The Church of God (Cleveland, TN) is one of the major Pentecostal bodies in the United States. This book contains the results of a study conducted in that denomination regarding women and ministry. Some books that deal with this subject focus on biblical texts to either support or limit women’s place in ministry, this book, however, asks women ministers what they want. Not surprisingly, what they want is equality in ministry. The Church of God has 3,088 licensed women ministers in the United States, 726 of them participated in this survey (page 29). Those who made up this sample group are from different age groups and ethnic groups (page 13). The respondents come from different parts of the country (pages 30-31) and have varying degrees of education (page 55). One thousand randomly chosen male ministers in the denomination, called Ordained Bishops, were also invited to participate in the study, 16% of them responded (page 34, footnote).

This book is written by two insiders in the Church of God (Cleveland, TN): Kimberly Ervin Alexander and James P. Bowers. Both of these individuals are people of high academic credentials; they both have Ph.Ds. Alexander is a historical theologian who has in the past served as an assistant vice president for a seminary and is also a past president of the Society for Pentecostal Studies (page 12). Bowers has served as a pastor and seminary vice president (page 12).

The main body of the text consists of seven chapters. The chapters are: Hearing Their Voices, What They Believe About Family, How Power and Leadership Function, Are Women Flourishing as Ministers?, What Women Can Expect in Compensation and Advancement, What A Pentecostal Woman Minister Looks Like, and Looking from the Outside by Cynthia Wooleever. Chapters 2, 3, 4, and 5 each contain two responses to the material presented in the chapter from women ministers in the Church of God. The book also contains three appendixes. The study contained in this book is very detailed; there are a lot of facts and figures some of which are presented in graph and chart form as well.

The fact that the Church of God has 3,088 licensed women ministers in the United States may at first seem to be a very encouraging sign, and in some ways it is. At least the church recognizes that women have God-given ministries and acknowledges these ministries by giving the women ministerial recognition in the form of credentials. However, a closer look shows that these women are definitely not equal with men in ministry. For example, women are “for the most part” not allowed to serve in “state or national positions of authority in the USA” (page 13). In addition, even though they are credentialed ministers they are not allowed to vote in the General Council of the General Assembly (page 13). This means that they do not have a voice in the policies adopted by their denomination. There are also other areas in which they are clearly at a disadvantage; these areas include financial compensation and opportunities for advancement.

Pastor, scholar, businessman Larry Taylor shows that there is no need to fear theology and answers that there is a great need for a Biblical theology today.

Pascal, never known for his affection for the rationalism of his day, once said that faith “is captured by the heart.”¹ He was referring to his belief that God must be experienced in ways the human mind cannot fully comprehend. Recently, a minister was heard encouraging his congregation to “let God speak your heart not to your head,” as if to echo Pascal. As catchy as these words seemed, I could not help noting how they expressed but little appreciation for the mind, even the mind transformed by God. Instead of denouncing any particular philosophy or theological system, the minister seemed to imply that the mind is an enemy. It seems that the value of the reasoning process has been widely discounted within full-gospel ranks, and that theology has been overtly condemned as a hindrance to fidelity to God.

We may laud Pascal’s condemnation of “modern rationalism,” the exaltation of abstract reasoning as the source of truth. Reasoning however, is crucial to the formulation of sound Biblical ideas. The questions addressed in this article is: Do full-gospel ministers need to do theology which, by definition, requires intellectual inquiry into, and reasonable explication of, their beliefs? Our proposed solution may be found in the following propositions: (1) that full-gospel ministers have had misconceptions about the meaning and function of theology; and (2) that theology has a practical role in communication the teachings of Scripture to the church.

I. A Lesson From History

Anyone acquainted with the efforts of men like Augustine, John Wesley, Martin Luther, or Charles G. Finney knows that these were champions of the faith. They were also men of expert learning, skilled at wielding the sword of truth against the attack of agnostic or heretical contemporaries. These men never questioned the relationship between their faith and their capacity to reason, because they believed God embraces both. They were abreast of their times, educated and, most importantly, devout students of the Word. At critical junctures in church history, they successfully guided it along a steady course.

On the other hand, other successful spiritual leaders were not known for being theologically lettered. Billy Sunday, for instance, and in the early years of the Pentecostal movement Charles Parham and William Seymour experienced tremendous evangelistic success with little emphasis upon the value of education or theology. Yet, in the founding years of the Pentecostal revival, a “full-gospel theology” was already emerging which would ultimately become a dividing factor, spawning the first Pentecostal denominations.² Paradoxically, it was theology which divided the movement but it was also theology which facilitated the effective organization of these factions, leading to further church growth in this country.

The independent bodies continued to develop their “revival doctrines,” teachings on the tabernacle, and the “mighty baptism of the Holy Spirit.” In this important aspect, all full-gospel bodies, whether denominations or independent churches, have clearly adopted particular “theologies.” For whenever there are explicit teachings on the nature of Jesus Christ, the gifts of the Holy Spirit, or the church and its government, theology is present!