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Shall there be women deacons and/or deaconesses in the PCA?



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Robert Berman -- June 15, 2008
James Truax gives an excellent list of topics that ought to be included in any discussion of female deacons/deaconesses. Pastor Nabor's comments bring out another crucial piece of the puzzle: The doctrine of ordination. If it's truly as broad as "a setting apart for a task...based on Spiritual giftedness and calling" then we can and should ordain not only deaconesses, but music directors and small group leaders and church secretaries and yard crew captains and MTW committee members, etc. This view of the doctrine of ordination would require a revamp of chapter 7 of the BCO, which recognizes only two offices. It also exposes a weakness in the wording of chapters 7-9, which arguably assume but do not explicitly state that ordination is reserved for officers in the church.
I don't mean that Pastor Nabors was attempting to give a comprehensive and loophole-free definition of ordination and that he thus advocates the ordination of church secretaries, empowering them to give authoritative telephone directions on how to get to the church and what time the worship services are. Rather I'm pointing out that discussion of the question, "Should we ordain women deacons?" should include serious discussion of what ordination does and does not mean. Am I the only one who finds our denominational stance on the matter fuzzy?
The Westminster Assembly's "Form of Presbyterian Church Government" (standard disclaimer: I know; it's not constitutionally binding in the PCA, and indeed it defines the offices differently than we do.) gives a summary of the Divines' thoughts about ordination and offices, but as typical of the Westminster documents, it speaks only by way of declaration, not induction from Scripture: http://www.apuritansmind.com/WCF/FormPresbyterianChurchGov.htm
The issue of ordination came before the PCA GA in 1979 as part of the report of the "Ad Interim Committee on the Number of Offices" (http://www.pcahistory.org/pca/2-455.html) and in particular TE Don Clements' Appendix D to that report (http://www.pcahistory.org/pca/2-492.html) which admitted the paucity of literature on the subject. I come away from these documents with the message, "We're doing what most churches have done throughout history, and we find nothing obviously unScriptural about it." For a denomination that propounds the Regulative Principle (i.e. "We must do it this way because Scripture commands it directly or by inference"), positive exegesis on the topic is notably absent.
As far as a path forward with these various topics, the general discussion for each ought to be:
(1) What does Scripture teach on each topic?
(2) What do BCO and the Westminster Standards teach on each topic?
(3) If an individual PCA church feels that the answers to (1) and (2) are not the same, is that individual church at liberty to implement changes appropriate to the answers it reached for question (1) even if it means noncompliance with (2)? Or do the oaths of eldership require that church to abide by the answers to (2) while working within the system to, for instance, amend BCO?
(4) If attempts to change BCO are unsuccessful, is this issue one in which submission to the brethren is appropriate, or does it rise to the level where one would leave the PCA for conscience's sake?
(4a) The same dilemma arises if the individual church feels its teachings and practices are within both (1) and (2), but the presbytery and/or GA disagrees.
Robert Berman, RE
First Presbyerian Church
Crossville TN

Robert G. Smith -- May 15, 2008
You may be surprised at how many women will oppose this proposal. They have too much to occupy their time without the church trying to "include them in" as it were. My wife was a deacon in the UPUSA when we became RPCES. The women among the founders of our church want no part of being an officer in the church. Leave that to the men and leave the women to theirselves. They already have more than enough to do. (You can tell she was a stay-at-home mom.) In SWP we don't even have an active WOC organization. Some go to Presbytery, but it is to socialize more than anything.
Robert G. Smith, RE Emeritus,
Westminster Pesby. Church, PCA
Gage Browning -- May 9, 2008
It's all about authority. BCO 17-2 clearly states:
"Ordination is the authoritative admission of one duly called to an office in the Church of God, accompanied with prayer and the laying on of hands, to which it is proper to add the giving of the right hand of fellowship."
The BCO at least states that the "ordained" office is one of authority. Any PCA Church who has "ordained" women is in violation of the BCO in my opinion.
The BCO allows for the service of women under the authority of the session and guidance from the diaconate. When ordination happens in my opinion we violate the BCO and (in my opinion) are at odds w/ the text.
If we ordain women to the office of deacon then we are at odds ,at least as it stands today, with the BCO. It is entirely possible(although not my opinion) that the BCO is wrong. If it is- then it must be changed. My argument is to ordain women to the office of deacon is clearly at odds with the BCO. If the BCO is wrong then it should be changed. It is another argument altogether whether or not ordaining women to the office of deacon is at odds with the scripture. But I do not see how any PCA Church ordains women and that Church stays in good standing. What do we have a BCO for? A general rule of thumb? Let's either abide by it as it stands, change it and abide by it, or toss it out altogether.
Gage Browning
Post Tenebras Lux

A. Randy Nabors -- May 8, 2008
We at New City have a practice and conviction about using women in the ministry of mercy. For the purpose of helping the discussion I thought it might be helpful for others to know what we think. This is something that we have thought about since we were in the Reformed Presbyterian Church, Evangelical Synod. During those years we agreed with a minority report that thought the ordination of women as Deacon would be Biblical and acceptable. We took this from an exegetical argument. We did not see this as a challenge to the prohibition of women to the teaching office of the church, i.e., Elder. We think the prohibition of women in the teaching ministry of the church is very evident in Scripture. The argument against ordaining women to any office obviously rests on what the church thinks ordination means. For us, we see ordination as a setting apart for a task, and that through prayer with the laying on of hands by the Elders, based on Spiritual giftedness and calling. It of course carries authority but only to the task ordained, as government is ordained of God, but only to the task specified and does not bleed over into authority in the church.
Since there is evidence of women doing Deacon type work in the New Testament we cannot see how the church could prohibit such ministry. We know that there is fear among some that any allowance of women in types of office, or to call them Deaconess, is to begin the process of letting them into the teaching ministry of the church. We have never felt theology should be built on fear, or pastoral concern, but rather pastoral practice should be built on theology and good exegesis.
We are also sensitive to the necessity (for being one as Jesus wants us to be one) of being "subject to our brethren" and have in our show of unity not ordained women to any office. We have regularly nominated, trained, elected, and prayed for these chosen women to serve as Deaconess alongside our Deacons for the work of mercy ministry. These women answer to the same ordination vows as men (but we do not ask the congregation to obey them), and they are examined by the Session in their understanding of theology and government. We have had some women members of our church unhappy with our denomination’s stand on the ordination of women, but the women whom we set apart for mercy are not those who complain about it. They seem quite content to take on the task, and they do it well. We do not lack opportunity in our congregation for women to do ministry, and we do not want men ministering to the many single parent women in the inner city to whom we are called, alone or by themselves. We have several husband and wife teams in our mercy ministry.
We have never tried to hide this practice or be disingenuous about it. We have no intention of restraining women in this important ministry and actually we wonder at other congregations who cannot see the necessity of empowering godly women to help the poor. Arguments about authority rarely come up among us, as we are all usually too busy trying to help people with very practical needs and threats to their existence.
A. Randy Nabors,
Pastor, New City Fellowship, 423-629-1421

James Truax -- May 8, 2008
We need to pray this is resolved biblically. If we follow Scripture, we have nothing to fear. Thanks for your resource.
Key concerns include:
1) Not devaluing the office of Deacon
2) Not devaluing ordination
3) Not devaluing male leadership in the Church
4) Not devaluing women's involvement in mercy ministry
My suggestion is your resource focus on the biblical basis for the office of Deacon, the job function of Deacons, and general "diaconal ministry." There are several issues here:
1) what are the biblical qualifications for Deacon,
2) what do Deacons do,
3) what diaconal ministry and mercy ministry can be done under the authority of the Diaconate,
4) what diaconal ministry and mercy ministry can be done independently by women and men. What can women and men do to fulfill Scripture?
One of the best resources I have seen on this is the following link. It does a good overview of church history and Scripture on this topic:
http://www.amprpress.com/women_deacon's.htm
Scripture allows women and men to be reconciled as we are to God if we seek out Scripture on this.
The proposed study committees, in both overtures, are clear that Scripture is to be studied to see if the Book of Church Order needs to be changed to conform it with what Scripture teaches. The overtures, at least, are not proposing a debate of opinions or ideas or position, but a study of sacred Scripture. This can be helpful in informing the church about the office of Deacons specifically, what Deacons do, and about diaconal ministry generally.
James Truax
jstruax@access4less.net

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