"No Turning Back" on Ordination?

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What issues face our church in the request for women's ordination?

Last October the North American Division Executive Committee voted to request the 1995 General Conference session to grant each division the right to authorize "the ordination of qualified individuals without regard to gender." The approval of this request would thus permit the ordination of women to the gospel ministry.

Many who favor a greater involvement for women in the outreach of the church are not aware of the far-reaching implications of this request. Access to ordination will allow women to occupy any ministerial leadership position presently restricted to men. Its endorsement will give women the right to occupy any position of administrative authority in the church from the head of a local church to conference president, union president and even General Conference president.

The underlying issue in this request is whether women will have the same rights as men to positions of highest authority in the church.

The upcoming vote at the General Conference session in the Netherlands, therefore, is enormously significant for the Seventh-day Adventist church. It will decide whether some in the church—the North American church—can depart from the previously-held New Testament model of church leadership which assigns to men, not to women, the leadership positions of elders in the church.

To understand this proposition more clearly, it is helpful to look at the reasons for it as discussed by the North American Division president in his published address to the 1994 Annual Council ("NAD's President Speaks on Women's Ordination," Adventist Review, February 1995).

Reason for Request

The president based his appeal on the fact that the North American Division (NAD) has implemented the 1974 and 1984 General Conference Annual Council actions and the 1975 Spring Meeting actions which allowed each division to ordain women as local elders. In addition, the Annual Council has granted women all the privileges of the ordained ministry except the organizing of churches and ordaining others. These actions, he argued, have brought the church in North America to its present situation, prompting it to ask for authorization to ordain women to the gospel ministry.

Execution of these church council policies, however, has not gone unopposed. The introduction of women elders has created considerable controversy in the local churches which have considered it. It is doubtful whether any other single issue has so seriously divided the Seventh-day Adventist church as that of women's ordination.

Many church members have demanded clear biblical support for this new church policy. In the absence of Scriptural evidence they have felt it their duty to oppose the ordination of women as local elders.

Researchers on the other side, those who favor this action have argued that ordaining women to the highest positions of church authority is not contrary to Scripture. They have used every possible means to have women ordained not only as local elders but to the gospel ministry as well. The pressure of pro-ordination forces on the NAD leadership at conference, union, and division levels has been enormous.

For example, lobbying has been taking place on college and university campuses all over North America during the past year. Popular opinion today is one of the most effective ways of pushing ordination, and activists have been busy in this canvassing work. After a short debate in the campus senates, a petition-signing sheet has been pressed upon students waiting in line for lunch. It read:

There has been little Scriptural discussion surrounding this petition-signing. Young men and women have added their names automatically without second thought, thus joining the effort to pressure church leadership to ordain women. In two seconds they had allied themselves in a fight they knew little about. Hundreds of youth have signed such petitions. But since when do we decide gospel order by signatures or pressure groups?

Viewing the current predicament, the NAD president remarked in the aforementioned Review article that the present situation is "clearly untenable." As a result of putting into practice the actions of church councils and committees, he said, "we now find ourselves in a position that is seen by many in this division as discriminatory, unethical, and even immoral." This is the reason for the request. What specifically does it ask for?

Appeal of NAD

In his address to the Annual Council the NAD president appealed to "brothers and sisters of the world church" for understanding and help. This appeal called for three things. First, to "try to listen"; second, "to put yourselves in our place"; and third, to see that the request to allow women's ordination is "not to bring divisiveness and disunity but to empower people for mission." In his final remarks he doubted that the Adventist church was really so fragile as to be shattered by this issue.

The president concluded his final appeal with a statement from Mrs. White that "not a hand should be bound, not a soul should be discouraged, not a voice should be hushed."

The Only Solution?

In evaluating this situation there seem to be but two directions in which the church can move to make its practice consistent. One option is to reconsider previous church council actions and terminate the practice of ordaining women as local elders. The other option is to ordain women as gospel ministers with full ministerial authority.

For the NAD leadership the first option appears not even possible. While asking the world field "humbly" for a hearing and offering assurance that this request is not "an ultimatum," the NAD president firmly states there is "no turning back." The reason given is that this would create "havoc" in churches that have ordained women elders. It would seriously damage the leaders' "credibility and sense of fairness."

What does this mean? One cannot avoid the impression that the appeal for help is nothing less than a demand that the world church support the NAD request. It is obvious that the division would try to avoid havoc in churches that have already departed from the New Testament model of church leadership.

One certainly can sympathize with these concerns, but where do we see the concern about the havoc the proposed policy would create in churches which so far have resisted the push for women elders? Approval of the NAD request would give a powerful argument into the hands of the North American leadership to counter objection on biblical grounds.

Some may wonder why the approval of a General Conference session should prove a problem for those objecting to women's ordination. This is why: according to Ellen G. White, the General Conference in session is God's highest authority on earth, and it will have endorsed the view that today the New Testament teaching restricting the position of elders to men is no longer God's model for church leadership world wide.

One cannot imagine what turmoil will result when some continue to feel that they will have to follow the Bible principles of leadership over and above pronouncements of church councils. What will happen when these feel moved by their consciences to resist the drive for the so-called women's rights?

What about the credibility crisis that will arise in the NAD when Seventh-day Adventists who have been taught to demand a plain "Thus saith the Lord" for their faith and practice insist upon a biblical reason for women's ordination? Will they have faith in leadership when the answer given is that the highest Seventh-day Adventist church council in session has decided it is all right without giving the biblical reasons for it? How many of these Bible-believing Adventists will be convinced not to worry any more about Paul's instructions, for they are not applicable to our culture? Let us now turn to the Bible and see if there is any solution to the NAD situation.

Biblical Solution for "Havoc"

The NAD proposal is an effort to head off anticipated disastrous consequences that would take place if the NAD does not accede to the demand to give women the right to all levels of church leadership. To many, this seems a noble goal in our democratic society with its objective of total male-female equality, including elimination of role differences between the sexes. But since when does the Adventist church operate on the basis of society's morals and norms? Since when do Seventh-day Adventist church leaders operate from fear of losing credibility, of the threat that people will withhold their tithes or leave the church if their demands are not met, or of possible lawsuits by those who demand equal rights and opportunities for men and women in the church?

The only solution to current fears is to follow the will of God as revealed in the Scriptures.

Leadership credibility is intimately related to the question of faithfulness to the Word of God. No moment in Luther's life earned more respect from others than when he faced incredible opposition and pressure from both the apostate church and the empire at the Diet of Worms. His line of defense was the Word of God. Unless he could be shown from the Scriptures where he was in error, he refused to back down and give in to the clamoring demands of society.

The prerequisite for solving the North American predicament is for all involved to possess the mind of Christ. Nothing is more relevant to the current situation than Paul's appeal, "Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others" (Phil. 2:3–4 NKJV).

Challenge

Without doubt, the church faces an immense challenge. But Christ Jesus, "who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a servant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross" (Phil. 2:5–8, NKJV). The mind and humility of Christ and esteeming others better than ourselves will result in a teachable spirit that is willing to turn back to follow God's will.

The basis for the NAD's ordination request, according to the president's appeal, is the actions of General Conference Spring and Annual Councils. However, these church councils are made up of a relatively small representation from the world field. Undoubtedly many good things have been accomplished by these councils, but Seventh-day Adventists do not view all the decisions of these bodies as an expression of God's will. However, believers regard the General Conference in full session, with delegates from all parts of the world field, as the highest authority of God on earth. Now, in view of the current predicament in the NAD, it is time to let this truly representative body speak out on whether they perceive it to be God's will that women should have the right to occupy the church leadership positions, or whether these should be reserved for men.

Only when the NAD leadership, with the humility and mind of Christ, expresses publicly a willingness to turn back will this division be in a position to be taught and led by Him through these difficult problems. On the other hand, if God wants His church to support the NAD request, He will clearly show the world church's representatives this summer from the Scriptures that ordination for women is biblical. But if this does not happen, if the delegates are convicted that it is not His will and is not biblical, it seems to me that the NAD leadership should be humble enough to accept the decision of the world-wide body of believers once and for all and not try to develop other strategies to implement women's ordination!

Whatever the outcome, the church should move forward in unity with Christ as our leader. With such a disposition we have nothing to fear for the future. Our God who could part the Red Sea is able to be the guide us through the present difficulties if we take Him at His Word and confidently claim His promises as we walk in His way. Maranatha!

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