Denominational Scene

Women In Ministry

Breaking with some 150 years of tradition, delegates of the 314,000-member Christian Reformed Church (CRC) voted 99 to 84 at its annual synod to “permit churches to use their discretion in utilizing the gifts of women members in all the offices of the church,” including the offices of elder and minister.

The vote to permit ordination of women makes the CRC the only one of the six conservative groups belonging to the North American Presbyterian and Reformed Council to approve women’s ordination.

The earliest a woman can be legally ordained within the denomination is 1992, assuming the 1992 synod authorizes changes in the denomination’s Church Order, striking the word “male” in all references to church office bearers. This process could have taken place at next year’s synod, but due to the issue’s sensitivity, delegates decided it should be left before the church for at least two years.

Delegates to the fifty-fifth World Conference of the Seventh-day Adventist Church (SDA) solidly rejected a proposal to open ordination to women. There is considerable support for women’s ordination among North American Seventh-day Adventists. But unlike U.S. mainline denominations, the SDA church is truly worldwide, with a presence in 190 countries, in many of which women’s ordination is frowned upon.

Following the vote rejecting women’s ordination, however, SDA delegates took action on a church-policy question pertaining to ministry by the nonordained. The permissive view of such ministry that was adopted led some observers to conclude that the door is open to women’s ordination in the future.

Women in ministry was also a topic of discussion at the annual meeting of the Conservative Baptist Association in Anaheim, California. Representatives discussed a major theological document on the topic after first agreeing to prohibit any action on it.

Church-Planting Venture

For the first time in over 40 years, the Church of the Brethren has specifically called for overseas planting of Brethren congregations. Delegates meeting in Milwaukee last month called on the church’s program arm to begin church-planting efforts in Korea and the Dominican Republic. Some in the denomination have opposed such efforts, based on the view that they might hinder the development of national churches, a view popular among ecumenical Christians.

Anticipated Merger

Two Presbyterian denominations divided since 1874 held simultaneous national conventions in Fort Worth, Texas, as the two churches look to merger. In all probability, the 90,000-member Cumberland Presbyterian Church, which is predominantly white, will merge with the 8,000-member, mostly black Second Cumberland Presbyterian Church to form the United Cumberland Presbyterian Church. The target date for the merger is 1992.

At the convention, Thomas Campbell, a strong proponent of the merger, was elected moderator of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church.

Questioning Pentecostal Theology

Meeting in Roseville, Minnesota, the American Association of LutheranChurches (AALC) adopted a statement on the Holy Spirit that takes issue with some aspects of Pentecostal theology. The statement cautions that such gifts as prophecy and speaking in tongues are “not a necessary evidence of the Spirit’s infilling.”

The AALC, which has between 15,000 and 16,000 members, was formed from members of the former American Lutheran Church, which took part in a merger resulting in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Despite the concern with some aspects of Pentecostal theology, many of the association’s 78 congregations have a charismatic flavor.

The AALC also approved a five-year plan to establish a denominational seminary.

Other highlights at this summer’s denominational meetings include the following:

• At its annual general assembly, the 45,000-member Evangelical Presbyterian Church (EPC) began a year-long celebration of its tenth anniversary. The church grew by about 8 percent over last year.

At this year’s meeting, the EPC responded to a communication from the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church. The two denominations have launched a process to identify and overcome their differences, and they are exploring possibilities for cooperative programs. Delegates to this year’s EPC meeting also endorsed action to pursue fraternal relations with the Presbyterian Church in America.

• In addition to voting to ordain women, the Christian Reformed Church resumed a long-standing debate on creation science. Delegates referred to committee a proposal to restrict the teaching of Calvin College professor Howard Van Till, who has been accused of teaching against the biblical account of Creation. The committee to which the request was referred is due to report to the 1991 synod.

• For the second year in a row, the 160,000-member Evangelical Free Church selected Paul Cedar, former pastor of the Lake Avenue Congregational Church in Pasadena, as president. This year, Cedar accepted the post.

• Delegates to the fifty-ninth annual conference of the General Association of Regular Baptist Churches passed resolutions calling for opposition to hotel/motel pornography, chemical abortifacients, and euthanasia. The group also passed resolutions praising God for the new Eastern Bloc freedoms and reaffirming the association’s strict view of separation from the world.

By Randy Frame.

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