A Pastor by Any Other Name…
I have written against deaconesses because I don’t think they have a basis in Scripture. And I certainly think the practice of “commissioning deaconesses” violates the PCA’s constitution, which only allows for men to be elders and deacons. However, there is some complexity to the issue of deaconesses because of the historical precedence in the early church and Calvin’s Geneva. Calvin had widow-deaconesses that he based on 1 Timothy 5, though they were servant-deaconesses and not the administrative office of male deacons in 1 Timothy 3.
However, there is no such basis for the practice of “shepherdesses,” which we are now seeing in the PCA. Some of the more progressive churches in the PCA have begun to appoint shepherdesses for various tasks. Churches use different names for this group, such as “shepherdesses,” “women shepherds,” or a “women’s council.”
Practitioners generally portray this group as women appointed to minister to other women—what was traditionally called a “women’s ministry” or “women’s fellowship,” and possibly had a “women’s coordinator” who organized events. However, these new “shepherdesses” do not appear to be focused on the Titus 2 model of women’s ministry—“older women” training “the young women to love their husbands, to love their children,” be “workers at home” and be “subject to their own husbands, so that the word of God will not be dishonored” (Titus 2:3-5, NASB 1995).
Many of the shepherdesses at PCA churches have even led public worship, which is a task typically done by pastors and elders. One PCA church even had a woman identified as a “shepherdess” leading what they called the “pastoral prayer.” Another PCA church even has a “Board of Women,” who did the same officer training as elders, took the same vows as elders, and served on the same committees as the elders.
Now this is clearly an innovation to accommodate the feminism of our age, and to circumvent the PCA’s rules against female elders. The PCUSA, ECO, and EPC don’t have unordained “shepherdesses” because those denominations just openly ordain women as elders (which is blatantly unbiblical). If they have “shepherdesses,” it’s because they are ordained female pastors and elders.
But openly ordaining women as elders violates PCA rules. So we are left with this new practice of “shepherdesses” that has zero biblical support. The defense is so bad that one PCA pastor on X defended the practice of “shepherdesses” on the basis that Rachel in the Old Testament was a shepherdess (Gen. 29:9), apparently unconcerned that she was a literal shepherdess with literal sheep. Never mind that in the Bible, elders are called pastors and shepherds in metaphorical language.
After someone suggested he delete the tweet, Rev. Khandjian declined and said, “The wolves took it and ran with it.”
The pastor who made this argument, Mike Khandjian, is a member of the Executive Board of the Alliance for Mission and Renewal, a group in the PCA that had Tim Keller as a “Founding Board Member” and states on their website, “We labor toward a denomination characterized by… Earnestly welcoming, valuing, and co-laboring with our sisters in Christ as they serve the Savior.” The Executive Board of the Alliance for Mission and Renewal even has two women on it (one who is a Visiting Instructor at Covenant Seminary), along with pastors David Cassidy and Sean Lucas.
I’m somewhat at a loss for words because this practice of “shepherdesses” is so flagrant. Make no mistake—this is crypto-egalitarianism. Regardless of the intentions of these churches, they are giving the perception that they have women in church leadership, even in church offices. The PCA only allows men to be ordained as elders and deacons (BCO 7-2). The PCA’s Book of Church Order also states that “unordained people shall not be referred to as, or given the titles of, the ordained offices of pastor/elder, or deacon” (BCO 7-3). Churches can’t just find other words to circumvent this rule. Just as a woman in a PCA church can’t be an “eldress,” she also can’t be a “shepherdess.”
The Bible limits the office of elder to men (1 Tim. 3), and the apostle Peter tells elders to “shepherd the flock of God among you” (1 Peter 5:1-2). Thus, it is the male elders in the church who are to shepherd the entire flock, including women. Having women’s fellowship times is great (Titus 2:3-5), but women in the church are not to usurp the elders, formally or informally (1 Tim. 2:12).
The practice of churches having “shepherdesses” violates Scripture, violates the PCA’s constitution, and goes against one of the very reasons the PCA was founded in 1973—which was opposition to feminism and women’s ordination. “Shepherdess” is a pseudo-office that gives the appearance of a leader in the church. It is, therefore, a flagrant practice that must be driven from the PCA. The question is whether the God-fearing churches and elders in the PCA have the will to do it.
