Ordaining Women in the Adventist Church
The Seventh-day Adventist Church (also called the Adventist Church or the SDA Church), like other Christian denominations, has found itself divided on the issue of ordaining women as ministers. Both sides in the debate find support for their arguments in the Bible and the teachings of the church's cofounder and prophet, Ellen G. White.
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The Seventh-day Adventist Church
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In the 1830s and 1840s, William Miller taught that Jesus Christ's second coming, or advent, would occur in 1843. He gained a large following of supporters called Adventists. When Jesus didn't appear, Miller changed the date to 1844. When Jesus still didn't arrive, many of Miller's followers fell away. Miller's followers Ellen and James White and Joseph Bates founded the Seventh-day Adventist Church in 1863. The Seventh-day Adventists, like other conservative Christians, consider the Bible inerrant, take it literally and base their entire belief system on it. However, they also draw inspiration from Ellen G. White's writings, which they consider prophetic.
Arguments Against
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The opponents of ordaining women, such as the editors of the magazine "Adventists Affirm," base their position on a belief that women are subordinate to men because Eve was subordinate to Adam. They believe that women are full participants in the life of the church except as ministers and elders.They argue, for example, that in the Old Testament, the male head of the household held a priest-like function representing his family before God, and that the apostle Paul forbade women from teaching or having authority over men. Opponents of female ordination also point out that church co-founder Ellen White, while an important leader and teacher, was never ordained and favored tasks for women, such as visiting the sick and helping the poor.
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Arguments In Favor
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Proponents of female ordination point out that the church has never excluded women from office. They argue, for example, that Genesis' description of Adam and Eve's relationship was a partnership of equals, that Paul's words in Galatians chapter three command an end to gender discrimination among Christians and that the Bible never explicitly discusses the subject of ordaining women. They also point out that church co-founder James White believed that Adventists should promote the truth through any means not forbidden by the Bible, that Ellen White supported women working for the church and that the Adventist doctrine of spiritual gifts, which they base on books such as Romans and First Corinthians, teaches that God gives people gifts for leadership regardless of race or gender. They also point out that the 1881 General Conference resolved that qualified women could be ministers.
Official Action
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In 1990, the Seventh-day Adventist Church's General Conference voted against ordaining women. The Seventh-day Adventist Church is divided into regional governing bodies called divisions. In 1995, the church rejected a proposal by the North American division that would give individual divisions the right to decide on their own whether or not to ordain ministers regardless of gender. In 2010, proponents of female ordination won a small victory when the General Conference approved language for the Church Manual that would permit the ordination of deaconesses.
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References
- Adventists Affirm: Answers to Questions About Women's Ordination
- Association of Adventist Women: Questions and Answers About Women's Ordination; Helen Ward Thompson
- "Spectrum"; British Union Conference President Affirms Women In Ministry; Jared Wright; April 2010
- "Spectrum"; A Win For Women's Ordination; Keith Lockhart; June 2010
- Adventist News Network: Women's Ordination Request Rejected at Seventh-day Adventist World Session; July 1995
- Associated Press; Seventh-day Adventists Vote to Bar Women's Ordination; July 1990
Resources
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