About Marg Mowczko

The Gospel message of Christianity still makes sense to me as I keep learning, and as my relationship with God deepens.  It continues to resonate with every fibre of my being.  I love talking, singing and writing about my Christian faith to whoever cares to listen.  I am involved in speaking, singing and writing to children, youth and adults, in various settings and media. I am also interested and involved in discussions about Women in Ministry and Biblical Equality.

When I was in my mid-40s, I began to feel that God was leading me towards a more influential leadership role in church.  My understanding was that this role was not open to women.  As I began reading the New Testament in Greek, I started observing that passages which spoke about ministry were gender inclusive, yet these same passages, in English, seemed to exclude women.

Reading Romans 12:6-8 in English, and then in Greek, was a real turning point for me.  I had read this passage in the NIV which begins with, “If a man . . .” It then lists some ministries (including leading and teaching) interspersed with eight masculine pronouns.  I looked at this passage in the English and thought, “No; leadership is for men only, not for women, not for me.”  I then looked at the same passage in the Greek and saw that there was no “man” mentioned at all, and that there was no gender preference being asserted here.  I was truly shocked and saddened by the gender bias in the NIV which made this passage seem to exclude women.  Romans 12:6-8 is in fact just as gender inclusive as numerous passages which speak about salvation; just as gender inclusive as John 3:18, for just one example.

Being able to read the New Testament in Greek was a real eye-opener for me in regards to how I viewed the topic of Women in Ministry.[5] I saw that scripture passages that spoke about spiritual gifts and ministry gifts were gender inclusive in the Greek; that these passages neither preferred men nor disqualified women in regards to leading or teaching, etc.[6]  I saw that the Apostle Paul actually loved and valued women ministers, and that he was not at all the chauvinist that some claimed him to be.[7]  I also saw that several women ministers and women house church leaders were even mentioned by name in the New Testament – names that I had previously overlooked.[8]  Sadly, I also saw that most English translations of the New Testament are unfairly biased against the concept of women in ministry, and so this gender inclusivity, that is clear in the Greek, is obscured in many English translations.

The desire to serve God wholeheartedly has never left me, and with my new understanding of Biblical equality in ministry, I decided to study for a degree in Theology a few years ago.  I hope this will lead to more opportunities to minister.  This may be as a church leader, or it may not.  I am not sure where the next phase of my life’s story will take me.  In the mean time I continue to be involved in various ministries.  I feel a tremendous amount of freedom and joy as I continue to serve God.

Our marriage was difficult in the beginning; but over that the past decade, in particular, our marriage has been very strong and very happy!  Both my husband and I believe in complete equality in marriage, and we live in mutual submission to each other.  Our love, care and respect is reciprocal.  There is a lot of comfort, freedom and joy in our relationship. I have been very blessed in my husband!

I truly believe that the church, and even the world, would be in much better shape if godly Christian men and women could minister together as equals and be treated as equals.  If the western, Evangelical Church could embrace the counter-cultural values that Jesus taught, and lead the way in gender equality within the family, church and society, I believe that there will be some overflowing affect that will benefit women of other cultures where the subjugation of women is particularly oppressive and even brutal. I am personally very saddened that the Christian church is not leading the way in demonstrating and promoting full gender equality.