Co-Laborers in Christ: Recovering the Biblical Calling of Women in Ministry

The more I study Scripture, particularly Luke’s Gospel, the more I see a theme that has been present since the earliest pages of redemptive history but often overlooked: women have always been part of God’s mission. They have never been side characters. They have never been afterthoughts. They have been co-laborers, faithful servants, theological thinkers, courageous disciples, and essential voices within the people of God.

Somewhere in the long unfolding of church history, this truth was diminished, distorted, or even forgotten. However, Scripture has not changed. The calling of women has not changed. The mission of God still requires both men and women working side by side within their God-given roles.

This article seeks to recover that biblical vision, rooted in Luke, supported across Scripture, affirmed in the early church, visible in the Reformation, and desperately needed today.

The Women of Luke 8: The First Co-Laborers with Jesus

Luke 8:1-3 records one of the most radical and revealing aspects of Jesus ministry. As Jesus traveled city to city proclaiming the kingdom, Luke intentionally highlights that women were among His disciples, traveling with Him, learning from Him, funding His ministry, and serving alongside Him.

Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Susanna, and “many others” were part of Jesus ministry team. In a first-century Jewish context, this was unheard of. Rabbis did not travel with women, nor did women receive formal theological instruction in this way. Yet Jesus welcomed them as full participants in His mission.

These women were not passive observers. They were disciples in the fullest sense of the word, learning, serving, giving, witnessing, and enduring with Christ even while many of the men fled. Their presence testifies to Christ’s restoration of God’s original design: men and women serving together as partners in God’s redemptive work, each in their proper roles.

Women in Scripture Who Carried the Mission Forward

The presence of women in ministry is not unique to Luke. Throughout the Old and New Testaments, God raises up women who serve Him with courage, wisdom, and discernment.

Old Testament Examples

Deborah served as a prophetess and judge, offering leadership and discernment for Israel. Huldah authenticated the rediscovered Book of the Law and sparked national repentance. Esther risked her life to preserve God’s covenant people. Miriam, Ruth, Hannah, Abigail, and others each contributed significantly to the unfolding story of redemption. None of these women held priestly office, yet each held real spiritual influence.

New Testament Examples

Mary of Bethany sat at Jesus feet in the traditional posture of a disciple. Mary Magdalene became the first witness of the resurrection. Priscilla, alongside Aquila, instructed Apollos and “explained to him the way of God more accurately,” demonstrating both theological clarity and spiritual maturity. Lydia and Nympha hosted house churches. Phoebe served as a deacon and patron of Paul’s ministry. The daughters of Philip prophesied. Chloe, Junia, and others were recognized as laborers in the work of the gospel.

Women prayed, prophesied, taught privately, exercised hospitality, supported churches financially, and nurtured the early Christian communities. They were essential to the strength and spread of the gospel, even while the governing offices of elder and overseer remained reserved for qualified men.

Women in the Early Church: Voices of Wisdom and Theology

Following the New Testament era, women continued to play influential roles in the life of the church. These women were not pastors or bishops, but they were theologians, teachers, disciplers, and spiritual leaders within their proper biblical boundaries.

Macrina the Younger is perhaps the most striking example. Sister to Basil the Great and Gregory of Nyssa, she shaped the theological minds of two of the greatest church fathers. Gregory openly referred to her as "his teacher,” and her wisdom guided him during seasons of grief and theological reflection. She did not hold ecclesiastical office, but she exercised profound influence through discipleship, counsel, and Scripture-saturated wisdom.

Other notable women include Marcella, Paula, Eustochium, and other noblewomen who studied Scripture in its original languages under Jerome. Their homes functioned as centers of theological learning and biblical study. Jerome respected their understanding so highly that he often sent male clergy to them for interpretive insight.

Women such as Perpetua, Felicity, and other martyrs displayed remarkable courage, and deaconesses played meaningful roles in catechesis, pastoral care, and ministry to women. From what I read Perpetua had deep theological writings in her journals, showing she had great influence in her time for the gospel.

These examples demonstrate that biblical womanhood is not passivity. It is fruitful, intelligent, courageous, and deeply rooted in Scripture.

Women in the Reformation: A Return to Scripture Reopened Doors

While it is true that later church institutional structures often pushed women into the background, the Reformation brought notable women back into visible ministry not as pastors, but as co-laborers.

Katharina von Bora, Luther’s wife, managed their household, practiced hospitality, counseled students, financially supported the Reformation, and advised Luther theologically. Luther openly acknowledged her wisdom and intellect.

Women like Argula von Grumbach wrote bold defenses of Reformation theology, publicly confronting errors in universities and church courts. Numerous noblewomen protected Protestants, funded printing of tracts and Bibles, and hosted theological discussions in their homes.

Reformation history reveals that when Scripture is rediscovered, women are brought back into view not into pastoral office, but into robust ministry as thinkers, disciplers, writers, evangelists, and supporters of the gospel.

Where the Shift Occurred: From Co-Laborers to Restrictive Silence

As the church institutionalized after the apostolic age, cultural patterns reasserted themselves. The Greco-Roman world was deeply patriarchal, and gradually the church began to reflect society more than Scripture. Women were pushed out of roles Scripture never restricted, only to be confined later into roles Scripture never mandated exclusively.

The response in the 20th and 21st centuries has often been the opposite extreme: women functioning as pastors and elders in roles the Bible clearly reserves for men. Both extremes miss the biblical balance.

The Scriptures present a more beautiful and healthier vision: men and women as co-laborers, with men exercising pastoral authority and women exercising a wide, meaningful range of ministry that strengthens the body of Christ.

A biblical church is neither patriarchal nor progressive it is ordered, complementary, and Christ-honoring.

Recovering the Biblical Calling of Women Today

Titus 2 is often used to restrict women to only homemaking and child-rearing. While the home is a primary and sacred calling for most women, Scripture does not limit women to that sphere alone. Titus 2 is one piece of a much larger biblical vision. The New Testament shows women: teaching privately• discipling younger believers• hosting and supporting churches• contributing financially to mission• evangelizing• praying and prophesying publicly• ministering to the poor and vulnerable• defending the faith• studying Scripture deeply• shaping theology through wisdom and counsel Scripture also invites women into a vibrant, meaningful ministry life, without violating the boundaries around pastoral office.

Women are not limited to the home, but they must not neglect it either. They are not prohibited from teaching, but they must not hold elder authority. They are not restricted from ministry, but they must minister in ways that honor God’s created order. This is not suffocating. It is freeing. It allows the whole body to flourish

Men and Women Learning From One Another

Part of Christian maturity is recognizing that God gives gifts to both men and women for the edification of the body. Men in Scripture learned from women: Apollos from Priscilla, Gregory of Nyssa from Macrina, and Jerome from Marcella. Women learned from men. This mutual sharpening does not violate biblical roles; it exemplifies them.

When a man refuses to learn from any woman, he is not guarding Scripture; he is adding to it. He has bought into culture rather than God's Biblical design for family: serving together, growing together, and learning together. Scripture only restricts authoritative teaching and oversight, not the sharing of wisdom, theology, Scripture, or spiritual insight. The church thrives when men and women learn from one another with humility, honor, and obedience to the biblical pattern. You cannot be a co-laborer and yet silence the "co".

Conclusion

Women have always been part of the mission of God before the cross, at the cross, after the cross, in the early church, in the Reformation, and today. Scripture honors them, Jesus empowered them, and the church has historically flourished when both men and women serve within their God-given callings.

We are co-laborers in Christ. Equal in value. Different in role. United in purpose. Both are essential to the health and mission of the church. Recovering this biblical vision is not only crucial for women but also vital for the whole body of Christ.