It is interesting to reflect that, in contrast to the men, many, but not all, of our female ministers are single. Why is this a cultural ‘norm’?
Very good question, Michael - my initial reaction is that there might be a male insecurity thing going on here (ie guys thinking that there is no way they could ever ask such a woman out)....
Touching on this then, and slightly changing topic, is it that single women are able to focus more on gospel ministry to other women, where as married women focus on gospel ministry to their families as a priority, that it is a cultural norm?
Maybe, but that doesn’t explain why married men are able to focus both on their families and on gospel ministry.
In that context, why should married women not be able to do both as well?
It is interesting to reflect that, in contrast to the men, many, but not all, of our female ministers are single. Why is this a cultural ‘norm’?
Very good question, Michael - my initial reaction is that there might be a male insecurity thing going on here (ie guys thinking that there is no way they could ever ask such a woman out)....
Touching on this then, and slightly changing topic, is it that single women are able to focus more on gospel ministry to other women, where as married women focus on gospel ministry to their families as a priority, that it is a cultural norm?
Maybe, but that doesn’t explain why married men are able to focus both on their families and on gospel ministry.
In that context, why should married women not be able to do both as well?
I can answer this discussion from personal experience as well as observation of my peers. In the older generation it was uncommon for women to be trained for full time ministry. So we don’t see a lot of older women whose children have grown up ministering in a formal capacity as ministers in churches. This is changing. More and more young women are engaging in full tme ministry training or theological study.
However, single women under training, intending to go into full time ministry, often divert their energy into looking after their family once a husband and especially children come along. There is simply not enough time for a mum of young children to continue training and ministering in the capacity of a full time student / minister. Many women often choose to spend more time with their children also because they see this as obeying the Bible’s teaching on women’s primary ministry being their family. The men are able to continue to juggle family and ministry because their wives give up their roles in formal training / ministry in order to be responsible for the kids. By elimination, the ones who “make” it into becoming women ministers are simply those who stay single by choice or by circumstances.
I see that this will change in the next 5- 10 years as more and more women who were trained when they were younger return into the ministry work force once their young children grow up.
It could be because the fellas do not want to disrupt the ministry of the single woman (which need not, but perhaps often does, occur if they marry and take on a new life).
Slightly off track, there is an interesting opinion on singleness at http://www.boundless.org/2005/articles/a0001199.cfm . It’s not a weighty exegetical piece by any means, but you might find it interesting. It suggests that singleness should not be so readily viewed as a gift.
Hi Pansy,
Thanks for your comments, I found them quite insightful, especially the idea that many trained women will return to a more formalised role after the kids have grown up. This is an exciting prospect, especially as one who will be looking to employ such people!
We see the pattern of celibacy pre-figured in the OT. Moses is required at one stage to refrain from sexual realtions as are priests when serving the sanctuary. Jeremiah is specifically called to a single ministry.
Blessed are those who become eunachs for the aske of the Kingdommof Heaven. Corinthians Seven places a higher value on the single consecrated state.
This all affirms the goodness of marriage and sex, because you do not offer garbage as a sacrifice.
Let the bishop / presbyter be the husband of one wife. this texyt means that many of the early converts were married, biut if their wife died they were not to re-marry. That is the consistant exegesis of those passages.
Celibacy is not a late mediveval accretion.
Marriage does not stop temptation, and I know of several married men in ministry who have ended up as adulterers.
Let the bishop / presbyter be the husband of one wife. this text means that many of the early converts were married, but if their wife died they were not to re-marry.
Robert I chuckle when I read this. If that is actually what Paul meant, then why doesn’t the Pope allow all clergy (and not just the Maronites of Lebanon) to marry at least once?
Alan , you fail to see that celibacy is a disciplinary issue and not a doctinal issue. However when the Church reconciled groups back to its communion it allowed concesions out of its genorosity. However celibacy is the norm.
In interpretaiting Scripture, we must look at the context . That is why some groups have insisted on clerical marriage, when they falsely interpret the text on the bishops wife.
A Doctrinal issue is areveled truth like the Holy Trinity, baptism etc.Totally non -negotiable and part of the shekinah of God’s truth.
A disciplinary issue, ( covered by the power to bind and loose )is like women covering their heads and celibacy, fasting etc.
Let the bishop / presbyter be the husband of one wife. this texyt means that many of the early converts were married, biut if their wife died they were not to re-marry. That is the consistant exegesis of those passages.
Robert, where is your evidence for this statement? The reason you supply is not given in the text. It is something you have read into the text.
As we all know, there are significant advantages in singleness, however Titus 1:6 and 1 Timothy 3:2 both indicate that elders/overseers may be married. Furthermore, in 1 Corinthians 9:5, Paul defends his right to take a believing wife along with him like the other apostles including Cephas (= Peter). Since it appears he was single when he wrote this, it seems he envisages that it would be legitimate that he could marry and take a wife with him in his apostolic ministry.
When singleness - especially as a settled ongoing decision - is discussed in the New Testament, to my knowledge it is always presented as a choice not an imposition. This is so in Matthew 19:11-12, where renouncing marriage for the sake of the kingdom is a choice one makes and cannot be accepted by everyone. It’s also true of the Christian bachelor or widow considering marriage in 1 Corinthians 7:36-40. In 1 Corinthians 7:7 it is a gift not a command.
Paul cannot make it any clearer than in 1 Timothy 4:1-5 (especiallly v3) that forbidding marriage to people is a false and damaging teaching - indeed, according to v1, it’s the doctrine of demons!
I believe it is wrong and unscriptural for any human religious institution that claims to be Christian to insist that its leaders must be celibate.
On the matter of single pastors developing romantic relationships with members of the opposite sex within your congregation, our national Anglican Code of Conduct, Faithfulness in Service has some helpful guidelines in section 4.15.
Pastoral relationships can legitimately develop into romantic relationships. If this begins to happen:
• acknowledge to yourself that your personal interest and the pastoral relationship are at risk of becoming confused;
• tell the other person that your relationship is changing and becoming romantic;
• disclose the nature of the relationship to a supervisor or colleague to ensure accountability and prevent misunderstanding; and
• where practicable:
- disclose to a supervisor or colleague any proposed alternative arrangements
for ongoing individual pastoral ministry;
- make alternative arrangements for ongoing individual pastoral ministry; and
- cease providing individual pastoral ministry to the person.
One question that comes to mind with regards to single pastors, it’s my understanding that in the Anglican church, when a couple gets married, that they first go through marriage preparation counseling with the pastor, before they get married. I don’t know if that’s a strict rule or just a service that’s offered, so if someone could clarify that it would be helpful, but personally I would not feel comfortable going to a single pastor, male or female, for that counseling. I’m still single so haven’t been through the counseling myself, but I would imagine that it would be of great value, but only if it came from someone that had the life experience required to both answer questions that arise, and also so that they have the insight to be able to identify which issues the couple should focus most on resolving before they get married. In a situation where their pastor is single, what would/should a couple seeking marriage preparation counseling do? If we were also to apply this to a small country parish, where there may not be any suitable alternative person, what would happen then?
James - there are plenty of other sources of pre-marriage counselling (eg Anglicare) besides the pastor himself, and I would hope that most pastors would be wise enough to know whether they are capable of doing this properly and usefully themselves. Speaking for myself, I would question the maturity of any pastor who insists that it should be done by them and by them only.
One question that comes to mind with regards to single pastors, it’s my understanding that in the Anglican church, when a couple gets married, that they first go through marriage preparation counseling with the pastor, before they get married. I don’t know if that’s a strict rule or just a service that’s offered, so if someone could clarify that it would be helpful, but personally I would not feel comfortable going to a single pastor, male or female, for that counseling. I’m still single so haven’t been through the counseling myself, but I would imagine that it would be of great value, but only if it came from someone that had the life experience required to both answer questions that arise, and also so that they have the insight to be able to identify which issues the couple should focus most on resolving before they get married. In a situation where their pastor is single, what would/should a couple seeking marriage preparation counseling do? If we were also to apply this to a small country parish, where there may not be any suitable alternative person, what would happen then?
Hi James
‘Counselling’ may be a misleading description here, as more and more people associate it with professional counselling offered by a qualified psychologist, an accredited family counsellor, or the like. The requirements for marriage preparation are determined by the Marriage Act 1961, which are simply that the authorised celebrant provide the intending parties with a document (in a prescribed form) which amongst other things includes information on marriage education and counselling. The Anglican Church does not impose any further requirements than this, although most pastors would, of course, do more than just hand the couple a brochure!
Having said that, David B is quite right in pointing out that the pastor does not necessarily need to be the one who prepares the couple for marriage. Many couples attend a marriage preparation course or seminar, which the pastor may or may not discuss with them afterwards. Whatever other involvement the Christian pastor does or doesn’t have in marriage preparation, the things he would normally do are to: i) instruct the couple in the Biblical teaching on marriage; ii) help them to plan the wedding service; and iii) just ‘see how they’re going’. I don’t see any problem with a single minister doing any of these provided that he was aware that, should he develop any concerns about the couple’s readiness for marriage, he may need to enlist the help of a married couple or professional counsellor to assist them.
The Greek word in the context of ! Corinthians 9 is a general term which could include a serving woman, and not necessarily a wife. Tradition tells us that Peter was a widower..hence his Mother in Law.
There is no compulsion to celibacy as one can serve God without being ordained. The Diaconate is open to married men, but Priests (and Bishops exclusively)in the Latin Rite are generally celibate. This is pre-figured in the OT , where priests who served the Sanctuary , abstained from sex when they were on duty. Married deacons or priests , must promise before their ordination that they will accept celibacy if their wife dies. A person who has married more than once..widowed and remarried can never be accepted for ordination..so faithful is the Catholic Church to the Scriptural injunction.
Interesting that at GAFCON there will be divorced and re-married bishops..which I think is nearl.y as bad as gay ones. Interestingly a jewish priest may not marry a divorced person, a pre-figurement of Christs ban on divorce and re-marriage for a Priestly people.
You miss in the text of Corinthians seven that Celibacy is a higher calling.
Sex within the context of marriage is good, as you do not sacrifice for God what what is garbage
The text on forbidding marriahge and meats was adressed to heretical Gnostic groups, who taught flesh was evil. The Catholic church forbids no one to abstain from marriage if that is their call.
The constant interpretation of the text on the Bishop and presbyter , is borne out , by the groupings who split from us in the third, fifth and Eleventh century.
Sex is a gift drom God to be enjoyed within marriage, and therefore to give that up, along with children is a sacrifice. if it was bad, as some people think Catholics believe it si , it would not be a sacrifice to give it up. You don’t offer something to God which is rubbish...marriage and sex within its context is not rubbish,
The Greek word in the context of ! Corinthians 9 is a general term which could include a serving woman, and not necessarily a wife. Tradition tells us that Peter was a widower..hence his Mother in Law.
Not necessarily a wife, but it can include her being a wife. Tradition may say he was a widower, but was that after Paul wrote 1 Corinthians 9?
Would it not appear scandalous for all these single men to be travelling around the countryside with a believing single woman? Surely that would fly in the face of their message which includes such a high call of morality. I cannot see the consistency of Paul saying in the one letter that immoral behaviour is intolerant, & then saying that it’s ok for singles apostles to have a single Christian woman travelling around on missionary journeys… I am sure that they may well have been celibate (should such an odd occurrence have happened), but it would not appear that way to the population, & surely it would compromise their message. That is, such an interpretation goes right against the normal message that Paul proclaims, therefore I doubt that I can follow you on this one Robert. It is much more fitting for it to be understood as wife.
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