Should Women Lead Worship?

A few weeks ago, I e-mailed Bob Kauflin, worship leader at Covenant Life, asking him what he thinks about women leading worship. I am fine with leading for kids or playing/singing on a team, but I do not feel right about being the worship leader in a mixed group of adults. My question concerned whether leading worship qualifies as having authority over men. So I asked him for his thoughts on the subject and he sent me this very helpful answer:

Christine,
Great question. At some point I'll speak to this on the blog. I appreciate your asking the question. Here's something from a CBMW pamphlet, as well as some thoughts I've put together before.

Excerpt From Women in Ministry By Randy Stinson (Pamphlet from CBMW)

"For a woman to serve as worship leader or music minister in a church is a more difficult issue. Part of the difficulty in making application here lies in the lack of uniform agreement among various church traditions regarding the role and function of one who serves in such a ministry. It is certainly possible for a woman to serve in a position in which she leads in congregational singing during a church worship service. However, it would depend on how that particular church understands the degree of authority that she holds over the assembled congregation and the extent to which she provides instruction. Is her position understood as one of authority over the congregation similar to a pastor/elder? Does she provide doctrinal commentary between songs or other doctrinal instruction to the choir or congregation? Does her leading involve the exercising of authority over others or, rather, the providing of leadership regarding timing, tempo, music, etc.? Does she direct the church to a particular song in a hymnal and invite those assembled to praise the Lord, or does she engage in more biblical exhortation like a pastor? Churches ought to take these kinds of questions into consideration when attempting to apply biblical principles to this ministry position."

Here are some of my thoughts: The question of whether or not a woman can "lead worship" is determined by two things. 1) How you understand what Scripture says about male leadership; and 2) how you understand the role of the worship leader. Our culture has worked overtime to persuade us that there is no difference between male and female leadership, or at least that men and women can lead in any situation. I think the Bible disagrees. Here are some relevant Scripture.
1 Cor 14:34-35 "women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission, as the Law says. 35 If they want to inquire about something, they should ask their own husbands at home; for it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church."
1 Tim 2:11-15 "A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. 12 I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent. 13 For Adam was formed first, then Eve. 14 And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner. 15 But women will be saved through childbearing--if they continue in faith, love and holiness with propriety."
Titus 1:6 "An elder must be blameless, the husband of but one wife, a man whose children believe and are not open to the charge of being wild and disobedient."

The bible clearly teaches that the role of Pastor is reserved for those who meet the qualifications laid out in 1Tim 3. Since one of these requirements is to have a wife as your spouse, it is impossible for a woman to meet these qualifications. Furthermore, the bible commands women to teach other women and not to have authority over a man in the church. We believe that the role of women in the church should be as follows: 1. Teaching other women. 2.Teaching children. 3. Setting a godly example for the younger women in the Lord. 4. Any position where she is clearly under the direct authority and submission to a man.
I see the role of the worship leader as fulfilling at least four functions: leading, pastoring, teaching, and prophesying. Only prophesying is specifically a male/female gift. The others are defined as male functions in a mixed gathering. Of course, church environments exist where the leadership does not want the worship leader teaching, pastoring, etc., or at least they do not function in this way. Perhaps a pastor is more involved in that portion of the meeting, or perhaps the "worship leader" is more of a"singing leader," or perhaps the comments made by the leader are confined to more basic exhortative-type comments that differ little from the prophetic. In those situations the male/female distinctions are minimized. However, in our understanding, there would always be a tension between what a leader could do, and possible misunderstanding regarding a woman's leadership role in the church. Of course, a woman can lead worship in a women's meeting, or in children's ministry, or can be a major contributor as part of a worship leading team. It also seems possible that a woman could lead worship in a small group, where the leader is exercising directional and pastoral authority. Hope that's helpful. Please let me know if you have any questions or thoughts on this.

Bob Kauflin
Sovereign Grace Ministries
www.worshipmatters.com
www.sovgracemin.org

So, my conviction is the same. I won't do it in a mixed group of adults. That got really sticky in third grade SS last year. I was leading for the kids, but there were men (small group leaders) present. And I tried to give as much Biblical/theological teaching as the kids could understand. So I wasn't actually teaching the men, but they were there... Yeah, that was a struggle.

I guess it's not wrong for a woman to lead in the sense of being the songleader without doing any teaching, but how do you know when you cross that line? What about praying? That can come pretty close to teaching. But women can pray and prophesy... But should she cover her head? Ahhh! So much to figure out...

I'm all about women having a complementarian (helping, submitting, not leading) role on a worship team. It's hard to say "no" to leading because sometimes there is just no guy to lead. So then is it better to have no worship? Oh, if I could only play the drums; no one ever expects the drummer to lead.