Women’s leadership roles
I am aware that the Bible lays out different leadership responsibilities for men and women. However, I feel like this is taken too far in the WELS. There is no biblical basis for women not to be allowed to vote in congregational meetings. If a single woman is expected to give her money to the church, it is not fair that she has no say in how that money is used. It also feels as though the leadership roles women are allowed to take up are cherry-picked. A woman leading the congregation in song as an organist or cantor is in much more of a leadership role than passing the offering plate. So my question is, since the biblical basis for women not having any leadership in the church is not strictly followed in the WELS (women having leadership as organists, Sunday school teachers, choir directors, cantors, altar guild, etc.), why are women kept from other positions where their talents could be used to further God's message?
Our church body makes these confessions in This We Believe: “We believe that every Christian is a priest before God (1 Peter 2:9). All believers have direct and equal access to the throne of grace through Christ, the mediator (Ephesians 2:17, 18). God has given the means of grace to all believers. All Christians are to declare the praises of him who called them out of darkness into his wonderful light (1 Peter 2:9). In this sense all Christians are ministers, or servants, of the gospel. God wants all Christians to share the message of salvation with other people (Matthew 28:19, 20; 10:32).
“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).
Women can certainly exercise leadership roles in the church in relation to other women and youth. Congregations do well to encourage women to use their gifts and talents in keeping with the biblical principles listed above.
You may find value in reading Male and Female He Created Them: A Bible study on God’s loving gift of the interdependent and complementary partnership of male and female. I commend it to you for your reading.