Dear friends, On February 6, 2010, I presented a message at my home church in Sacramento, California, regarding the question: “Should women be ordained as pastors?” My conclusion, based on Scripture and church history, was ...
	Read more...

	The issue of women's ordination will not be added to the agenda for the 59th General Conference Session of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, the church's President Jan Paulsen said April 6. Speaking to leadership at Spring Meeting in Silver Spring, Maryland, Paulsen said that a canvass of the church's 13 world church divisions revealed only three willing to accept a change in the current policy of not ordaining women to pastoral ministry, and eight divisions reporting the move would negatively impact membership. Two other divisions apparently did not respond.
	Read more...

	It is the official position of our World Church. At the 1990 and 1995 General Conference sessions our church overwhelmingly voted to not ordain women as pastors. These votes have never been rescinded by the World Church. The wording in the relevant vote is below...
	Read more...

	The New Testament teaches that the act of ordination, as such, does not confer any special grace or holiness upon the one ordained. Ordination does not bestow some special magical powers of the Holy Spirit; neither does it confer upon the elder or pastor some special character which sets the person apart as a priest.
	Read more...

	At the 1995 General Conference session in Utrecht, Netherlands, two able scholars from Andrews University Theological Seminary were invited to present arguments “for” and “against” women’s ordination. By a margin of 66% to 24% the worldwide church rejected the request to ordain women. Dr. P. Gerard Damsteegt’s presentation—“Why Am I Not in Favor of the North American Division’s Request?”—sets forth the case against women’s ordination.
	Read more...

	What is the nature of church leadership? Who can legitimately exercise spiritual leadership in the church? What constitutes the extent and limitation of church leaders’ authority? Is leadership qualification gender-neutral? Where do we find a model for church leadership? And what should we do when there are no available or qualified leaders in the church?
	Read more...

	What was Mrs. White's stance in regard to the ordination of women? Her prophetic role and her involvement in the founding and nurturing of the Seventh-day Adventist Church make this a question of interest to Adventists today. In recent years some have proposed that we may find support in Mrs. White's writings for ordaining women as pastors or elders. This study examines the main passages that people are using in support of women's ordination to see what those passages actually teach.
	Read more...

	Did early Seventh-day Adventist women function as ministers? Did our Adventist pioneers endorse women as ministers? Did the 1881 General Conference session vote to ordain women? Did Ellen G. White's 1895 statement call for women's ordination? Was Ellen G. White ever ordained? Don’t be fooled by the distortions and revisions of early Adventist history.
	Read more...

	Since the 1970s, several arguments have been employed in the church in an attempt to overthrow the church's long-standing position against ordaining women as elders or pastors. This article summarizes the evolving arguments that have been employed by proponents of women’s ordination.
	Read more...

	Discussions on women’s ordination are often clouded with false issues, such as “equality of men and women,” the legitimacy of “women in ministry,” “women’s ability and giftedness,” “the Holy Spirit’s leading,” and more. This article clarifies the issues by focusing on seven crucial issues. In each case it first distinguishes the real issue from the false ones. It then sets forth the questions lying at the heart of the issue.
	Read more...

	There is no Biblical precedent for ordaining women, not only as priests in the Old Testament but also as apostles and elders/pastors in the New Testament. Was the Bible’s exclusion of women from these roles a consequence of a prevailing “patriarchal prejudice” or “male-chauvinist culture and mentality of those times”? What are the key Bible texts that bear on this question?
	Read more...

	About 2,000 years ago, God was about to bestow the highest honor in all of history on one human being on Earth. What kind of qualifications was He looking for? Good looks? Intelligence? Prestige? Assertiveness? Good social decorum? No!
	Read more...

	In recent Adventist discussions about women’s ordination, the book “WOMEN IN MINISTRY” by pro-ordination scholars at the Seminary at Andrews University is often cited as the best Seventh-day Adventist resource that “proves” that the Bible is for women’s ordination. Many are, however, not aware of the ideology that drives the book. This article not only explains how the book came into being, but also the nature and reasons behind these scholars’ new arguments for women’s ordination.
	Read more...

	I have read the document prepared by the executive committee of the Southeastern California Conference on the issue of women’s ordination to the gospel ministry and I would like to offer the following personal remarks ...
	Read more...

	The vastness of the topic forced certain limitations upon us as a matter of course. I felt it wise to let the proponents of full egalitarianism and opponents as well as people taking a centrist position speak for themselves as far as is possible.
	Read more...

	The New Testament Officers of the Church. The New Testament mentions two church officers—those of the elder and the deacon. The importance of these offices is underscored by the high moral and spiritual requirements set for those who would fill them. The church recognized the sacredness of the calling to leadership through ordination, the laying on of hands (Acts 6:6; 13:2, 3; 1 Tim. 4:14; 5;22).
	Read more...