Your daughters shall prophesy

Peter's first Christian sermon quotes Joel. In the last days, God declares, I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons AND your daughters shall prophesy. The church's founding text is a promise that women will preach.

On the day of Pentecost, with the Spirit descending on the gathered disciples — men and women alike (Acts 1:14 names "the women" among them) — Peter interprets the moment by quoting the prophet Joel. The passage is explicit: sons and daughters, menservants and maidservants, male and female, will all prophesy by the Spirit. This is not a future promise to be realized later; Peter is saying it has begun now. The founding charter of the Christian church names female prophecy as a visible sign of the Spirit's arrival.