In Zambia, there are more than 16 mainline Protestant churches and several Pentecostal churches. Out of almost 700 ordained clergy in all the Protestant churches, only 24 are women, mainly from the African Methodist Episcopal Church and the United Church of Zambia. The Anglican Church and the Reformed Church have both had debates in the recent past as to whether women can be ordained to the ministry of word and sacrament. I will confine my comments in what follows to my experience within the Reformed Church of Zambia (RCZ).

The RCZ was founded on 5 July 1899 at Magwero, in Chipata district in the Eastern Province of Zambia. The church was established by Dutch Reformed missionaries from the Orange Free State and is popularly known as dutchi (a church of the Dutch people). It has since grown tremendously, with great influence in the areas of education, health, agriculture and development in general. The church has about 118 ordained male clergy and about 16 male evangelists. There are 15 regional Presbyteries, all headed by male ordained Moderators, and a National Synod leadership of 5 ordained men. It is interesting to note how clericalism has dominated the running of the church despite its belief in the Presbyterian form of government. There was a time, not long ago, when the minister was automatically the chairperson of all commissions and committees.

I give this ecclesial background to help explain the atmosphere when the subject of the ordination of women has been discussed in my church. The woman's voice has never been heard in regard to how women perceive the issue of ordination. Ordination to the ministry of word and sacrament is still a male-dominated area, an area where most men look at women with exclusivist eyes, as though women were lesser children of the covenant of grace.

Culture and context

In Zambian culture, a woman is expected to respect and follow her traditions strictly if she is to live happily in society and in marriage. The culture has traditions which are passed on from one generation to another.

Traditionally, boys are told that they are the owners of the home. A family of girls only is not recognised as such. A woman who gives birth to a girl is disadvantaged, as this could give rise to marital problems from both the husband and his relatives. In families where there is little money, the father would rather give a boy child a chance of education than a girl. The reason being that she would get married and the husband would take care of her.

Some women have also accepted these things themselves without questioning their rationale. Worse still, it has taken ages before women could get a chance of education to enable them to understand life and their plight. During most premarital counselling women teach the young bride-to-be to take an inferior and negatively submissive role. This kind of teaching is also found during initiation ceremonies when a young girl who has attained puberty is being introduced to adulthood (Cinamwali). Apart from hygiene, the young girl is taught how to submit to her husband even though she is still several years away from marriage. As some women become educated, they begin to see these evils and to advocate against such demeaning teachings. Some even say that to perpetuate teachings such as "a man is like a bull which knows no kraal" is to accept that a man should not be questioned as to why he is moving out of the marriage home to have extramarital affairs.

The traditions and cultures are passed on from one generation to another, although with rural-urban migration they take on new perspectives and modifications. However, in whatever perspective, secular or Christian, the language of submission in its negative and oppressive sense is still one of the teachings handed down to a new bride. She is taught not to challenge or question her husband when he is wrong, or else she will be regarded as uncultured and undisciplined. It may even lead to verbal and physical abuse and the woman being sent back to her mother to be re-counselled and be taught proper discipline and good maintenance of the home. One really wonders if at all men are so perfect that they need no correction from a woman!

Scripture and tradition

It is said that culture, tradition and world-view influence a person's interpretation of Scripture. In my church, I believe, most men and even some women unfortunately interpret Scripture under such influences. Many have deliberately closed their eyes and consciences in their interpretation of Scripture on the subject of women and ordination. One ordained male minister even had the audacity to call upon a Synod meeting (in Ndola in August 1998) not to bother itself with theological justifications, because that was not necessary in determining the issue of ordination of women. The Reformed Church in Zambia has always treated women from a traditional point of view on this matter. It has understood the positions and offices of the church in a hierarchical way, instead of looking at them from the perspective of the priesthood of all believers. There is very little biblical argumentation against the ordination of women in all the debates. Instead we hear very traditional reasons, such as, "What would be happening if a woman is allowed to be ordained and she has to serve holy communion while having her menstrual periods?" or "How could a woman be in the pulpit once she is pregnant?" A few biblical passages such as I Tim 2.11-14 where Paul urges women to learn in silence are quoted more often than any other passages.

Furthermore, during Synods when this issue is debated passages like Eph 5.22-23 which talks about women submitting to their husbands are quoted. Surely Paul was not against women; he instead was encouraging mutual respect and love, when at the end of it all both are submitting to one another. Where Paul was talking about women being silent, he was addressing a certain specific problem; if one reads the word behind the text it comes out clearly what Paul's concern was. Paul did not say women should not be ordained. In fact, he speaks for women more than people usually understand. In Gal 3.26-28 he talks about the oneness that is found in Jesus Christ as he says there is no Jew or Gentile, no male or female, no slave or free; we are all one in Christ. He is the one who says we are justified by grace through faith. We are not justified because of gender. Once justified by grace we all become instruments in the hands of Almighty God, who challenges all with the question, "Whom shall I send?" - and even a woman may respond and say, "Send me, O God!" She would not be hindered by her gender in answering positively to the call of God. God is not a sexist God. We do not read anywhere in the Bible that God gave his spirit to male servants only. He gave and still does give his spirit to whomever he wishes. Men cannot limit God in the choice of who is to be used by him. This God used Priscilla (Acts 18.18-19, 26) the valued co-worker of Aquila. Together they spread the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Dorcas (Acts 9.36-49) was another woman that God used tremendously. She had a great impact on the people around her. Was Miriam (Ex 15.19-21) not a prophetess of her day? A prophet is one who proclaims the oracles of God. Was Deborah (Judg 4.4-14; 5.1-31) a man, that she ruled a country given to her in victory by God? An important question needs to be posed here: Was the God who used these honourable women different from the God who is worshipped by Christians today? It seems to me that the God worshipped today, at least in the RCZ, is often a male God: as one minister recently declared, "Our God is a man". This modern God is so segregative against all women.

When Jesus told his disciples to go and spread the good news he spoke to all his followers, and those followers included women. Equally, at Pentecost (Acts 2) the Holy Spirit came upon all, including women, as the fulfilment of Joel's prophecy (Joel 2). Pneumatologically speaking, all people can be used by God to spread the good news. The gifts of the Holy Spirit are for all the people of God, for encouragement, strengthening and building up the church of God.

It took the RCZ ninety-nine years before it could allow women to assume the office of elder. It says it is not yet time for women to be ordained as ministers, but one wonders who really determines the time.

It seems to me that in the RCZ the ministry of word and sacrament is misunderstood. In the sacrament of holy communion, table fellowship should be encouraged. We all come to the table of the Lord enabled by the forgiving grace of God, without which no one would be worthy to partake of the bread and wine. As we partake of those elements we are reminded that God is a God of grace and that anybody, regardless of gender, can be used to spread the message, "Take and eat in memory of Jesus Christ, take and drink in memory of Jesus Christ". When people are baptized they are all baptized with water in the name of the triune God. This baptism initiates them into being empowered by the Spirit to be able to serve God in their daily tasks.

I would have loved the RCZ, which stands so much on the word (sola scriptura), to re-assess its contemporary church life and at least revisit its stand and understanding of women and the contribution they could make to the life of the entire church if they were allowed ordination. Ordained ministry is about caring for the flock of God, as well as ensuring that people of God are equipped for the works of service. Equipping the people of God is surely not a gender-limited ministry. If we look at a Zambian woman, or indeed any African woman, she has the ability to mobilize, care for and encourage others. A woman therefore can contribute a lot to building up the church of God so that the purpose of the church's existence may be realized. The church should live out fully its confession of the priesthood of all believers (1 Pet 2.9-20) instead of paying lip service to it.

Sisterhood and submission

While the stand of men is as explained above, not all women in the RCZ are enthusiastic about ordination either. In some cases, they are in the forefront to limit their friends to sweeping in the churches and to charity work, such as visiting the sick and the elderly. Since women are the majority in the RCZ, if they were supportive and if there was lobbying through the church courts, the probability is that the question of ordination could by now have been a thing of the past. At the National Meeting for Women's Guilds it was suggested that the women come up with a theological paper to lobby the Synod on the issue of ordination, but the suggestion was not taken with any seriousness. It was said that the question was being handled by the Synod itself; but how can the same men who are not in favour of women's ordination handle such an agenda positively? The people the women expected to handle it for them threw the subject out, denying any theological justification.

It is not surprising, then, that as the first RCZ woman to study theology I encountered a lot of opposition. With a few scattered exceptions, the women in the RCZ did not fully support me, as they thought that I was treading on holy ground where only angels were allowed to tread. By contrast, I received a lot of support from women from other denominations which already allow women to be ordained.

Women in the RCZ need a lot of enlightenment and education in terms of their rightful place in the church. They need to see themselves as also being created in the image of God and capable of being used by God to preach the word and administer the sacraments, as those justified by grace. If God empowers, who are men to prevent women from also glorifying and enjoying God?

The study of theology

I believe that my experiences as a dew-breaker in studying theology as a woman of the RCZ may be worth sharing. It was a trying time of my life, a time of challenge and discovery. During my undergraduate studies a number of things were revealed to me about how a woman is perceived by many male church workers in the RCZ. When I embarked on the study of theology - in a class composed, apart from myself, entirely of men - I never anticipated the reactions I would meet. Naively, I thought of a theological college as a place where they manufacture angels in the form of humans who become ordained ministers. I expected all those undergoing such training to have a deep understanding of the Bible and a deep respect for its teaching. It never occurred to me that a theological college could be a place where people could use a Bible that speaks against oppression to demean and discriminate against others simply on the grounds of gender, a place where the apostle Paul could be so greatly misunderstood and abused as an apostle of oppression.

The first day I stepped out on the campus I was received with suspicious eyes. I regarded that suspicion as normal considering this as liable to happen when people meet for the first time. Little did I know then that those looks had a story to tell about a "woman studying theology in an all male dominated college". I participated positively in my classes and sometimes stood and openly challenged what I considered oppressive tendencies against women. My active participation was viewed as arrogance. I was seen as uncultured and lacking manners, for "a woman was supposed to learn in silence".

This negative attitude on the part of my male classmates extended also to the women on the campus who were pursuing women leadership courses to enable them to become better supporters of their husbands who were training for the pastoral ministry. These women kept a distance from me. I was in the wrong place, studying theology with men.

Similarly, I also had a tough time with some conservative male chauvinist tutors. In their classes there was nothing good that I could do, no matter how hard I tried, not because I was unable, but just because I was a woman. For them, what good could come out from a woman? It was quite demeaning for me when sometimes my performance was attributed to the fact that my husband was the one who wrote the assignments for me, even when I wrote the exam in front of a supervising lecturer. All that was simply to say a woman was so dull that she could not manage to study in what was considered a male world. That assumption was challenged when my husband went to Europe for postgraduate study for well over a year and I still managed to do well in my studies.

My experience of these different negative attitudes at the theological college discouraged me and almost led me to abandon the study of theology. However, I thank God for my husband and some tutors who encouraged me to persevere. As a first RCZ woman to be a dew-breaker in the study of theology I pressed on towards the goal so that I would set at least some example for those to come after me to set foot on the RCZ "holy ground".

No fear in love

My experience as a theology student made me conclude that the male clerical leadership of the RCZ fears the power of women. They know that women in ministry would bring progress to the church and society and that this would show a big contrast with their long years of discriminative and unbiblical exclusivism. They fear the Deborah type of leadership, since they know that they are the minority in the church. They fear that, given the chance, women would rule them!

The refusal to ordain women in the RCZ is not biblical and there is definitely no theological support for the stance they hold. It would be ideal if they could open new exegetical eyes and see that the God of the Bible is not segregative on grounds of gender. The Lord may use any person as long as the Lord finds pleasure in such a person.

I call upon all those ordained male ministers who claim to be the called children of God, who have responded to the call of God by his grace, to show the fruits of genuine repentance, namely justice for all God's people. This justice includes the women that they have for a long time prevented from exercising their gifts and callings. Women in the RCZ need the respect they deserve as those who are created in the image of God, who are redeemed by Christ, and to whom gifts are also given by the Holy Spirit just as they are given to men. The God of the Bible is not a sexist God. In the year in which the RCZ celebrates its centenary, it is time for those men in the RCZ who hold the power of decision-making to turn to God and repent of a history of exclusion and set the path straight for all the people of God to serve the Lord.

It is also an urgent call to all RCZ women to rise up to the challenge to be used by God. I know that we cannot all be ministers of the word and sacrament but we can do well to support those who can be ministers and God can use us in various ways other than just in the pulpit.

Petronella PS Ndhlovu was the first woman ever in the Reformed Church in Zambia to be allowed to train in theology: she was awarded a Bachelor of Theology degree with distinction.

She died, tragically young, in September 2000.