In many churches around the nation, I am banned from being on local church boards and participating in full time ministry because of one reason. I am a woman. Nothing else. Simply because of the fact that I am of the female sex, I am prohibited from fully participating in ministry and leadership. Many churches allow women to participate in some leadership capacity, but not all aspects. For example, many children’s pastors are women or women are head of the women’s ministry. Women are allowed to work with children or interact with other women; roles that are more traditional for women. The church's response to feminism has been to give women a role that they see more fit to the traditional gender roles of men and women. Women traditionally have been home makers and taken care of children. In the church the more traditional roles of women has extended to leadership. However, by side casting women to these roles the church is communicating that women and children are second class citizens. If women are good enough to ministry to their own sex and children, why not the whole church? The only group that is excluded in those two categories is men. You evaluate the status of men and lower women to a second class. At the foot of the cross, all men and women are equal. As Galatians 3:28 reads, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” Once a person has accepted Christ, he or she is new creation. This new creation has nothing to do with the gender of one another; each person is equal. We ALL have sinned and all are saved. By not allowing a woman to minister in a full capacity you take away her freedom of the cross. When we forbid women from going into Christian ministry we are going back to the ways of the fall and before the reconciliation of Christ. The church is the place this reconciliation takes place and yet we still see a desire to rule over women and go back to the ways of the fall. Because, we are a new creation in Christ, the Spirit creates a way for women to have freedom and not be under oppression. So when the Church tries to silence women in Christian ministry and subdue them, we are going back to the curse. This is not living in the new creation that Christ has created us to be. The Spirit creates a way for us to live in harmony on equal levels with each other including in Christian ministry. In countries across the world, American women serve as missionaries. More women are going overseas to do missionary work and to preach and teach the Gospel. Yet we would ban those same women from pastoring or serving on elder boards in our own churches. There is something seriously wrong with the American Church if we are willing to send called, educated, and compassionate women across nations, but those same women would not be welcome in our churches. The American church is missing out by not including women in ministry. Women make up a large portion of the church. I have constantly be called out on the argument that men of the church will not want to listen to a woman pastor. I sit every Sunday before a male pastor and learn from him. If women can learn from men, men can learn from women. We are build to learn and work with each other. If women make up a part of the church, they must have a say in how the church is run. Men and women both are build differently to complete each other. The church is missing out on half of the population by only having men in leadership. Women bring a different perspective to the table. This perspective provides balance between the two genders. The church has a gender divide that must be rectified if we are ever to become the full body of Christ. 1 Timothy 2:9-15 specifically deals with the obstacle of women teaching in the church, especially over the authority over men. I do not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority over a man; she must be quiet. For Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner. But women will be saved through childbearing—if they continue in faith, love and holiness with propriety. (New International Version, 1 Timothy 2:9-15). To fully understand this passage, we must again take in the context of this time period. Women were not educated but primarily remained at home. Although their activity was not as restricted as in previous time periods, women were still not as educated as men. Women did not understand the Scriptures in this time period because they were not educated as the men of the time to know them. Now however, many women are educated. Many women today attend seminary and are equipped to teach and preach in Christian ministry. It extends to people who do not know the word. If one does not have an understanding of Scripture, one cannot teach Scripture. But one who knows Scripture and is in an intimate relationship with God, can teach, regardless of gender, race, or social status. Women in the church have been marginalized from teaching and leadership roles. Gender roles have kept women on the side lines when teaching and preaching roles have come up in the church. Biblical text have been taken out of context when regarding the role of women in ministry. Through careful exegetical practices, we can reevaluate the place of women of teaching and preaching in the church. In today’s American society, women are equal to men and have the same amount of freedom outside of the church. However, the church has kept the role of women to a minimal despite the societal norms of the outside world. As a church body, the American church must make an effort to live freely in the new creation status that God has called us to live in after the fall. As Paul writes: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” (2 Corinthians 5:17, New International Version). Once reconciled with Christ we are all equal and free to live for him. Women are called to Christian ministry, but the church must allow for them to operate in their gifts and as a new creation in Christ. Not as a fallen women of God, but as a living active creation, beautiful and rectified with her Creator, ready to fulfill her calling in Christian ministry.