The issue of women in leadership within the church has been debated for years. Some members of the global Body of Christ believe that the Bible does not permit women to teach or lead within the church. Others believe God has gifted and called both men and women to minister and lead in the church. Our responsibility is to search the Scripture, ask the Holy Spirit to help us understand what God’s view is, and then lovingly respect others who differ in this issue.
At Epic we empower Women fully into every level of gifting and leadership of the local body of Christ.
We believe in creation God made both men and women in His image to be co-regents together managing the earth. He made them for community, to be one before Him. Throughout Scripture in the Old and New Testaments God uses women to lead, teach, represent Divine authority to both men and women. If this were intrinsically wrong He would have made other choices. We believe the needs of our world, for whom Christ died, are so enormous, that every believer needs to be mobilized, equipped, released to fulfill the calling of God with the gifting of the Holy Spirit without regard to restrictions of gender, race or age. We are the body of Christ, united around Him and his purposes.
For further study we recommend a paper written by a church affiliated with our Network which can be found here - epicbaltimore.com/downloads
We also recommend a book titled - Why Not Women : A Biblical Study of Women in Missions, Ministry, and Leadership by Loren Cunningham and David Joel Hamilton | Oct 25, 2006