THE IMPLICATIONS OF PRIESTHOOD OF ALL BELIEVERS ON WOMEN LEADERSHIP IN SOUTH MALAWI FIELD OF SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST CHURCH

Abstract

The research study is a critical study of The Implications of Priesthood of All Believers on Women Leadership in South Malawi Field of the Seventh-day Adventist (SDA) Church. It explores the general understanding of the Priesthood of All Believers and its implication on women‘s leadership in the South Malawi Field. It looks at the current status of women in the SDA church, compared with the Apostle Peter‘s holy and royal priesthood (1Peter 2:5, 9), from which arises the doctrine of the Priesthood of All Believers. The findings reveal that despite the claim to believe in unity of all believers in the body of Christ and that all believers are equal and hold one another in esteem, the SDA Church‘s structure gives no room for women to rise to equal leadership status with men. The study was guided by four questions to explore the status of women through the pastors‘ understanding of the Priesthood of All Believers and how it was applied in the SDA Church. The research has five chapters: the introduction that includes the problem statement, hypothesis, the aim, the research questions and the definition of terms. The second chapter covering the literature review on the roles of women and the issue of ordination in all the connectional administration of the SDA Church, the third chapter provides methodology of the research while the fourth chapter is about findings of the research and finally the fifth chapter is about and conclusion of the study.