There are a lot of dividing issues in churches: Organ or full band, Pastor led vs elder-led, suit and tie or come as you are. But the latest issue is one that's actually been around for quite a while.
Should a woman be a pastor?
In typical Southern Baptist churches, the answer is a HARD no. In some more progressive churches, they say absolutely. But which is correct? Which is the right answer to give?
The main argument comes from 1 Timothy, where Paul is telling his young protege this,
“A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent” - 1 Timothy 2:11-12
In those Southern Baptist churches I mentioned, this has been taken to mean that women should not be leaders of men in churches, aka pastors. Women should not exercise spiritual authority over men, which includes teaching on a Sunday. This comes right from the text and gives a fairly clear biblical explanation for their views.
Some other churches object and say that this is really a 1st-century issue that Paul was dealing with. Women can totally be pastors now because that issue doesn't apply to our context. They might also say that that verse only applies to husband and wife, not to spiritual organizations. Those are worth considering, and you should do your own research on those thoughts.
I'm not going to tell you which to believe or which is right. I have my own convictions about which option is most biblically accurate, but that's not really what I want to say. What I do want to say is this:
If you have female Pastors, call them that.
What I mean is that if the title of a role changes based on the gender of the person holding it, then you don't have a Biblical stance. You have a cultural stance. Because a Biblical stance would say that a Pastor's job is to shepherd, provide oversight, preach the word, reprove, rebuke, and exhort. If you believe that role belongs only to men, then you should only hire men for that role.
But if a woman takes that job that was previously a "pastoral" role, then you ought to give her that title because the job description didn't change. In the same way that it would be unethical to change the salary because of gender, it is unbiblical to change the title because it dishonors the women who lead.
Typically, churches that do this use words like "director," or "coordinator," or "leader," or some other term that really sidesteps the issue. The title they give means they are pastoring, but the church leadership doesn't want to bend on their superficial biblical stance. It isn't like they are just telling stories in kids' classrooms. They are running the entire ministry by themselves. They do the budgets. They develop the volunteers. They're responsible for the kids' discipleship within the walls. But they got the title of coordinator.
That is where I have a problem and where THE church is losing fantastic women.
It's not in their views of gender-specific roles because that is a completely defensible and understandable position to hold. It's a view most people can understand and even celebrate when done well. The problem is when they claim to believe that God has ordained only men for leadership, but they put women in leadership without the title to say, "We believe the Bible, but we still need someone to run this ministry."
Churches are losing the vast majority of women in culture because they are using them in church. Too many women have been leading in some area of ministry and want to take that next step of ordination or its equivalent but get the doors slammed in their face after years of faithful service AS A PASTOR.
If this is you or describes your church, you aren't really hung up on a woman pastoring, you're hung up on a title that means nothing apart from the task it accomplishes.
Pastor is not just a noun; it's a verb. It means to do something. We pastor people. If you're going to have a woman pastoring, call her that. Do not dishonor her and disgrace yourself by doing some fancy title change to say you're still biblically sound but still reap the rewards of having them on staff.
I would challenge you, if this is your particular theological bent, to either raise up men to lead or just call women what they are: pastors.