THE INEVITABILITY OF WOMEN'S ORDINATION.docx

BACKGROUND AND ABSTRACT This document is a personal submission to a Commission established by the Apostolic Church in New Zealand (the movement/denomination is now known as; ACTS Churches New Zealand) to “Consider the Question of the Release of Women’s Ministry”. The Commission was established in 1990 and completed its task in 1992. Its historic outcome could now be described as the establishing what is now their (ACTS Churches) biblical and functional egalitarianism in regard to leadership praxis. In this document the author/submitter, John Douglas addresses his response to the Commission’s four questions, namely: 1. The role of women in local Church government. 2. What do you see as the Scriptural boundaries for women in ministry? 3. Do you see a distinction between the role of the single and married women in ministry? 4. What steps should be taken to release women more in their gifts and ministries? In his “Preamble” Dr Douglas states: “In my responses to the four questions upon which the submissions are to precede I have re-ordered them under the priorities that the rest of this paper will cover, I have attempted to work in a "research model" and will forward in summary my "conclusions or submissions" at the end of the presentation. In response to this I have spent a considerable period of time in reading and research in the Denver Seminary library, in discussion with several of the Professors, also I had the privilege of attending an annual symposium of the "Christians for Biblical Equality" (Front Range chapter) in Denver which, has contributed to not only the preparation of what I am presenting, but also calling me to a fresh consideration of my own Biblical mindset in these important areas of Christian service. I have taken as the first area in my presentation the second question in part, looking at, "what is the Biblical teaching"? As I believe this is the line upon which we should proceed. In fact we have always maintained as an Apostolic Church that our praxis should be the product of our Biblical doctrine and fundamental positions. It is most important that in these matters we follow the clear teaching of Scripture on which we will build contemporary practices (which will change as our society is fluid and dynamic, not static), though the principles that we (as a denomination) are founded on will not change, we must increase our Biblical perception as we seek to live in a continuing exegesis of the Scriptures.”

It is noteworthy that these women who have been ordained have been very successful and faithful in their ministry. And yet, theologians and ecclesiastical authorities have been finding it hard to accept the ordained ministry of women wholeheartedly. In this reflection paper, I am going to bring out the need and necessity of women ordination in Church.

Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought

The question of whether worthy women could be or ought to be ordained to the LDS priesthood has not, until recently, been considered seriously in the LDS community. As recently as 1979, Leonard Arrington and Davis Bitton wrote, "There are no great pressures from Latter-day Saints for priesthood for women, despite similar demands in other contemporary faiths."1 Normal LDS treatments of the question really did not address the issue head on, but rather argued for general subordination of women on various grounds, not the least of which was the Church's policy of excluding women from priesthood ordination itself.2 A major reason for this is that recent questions about priesthood ordination for women were first publicly formulated in non-LDS Christian communities, particularly the Anglican/Episcopal tradition, and more recently, in Roman Catholicism.3 To some Mormons this tainted the question with somehow being "of the world. " In addition, the unique sociological and theological dynamics of priesthood in Mormonism require that the question be phrased in somewhat different terms than it has been in Anglicanism or Roman Catholicism.4 Whereas these traditions distinguish between a common priesthood possessed by all Christians by virtue of their baptism and an ordained or hierarchial priesthood,5 normally called the priestly ministry, the LDS priesthood is considerably "laicized," and ordination is not restricted to a trained and specialized elite class of ministers.6 Consequently, the discussion, started in the context of a non-LDS theology of priesthood and church, has not been picked up quickly by Latter-day Saints. And yet, significantly, Anthony A. Hutchinson has an M.A. in classics from Brigham Young University and is currently a Ph.D. candidate in biblical studies at the Catholic University of America. His dissertation discusses the linguistic phenomena of the Gospel of John as they relate to the gospel's literary origins.

The one who hears you hears me, and the one who rejects you rejects me, and the one who rejects me rejects him who sent me. (Luke 10:16) The question of whether women should be ordained into the office of the holy ministry is a question that seems to be plaguing churches throughout the world. Where women have been ordained, churches have been split over the matter, not to mention a certain change in the whole character of those church bodies as a result. Why is this? Why is this an issue, and what's at stake?

2010

Genesis 1 teaches us that male and female participate equally in the image of God. "So God created man [humankind] in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them" (Gen 1:27). This basic passage gives no hint of a divine creation order. Here man and woman are fully equal, with no subordination of one to the other. We find that this description of the relationship between man and woman holds throughout Scripture and beyond. No inspired writer-not Moses, Jesus, Paul, or Ellen White-teaches the creation headship of man over woman. Nor has this position ever been accepted in historic Adventism. Those who oppose the ordination of women ultimately base their argument on the creation headship of man over woman. Their case, however, rests on a fundamental misinterpretation of Gen 1-3. Genesis 2 reinforces Genesis 1. In Gen 2 woman is the climax, the crowning work of creation. She is created from a rib from Adam's side, to show that she is "to stand by his side as an equal" (Gen 2:21-22; PP 46). She is man's iezer lenegdO ("helpmeet for him," Gen 2:18 KJV), which in the original does not denote a subordinate helper or assistant. Elsewhere in Scripture it is most often God Himself who is called 'ezer ("helper") (

Journal of Asia Adventist Seminary 15.2, pp.221–224, 2012

Crucible, 2008

Women have always been an essential part of the life and ministry of the Pentecostal movement but gaining equal status with men in ministry and church polity has been a struggle. In the initial stages of the movement, women were seen as co-laborers with men but this equality was diminished as a system was put in place that relegated women to a second and third tier status compared to men, with restrictions on ministry roles. This study uses an interdisciplinary approach to explore this phenomenon from a sociological perspective, giving attention to relevant historical and theological corollaries. The focus of this study is the gender apartheid system created, maintained and now under deconstruction in the Church of God (Cleveland) denomination. The study examines changes in polity from the time of the earliest female Evangelists' Licenses (which allowed them to preach and administer the Lord's Supper) through a series of restrictions on women's ministry (involved in the transition from 'Prophetic to Priestly eras') and the subsequent gender stratification of ministry roles, through to more recent years where a return to full equality is now possible.

The Thomist: A Speculative Quarterly Review, 1997