Women in Ministry

We are part of the Anglican Diocese of Sydney.

Since 1922, the Diocese of Sydney has upheld that women are permitted to teach and preach in congregational settings of men and women. This has been upheld in Doctrine Commission reports, the most recent of which was produced in 1984. This report, (“9/84 Ordination of Women to the Priesthood of the Anglican Church”, Anglican Church Diocese of Sydney, 1984), Peter Jensen, Peter O’Brien, David Peterson, Paul Barnett, Harry Goodhew, et al.) stated the following:

In the Pastoral Epistles, teaching appears to be an authoritative function concerned with the faithful transmission of apostolic doctrine or tradition and committed to men specially chosen (e.g. 2 Timothy 1:13-14; 2:2; 1 Timothy 3:2; 5:17; Titus 1:9).

It is within this context that the specific prohibition of 1 Timothy 2:12 must be understood. Women are not to assume the authoritative teaching office that properly belongs to men in the Christian congregation.

In our own context this would not appear to exclude absolutely the possibility of women preaching or teaching in church. It nevertheless appears to exclude the possibility of women exercising the role of teaching elder or "priest" as that term is defined by the Anglican Ordinal.

In the follow-up report of 1987 (also under the direction of Robinson) the commissioners again rejected women's ordination to the priesthood, but observed:

“We believe, however, that a woman may "speak" in church in a number of ways, e.g. to prophesy, exhort or testify. There appears to be no restriction based on sex on the speaking activities in 1 Corinthians 14:26, which refers to hymns, words of instruction, revelation, tongues and interpretation. We take the prohibition in 1 Corinthians 14:34 as referring to the evaluation of prophecy."

"Contemporary preaching is not identical with teaching in the NT. Preaching covers a whole range of activities, including teaching, evangelism, encouragement, exhortation, prophecy and testimony."

Teaching in the NT refers to the faithful transmission and defence of apostolic doctrine or passing on the fundamental structures of the faith. Admonition, prophecy, exhortation and encouragement are derived from this teaching ministry."

"As is the case with all Christian ministry however (see 2.3, 2.4 above) the privilege of exercising ministry depends on the context. Under certain circumstances, a woman may be involved in any of those preaching activities listed above. She may speak in the contemporary congregation, provided that she does not take the responsibility for the teaching of the faith in the family congregation: the teaching function is not hers for the reasons given in scripture (1 Timothy 2:11-13).”


(“8/87 the Ministry of Women,” Anglican Church Diocese of Sydney, 1984, by Dr D. B. Knox, Dr P. T. O'Brien, Dr P. W. Barnett, Dr P. F. Jensen, The Rev J. G. Mason, The Rev R. Bowles, et al.)

What does that mean in our context here at St Paul's?

At St Paul's, we continue in good faith and in practice to encourage women in this ministry of the word, in line with the doctrinal position of our Diocese. Most weeks you will see women preaching, leading, praying and exercising all forms of ministry within our congregations. We see this as a valuable part of who we are as a church and a Biblical reflection of the ministry of all believers in the church of God.

We encourage Christians to seek clarity first and foremost from the Scriptures, and to respond faithfully, with good conscience, always seeking to more deeply understand God’s Word on these matters, lest they become a means for division in our churches.

"So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work."

Ephesians 4:11-16

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Meet the women on our staff team

We are blessed to have a large number of women serving on our staff team, across a variety of roles – teaching, administration, creative team, pastoral care and others.

Meet our staff team
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Margaret

LAKEMBA

Since 2008, under the auspices of the Anglican Church and Evangelism & New Churches, Margaret been serving women and their families in South West Sydney by introducing them to the Lord Jesus Christ.

She does this by establishing a network of communities to which women from all faiths can belong, observe and experience Christian community, where they and their families can be introduced to the person of Jesus, and be discipled to be disciplers.

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James and Charly

BATHURST

James, Charly, Elijah, Joshua & Hannah Boardman moved from Sydney to Bathurst in January 2023. James completed a Bachelor of Divinity at Moore College in 2022 and serves with BCA as a ministry trainee at the Cathedral Parish in the Diocese of Bathurst. James & Charly are excited to see the ways God grows them in maturity and what opportunities He will grant them to testify to His glory.

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Chris and Erin

SOUTH EAST ASIA

We share a deep affection for South East Asian people and long to see them fall in love with Jesus as we have. We’ve served as student ministers in churches in Sydney, where God grew our language and cultural understanding. In 2020 we visited South East Asia and met with Christian leaders and evangelists, as well as some of the beautiful children in Christian orphanages. God used this trip to convict us to serve the South East Asian people through cross-cultural mission there.

Many South East Asian Hindus are gripped by great spiritual fear and darkness. We hope to reach these people in evangelism, and train pastors and Christian leaders to do the same. Our aim is to encourage local believers to grow in their love for Jesus and their confidence to live out and share his gospel, to see a South East Asia that knows Jesus

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John and Fiona

SOUTH ASIA

John, Fiona and their children are enjoying life in this chaotic, fun part of Asia. As Director, John oversees many projects working with vulnerable people. Together they care and set vision for a team of local and foreign SIM workers serving in the community. This is a complex role and requires leadership of 40+ SIM members and associates of the team and oversight of the 80+ national staff. The team has a clear vision of establishing healthy churches among the majority people and are accomplishing this through a variety of means. Both Fiona and John are also involved in teaching and discipleship of church leaders.

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Tim and Lauren

GLASGOW

Glasgow is not the gospel city she used to be. Her streets used to rally around the motto “Lord let Glasgow flourish through the preaching of thy word and praising thy name.” Today, the motto is “People Make Glasgow” but the people who make the city are as devoid of Christ as their motto. Evangelical Christians now make up about 2% of the greater Glasgow area, with the East End an even more dire 0.3%. It is home to 276,000 people who desperately need Bible-teaching churches planted that will hold out the gospel of the Lord Jesus in a contextually appropriate way.

We are partnering with St Silas Episcopal Church to lead Glasgow’s first evangelical Anglican church plant for 150 years. The gospel generosity of St Silas and other evangelical churches from many denominations in Glasgow has been a huge encouragement to us, and we value your prayerful support for us on this venture.

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