Nine Questions About Women’s Ministry in the Church

FORTHCOMING TITLE, ETA MARCH 2027

Complementarianism was supposed to settle the question of women in the church. It didn’t.

Now, the drift toward egalitarianism and feminism in the church has only accelerated. Some churches say they are complementarian but adopt the posture that “a woman may do anything a non-ordained man may do.” May a woman preach on Mother’s Day “under the authority” of the elders? What about teaching a Sunday school class or leading a small group? May a woman serve as a deacon? What about the growing number of women enrolled in seminaries?

Drawing from years of experience helping their own churches navigate these issues, pastors D. Michael Clary and Zachary M. Garris argue that mainstream complementarianism was never sturdy enough to hold the line. They wrote this book to give the church something firmer.
 
Nine Questions About Women's Ministry in the Church takes on the practical questions pastors and church members face, organized around three areas of church life: church office, church leadership and teaching, and women's ministry. Each chapter answers its question directly from Scripture, church history, and pastoral experience, refusing the vague “under the authority of the elders” language that lets unbiblical practices slip through the back door of otherwise conservative churches.

This is more than a book of restrictions; it is a call for men and women to embrace their created vocations—men leading with strength and courage and women serving the church in the many ways Scripture actually commends.

Written by two pastors from different traditions, a Baptist and a Presbyterian, who find substantial agreement here, Nine Questions is a short, direct, well-documented resource for elders, pastors, and church members who want plain-spoken clarity on this issue.