Prove All Things:
A Response to Women In Ministry
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An Appeal to the World Field Regarding the Ministry of Women in the Church
(First Published in Adventists Affirm, Autumn 1989)
The editorial board of Adventists Affirm has prepared this document with the contributions and counsel of other Adventist scholars and church leaders who share the same concern over the implications of the current women's ordination movement for the authority of Scripture and the integrity of the Seventh-day Adventist message and mission. As individual churches are asked to make decisions on this issue, and as the 1990 General Conference approaches, we urge our members and leaders to consider carefully the steps they will take.
Concerns
1. We are deeply concerned over the confusion and divisiveness created in our churches by the effort to ordain women as local elders and eventually as pastors. Many Adventists from various parts of the world have expressed their agony in seeing their congregations pressured to ordain women as local elders.
2. We are deeply concerned by the erosion of confidence in leadership to which the effort for women's ordination contributes. Many earnest Adventists are beginning to question whether the church will follow Biblical principles. Independent ministries have arisen as a reaction to the perceived trend of cultural conformity within the church. This is one cause of the weakening of the financial commitment to the church on the part of an increasing number of Adventists, many of whom see in the women's ordination movement another indication of compromise with the world. The church gets strong pressure from all sides; adherence to Bible principle is our only safe course.
3. We are deeply concerned that the Commission on the Role of Women, which met in July of 1989, did not base its recommendations on Biblical instruction regarding leadership and headship. It appealed instead to such social factors as "widespread lack of support . . . risk of disunity, dissension, and diversion from the mission of the church."
4. We are deeply concerned over the contradiction apparent in the 1989 Annual Council's decision not to ordain women to the gospel ministry and yet to authorize them to "perform essentially the ministerial functions of an ordained minister." Advocates of ordination complain that the action makes gender the only factor for excluding women from serving as full-fledged pastors. Others find the decision unacceptable because it enables women to function in the headship role of a pastor. Further, letting people (male or female) perform the functions of an ordained minister without being ordained downgrades ministerial ordination, making it appear superfluous.
5. We are deeply concerned over claims that the Bible writers were heavily influenced by their culture ("culturally conditioned"), leading them to exclude women from the office of elder or pastor. Such reasoning tends to limit the authority and application of Scripture to cultures of long ago, instead of allowing the Bible to guide all cultures in all places with full authority. The same reasoning is used by other Christians to negate the Bible teachings regarding Sabbath keeping, adornment, and footwashing, and could bring into question all the other distinctive beliefs of the Seventh-day Adventist church.
6. We are deeply concerned over the effect on the Adventist witness to the world of the unbiblical ordination of women. How can the Adventist church effectively witness to the many evangelical Christians whose churches have taken a clear Biblical stand on the role distinctions between men and women? Shall we tell our evangelical friends that what the Bible teaches on this subject is less authoritative than what it teaches about the Sabbath, even though Scripture presents both of them as part of God's order of creation?
7. We are deeply concerned over increasing promotion of feminist interpretations which distort what the Bible says about the sacrificial headship role of a caring husband and the willing helper role of an intelligent, loving wife, labeling such Scriptures "patriarchal" and "chauvinistic." Such interpretations tend to destroy the Bible's authority and undermine the Creator's ideal for stable, nurturing homes. We believe this is one factor that has contributed to the unraveling of marriages. In some Adventist churches, broken marriages outnumber those which have not experienced divorce.
8. We are deeply concerned over what we consider the misinterpretation of the Jerusalem council's decision regarding circumcision (Acts 15) as a basis for having different ordination practices in different parts of the world. The Jerusalem council faced a situation quite different from ours. The issue before them was whether Gentiles could be saved without circumcision. The leaders came to "one accord" (Acts 15:25) as the Holy Spirit guided them, not in explaining away Scripture as influenced by culture, but rather in understanding what Scripture taught regarding the admission of the Gentiles into the church. The four prerequisites for the admission of the Gentiles were in fact based on the teaching of Moses (Lev 17-18), to whom church leaders appealed as their final authority: "For from early generations Moses has had in every city those who preach him, for he is read every sabbath in the synagogue" (Acts 15:21).
9. We are deeply concerned over the appeal to civil laws to justify the ordination of women as pastors. The claim that the Adventist church in North America must ordain women as pastors because "our [American] civil laws prohibit us from making gender differences in the various professions, including ministry" is misleading in two respects: (1) America respects the right of churches to maintain theologically-based role distinctions in ecclesiastical matters; (2) If the laws of men conflict with the Word of God, "we must obey God rather than men" (Acts 5:29). When Sunday laws are passed, shall we not see the appeal to civil law pressed upon us again?
10. We are deeply concerned over efforts to make the ordination of women a "human rights issue." It is a Biblical issue.
11. We are deeply concerned over misinformation regarding support for women's ordination in the North American Adventist church. Despite widespread publicity promoting women elders, for instance, recent figures show that over 80% of North American Adventist churches have not yet elected a woman elder. Surveys claiming to show support for ordaining women have not, we believe, reflected the feelings of the rank and file. In any event, our theology and practice are not determined by survey but by Scripture.
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