Position of Women in the Ecclesiastical Office Paper Example

3.1 Position of Women in the Ecclesiastical Office

The position of the church is that all congregations in the Christian Reformed Church in North America allow women to serve in the office of minister, deacon, elder, or commissioned pastor. It is important to note that the CRC is aware that there are different perspectives on whether women should be ordained in the Church of Christ, and their arguments are based on Biblical scriptures. However, it is also important to point out that office bearers in the Christian Reformed Church in North America who do not support the ordination of women will not be forced to participate in this matter, if it is against their convictions.

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3.2 History of the Issue

The Reformed Church of America (part of the CRC) began to actively participate in this debate of the ordination of women in 1970, when synod appointed a committee to examine whether it was within the Biblical teachings to exclude women against being ordained to hold certain offices in the church. This was a response to discussions that were taking place in the Reformed Ecumenical Synod (RES), (which later became the World Communion of Reformed Churches) whereby CRC was a member.

The first study committee developed a report to Synod 1973 whereby it argued that excluding women from being ordained in positions such as pastors, bishops and elders could not be defended using the Biblical scriptures (Macy, 2008, p. 96). However, the Synod failed to conclude that the church should begin the practice of ordaining women. Instead, the Synod made the decision to appoint another committee that was involved in studying this issue. After studying the matter, the second committee also provided the Synod with a report in 1975, indicating that the debate on prohibition of women being ordained as priests, bishops, or elders is not supported by Biblical scriptures as was the case with the first committee. However, given that the church was not ready to allow women to hold these offices, the Synod appointed two more committees to look into this matter.

The two committees that were appointed were supposed to perform different tasks. The first committee was meant to assist the churches to be in a better position to facilitate or promote women to use their gifts. The second committee was provided with the task of studying hermeneutical principles, and use them to interpret the main Biblical passages that are mainly used in the debate of whether or not women should be ordained as pastors, bishops, or elders in the church (Kirkman & Grieve, 1984, p. 490). In 1977, the first committee was renamed the Service Committee for the Use of Members' Gifts signifying the additional mandate that it had been provided by the church. On the other hand, the second committee provided a report in 1978, whereby, it recommended that women should be ordained as deacons in the church. The Synod agreed with this recommendation, but concluded that the work of deacons to be distinguished from those of the elders.

In 1979, instead of the Synod implementing the decision that women should be ordained as deacons, it appointed another committee to study the recommendation that had been provided by the 1978 committee. In 1981, the Synod received a report from that committee, which provided the same conclusion as that of 1978(Kirkman & Grieve, 1984, p. 490). Instead of the church implementing this recommendation, it appointed another committee to study about the aspect of headman ship in the marriage institution, and how it affects the church in terms of women leadership (Belleville, 2000, p. 56). This committee provided a report in 1984, which recommended that women in the church can be appointed as deacons, but their work should be distinguished from that of the elders (who are exclusively men). They Synod agreed to this recommendation, and ratified this change in the church order (Kirkman & Grieve, 1984).

Interestingly, the Synod 1985 argued that the headship principle in the marriage institution prohibited women from serving as elders and ministers in the church. It then appointed a committee to study about the authority and functions differences between the elders and deacons. The Synod 1987 stated that there was a distinction between elders and deacons, and provided the decision that even though women can be appointed as deacons, they cannot be delegated to the classis meetings. This led to another committee being appointed to study about the headship principle (Wijngaards Institute for Catholic Research, 2014). The Synod 1989 provided instructions that the churches that had begun ordaining women as elders should cease from this act, and that women should only be provided with positions that do not require them to be ordained in order to serve.

However, in 1990, a committee that had been appointed to study the headship principle recommended that all the church offices including the ones where they are supposed to be ordained should be open to women. Although the Synod agreed to allow women to be ordained in churches, they deferred the ratification of the constitution, instead it appointed a committee to explore existing evidence in the Bible to support the aspect of ordination of women (Davidson, 2010, p. 15). The Synod 1992 recommended that the church should take advantage and use the gifts accorded to women in spreading and teaching the word of God (Gasero, 2018).

The Synod of 1993 revised the recommendation of the 1992 Synod by stating that churches should be provided with the option of ordaining women as elders, ministers and commissioned pastors. It also made the decision to delete the word male from Article 3 of the Church Order, which provides the requirements for elders, pastors, and ministers. However, it was Synod 1994, which was provided the authority to decide on advising the church in regards to the ratification issue. Synod 1994 failed to ratify the change instead maintaining the original language of the Church Order. The reason for this is that it argued that the Biblical teachings are against women being allowed to hold offices of leadership in the church setting. A committee was appointed to advise on the meaning of the term 'expounding the Word of God' from Synod 1992 (Gasero, 2018).

Synod 1995 was different from the other synods in that, it recognized that there were two distinct perspectives, and convictions on the debate of whether or not women should be ordained into the positions of pastors and elders in the church. Its recommendation was to give classes the option of declaring the word 'male' from Article 3 of the Church Order as inoperative. This move allowed churches to ordain women to the positions of debate. Synod 1995 passed regulations that were to be in effect until 2000 that provided restrictions for women to serve delegates to synod. In addition to that, it provided regulations against synod members from being forced to vote for an issue that was against their convictions, or beliefs (Wijngaards Institute for Catholic Research, 2014).

Synod 2000 extended the position of the church in terms of allowing women to be ordained to 2005. In 2000 the Synod approved that women should be appointed as advisers to Synod, and this guideline was adopted in 2001. Synod 2007, reiterated the point that office-bearers will not be forced to participate in a subject that is against their convictions. Synod 2008 approved the guideline that women should not be advisers to the Synod (Gasero, 2018).

An interesting incident occurred in 2010 when two churches requested to be granted the permission to transfer from their classes, to join a classis that was outside their geographical locations. The motivation or purpose of their request was to be at a classis that does not allow women to seat as delegates at classis or synod meetings. However, Synod 2010 rejected the request arguing that a classis should only consist of a group of neighboring churches according to the Church Order Article 39 (Wijngaards Institute for Catholic Research, 2014). Synod 2013 faced the same issue from the two churches, which even requested the establishment of a new classis, but just as was the case in 2010, their request was rejected. It added that a classis should not be formed because of theological affinity.

However, unlike the decision by Synod 2010, it provided them with an option of moving to a classis that was closest to their proximity, was willing to accept them, and ascribed to their beliefs. The 2015 Synod allowed women to act as advisers to the Synod. Additionally, it set the number of women delegates that will qualify to serve as minimum representation for synod to be 25 to achieve the aspect of gender diversity (Gasero, 2018).

3.3 Evaluation of the Struggle of the RCA on Ordination of Women

3.3.1 Complementarians on Women Ordination

Christians from different denominations such as the Roman Catholic Church, Anglican, Lutheran, Presbyterian, and Reformed Churches of America have always relied on the Biblical scripture to formulate the rules and policies that they follow. Despite using the same scripture, believers come up with different conclusions and interpretations of what they have read in the Bible. The subject on hand, the ordination of women in the church has been a subject of debate, and contributed to a divide where two parties: the complementarian and egalitarian sides, feel that their interpretation of the scripture is right. However, it is important to note that it is unfair when assessing the debate to point out that one side of the divide accepts the Biblical scripture, while the other does not. While this accusation has been made during debates, it is wrong because both sides of the debate rely, and use biblical scriptures to make their arguments valid.

According to Duncan (2004), complementarians believe that although God created men and women to be equal in terms of their essential dignity and human personhood, they are in fact different, and complement each other's functions (Duncan, 2004, p. 5-9). They believe that men are granted by God headship in both the home and in the Church. They do not deny the fact women and men were created equally, their argument is that, they were meant to perform different functions.

Using that context of Christianity, they believe that women are not suited, and therefore cannot hold the position of an elder or pastor in a church setting. The reason for this is that these positions are prohibited for women by the Biblical scripture (Gasero, 2018). However, this does not mean that women do not have a role in the church, and should be involved in the spreading of the Gospel of God through preaching and being involved in teaching, however, it should be understood according to them (complementarians) that they cannot hold leadership positions in the church setting.

Complementarian viewpoint uses the Biblical accounts in Genesis 1-3 to make their arguments on role differentiation and leadership roles. In Genesis chapter 1:27, there is a distinction in terms of the make of the male and female genders. According to Matthews (1996) they use it primarily as their foundation for the argument about role differentiation (Matthews, 1996, p. 219-22). Koranteng-Pipim (2005) makes the argument that both the male headship and leadership role, and also the female supporting, or cooperative role were defined during creation (Koranteng-Pipim, 2005, p. 82).

Piper and Grudem (1991) states that complementarians provide the argument of order and mode of creation as another basis for denying women leadership and their ordination in the church. In Genesis chapter 2, the Bible clearly provides the sequence of creation as it stat...