PCA rejects calls for a study group on
the roles of women in congregational life
By G. Jeffrey MacDonald, The Layman, June 19, 2009
ORLANDO – For the second year in a row, the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) has rejected calls for a study group to sort out which roles women may play in congregational life.
After an hour of sometimes passionate debate, the General Assembly defeated a motion to form a study group by the thin margin of 446 to 427.
The vote killed hopes that this would be the year when the PCA would gain greater clarity surrounding the roles of women, especially vis-à-vis diaconates. Whether women must serve in supporting roles, or if they can be acknowledged as non-ordained deaconesses, remains among the issues for each session to figure out for itself.
Women’s issues are sensitive for the PCA, in part because men hold all the denomination’s positions of power. All commissioners at General Assembly are men, as are all ordained ministers, elders and deacons in local settings of the church. The denomination’s policies flow from Scriptural interpretations that regard appointments of men to positions of church authority in the New Testament as normative for all time.
Opponents of the study group proposal expressed relief at the vote’s outcome. Some had been concerned that a study group’s findings would curry more influence, however unofficial, than they should in a denomination that takes pride in limiting centralized authority.
“I fear ‘guidance’ because it can very easily lead to a tyranny of the majority,” said David Coffin, presenter of the majority report for the Overtures Committee, which recommended that the proposal be defeated. “A study group may polarize us further than we are now.”
Others feared a study group would eventually lead to ordaining women, first to the diaconate and later to pastoral ministry.
“Once the box is open, it’s very difficult to close,” said Andy Webb of the Central Carolina Presbytery. “What we are deciding today is whether our sons or our daughters should lead our churches down the road.”
Supporters of the study group proposal said they expect the matter to come up again in the future. Meanwhile, they expect local churches to continue to struggle with questions of how to acknowledge the extensive work women do, especially in performing the diaconal functions of caring for the sick and needy in their communities.
A study group “would provide a great opportunity to speak to our culture,” said Steve Estock, a pastor from the Missouri Presbytery. He foresaw value in marshaling a public defense of complementarianism, that is, a division of separate roles in the church for men and women.
“We would be able to state why we are complementarians and what that looks like in our day,” Estock said.