Padilla said this is true for complementarian churches just as much as it is for egalitarian churches. “[At Beeson], we have PCA female students right now, SBC female students,” she said. “They’re probably never going to be in a position where they’re ordained, preaching on a Sunday morning in a senior pastor role.” Yet they are still finding value in learning how to preach. “Why?” she asked. “Well, because preaching, that skill helps you with teaching. It helps you with communicating God’s Word.”
Padilla shared a few other needs that women in ministry have. “Placement, jobs–that’s the number one need for women called to ministry,” she said, adding, “There are just all kinds of challenges like child care, like how to talk to your pastor about maternity leave.”
Padilla believes it is important to approach the topic of women in ministry by seeing men and women as co-laborers whom God loves equally. She said, “We need to start the conversation with, what does it mean for women who are created in God’s image, who are redeemed by Jesus Christ, who are born again in the Word of God—who is Jesus—who were given his Spirit, who are sharing the same baptism, the same faith, the same Lord, what does it look like then for women to serve the Lord and for men and women to serve together?”
