General Assembly Update 3

Today was THE day that general assembly – and the last two years – had been building toward. Not only was today the day that we would elect the next president of the C&MA in Canada to lead our movement into its next chapter of history (a pretty significant thing in its own right) but today was the day that our denomination would decide the fate of so many of our female official workers with a vote on whether or not to limit ordination to men (as has been our practice) or to open it up to women as well.

This has been a long brewing issue in our family of churches that has been at times very divisive and more frequently very dismissive of people. Divisive as we have been a movement of churches that has lived with the uneasy tension of being pragmatic Complementarians in policy (not officially endorsing female authority within the church while pragmatically allowing it for the sake of doing the work of the Gospel) and dismissive because that pragmatism has created an environment where there is a two-tier system of recognizing and affirming the callings and giftedness of our workers – affirming some and not others based on the way God created them. This has been an issue that has been near and dear to my heart and one that I have long prayed that would come to the floor of assembly so that we could address this inequity of practice. Today was the day when assembly would together seek the Spirit of God and test the will of our fellowship by daring to broach this issue.

If you would like to understand some of the events that brought us to this juncture of history I would recommend that you take a look at my friend and colleague Jon Coutts’ brief survey of the history of women in ministry in the C&MA which you can find here, or for a more in-depth history of the discussion you can check out Alexandra Meek Sharman’s Master’s Thesis on The Great Debate, which Jon uses for source material for some of his history.

The committee on General Legislation had worked diligently over the course of two days to wrestle with the proposals sent to it by the Board of Directors and the many people who took the opportunity to present their concerns before them – as well as their own deeply held convictions (the committee was fairly evenly split on this issue) to bring something to the floor of assembly that recognized the diversity of perspectives we have in the C&MA and gave both major groups some semblance of freedom to practice what their conscience convicted them of while also being protected from what was commonly perceived as the militant agenda of the opposing viewpoint. I personally think what they came up with was brilliant – so good in fact that I won’t try to paraphrase but will relay their words to you verbatim. Here is an excerpt from their preamble to the issue of ordination:

While the Board has wisely framed the motion on ordination based on policy and practice in the Alliance, it became very clear in our discussions that we held very different views on the appropriate roles and limits for women in ministry. As soon as we use labels we bring in unwanted baggage. However, in a desire to describe our journey and recognizing the danger of using terms loosely, it can be said that Committee discussion divided along what we might call complementarian and egalitarian lines. In general, complementarians read gender passages through the lens of headship while egalitarians read the same passages through the lens of mutual submission. Both positions are deeply rooted in Scripture and a Biblical perspective which rejects the secular versions of male domination and rights-based feminism with which they are so often conflated. It is the prayer of your Committee that persons and churches holding both these views and also longing to be people transformed by Christ and transforming Canada and the world will continue to find a home in this family of Churches.

  

As we celebrate 125 years of Alliance history, it may be helpful to look to an important precedent. In 1906, the Alliance came together, much as we are here, in a Conference for Prayer and Counsel Respecting Uniformity in the Testimony and Teaching of the Alliance. At this Conference they talked about how to preach and teach the Fourfold Gospel, but significantly they also defined “Open Questions.” Issues on which they would agree to disagree. Two of these included subjects and modes of baptism, and Calvinism and Arminianism. These are not inconsequential issues. Those that believe in infant as opposed to believer’s baptism, or free will as opposed to predestination are grounded in traditions of biblical understanding that are not only deeply held but mutually exclusive. Yet for the Alliance these were not issues that would divide, but in the language of 1906 Alliance people would “agree to differ” and to hold to their own convictions “in mutual charity.” This approach is what it has meant to be Alliance historically and we long for this attitude to inform the current debate.

  

Much of the discomfort which was expressed to us, and indeed which individual members of the committee have expressed, is that the motion on ordination is taking us somewhere we are not sure we want to go. Anxiety was expressed, both by those who might be labeled complementarians and egalitarians, that their deeply held views were being marginalized and not heard in the present debate. In our discussions, this became apparent in the characterization of opposing positions which, often inadvertently and sometimes intentionally, questioned the faith and integrity of the other side. Many apologies were made as the theme of mutual respect emerged. Through this process the Committee came to the conviction that the way forward for the Alliance as a movement of churches is to create an environment in which both complementarian and egalitarian churches and individuals feel that their convictions are truly valued and respected. A beginning step on this journey to fully accepting and valuing our differences is in the creation of officially sanctioned statements that provide guidance to both perspectives. This would involve amending and re-inserting into the Manual the Position Statement “The Role of Women in Ministry.” This would also involve a process to create a parallel document to be inserted in the Manual reflecting a biblical egalitarian perspective.
[Emphasis added]

What ended up being presented was a series of four resolutions. The first two were parallel resolutions that would reinstate the old statement of the role of women in ministry and amend it to include the following statement:

“The C&MA in Canada has chosen to welcome both ‘complementarian’ and ‘egalitarian’ churches into its fellowship. The following statement serves to instruct and guide our complementarian churches.”

The second resolution would direct the President to facilitate a process that would create a parallel statement that would instruct and guide our egalitarian churches. With that framework in place and those protections for both side established the Committee would bring forward the two motions recommended by the Board of Directors:

1.       That the word “persons” be substituted for the word “men” within the Ordination Policy.

2.       That  the General Assembly instruct  the Board of Directors to carry out over the next two years an analysis that will identify the necessary pathways to the implementation of the amended ordination policy.

Debate on the first resolution started in earnest at 8:30 in the morning, but before too long a motion was made to table the motion on re-inserting the policy statement and to move to the question of ordination instead. That motion passed and debate then shifted to the question of ordination. It went back and forth for a while and eventually debate was extended and limited with a question to be called at 12:15pm. At 12:15 when the debate was closed a motion was made to call for a secret ballot on the motion recognizing that emotions were running high and unity was fragile. The motion was approved and the vote would take place upon the reconvening of business after lunch.

When we came together in the afternoon we began by voting on the ordination question and then moved directly into the presidential speeches and the election of our next leader. There was an obvious mutual respect and admiration between the four candidates and in a sign of unity each one of them was introduced and prayed for by another candidate when he came up to speak. Each of the four candidates presented a compelling vision for the future of our movement and in the end I would have been happy to see any of them elected to the office.

When the speeches were done we cast ballots for the president, the Board of Directors and acclaimed the executive of the Nominating Committee for Assembly 2014. After a brief recess we changed rooms and reconvened to hear the results.

David Hearn was elected our next President of the C&MA in Canada by a narrow majority on the first ballot.

The four nominees for the BOD were affirmed.

And by a vote of 380 to 281 the resolution to affirm the ordination of women in the C&MA was approved.

Assembly had time to conduct one final item of business before we adjourned for the day which was to task the president to implement the new policy (with a removal of the reference to ‘two years’) and then we were done transacting business and off to supper.

In the evening we had the always highly anticipated missions rally where the service was focused on our global ministries and International Workers. As with the rest of this assembly we highlighted justice and compassion issues related to global missions and we were treated to an inspiring message by Vijay Krishnan – pastor of The Upper Room church in the Toronto area.

After that eventful day I’m exhausted. Tomorrow morning is our healing and communion service and after lunch is the final business session. In the evening is the installation service for our new President and then assembly is done. I haven’t made up my mind but I’m inclined to say that we will be leaving Winnipeg after the healing service and not participating in the rest of assembly as we have to get home – so this might be the last update I post. Thanks for following along and please continue to pray for our movement of churches as we move into the next era of our life.

God Bless,

Chris