When Your Prayer Group Becomes a Power Struggle: A Review of A Case of Conscience Resolved by John Bunyan

Most of us want more prayer in our churches. We see the spiritual coldness around us and think that any gathering to seek God’s face must be a good thing. If a group of people wants to meet, pray, and encourage each other, who could possibly be against that? It seems like a strange thing to question. Yet, in the late seventeenth century, a group of women in Bedford asked this very question, and they didn’t get the answer they expected. They wanted to know if it was right for them to hold their own separate, appointed prayer meetings without the men of the congregation.

John Bunyan, the man who gave us The Pilgrim’s Progress, didn’t just write allegories about giants and sloughs. He was a pastor deeply concerned with the order of the church. In his work, A Case of Conscience Resolved, he tackles a controversy that still hums beneath the surface of many modern congregations. As a pastor who holds to the Westminster Standards, I find Bunyan’s logic surprisingly modern. He isn’t interested in being “anti-woman”; he is interested in being “pro-Bible.” He forces us to ask if our “good ideas” for worship actually have a foundation in God’s Word.

Equal Grace Does Not Mean Identical Roles

Bunyan begins with a high view of women in the church. He is quick to shut down anyone who thinks he is looking down on the sisters. He acknowledges that when it comes to saving grace, God makes no difference between male and female. In fact, he goes a step further, suggesting that in many cases, women have shown more piety, holiness, and courage than the men. He points to the women who followed Christ and the female martyrs who refused to buckle under torture.

The analysis here is simple: your value in Christ is not tied to your office in the church. We often confuse the two. We think that if we aren’t allowed to lead a specific meeting, it must mean we are less important. Bunyan rejects this. He honors the “eminent virtue” of women while arguing that this virtue must be exercised within the bounds God has set for church order.

“I know that the Lord doth put no difference betwixt Male and Female, as to the communications of his Saving Graces, but hath often made many of your Sex eminent for piety; yea, there hath been of YOU… that for Holiness of life have out gone many of the Brethren.”

Appointing Meetings Is a Governing Act

The heart of Bunyan’s argument is about power. He asks: who has the authority to call an assembly for worship? In the Reformed tradition, we believe that the elders hold the keys of the kingdom. To appoint a time and place for the church (or a part of it) to gather for divine worship is an act of government. Bunyan argues that God has placed this responsibility on the elders and the men of the church, not on the women.

When a group of women decides to separate themselves and appoint their own meetings for worship, Bunyan sees it as a usurpation of authority. It isn’t just about the prayer; it is about who is steering the ship. If the sisters start their own “ordinarily and by appointment” meetings, they are taking on a role that belongs to the leadership of the congregation. This isn’t just a small breach of etiquette; it’s a breach of the biblical order of headship.

“To appoint Meetings for divine Worship, either in the whole Church or in the parts of it, Is an Act of Power: which Power, resideth in the Elders in particular, or in the Church in General. But never in the Women as considered by themselves.”

Public Prayer Is a Form of Teaching

Many people think of prayer as a private conversation that just happens to be loud enough for others to hear. Bunyan disagrees. He argues that when you pray in an assembly, you are acting as a “mouth” for the group. This is a ministerial act. By choosing what to pray for and how to phrase it, you are instructing the people standing by. You are setting doctrine before them and asking them to agree with an “Amen.”

If the Bible forbids women from teaching or having authority over men in the church, Bunyan reasons they should not be leading these kinds of ministerial assemblies. Public prayer requires the one leading to explain and prove from the Word what is being asked. This requires a teaching gift that God has specifically assigned to the men in the context of the church’s worship.

“this kind of Worship, when done in and by a Company, is MINISTERIAL to that Company, as well as petitionary to God. That is, they that as the mouth in Assemblies Pray to God, teach that Assembly, as well as beg mercies of him.”

Do Not Turn Exceptions Into Rules

Bunyan’s opponent in this book, a man named Mr. K., tried to use biblical examples like Miriam and Esther to prove that women should have their own meetings. Bunyan’s response is a masterclass in hermeneutics. He points out that Miriam was a prophetess—an extraordinary office. You cannot use an extraordinary miracle to prove an ordinary duty. Furthermore, Esther’s prayer with her maidens was born of utter necessity and bondage; she couldn’t get to the men if she wanted to.

The reflection here is vital for us today. We often find a “hero” in the Bible and try to copy their actions without looking at their context. Bunyan warns that we shouldn’t use “Extraordinary Persons” to justify doing things that aren’t commanded for everyone. Just because Miriam led a song after the crossing of the Red Sea doesn’t mean every church should have a separate women’s worship society.

“Nor can I count it but crooked dealing, to bring in Extraordinary Persons, in their Extraordinary Acts, to prove it Lawful for Ordinary Persons, to do that which is not commanded them.”

The Hidden Glory of the Closet

If women are discouraged from leading separate public meetings, where should their piety go? Bunyan points them to the “closet.” He isn’t trying to silence women’s prayers; he is trying to protect the purity of them. He argues that a woman is at her most beautiful and powerful when she is in private communion with God or joining with the whole church in heart and soul.

There is a specific kind of vanity that can creep into public religious performances. Bunyan suggests that by sticking to private prayer and the general assembly, women avoid the temptation of “perking up” in matters of worship. He encourages them to be as frequent in their closets as they wish. That is a place sanctified for them where they can pour out their hearts without interfering with the order of the church.

“Be as often in your Closets as you will; the oftener there, the better. This is your Duty; this is your Privilege: This place is Sanctified to you for service by the Holy Word of God.”

Why You Should Read This Book

You should read A Case of Conscience Resolved because it forces you to take the Bible seriously in the small details. We live in an age where “if it feels good, do it” has become the rule for church life. Bunyan reminds us that God is a God of order and that our worship must have a “bottom in the Word.” Even if you disagree with his conclusions, his commitment to the Regulative Principle of Worship—that we only do what God commands—is a necessary weight in our light-hearted world.