women from preaching in a service where men are present and from holding leadership position of a pastor or elder in some denominations including the Evangelical Church in Zambia. The study establishes that the refusal of women’s ordination is based on the creation story in Genesis, on Pauline teachings which indicate that women may not have authority over men, and which demand their
submission in life and in the church, and ECZ bases its position on these reasons.
It further looks at the roles and functions of women in sub-Saharan Africa and found that women are playing a major role in leadership positions in the church, government and politics. In chapter 4 the study dealt with different perceptions people in churches have about the role of women in the areas of preaching and governing. It was clear that people have different perceptions about women. The responses from participants that answered the questionnaire: shows that some of the ECZ members want the church to continue upholding the current position while the majority of ECZ members advocated for change of ECZ position on the role of women in preaching and governing of the church because gifting does not depend on gender, and the prohibition of the apostle Paul in 1Timothy 2:12 was addressing a particular problem at Ephesus.
The third and fourth chapter uphold the study’s hypothesis that: Women are barred from preaching and governing roles in The Evangelical Church in Zambia (ECZ). Given space and an opportunity they may contribute enormously to the spiritual formation of members in The Evangelical Church in Zambia (ECZ) in Lusaka. The study also placed the perceptions alongside the Scriptures to test the hypothesis and found that an egalitarian view of the Scriptures upholds the hypothesis.
Keywords
Women in church work, Christian leadership, Preaching