Women’s Role and Ministry in Contemporary Belfast Churches

Abstract

Evangelical Christianity has traditionally emphasised the dominant role of men in relation to the Christian ministry. In contemporary fundamentalist evangelical churches women have had very little opportunity for church leadership. Many of these conservative and repressive views of women are formed and justified by particular selection of Biblical passages. Evangelicals place the authority of the Bible very high on their agenda. New principles of Biblical hermeneutics have led to revised exegeses, which are positive to women’s roles in ministry, together with an increasing social acceptance of evangelical women undertaking secular employment. Against this backdrop I have explored the hypothesis that evangelicals might be more conservative than non-evangelicals in regard to women’s roles within the church. The influence of age, class, education and gender are also considered as explanatory factors. This is operationalised by looking at attitudes to a range of positions of authority. These include women as ministers, preachers and elders, women in trusted administrative roles such as treasurers, and finally those in other teaching ministries such as missionaries, who fulfil a teaching role overseas, and Sunday school teachers who often instruct small children and young people in the fundamentals of the Christian message.