Over a hundred years ago we Wesleyans led the way in opening ordained ministry to women. First, some mistakenly assume that Wesleyan women who claim a call to ordained ministry and want to pastor Wesleyan churches are duped by the secular feminism, no matter how well-intentioned they may be. Persons troubled by this sort of linkage have either forgotten the history of The Wesleyan Church and the holiness movement or have not known it. Second, the slice of the church growth world Wesleyans have recently listened to is largely a man's world. It's another case either of amnesia or ignorance, but the result is the same.
Gifted women get the message and go elsewhere.
But the Bible itself probably presents the most difficult obstacle to ordaining and appointing women to Christian ministry. Specifically, Paul seems clearly to exclude it in 1 Tim. Here, also, we must learn again how to read the Bible as a whole from our own heritage, and resist following Calvinist approaches in this matter. Discerning the Bible's guidance on women and ministry closely parallels discerning its guidance on the issue of slavery. It is no accident that old-time Wesleyans, who thought the Bible supported the abolition of slavery, also led the way in biblical support of the ordination of women.