Affirmations on the ordination of women

Biblical affirmations

The Gospel challenges churches to regard women as full partners in the Christian community. Throughout the Bible we find stories revealing the powerful vision of the community of women and men. They are stories of women, stories of men, stories of women and men, all of whom witnessed that God was doing great things among and through them, not in some future life in heaven, but here on earth. These witnesses challenge us today to engage in the process of realizing the new community of women and men in our churches.

Intertwined and undergirding these stories of faith, we find a number of basic theological assertions in the Bible which point us to the church as an inclusive community of women and men.

So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. (Genesis 1:27) Women and men were created in God's image. They are the same in nature, but they are different in gender. From creation they were given the same responsibility and potential to fulfil God's commands and to be responsible stewards for God's creation. Acknowledging the ordination of women is to acknowledge the responsibility of women and men for the church and for the society. it reflects the wholeness of God's creation.

How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, (Matthew 23:37) Both female and male images of God are found in the Bible. (cf. Matthew 23:37 ff.) By ordaining women, we reflect the wholeness of God, who created women and men in His/Her image.

Christ Jesus, who thought he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. (Philippians 2:6-7) Jesus was God in human life. In order to fulfil God's will, Jesus, while very much a member of his own Jewish culture, sought to transform people's understanding of faith and life. Faithfulness to his ministry calls upon us to do likewise. Jesus always exercised ministry in community, and his ministry developed as he lived out the new humanity among his people. This is clearly seen in his encounter with the Canaanite woman (Matthew 15:22-28) and with Martha (John 11:17-27). When a woman anointed him for his death, Jesus saw this as a sign of his messianic role and commended her for strengthening his resolve for what was to come. (Mark 14:3-9)

I came that they might have life and have it abundantly. (John 10:10) Jesus came to reconcile those alienated from God and from each other and to begin a new community. He announced this new life and community by teaching, forgiving sins and being present with those who were marginalized. He touched the woman who was ritually impure (Mark 5:25-34) to heal her, and ate with the man who collected taxes (Mark 2:15-17). These were signs that God's reign was breaking through, shattering oppressive cultural and religious taboos.

There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. (Galatians 3:28) The ordination of both women and men affirms the fact that in Jesus Christ both women and men are a new creation, establishing a new order and new relationships in the home, the church, the society at large and with God. (2 Corinthians 5:16-19)

He has been raised, he is not here...But go, tell his disciples. (Mark 16: 6-7) Several women who heard the message of abundant life were present at the empty tomb on Easter morning and were commissioned by the risen Lord to go and tell the others. Women were present in the community at Pentecost and received the outpouring of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:17-18). Many were baptized and brought into the body of Christ to a new community of equality and mutuality among Jew and Greek, slave and free, male and female (Galatians 3:26-28). This equality and mutuality were not merely in a spiritual realm but necessitated the development of a new community life-style for the followers. Women and men together exercised the various ministries within the church: Andronicus and Junia as apostles (Romans 16:7), Phoebe as deacon (Romans 16:2), the daughters of Philip (Acts 21:9), as well as Prisca and Aquila (Acts 18:24-28). This New Testament community surely remembered from the Hebrew scriptures such leaders of Israel as Miriam, the prophetess, and Deborah and Hulda, the judges.

For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body. (1 Corinthians 12:12-26) The ordering of life in the New Testament church was varied. Ministry dependent upon the gifts of the Spirit is modeled in 1 Corinthians, whereas ministry structured according to office is the pattern of the Pastoral Epistles. These reflect at least two different images of the church at that time: the church as the Body of Christ which includes all the baptized with their various and precious gifts which the Spirit dares not disdain and the church as the holy priesthood of all believers (1 Peter 2:5). However, in time the church became more institutionalized and more public, succumbing to pressure from society to be more acceptable. It lost the vision of the new community where the Spirit empowered all the members, and it lost its official women leaders for centuries. Today God's Spirit is blowing among us calling us to renew the partnership that was envisioned among all the members of the community so that the church might witness more clearly to Christ's message of abundant life.

The character of ministry and ordination

Some churches still do not ordain women although this is not supported biblically or theologically. Often the reason for not ordaining women is founded in the prevailing patriarchal social, cultural and religious environment of the nation in which a church exists. We need to help each other restore the supremacy of relevant theological insight over domination by non-theological factors. A full understanding of the Christian ministry is inclusive and supports the ordination of women.

What is the nature of ministry in the Reformed tradition? All members of the church are called to participate in Christ's ministry. In the concrete fellowship of local congregations we minister to each other. Christ entrusts specific tasks to us and equips us with the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Christ ministers to us, and our spiritual gifts help to build up the church as the body of Christ.

The Spirit of God works through women and men. According to the New Testament, women and men in the early church fully participated in ministry which included practical service, prayer and prophecy. Even in the letters of Paul there are numerous references to women functioning as leaders in worship and mission life of the church.

In the early church preaching of the Gospel and presiding over the Lord's Supper were considered a special, principal ministry. This task was carried out by a group of elders (Acts 20:27). Later it was entrusted to one person who was ordained by the elders or by the Apostle (1 Tim. 4:14; 2 Tim. 1:6).

In the Reformation, the ministry of the Word and celebration of the Eucharist was reaffirmed as an important mark of a Christian community. This ministry of Word and Sacrament is entrusted to the entire church. The Reformed tradition particularly underlines the universal priesthood of all believers. Each member should have the opportunity and freedom to serve with her or his special gifts. The church discerns these gifts and calls men and women to serve through preaching, teaching and pastoral care.

Ordination is an act by which the church commissions those who have been called. Some are ordained to preach the Gospel and to administer sacraments on behalf of the church. Others are ordained to ministries as elders or deacons. Ordination has no sacramental character according to Reformed understanding. It is related to the call from a particular Christian community. By its call the church recognizes and validates one's personal sense of vocation which the individual experiences as an urge and challenge to serve Christ's people in a specific way. By ordination it is affirmed that those who are ordained have been duly called, they are not merely "hired hands" (John 10:13).

The inclusive concept of ordination points to Christ's ministry of reconciliation. Ordination is not an end in itself but rather a process which witnesses to reconciliation. Ordination of women and men witnesses to the gifts of God which are present in the entire body of Christ. Ordination does not endow a person with any particular grace which elevates her or him above the community of faith. Against our expectations and by the sheer grace of God we are all called to use our gifts in Christ's ministry.