Women's Ordination in the Presbyterian Church USA and the Reformed Church in America - Paper Example

Motivation

The understanding of women in the ordained position in the mainline Protestant churches in the United States, for example, the Presbyterian Church USA (PCUSA) and the Reformed Church in America (RCA) and have undergone critical changes over the years. For example, the Cumberland Presbyterian Church ordained Louisa Woosley in 1889, but no other Presbyterians followed for many years. There have been women deacons since at least the late 19th century, and women elders since at least the 1930's. Since the middle of the twentieth century, however, increasing numbers of Reformed and Presbyterian Churches have been regularly ordaining women as ministers, elders, and deacons. At the last General Assembly of World Communion of Reformed Churches (WCRC) cognizance was taken that some member churches refrain to ordain women or to elect women in leadership positions of the church.

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The PCUSA, one of the member churches of the WCRC, already in 1984 affirmed its position on women ordination in a position paper by pointing out that the ordination of women is not an essential of faith (PCUSA, Proceedings GA, 1984). The PCUSA has been keen to emphasize that the focus of the church is to worship God according to His will. Therefore, it is at liberty for a church to choose to or refrain from ordaining women into a leadership position. However, the PCUSA considers the selection of their leadership as the responsibility of the church based on the doctrinal conviction.

The question regarding the impact and contribution of ordained women ministers has remained a critical concern in the Protestant churches across the United States. Since the PCUSA is celebrating 60 years of women clergy, it is essential to carry out a critical evaluation regarding the acceptance of women in the ordained and leadership positions in this denomination.

Problem Statement

One of the critical areas of concern in protestant denominations is associated with the ordination of women. Both the PCUSA and the Reformed Church in America are members churches of World Communion of Reformed Churches (WCRC). Since the Seoul General Council of WARC in 1989, general councils have been calling on the churches to re-examine their practice if they do not ordain women and developing ways to assist them in this process. Those churches that do ordain women have been asked to study whether women ministers have equal access to placement opportunities and equal pay for equal work. The purpose of this study was:

• to collate and analyze data on the ordination of women in the member churches of the WARC with a view to identifying where women and men are within the structures of the Church;
• to probe with members from the various sectors and groupings of the WARC, their understandings of gender issues in the Church and the meaning, practice, and challenges of "men and women working in partnership in the mission";

The survey made by the office of a partnership between women and men of WARC in 2009 presented not very precise information since all churches did not respond properly. It showed that at least 42 churches do not ordain women to the ministry of Word and Sacrament. Those churches are distributed as follow: Europe 7, Africa 18, Middle East 3, Latin America 5, Asia 9. The World Communion of Reformed Churches General Council 2017 adopted of "A Declaration of Faith on Women's Ordination." The Declaration addresses two kinds of institutional injustice to women in our churches and calls for urgent remedial action. The first injustice is the refusal to receive women in ordained offices of the church. The second is treating ordained women as inferior to ordained men. This dissertation aims to review the inclusion and covert and overt exclusion of women in positions of power in the church. Jane Dempsey (Reformed World 2017) states that even today there remains across the globe a tendency in some circles to assume that women do not need as large a salary as men and that they are not suitable for "important" placements or for church leadership.

General Councils at least since 1989 have consistently urged the churches to remedy this injustice. The WCRC General Council 2010 resolved to amend the WCRC Constitution to require that not only must there be equal representation (50% - 50%) of lay and ordained delegates, but also equal representation of men and women delegates; encouraging member churches to take on greater responsibility for gender justice work through their own programs, and to hold firm in their commitment expressed in the Accra Confession: to focus on the ways in which gender justice relates to economic justice, ecological justice, and social exclusion. To promote the ordination of women, and to work towards the moment when the ordination of women will be binding and mandatory for (all members of) the Communion. The women's pre-assembly at the Uniting General Council in Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA (2010), affirmed its commitment to full partnership between women and men, affirmed both the need to work towards a binding commitment of the Communion to the ordination of women, and also the need to achieve equal representation of women and men on the Executive Committee. The Uniting General Council then affirmed women's ordination as central to the understanding of communion, stating: "True unity cannot be realized in a context where the call of God to women to actualize their gifts in the ministry of Word and Sacrament is not recognized."

Through history and in the present, there is a disturbing recurrent experience in churches that do not ordain women. In some member churches of the WCRC women carry out tasks that churches with Presbyterian governance typically assign to elders and deacons; yet where ordination of women is refused, women carry out those tasks without the authority of office, without the ability to participate in the decision-making of governing bodies, and without the collegial support of ordained colleagues. The WCRC attends to the ordination of women as a gender justice issue.

After long deliberations on the synodical level, both the PCUSA and the RCA approved the ordination of women as ministers of the Word and sacrament. Different reactions have been presented during the course of time regarding the decision to ordain women, but the PCUSA and the RCA have remained steadfast in this practice by presenting the scriptural evidence that supports the contribution of women in the ministry. The PCUSA's premise is that the Spirit is not subject to human rules and the involvement in God's work should not be based on gender but on faith, willingness, and purity. Currently, the PCUSA is celebrating 60 years of women clergy by revisiting the contribution of women to the ministry of the denomination.

However, there is a need to understand how the current position of the PCUSA regarding women ordination has grown over the years; what challenges and success stories characterized their journey, how different their stories are from other Protestant churches who are struggling with the issue regarding the ordination of women? This study seeks to make a historical inquiry about the evolution of the acceptance of women in the ordained positions and leadership positions in the PCUSA. Overtures of the general synod of the RCA (1970) show cause from biblical authority why these congregations should ordain women as church council members. In 1970, the Christian Action Commission issued a statement supporting the equality of women and their participation in ordained offices. In 1964 an overture failed at the Synod meeting, a 1967 overture supported by the Theological Commission that failed in a church-wide vote, and another in 1968 that failed at the synod meeting. There were a number of overtures in 1969 that resulted in two churchwide votes; one to ordain women as ministers of the Word failed by four votes, and one to ordain women as deacons and elders failed by two votes. The 1980 General Synod approved an amendment to the Book of Church Order which clarified the legality of the ordination of women as ministers of the Word by adding the following:

If individual members of the classic find that their consciences, as illuminated by Scripture, would not permit them to participate in the licensure, ordination or installation of women as ministers of the Word, they shall not be required to participate in decisions or actions contrary to their consciences, but may not obstruct the classes in fulfilling its responsibility to arrange for the care, ordination, and installation of women candidates and ministers by means of mutually agreed on by such women and the classic. ...Ministers of the Word shall not be pressured in such a way as to lead either one who supports or one who opposes, on scriptural grounds, the ordination of women to church offices to offend against his or her conscience. Nor shall any church member be penalized for conscientious objection to, or support of, the ordination of women to church offices. Nor shall any minister of the Word or church member obstruct by unconstitutional means the election, ordination, or installation of a woman to church offices.

At the 1981 General Synod a resolution regarding the ordination of women passed with the 30 votes required for a 2/3 majority. In 2012, General Synod voted to remove the "conscience clauses"-statements that spell out how people can and cannot conscientiously object to the ordination process of women-from the Book of Church Order. The researcher will attend in this section to the long struggle in the PCUSA and the RCA to approve the ordination of women.

Hypotheses and Research Question

My hypothesis is as follows: A church historical evaluation of the development and consequences of and challenges to the discourse on women's ordination in the Presbyterian Church USA and the Reformed Church in America. may be helpful to construct a methodological framework for addressing the dilemma that member churches of WCRC are facing today regarding the ordination of women. Furthermore, the thesis argues that a good understanding of the historical and theological discourse on the ordination of women is crucial in order to address cultural assumptions that claim women's inferiority to men and unable to take up leadership in the church. Therefore, the research will focus on several factors to present how the discourse in the both the PCUSA and the RCA regarding the inclusion of women in ordained positions evolved. The following sub-questions will guide this study.

1. What is the relationship between women ordination and ministry in the Presbyterian Church USA?
2. What are the vital historical characteristics defining women ordination in Presbyterian Church USA?
3. What theological justification has been used to support the ordination of women and or the exclusion of women in the Presbyterian Church USA or RCA?
4. What is the perspective of WARC and WCRC on the issue of women ordination? In what did the ecumenical discourse on the ordination of women influenced the ultimate decisions of member churches on the question, for example, the RCA and the PCUSA?
5. What are the envisaged impact and consideration emanating from PCUSA's direction on women or...