Voters’ assemblies
I recently was having a discussion about women voting at WELS meetings. Please quote some Bible passages so I can clarify my point of view as to what the Bible has to say about this topic.
The Bible does not address the specific topic of voting in church assemblies. That is not surprising since our congregational life today is different from that of biblical days. What we need to do, then, is apply broad, general scriptural principles to our complex congregational life today.
Elsewhere on this website you will find This We Believe: A Statement of Belief of the WELS. The “Church and Ministry” section addresses your question on the basis of Scripture: “We believe that women may participate in offices and activities of the public ministry except where that work involves authority over men (1 Timothy 2:11,12). This means that women may not serve as pastors nor participate in assemblies of the church in ways that exercise authority over men (1 Corinthians 11:3; 14:33-35).”
One of those assemblies is the voters’ assembly. While women in WELS congregations do not cast votes in voters’ assemblies, that does not speak at all to their status in God’s sight. Scripture says to all Christians: “So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise” (Galatians 3:26-29).