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Church Leadership and the Role of Women

Who leads a church, and can women lead too? Learn the roles from the laity to the pope, and the different, deeply held Christian views on ordaining women.

⏱️ 16 min 🎯 14 activities Teachers Not yet rated Students Not yet rated

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What you'll cover

Who leads a church? 🕊️

Every church needs **leaders**, but Christians organise leadership in different ways. They also disagree on one big question: **can women be ordained as leaders?** This module looks at both.

Leadership roles 🔑

Churches have several leadership roles:

Can women be ordained? ⚖️

Christians hold different, deeply held views on women in ordained leadership.

The worldwide leader 🎯

Who is the worldwide leader of the Roman Catholic Church?

  • The pope
  • A local bishop
  • A deacon
  • The laity

Who does what? 🔗

  • The laity
  • A minister or priest
  • A bishop
  • The pope
  • Church members who share in its mission
  • Leads worship and cares for a congregation
  • Oversees many churches across an area
  • Leads the Roman Catholic Church worldwide

Everyone has a role 💡

Leadership is not only for the ordained. The document Lumen Gentium teaches that the laity, the ordinary members, share in the mission of the Church through worship, service and raising families in faith. The letter to the Ephesians, chapter 4, says God gives different gifts so that all believers can serve.

Church leaders ✅

Which THREE are ordained leadership roles in a church?

  • A minister or priest
  • A bishop
  • A deacon
  • A football referee
  • A supermarket shopper

The structure 🪜

An interactive activity.

Complete the idea 🧩

The _____ are ordinary church members who are not ordained. A _____ leads worship in a local church, while a _____ oversees many churches. The Roman Catholic Church is led worldwide by the _____. Christians disagree on whether _____ can be ordained as priests.

laity priest bishop pope women deacon men king teacher prophet

True or not? 🖍️

An interactive activity.

Leadership words 🔀

  • Ordination
  • A diocese
  • The laity
  • A deacon
  • Being made a minister or priest in a service
  • The area of churches a bishop looks after
  • Church members who are not ordained
  • An ordained helper who serves the congregation

Whose view? 🧭

An interactive activity.

Becoming a minister 📜

An interactive activity.

Explain the views ✍️

An interactive activity.