"Where are all the women?"

An ecclesial anecdote of anti-complementarianism in the pews

By Brad Isbell

We are very reliably informed that a recent visitor to a PCA church circled all the names of the church’s officers in the printed worship bulletin¹ and wrote, “Where are all the women?” on the page, which he or she duly folded and dropped in the offering plate, thus registering a passive-aggressive, egalitarian complaint.

Here’s a serious question: If the church in question had added (under “officers” or “leaders”) to its official publications the names of women having unofficial,² unordained roles and titles—such as shepherdess, session advisor, deaconess, member of the unisex “diaconate” or the lately-popular “mercy team,” or (quite unlawfully) deacon—would that have placated the egalitarian visitor and made them more likely to return?³

CHURCH OFFICES

It is more or less admitted by some elders in the PCA that soft-pedaling the denomination’s doctrine of male-only officers is helpful to them in their “contexts”—which often happen to be large cities or purple suburbs with lots of university-educated, working women or young people with egalitarian expectations. Some elders have convictions about the office of deacon that lead them even to deny male deacons ordination⁴ because females cannot be ordained to the same office. But in some cases, the ecclesial fudgification and innovation (or omission) seem to be pragmatic attempts not to offend certain demographics. The motives may, of course, be noble—evangelism, outreach, giving no offense other than the offense of the cross, but the effect is to undermine key aspects of the PCA’s polity, including the doctrines of office and ordination.

“But the finer points of office and titles do not undermine the Gospel,” some will surely aver. That may be true, but the foundational first page of the BCO (concerning Christ, “The King and Head of the Church) seems to disagree:

He, being ascended up far above all heavens, that He might fill all things, received gifts for His Church, and gave all offices necessary for the edification of His Church and the perfecting of His saints (Ephesians 4:10-13).

Jesus, the Mediator, the sole Priest, Prophet, King, Saviour, and Head of the Church, contains in Himself, by way of eminency, all the offices in His Church, and has many of their names attributed to Him in the Scriptures. He is Apostle, Teacher, Pastor, Minister, Bishop and the only Lawgiver in Zion.

It belongs to His Majesty from His throne of glory to rule and teach the Church through His Word and Spirit by the ministry of men; thus mediately exercising His own authority and enforcing His own laws, unto the edification and establishment of His Kingdom.

Christ, as King, has given to His Church officers, oracles and ordinances; and especially has He ordained therein His system of doctrine, government, discipline and worship, all of which are either expressly set down in Scripture, or by good and necessary inference may be deduced therefrom; and to which things He commands that nothing be added, and that from them naught be taken away.

This wonderful opening section, upon which all PCA polity rests, is not more soteriological than ecclesiological. In fact, it joins ecclesiology with Christology. However much modern missional evangelicals might like to divorce salvation doctrine and Christology from polity, the PCA founders and their forebearers did no such thing. Indeed, the Gospel is not dependent on every aspect of church polity. You can be a Christian without being presbyterian. But, the PCA founders believed presbyterian polity was biblical, discernible, and definite and was, therefore, essential. They and many other presbyterians believed that Scripture is both perspicuous and sufficient…even for church government.

Following the denomination’s order as carefully as possible is not “hyper-traditionalism” or fundamentalism. It is, instead, keeping PCA officer ordination vows concerning approval “of the form of government and discipline of the Presbyterian Church in America, in conformity with the general principles of Biblical polity” and the promise of “subjection to your brethren in the Lord.” Being honestly presbyterian means a man actually believes that Jesus ordained “His system of doctrine, government, discipline, and worship, all of which are either expressly set down in Scripture, or by good and necessary inference may be deduced therefrom; and to which things He commands that nothing be added, and that from them naught be taken away.” It is then, of course, assumed that since a vow of approval has been made, practice in accordance with the standards will follow.

“Subjection to your brethren in the Lord” includes not just those men on a local staff or session or one’s own presbytery. It includes all the elders of the denomination who have taken the same vows. And it includes those presbyterians who had come before and established the standards of our polity, which may be changed…but only with great difficulty and consensus.

Because church order is a biblical issue, it is not subject to our whims, nor does it cater to our convenience. Context is essential, but the first contextual consideration for a PCA church is this: “We are a PCA church, subject to the biblical standards and order of the PCA.”⁵

Because church order is a biblical issue, it is unavoidably ethical. Crossed fingers are no more allowable in church order than in doctrine. Honesty is, to quote Machen, one of the “weightier matters of the law.” Honesty is the best polity.

1. Listing the names of church officers and staff in the Sunday bulletin is a common practice.

2. Not one of the titles or roles listed here (all of which some PCA churches actually use and publish) is found in the Book of Church Order.

3. One suspects it is not just visitors who are in view when certain title and role representations are formulated. There may be PCA churches where members sincerely believe that they have elected, “official” female officers.

4. This was openly admitted in debate on the first evening of the 2024 PCA General Assembly in Richmond concerning ratification of a BCO amendment on officer titles. The amendment passed and is now binding in the PCA:

(NEWLY APPROVED LANGUAGE UNDERLINED)

5. The idea that there are many allowable “philosophies of ministry” may have led some PCA elders to believe that ecclesial order is malleable and variable, too.