You are referring to the following passage: 1Ti 3:2 A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach; . The qualifications are continued for the Bishop. Should a reader infer from this that only a man is qualified, or should we infer that Paul was concerned with the stabilty of the Bishop's marriage, and not the Bishop's gender? The answer may be just a few verses away... . 1Ti 3:11 Even so [must their] wives [be] grave, not slanderers, sober, faithful in all things. . In this verse you can see that some words are in brackets (if you had a KJV, these words would be in italic.) The reason that these words are bracketed is because they don't actually appear in the Greek text of the NT. In other words, the translators felt that adding them helped make sense of the passage. The problem with these additions is that they can affect the understanding of the passage. . What I mean to suggest is that after Paul describes the qualifications of a Bishop, using a man in his description, he then says that a wife should be "even so", or in other words, that the qualifications apply equally to a woman Bishop. . Because of the textual circumstances, neither position is rock solid when this passage is considered without context. Thankfully, there are so many references to women in the ministry of God, both in the NT and the OT, that we do not have to create an opinion based solely on one or two passages. The preponderance of scripture goes to support a lack of bias in gender regarding ministry,but that is not to say that women's ministry was as frequent as men's. +5

That's right and 1 Timothy is clear on this aswell.The woman is not to usurp authority over the man.Women are not to teach men.Also in Corinthians. http://www.gotquestions.org/women-pastors.html

The Bible SAYS a lot of things that just are not proper for this day and age ... Does anyone own servants/slaves ? Would you force a woman to marry her rapist or Kill her if she refused ? Would You kill your child because they were misbehaving ? Do you touch the skin of dead pigs .. perhaps a football ? AND the list goes on and on .... You can't take a lot of what the Bible says as fact anymore or follow such ridiculeous comments / sections ... I've always contended that although we are TOLD that the Bible was written BY Mortal Man thru the Divine Inspiration of GOD ... I believe that MUCH in the Bible is their own thoughts and ideas that somehow got intermingled with God's .. So; Women ..go ahead and PREACH .. I was once Assistant pastor to a female SENIOR Pastor !! +5

I have a problem with that too. There are so many things in the Bible that are contradictions of themselves. Maybe some day I will meet a Christian who can explain all that to me and not try to be preachy.

As several have said it is not pastor but bishop. With that said and agreed upon, let's look at the word "one". In the original Greek the word is "mia" which can be one but as uses is actually "first". this changes the passage to read, "A Bishop is to be the husband of a first wife." meaning a bishop if he has more than one wife which was common then, he must be taking care of and providing for his first wife and not putting her out. If the author had meant one he would have used the greek word Hice meaning numerical one. Please read the following for a better explination: http://www.truthbearer.org/truth-tracts/truth-and-paradox/9/

Obviously it is okay if the preacher is a lesbian and is the 'butch' one in the partnership. She'd be referred to as the husband. She must, however, have only one wife...

Because they are not following the counsel from the Bible which says a woman is not to teach . Do Women Belong in the Pulpit? “MOST Christian laymen cannot understand why, if women can be monarchs, prime ministers, judges, surgeons, scientists, they must be prevented from celebrating Holy Communion and marriages,” writes Church of England clergyman Nicholas Stacey in The Times of London. Although the Church of England trains women for special service, up till now it has not permitted women to serve as priests to administer its sacraments. Do you agree with the stand of the church, or do you believe that women should be in the pulpit? Could Split Churches The issue of women as clergy has become a wedge between members of the same religion. The Church of England could easily split into two separate institutions over the issue, warns Dr. Graham Leonard, Bishop of London, the leading cleric opposing ordination of women. Some people blame prejudice for keeping women out of the pulpit, but more is involved. For decades, the Church of England has been trying to reconcile its differences with Rome. But in a recent letter to the Archbishop of Canterbury, the pope said that any admission of women to the priesthood would constitute “in the eyes of the Catholic Church, an increasingly serious obstacle to that progress.” One important element, though, has been left out of this debate—the Bible. How did women serve in the early Christian congregation, and what should be their role today? Equal but Different At the birth of the Christian congregation in the year 33 C.E., women along with men were recipients of holy spirit. This is exactly as the prophet Joel had foretold centuries earlier, the apostle Peter explained.—Acts 1:13-15; 2:1-4, 13-18. Later, Peter came to full realization of another important fact: “God is not partial.” (Acts 10:34) Literally, that scripture means that God is not a “taker of faces.” A “taker of faces” shows recognition and preference for another person. In ancient times, many a judge would favor the wealthy over the poor. Or verdicts would be handed down based on nationality, social rank, family, or friendship rather than on the facts. But Jehovah does the opposite. He favors only those who fear him and work righteousness. When it comes to salvation, God does not esteem a man’s ‘face’ over a woman’s ‘face.’ Both are on an equal footing with him.—Acts 10:35. Therefore, the Scriptures afford Christian men and women an equal measure of honor as members of the congregation. The apostle Paul writes to Christians in Galatia that “there is neither slave nor freeman, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one person in union with Christ Jesus.” All have an independent spiritual standing before God; yet all are united as a body of his servants. All are alike in God’s household.—Galatians 3:26-28. Nevertheless, there are differences between men and women in the congregation. But just as natural differences between a man and a woman are no obstacle to their complementing each other, so the different privileges that men and women enjoy within the Christian congregation should not be an obstacle to the congregation’s harmony. What are those differences? Teachers—When and to Whom? The differences center on teaching and authority. Women are barred from serving in an official teaching capacity in the congregation and from exercising spiritual authority over fellow congregation members. In his pastoral letter to Timothy, Paul plainly states: “I do not permit a woman to teach, or to exercise authority over a man, but to be in silence.”—1 Timothy 2:12. Paul next points to the basis for not allowing women to be teachers—a divinely appointed relationship between man and woman. “For Adam was formed first, then Eve,” he writes. (1 Timothy 2:13) God could have created Adam and Eve at the same moment, but he did not. Adam existed for some time before Eve. Does this not reveal God’s purpose for Adam to direct, to be the head, rather than Eve? (1 Corinthians 11:3) And to teach is, in effect, to act as a master, or head, over those taught. Those taught listen and quietly learn. Thus, in the congregation only men are to be teachers and overseers. Need the fact that women do not teach in the congregation cause frustration and resentment? No. Women are free to teach Christian doctrine and are invited to do so. In what context and under what circumstances? Older women can be “teachers of what is good” to the younger women. And just as Eunice and her mother Lois instructed Timothy, so Christian women still follow their example in training children in “The Way” of the truth.—Titus 2:3-5; Acts 9:2; 2 Timothy 1:5. Today, Christian women also follow the examples of Euodia and Syntyche by preaching the good news publicly. (Philippians 4:2, 3) They can be teachers by conducting Bible studies with interested people. (Matthew 28:20) Hundreds of thousands of women find spiritual fulfillment in this urgent work of preaching and teaching. They point others to the establishment of a world of righteousness and peace under the reign of Jesus Christ—a hope they share equally with their Christian brothers.—Psalm 37:10, 11; 68:11

When you say something like this, it would be very helpful if you would state the passage you gather this from. . Sir yhvhash cites 1 Tim.3 . I checked my New International Version and in that version it refers not to "pastor" OR "bishop" but to "overseer". . The problem again being that there are so many different translations of the Bible that it is difficult to say what was and was not said in the original text. . Elsewhere in 1 Timothy Paul does talk about how he wants women to dress etc. and that he does nto permit women to teach. . One thing to remember here is that much of Paul's teachings arose not from Jesus' teachings or word but from revelations he feels came to him in his dreams. . I am not about to judge whether Paul's dreams were revelations or his own imagination, but of there were a religion based on some of the dreams I had as a teen... . On a more serious note, if this is of interest to you, why not ask the Pastor/Minister whatever at some of the churches and see what they say?