Can Women Be Heads of Households?

After I posted my essay on head of household voting, Pastor Douglas Wilson was kind enough to link to it and add his thoughts. In the comments, however, RC Sproul Jr added his opinion that women should not be allowed to vote at all, even if they are heads of households, because this would be an example of women having “authority” or “rule” over a man. It is not my intention to “go after” Dr. Sproul on this point, but I do think it’s a good opportunity for me to further clarify my own position and show that it is distinct from “male only” voting. I think that Dr. Sproul’s concerns are founded on faulty reasoning, and as such, I think that women can be heads of households in certain conditions and that, in those conditions, they can and should vote, if the congregation chooses to have such a style of voting.

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Let’s Talk About Head of Household Voting

So I haven’t written much on this blog in a while, and I thought the best way back would be a nice, juicy, controversial topic. Well, ok, it doesn’t have to be that opportunistic, but I’ve had the issue of church organization, specifically the practice of “head of household” grouping and voting, on my mind for some time. It is a common practice in my denomination (the Communion of Reformed and Evangelical Churches), and we even practice it at my church. It’s also very controversial, within my own church (though we are all well behaved about it) and among other churches that I’ve known. There are some people who are very unhappy with it, and the concern often raised is what a church’s means of representation says about its larger theology. There also people who think it’s really great. So let’s talk.

1) First let’s define our terms. It might surprise you, but people almost always equivocate on “the church.” Baptists have a different definition of the word than do Presbyterians, and Presbyterians have a different definition than do Lutherans, and Lutherans have a different definition than do Episcopalians, and they all have a different definition from Roman Catholicism, so let’s say what exactly we are talking about.

For matters of church polity and voting, we are talking about congregations.