We hold this belief with a “high” view of scripture, or in other words: the entire Bible is inspired and has authority. We don’t want to fall into the two traps of either ignoring context (only reading “on the surface”) or simply cutting out the parts of the Bible we don’t agree with. Sometimes this means holding seemingly contradictory truths in tension. But often, what we perceive as contradictions can come from misinterpretation or our own lack of nuance. We also read the Old Testament in light of the New Testament. Jesus is the perfect picture of God, and it is to him that the Old Testament points, that the gospels testify, and the epistles (ie. Paul’s letters) apply to the church. 

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In our view, even passages that don’t seem to apply to our present context (ie. food sacrificed to idols) point to an eternal principle that is still true. As readers of the Bible and followers of Jesus, we are constantly trying to understand and apply these eternal principles from “then and there” to our “here and now”. This requires us all to have both a robust hermeneutic (developed method of interpreting scripture) and a posture of humility, especially as we engage the topic of women and leadership in its long history of controversy and pain. However, we believe the biblical vision for men and women is to be a kingdom of prophets, priests and kings as established in the Garden of Eden, distorted by the fall, promised in the Old Testament and fulfilled in the New Testament.

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The the following document is from a study done by a church which  originally did not allow women to hold “equal authority” as men in the church. Their new conclusion is that “the practice of excluding women from ecclesiastical office [church leadership] cannot be conclusively defended on biblical grounds... [and] the most obvious teaching of Scripture is that both qualified male and female members of the church should serve [as leaders, specifically] in the offices of elder, minister, and evangelist.

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To be clear: the following document is NOT from the Vineyard Movement, and we don’t define ourselves by all of the presuppositions or conclusions represented in this report. We share it because we feel it is one of the most comprehensive survey giving clear and concise treatment on the subject that we have encountered. We appreciate that it uses biblical grounds to form its position.  

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We hope this is helpful as you engage in healthy and honest conversation about this topic, and we’re happy to continue the dialogue, so feel free to reach out.