Women and being ordained or a nun

kimberlyw

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I'm considering being a nun or becoming ordained. I know I'm called to full time Christian ministry for some time but the Bible seems to frown on Women Ministers. I never want to go against the will of God but becoming a nun takes like three years. Any advice on such things? Thanks. Biblical necessary.
 

rockytopva

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And the next day we that were of Paul's company departed, and came unto Caesarea: and we entered into the house of Philip the evangelist, which was one of the seven; and abode with him. And the same man had four daughters, virgins, which did prophesy. - Acts 21_8-9
 
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Resha Caner

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I'm considering being a nun or becoming ordained. I know I'm called to full time Christian ministry for some time but the Bible seems to frown on Women Ministers. I never want to go against the will of God but becoming a nun takes like three years. Any advice on such things? Thanks. Biblical necessary.

Why is 3 years too long for you? And in what church is it easier to become a minister than a nun?

I'm wondering what your background is. I'm Lutheran, which includes an entire theology regarding the idea of vocation such that everyone is serving God, not just ordained ministers. So, what exactly do you think you have been called to do?
 
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Albion

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The two are quite different, so I'd think that deciding for sure which way you ought to go would be the first thing to get settled. And also, the question of which way to go depends to some degree on what denomination/church you belong to or attend. It might be necessary to change churches in order to make everything work.
 
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I'm considering being a nun or becoming ordained. I know I'm called to full time Christian ministry for some time but the Bible seems to frown on Women Ministers. I never want to go against the will of God but becoming a nun takes like three years. Any advice on such things? Thanks. Biblical necessary.

You can just study the Word of God in your own time where you live. Ask God to show you what His Word says. Pray over it and read it. There is no need to go to a church or a school. We are study to show ourselves approved unto God (2 Timothy 2:15). You can have a blog (as you suggested elsewhere). You can dedicate your blog in being for the woman of faith.


...
 
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kimberlyw

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You all make sound points. Thank you. You're right, maybe I feel three yrs is too long as I rush things, idk. Religion wise I'm sad it seems only Catholics have nuns as I'm more Protestant... I wish Baptists had nuneries. Eunich seems only answer. Thanks for the Bible verses as well!
 
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rockytopva

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You all make sound points. Thank you. You're right, maybe I feel three yrs is too long as I rush things, idk. Religion wise I'm sad it seems only Catholics have nuns as I'm more Protestant... I wish Baptists had nuneries. Eunich seems only answer. Thanks for the Bible verses as well!

 
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Ken Behrens

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From seeing some of your other posts, you already have a ministry. So that part of the issue is moot. Why not just follow the gifts God has given you, and don't worry about what the rest of the world calls it? God has opened doors for me for almost 50 years, with no title, and an assortment of gifts that seems to fit nowhere but everywhere.

There is a danger in becoming a nun/pastor, etc, and that is that expectations will be placed on you as to what your ministry should entail. Plus the way the Body of Christ is arranged, if you minister in one denomination, you will not be welcome in some others. My first wife turned down ordination 5 times for this very reason. Though today, if you are in the US, there are places you can get ordained without such expectations. Good places, that will offer training, mentoring, and connection without specifying what you must do to serve God.

Forget about the woman thing. That's God's problem to fix the men and their ideas. It's a big world with lots of Kingdom needs.
 
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kimberlyw

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Thank you! Well said last three posts and can rocky top give me a link to the YouTube so I can share? Thanks for the insights on your wife Ken. Good things to think and pray about. God willing I'd like His ministry to grow, for Jesus Revival. The YouTube was perfect and is what my heart feels, burdened for.
 
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Resha Caner

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You all make sound points. Thank you. You're right, maybe I feel three yrs is too long as I rush things, idk. Religion wise I'm sad it seems only Catholics have nuns as I'm more Protestant... I wish Baptists had nuneries. Eunich seems only answer. Thanks for the Bible verses as well!

I'm not sure what you think a nun is. Apart from taking a vow of celibacy, the Lutheran church has called female workers. They are called a "deaconess". We also have teachers and social service workers.

Is it the idea of a nunnery that intrigues you? That often doesn't mean serving the world but trying to escape from it. If it's just the idea of living in a faith community that appeals to you, again there are Protestant versions called "covenant" communities. I think you need to do some research - specifically you need to find a female mentor.
 
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Strong in Him

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I'm considering being a nun or becoming ordained. I know I'm called to full time Christian ministry for some time but the Bible seems to frown on Women Ministers. I never want to go against the will of God but becoming a nun takes like three years. Any advice on such things? Thanks. Biblical necessary.

Well, for what it's worth;
1. It is very debatable whether the Bible is "against" women ministers. There have been, and are, several debates/arguments about it on this site alone.
2. Being a Minister of a church - maybe even a large one - and being a nun, are two very different things.
3. Both vocations may require 3 years training; whether in a convent, or theological college. For some denominations it may be more, and if the church think you are too young and don't have much life experience, they may send you off to get anther job first/recommend you volunteer somewhere with people.
If 3 years training is too much for you, then maybe you need to ask yourself how committed you are. Sorry, don't mean to sound harsh, but Jesus waited for 18 years before he began his ministry (he seemed to know who he was at the age of 12). The disciples had 3 years training with Jesus, and then had to wait 50 days until Pentecost and been filled with the Spirit. Peter says that we need to know our faith to be able to answer for the hope that is in us, 1 Peter 3:15; 2 Peter 1:10. And Paul says that we should study so that we know how to correctly handle the word of God, 2 Timothy 2:15. Ministers need to be trained in theology, Biblical exegesis, maybe language studies, preaching, and so on, so that they can preach the word, teach Bible classes, prepare young people for confirmation/baptism and so on.
4. Being ordained, or a nun, are not the only kinds of Christian Ministry. I believe, in fact, that whatever a Christian does - teaching, medicine, plumbing, cleaning - is their Christian ministry. We are using the gifts that God has given us and are serving him. We are his children, with his Spirit living in us, and are his witnesses, Acts 1:8, and his ambassadors, 2 Corinthians 5:20, wherever we go. You are a full time Christian, servant of and witness for the Lord wherever you go - you just need to find out where it is that he wants you.
Personally, I am not employed at the moment. I am a lay preacher on Sundays and I do voluntary work in the week; that is my ministry. Even if I just spend time travelling round on buses, shopping or whatever; making contact with people who may be lonely and talk to no one else that day, smiling at people who may be stressed/unhappy is a ministry; and who knows what conversations will come out of that? The world wouldn't see it like that - it's not big or important. Maybe even some people in the church would dismiss that as being nothing - but who cares what they think? Ministry is not always big or up front. Praying for other people and being willing to listen, is a ministry - and that can be done even if you are confined to the house.
 
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Greg J.

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I believe the majority of people in full-time ministry are untrained and unaccredited. Prayerfully consider what value training and accreditation would give to what God wants you to do. He's not calling you into ministry apart from loving and serve him. The training comes when God wants it for you or through you to others in the future (which only he knows).
 
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Paidiske

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I'm a priest, so if you have specific questions about being a woman in parish ministry I'm happy to answer them. Being a Baptist pastor would be a bit different, but we'd have a very great deal in common.

For what it's worth, my training took me six years; would have been four but my daughter was born while I was at college, so that slowed me down a bit!

I'm going to go against the grain a bit and say that I don't think some study or training is ever wasted. Even if you don't go into ordained ministry, having learned more about the Bible, about Christian thought and history, about worship and ethics and pastoral care... if you're making yourself available to God, you better believe he'll use whatever training you've had!

Religion wise I'm sad it seems only Catholics have nuns as I'm more Protestant...

Anglicans have nuns. If you're really interested you could arrange to visit a convent. I have one near me and it's really important to me as a place of prayer and retreat.
 
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Ken Behrens

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I can't imagine how this could be true, but I'm open to hearing it if anyone has any statistics.
It depends what you mean by "training". Compared to seminary standards, most clergy in America are untrained. Two years of Bible College may or may not not measure up to 6 years of seminary, depending what you look for. And many have only self-study.

Accreditation is another matter. In America, very few religious training schools are accredited in the sense of the university (for which we have a network of 10 regional accrediting bodies, whose standards are as high as any country in the world). The religious schools have their own accrediting body, but even then, many do not seek even that accreditation.

The laws in America allow any church to ordain. They also allow any organization an easy path to becoming legally a "church". It's about $800 and a 25 page form, which is mostly checking yes. It's called a 501C3 if you care to look it up.

I can't speak to the country, but my city has a population of 10,000, 62 churches. I think 20 trained clergy in the sense of seminary or equivalent staff 10 of these, another 30 or so in the sense of trained in a college with Christian-only accreditation (Bible school), staffing about 30 of these. Probably another 30 "untrained" in any sense, other than by experience.

The big school in the area "training" many of the pastors, is not accredited. It is a branch of a national institution of "schools". The lessons, culminating in a masters degree, require 4 years of one Saturday per month, and prepare the candidates roughly equal to the level I had after four years of Catholic high school. The candidates are then ordained by the school.
 
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Albion

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It depends what you mean by "training". Compared to seminary standards, most clergy in America are untrained. Two years of Bible College may or may not not measure up to 6 years of seminary, depending what you look for. And many have only self-study.
Very well, I'd consider two years of religious studies in a Bible college to be "training." As for self-study, I know that there are such persons acting as ministers and pastors, but I seriously doubt that they are "most" American clergy. If statistics or evidence showed me the opposite, of course I'd pay attention.

Accreditation is another matter.
It might be, but I wasn't making any distinction there.
 
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MarleneJ

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I felt God was calling me to serve him when I was a young teenager. I thought the only option was to become a nun, but I wasn't a Catholic. So I studied the Bible on my own. (My family were not Christians, but they did send me to a solid Baptist Sunday School, where I memorized verses and learned the gospel.)

Sadly, a lot of secular things came into my life, and I drifted away from God, into atheism and the New Age movement. But God never let me go. It took till I was 26, when the Hound of Heaven won that battle, and saved me. I immediately felt the call of God, for missions. Unfortunately, my husband did not. So I focused on my family, local church and my teaching career.

Then a definite call to go to a specific seminary and get my MDiv. I was incredibly busy with 4 children and work, when I realized what the Seminary was for (training pastors!) I thought I must have heard God wrong. After all, women couldn't be pastors, could they? So I disobeyed God. And I started getting physically sick and then sicker, until finally I had to go on disability, and I lost pretty much my whole life. I spent two years so disabled and so depressed, I stopped reading the Bible and turned my face to the wall.I quit church! (I didn't know anyone there, anyway!) God let me cry and have a pity party for a while. Then told me to read 5 Psalms a day like Billy Graham supposedly did. Wow! Did God ever minister to me!

About that time, I got on some decent meds, and started getting some mobility back. I joined a small Baptist church. The pastor was always trying to get the young men of the church to go to seminary. One day, he was again urging them, and God said, "This is what I want you to do!" So I talked it over with my husband and went to the pastor to get approval. He asked me if I wanted to become a pastor, and I said, God just told me that time to go to seminary and learn. So, he approved the application, and I started some on-line course, and then eventually some campus course. That seminary was accredited by ATS (Associated Theological Schools), which I understand is the top body for accreditation of theological schools in North America.

So, it was a three year program I managed to stretch to 7 years! LOL But part time was great for me, I was able to study every subject in detail, and I did extremely well. When I got out, that denomination would not ordain me, because they didn't believe in women as pastors. But in seminary, I did a lot of research, searched out the Greek, and came to the conclusion that there really were no barriers to women becoming pastor.

So, I found an independent organization and got ordained. And eventually switched to a denomination that does ordain women, where I am asked to preach and teach, and no one takes offence! My health went downhill, and a chaplain's job I was offered I was forced to turn down. But, God has used me in many capacities, right since I started seminary. It was never a matter of sitting in an ivory tower for 3 years, before I could use what God had called me too. I taught classes, was a music director in one church, ran some small Christian forums for people with health issues, which I really understood.

So to make a short story long, there really is nothing stopping you from becoming a pastor. And whatever you decide, you will need training. Or, you will WANT training. I am so grateful for my seminary training, and how God has used me in spite of my illnesses, in spite of me! I do hope you will follow the call of God on your life, whichever direction it takes you.

PS. I can send you information I have written about what the Bible says about women in ministry, as well as some book recommendations. And the name of the organization I was ordained by, which does offer lots of support and further training!
 
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PollyJetix

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PS. I can send you information I have written about what the Bible says about women in ministry, as well as some book recommendations.
I thoroughly enjoyed your entire post.
I am a licensed lay minister in my denomination. I have a bit of training, but feel a tremendous need for more. Can you send me the info and book recommendations?
Thank you!
 
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Zackuth

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Unfortunately, the discussion of female pastors has been given to us in the Bible, and according to God’s Word, females are not allowed to become ministers. God’s Word is very clear, in 1 Timothy 3:2, we read “A deacon must be the husband of one wife”, and in Titus1:6 we read “An elder must be blameless, the husband of but one wife”. The leader of the church; the minister, pastor, priest, whatever he was called, came from this body of men.

When God had Moses ordain his brother and nephews as priests, God also charged the males of the Levites to work and minister within the Tabernacle, and later the Temple. When Jesus called His disciples, all twelve were male, and the two replacements for Judas, Matthias and Saul, were also males. Throughout the Gospels, whenever Jesus encountered a priest, a Pharisee, or a member of the Sanhedrin, these were all male figures.

One of the arguments used for the ordination of females include the judge Deborah and the prophetesses Anna and others. It is very true these women did the work of the Lord, but we have to ask, “Where these women priests in the Tabernacle or Temple?” And of course the answer is “No, they weren’t”. Since these women were not priests, any argument using them in favor of female ordination is not a valid one.

Another argument is that at the time the passages were written, women had a lesser status than men and the stance against women priests were just part of those times. While this is true, it does not have any impact in what God has established, there is no place in the Bible which changes the restriction of female priests. To say we can dismiss God’s Word on a particular subject because it is archaic thinking opens a door that may never be closed again. Once we open that door and walk through it, we have then put ourselves above God and we are the ones who have the right to say what is acceptable to believe and practice. We will then be able to put aside the restrictions God places upon His people because they are just “old fashioned and no longer valid”. God’s stances on things like drunkenness (as long as I do it at home and don’t hurt anyone it’s ok), going to church (everyone sleeps in on Sunday, I’ll just read the Bible when I can), and following all the laws of the land (even the police don’t care if I go 5 miles above the speed limit, it no big deal) will have no authority behind them, because we have dismissed God’s authority over us.

And where do we stop? Where do we place that line between where it is acceptable to ignore God’s Word and to follow God’s Word? And more importantly who will be the person to tell us where the line is drawn? At that time, we have placed ourselves above God and told Him what He says is no longer important, it is what we say and the world says that holds any weight.

Regardless of what we think, no matter how out of touch we believe God’s Word may be, it is God’s Word and it must be followed, all of it. To stand there and say “I am a Christian and follow God, except for this rule which I don’t like, and this rule because the world is saying it is ok to do”, only makes us look like hypocrites. How can we teach the importance of God’s Word when we ignore it? How can we shine as beacons of God’s light when we wallow in the darkness of the world? We are a Holy nation, a peculiar people, and peculiar people stand out. The world will come to us and say “It’s ok to do this, everyone else is”, and our response should be “Not everyone, God’s Word says it’s wrong, and I can’t”.
 
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