Why are women not allowed to become ministers in the Missouri Synod?
A. The LCMS believes that those Scripture passages which say that women should not “teach” or “have authority” in the church (see, for example, 1 Cor. 11 and 14; 1 Timothy 2) mean that women ought not hold the authoritative teaching office in the church–that is, the office of pastor. Women are allowed to hold other offices in the church, as long as these offices do not involve the one holding them in carrying out the distinctive functions of the pastoral office. The involvement of women in non-pastoral aspects of the worship service (for example, reading the lessons, etc.), is left to the judgment of individual congregations. In 1994, the Synod’s Commission on Theology and Church Relations prepared a report on “The Service of Women in Congregational and Synodical Offices” which is helpful in this regard. Nearly half–over 9,000–of the Synod’s professional, full-time church workers are women (serving in such offices as teacher, deaconess, director of Christian education, etc.). At its
