Do Methodists allow women pastors?

Yes. The United Methodist Church ordains women as deacons and elders and appoints them as pastors, and it has elected women as bishops since Marjorie Matthews in 1980. Its Social Principles reject “any beliefs, policies or practices that envision women and men as unequal” in the church or in society.

When did Lutherans start ordaining women?

The Lutheran Church in America ordained Elizabeth Platz in November 1970, and the American Lutheran Church ordained Barbara Andrews the next month. Both churches later joined to form the ELCA in 1988. April Ulring Larson became the ELCA’s first woman bishop in 1992, and Elizabeth Eaton was elected its first woman presiding bishop in 2013.

When did the Episcopal Church start ordaining women?

The General Convention opened the ordination of deacons, priests, and bishops to women in 1976, two years after eleven women were ordained priests in Philadelphia without the church’s approval. Barbara Harris became the first woman bishop in the Anglican Communion in 1989, and Katharine Jefferts Schori was elected presiding bishop in 2006.

Can women be elders in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)?

Yes. Presbyterian women have been ordained as ruling elders, who govern congregations together with their ministers, since 1930, and as ministers since 1956. Women serve in every ordained office of the PC(USA).

What Do Methodists, Lutherans, and Presbyterians Believe About Women Pastors?

The United Methodist Church, the ELCA, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), and the Episcopal Church all ordain women as pastors, and women have served as bishops and in the highest offices of these churches. Women received full ordination in the Presbyterian and Methodist predecessor churches in 1956, in two Lutheran predecessor churches in 1970, and in the Episcopal Church in 1976. The United Church of Christ, the Disciples of Christ, and American Baptists have ordained women since the nineteenth century.

If you are a woman who senses a call to ministry, or you have been told that Scripture forbids women to preach, you may be wondering where the churches stand. Perhaps you grew up in a church where only men stood in the pulpit, and you now find a woman leading worship in a congregation you are visiting. On this question the mainline churches agree. Every one of them ordains women, and women have led each of them at its highest levels.

Church	Position in brief	Key statement and year
United Methodist Church	Women ordained and appointed as pastors and elected bishops; the church rejects treating women and men as unequal	Full clergy rights in the Methodist Church (1956); first woman bishop (1980); Social Principles (revised 2024)
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America	Women serve as pastors and bishops	First ordinations in predecessor churches (1970); first woman bishop (1992); Faith, Sexism, and Justice (2019)
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)	Women ordained as deacons, elders, and ministers	Women elders (1930); women ministers (1956 in the northern church, 1965 in the southern)
Episcopal Church	Ordination canons apply “equally” to men and women, in every diocese	General Convention resolutions 1976-B005 and 1997-A052
United Church of Christ	Ordains women; elected a woman as General Minister and President in 2023	Antoinette Brown’s ordination (1853)
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)	Ordains women; led by a woman since 2017	Clara Babcock’s ordination (1888)
American Baptist Churches USA	Ordains women and calls for women and men as “full partners” in ministry	Policy statement (1985)

What do Methodists believe about women pastors?

The United Methodist Church, the largest mainline Methodist church in the United States, ordains women as deacons and elders and appoints them as pastors of congregations. In 1956 the Methodist Church, one of the two bodies that formed the United Methodist Church in 1968, granted women full clergy rights, and Maud Jensen became the first woman to receive them. On July 17, 1980, Marjorie Matthews was elected the first woman bishop of the United Methodist Church.

The Social Principles, revised in 2024, “decry the persistence of sexism and misogyny in the church through its practices and theological teachings.” They “reject any beliefs, policies or practices that envision women and men as unequal in either religious or secular settings,” and they urge bishops and boards of ordained ministry to “nurture and promote the leadership of all people, regardless of gender.”

What do Lutherans believe about women pastors?

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the largest Lutheran church in the United States, ordains women as pastors and deacons and elects them as bishops. Its predecessor churches began ordaining women in the 1970s. The Lutheran Church in America ordained Elizabeth Platz in November 1970, and the American Lutheran Church ordained Barbara Andrews the next month. April Ulring Larson became the ELCA’s first woman bishop in 1992, and in 2013 Elizabeth Eaton became its first woman presiding bishop.

The ELCA’s 2019 social statement Faith, Sexism, and Justice explains the decision. The predecessor churches concluded “that the Scriptures present a mixed record regarding ordination and that nothing definitive precluded women from serving in this office.” Since then, the statement says, “the experience of this church has shown those decisions to be God-pleasing,” in keeping with the prophet Joel and the Pentecost story in Acts.

What do Presbyterians believe about women pastors?

The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), the largest Presbyterian church in the United States, ordains women to every office: deacon, ruling elder, and minister of Word and Sacrament. Presbyterians govern their churches through elders, and Sarah Dickson became the first woman ruling elder in 1930. In 1956 Margaret Towner became the first woman ordained a Presbyterian minister, and in 1965 Rachel Henderlite became the first in the southern Presbyterian church. The northern and southern churches reunited in 1983 to form the PC(USA), and in 2026 the church celebrated seventy years of women ministers.

What do Episcopalians believe about women priests?

The Episcopal Church, the American member of the worldwide Anglican Communion, ordains women as deacons, priests, and bishops. On July 29, 1974, eleven women, remembered as the Philadelphia Eleven, were ordained priests before the church’s canons allowed it. Two years later the General Convention declared that the canons for ordaining bishops, priests, and deacons “shall be equally applicable to men and women” (Resolution 1976-B005).

For two decades a few dioceses still refused to ordain women. In 1997 the Convention amended its canons so that no one may be denied ordination “in any parish or diocese of this church” on account of sex (Resolution 1997-A052). Barbara Harris became the first woman bishop in the Anglican Communion in 1989, and in 2006 Katharine Jefferts Schori was elected the church’s first woman presiding bishop.

What do the United Church of Christ, the Disciples of Christ, and American Baptists believe?

These three churches have ordained women for well over a century. A Congregational church in South Butler, New York, ordained Antoinette Brown in 1853, and the United Church of Christ counts her as the first of its women clergy. In 2023 the Rev. Dr. Karen Georgia A. Thompson became the first woman to serve as General Minister and President of the UCC.

The Disciples of Christ Historical Society records Clara Celestia Hale Babcock, ordained in 1888, as the first woman ordained in the Christian Churches. The Rev. Terri Hord Owens has served as General Minister and President of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) since 2017.

Churches in the American Baptist tradition have ordained women since the 1880s, and a 1985 policy statement says the church “must have both women and men of all races as full partners of its ministry.”

What Scripture and tradition do these churches draw on?

The ELCA’s statement points to the day of Pentecost, when Peter quoted the prophet Joel:

‘It will be in the last days, says God, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh. Your sons and your daughters will prophesy. Your young men will see visions. Your old men will dream dreams. Yes, and on my servants and on my handmaidens in those days, I will pour out my Spirit, and they will prophesy.

Acts 2:17–18

Paul wrote that baptism unites people across every human division:

There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

Galatians 3:28

Scripture names women who led God’s people. “Deborah, a prophetess … judged Israel” (Judges 4:4). Paul commends “Phoebe, our sister, who is a servant of the assembly that is at Cenchreae” (Romans 16:1), using the Greek word diakonos, which also means deacon or minister, and he greets Junia as “notable among the apostles” (Romans 16:7). John Chrysostom, the fourth-century archbishop of Constantinople, marveled that a woman was counted worthy of the name of apostle. On Easter morning Mary Magdalene “told the disciples that she had seen the Lord” (John 20:18). See who was Mary Magdalene?

Churches that ordain only men rely mainly on 1 Timothy 2:12 and 1 Corinthians 14:34–35, and they hold their view out of a sincere wish to obey Scripture. Mainline churches and scholars generally read those verses as instructions to particular congregations in the first century, and they weigh them against the many women whom the Bible shows prophesying, teaching, and leading. For the full discussion, see can women be pastors? and should wives submit to their husbands?

A word for anyone hearing a call

Behind every date on this page are women who heard God’s call and waited, sometimes for decades, for the church to recognize it. If you hear that call, talk with a pastor and let others help you test it, as every candidate for ministry does. Paul reminds the church that the Spirit gives gifts to each person for the good of all:

Now there are various kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are various kinds of service, and the same Lord. There are various kinds of workings, but the same God who works all things in all. But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the profit of all.

1 Corinthians 12:4–7