It is important to remember the ministry of women in the Church of God. “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3: 28). We see that with Jesus a great many women who got healed, Joanna the wife of Herod’s steward Chuza, Susanna and many other women who helped support out of their means were all there. The Guru accepted such ministry from them. Thus women became a vital part of Jesus’ preaching about Kingdom of God and work. Even in the time of male dominance in Biblical spirituality women are given an important part. Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel, Deborah, Ruth, Esther are a few examples from the Old Testament.

1. Deborah’s Ministry (Judges 4: 1-16)
When there were no kings in Israel, many judges ruled Israel. Deborah was a famous judge of that time. In Judges 4 we see the way God used Deborah to redeem Israel. Deborah became a judge at a time when Hebrew women were marginalized. Then Israelites were under the Canaanite king Jabin. Deborah called Barak, and with him went for war. Barak defeated the commander of Jabin’s army, Sisera. The whole army of Sisera was rounded up. Sisera who fled to the tent of Jael was killed by her (Judges 4: 1-24). There was peace in the forty years that followed. Deborah was called as the mother of Israelites. The victory song that Deborah and Barak sang reveal the ancient character of Hebrew poetry (Judges 5: 2- 31).

2. The Ministry of the Women with Paul (Philippians 4: 1-7)
Philippians 4: 1-7 is a portion that Paul writes exhorting Euodia and Syntyche, the women who worked with him. Like this many women were involved in the ministry with him (Romans 16: 1 -16)- Priscilla, Junia, Julia, Nereus’ sister Mary, Rufus’ mother, Euodia and Syntyche(Romans 16: 3, 7, 15; Philippians 4: 2,3). When Paul advices Timothy, we see him applauding his mother’s (Eunice) and grandmother’s (Lois) faith. Women work for the Kingdom of God in many ways- by praying for God’s work, by giving financial assistance, by supporting people who preach the word of God, by preaching, by assisting husbands who are involved in the ministry.

3. Ministry of Women with Jesus (Luke 8: 1-3)
We see in Luke 8: 1-3 a group of women who were involved in ministry with Jesus. Likewise right from Old Testament times there are records of women being used by God. We can remember their work and ministry.

4. Women’s Ministry in the Modern Era
Indian women were subjugated for long in many ways. Sati, Jauhar, Pardha, Devdasi and denial of right to wear upper body cloth are just few examples of societal evils against women. But slowly changes came into being. God used women themselves with a trumpet of liberation. In 1819 Mrs. Charles Meed a woman missionary worked in Nagercoil. In 1820 Smt. Nortan began a school in Alleppey. In the year 1867 Smt. BlantFord started a school for Hindu girls in the building that was donated by Divan Madhava Rao at Trivandrum fort. In 1810 Smt. Isabella Thobon, an American missionary lady opened a school at Lucknow. In 1818, Smt. Wilson in Bombay and Smt. Marshman at Serampore started schools. In the year 1822,two missionary ladies,Smt Colt and Smt. Reed, stitched a type of short-handed blouses and made a few lower caste women of South Travancore to wear them and thus covered their breasts for the first time. Thus, the upper cloth mutiny broke out. Gradually the lower caste women of these regions attained freedom to cover their upper body.

Dr. Ida Scudder, the granddaughter of the first missionary doctor, Dr. John Scudder (1836) visited India in 1890. After seeing the deplorable conditions of the Indian women, she went back and studied medicine and returned as a missionary doctor to India. In 1900 she established a hospital with a single bed. In 1902 it grew into a hospital with 40 beds. Today it is the Vellore Medical College with more than 1800 beds. Women were the ones who worked behind all of this. What happened through all these sacrificial works? A great social change happened in India. In 1966 Indira Gandhi became the first woman Prime Minister. In 1972 Kiran Bedi became an IPS officer. In 1989 Justice M. Fathima Beevi became the first Supreme court justice. In 1997 Kalpana Chawla became the first Indian woman astronaut. In 2007 Prathibha Patel became the first woman Indian President and in 2009 Smt. Meera Kumar became the LokSabha Speaker. By 2010 we attained 50% representation of women in the Local bodies. Nehru once said that it is possible to see the status of a country by looking at the status of its women.

Even though this is the situation, if we evaluate carefully, we realize that Indian women are yet to attain a true liberation. Even though many Hindu goddesses are called as ‘amma’ when we go into familial relations, we see that the situation is entirely different. A social activist once said that the women of India are safer in the streets rather than their homes. We observed 2001 as the year of empowerment of women. The Central government introduced many programmes such as ‘SwaSakthi’, ‘Sthree Sakthi’, ‘SwayamSidha’ and ‘BalikaSamrithiYojana’ as part of women empowerment. But if we look at the reality we see that liberation is still a mandate. Even though 67% of women in the world work, only 10% are given an income. Only 1% of women have property of their own. 60- 80% of women make food products but only 60% of girls go to school. Out of illiterates 67% are women. Every day around 300 women die due to reasons related to childbirth. Every day 45 women in India are raped. For every 32 minutes one woman and everyday 121 women are sexually assaulted in India. In India, in every 3.5 minutes crimes related to dowry, domestic violence and child abuse are committed against women. There are thoughts that woman is cursed by God and that curse came to the world through woman and that the cause of all this is the disobedience (sin) of woman. At the same time we shouldn’t forget that through a woman God visited this world again, blessed and sent His son and loved and saved the world (Luke 1: 28, 30). When we say that God cursed woman through childbearing, we should remember that through a woman (Mary) and through the fruit of her womb (Jesus) God also created a means to bless the whole world. Through Jesus, God blessed the womb of all women. Through the Son, grace has come to all. The grace of salvation has dawned (John 11: 15, 16; Titus 2: 11). Woman became a part for the incarnation of Jesus Christ which gave liberation to the whole world. Let us remember the ministry through women and make it into a celebration.