By the Spirit, She Ministers: Women, Gifts, and Leadership in New Testament

Women have been a part of Kingdom life since the ministry of Jesus. The more the church is oriented around servant leadership, oneness, and growing in maturity of Christ-likeness, the more unity of races, sexes, and social classes. "Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom" (2 Cor. 3:17), and there is also oneness. In the New Covenant era, one of the key ideas is: "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus" (Gal. 3:18). This is a key verse because it breaks down ethnic, socio-economic, and gender barriers in the Church. Discover the women of the early church like Junia, the apostle, Priscilla, the teacher of Apollos and church planter, Phoebe, the deacon, Tabitha, the disciple, and Chloe, the head of the household. How do we resolve the positive things Luke and Paul wrote about them with other verses that seem to say that women are not to hold authority, teach, or speak? We will address these verses that need to be held in tension with the larger picture of the early church. Tracy Nicole, Th.D., holds a Doctor of Theology in Renewal Theology and a Master of Ministry from Global Awakening Theological Seminary, as well as a Ph.D. in Statistics and Applied Mathematics from the University of California, Santa Cruz. She currently serves as a professor at Global Christian University, where she developed and teaches a master's program in theology. In higher education, she has previously taught college-level mathematics. She published nearly a dozen peer-reviewed research articles and participated in a doctoral research group at UC Irvine.