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Celebrating turning points in women’s ordination (PCUSA)

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mwkruse
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From the Presbyterians News Service: Celebrating turning points in women's ordination.

During 2005 and 2006 the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has been celebrating turning points in the journey toward women’s ordination in the Presbyterian Church: the 100th anniversary of the ordination of women as deacons in the United Presbyterian Church in North America (UPNA), the 75th anniversary of the ordination of elders in the Presbyterian Church in the USA (PCUSA), and the 50th anniversary of women as ministers of Word and Sacrament in the PCUSA.

The celebrations have sent clerks scurrying through old records. Worship committees have developed liturgies and introduced new hymns celebrating the ministries of women. Across the church “Firsts” and “Leaders” have been honored.  …

(Gives a chronology of key events.)

I fully support women in all aspects of ministry. However, I often find myself at odds with how some brothers and sisters have arrived at the same position and how the change is characterized. To some degree, this article casts ordination as a "civil right." (There is no "right" to ordination.) And some came to their conclusion to ordain women by qualifying certain parts of Scripture as less authoritative (if not dismissed altogether) than others. While these foundations may have led to the right conclusion on this issue, I think it has sown confusion in other matters that we are still wrestling with today.

Comments

6 responses to “Celebrating turning points in women’s ordination (PCUSA)”

  1. will spotts Avatar
    will spotts

    Your comments at the end are very apt. I find myself agreeing with the result, but not with “how we got here”.
    I’d also point out that other denominations / streams of thought came to the same conclusion by different means. (It’s complicated, but take the Nazarenes for example. They haven’t yet come to functional equal representation — but they have ordained women as ministers since their founding.)

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  2. Michael Kruse Avatar
    Michael Kruse

    Nazarenes indeed. I was raised in a Nazarene home. Even went to a Naz Universtiy. Never bought the second work of grace stuff or the legalism and departed after college.
    Nevertheless, I think they were on target with there understanding concerning women. You could add Salvation Army, Wesleyans, Christian Missionary Alliance, Church of God (Anderson), Quakers, and a host of other groups who were ordaining before Presbys. Even Moody Bible Institue originally was supportive of women’s ordination. I think the PCUSA experience is more of a mixed bag.

    Reply
  3. ZZMike Avatar
    ZZMike

    I believe that those “other issues” are being pushed down the same path: which “authorized interpretations” will be adopted?
    I didn’t find the notion of “civil right” in the article. I did notice Rev. Poethig bring up the UN World Conference on Women. This is not encouraging – it suggests that we look to a corrupt and failed organization for guidance (or at least, for example).
    (I notice also that the PCUSA home page highlights “United Nations Day” and the “Peacemaking Program”.) The “peacemakers” are well-meaning but misguided people who think that love alone can conquer hate, when that hate has a single-minded aim of bringing the world under its control.

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  4. will spotts Avatar
    will spotts

    My mother is Nazarene. I also didn’t buy the 2nd work of grace and extra-biblical rules.
    Good list. (My initial point was that some groups managed to ordain women without the qualification of certain parts of Scripture as less authoritative.)
    Interesting reference to the UN — the PC(USA) (and predecessors) has seemed to be inordinately enamoured of the institution.

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  5. Michael Kruse Avatar
    Michael Kruse

    I agree the term “civil rights” is never mentioned but there is no mention of the theological justification for the changes along the way. Without any other context mentioned, I think it leaves one with the impression that this just a parallel of the Civil Rights movement.
    Is it “Equality” based in a notion of humanistic egalitarianism that assumes no difference between the sexes or “equality” in the sense that affrims male and female created in the image of God and that God pours out his gifts on men and women. To restrict the exercise of those gifts by women is an affront to God and limits the ministry of the Church. The difference is subtle but I think one leads to being focused on one’s rights and the other toward complying with God’s eschatological vision.

    Reply
  6. Michael Kruse Avatar
    Michael Kruse

    “Interesting reference to the UN — the PC(USA) (and predecessors) has seemed to be inordinately enamoured of the institution.”
    Didn’t you know? The PCUSA is secretly a UN front organization. I am writing a book write now called “Chritian Faith and the Truth Behind the PCUSA.” Some doubt it will ever see the light of day but I’m bettng the Presbyterian Publishing Corporation will publish it. 🙂

    Reply

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