Highlights inequity between male and female ministers
Dr Bruce Manners
Senior minister
Avondale College Seventh-day Adventist Church
Many of you will know I requested the Seventh-day Adventist Church’s North New South Wales Conference downgrade my credentials from ordained minister to commissioned minister (the credentials a woman minister holds) this past year. In simple terms, I’m troubled I have female ministerial colleagues who are not treated as my equal.
The Executive Committee forwarded my request to the church’s Australian Union Conference (AUC). A little more than a week ago, I received a letter saying my request had been denied by the conference after it received this counsel:
“It is the view of the Australian Union Conference administration that it is wrong to issue a Commissioned Minister Credential to an ordained minister, or for that matter, a Commissioned Minister Licence to a male minister upon satisfactory completion of internship. That is not the purpose of that credential and licence.
“Further, there are only two means by which an ordained minister loses his ordination: either it lapses if a minister leaves the ministry for other employment and does not intend on returning or it is annulled as a disciplinary measure.”
I’ve responded (in part): “I’m disappointed and saddened . . . but I thank [the AUC] for considering my request. Unfortunately, the response does nothing to resolve the inequity between male and female pastoral colleagues, but rather highlights it.”
Thank you to the many from my church and our campus (and others elsewhere) who supported and encouraged me when they’d learned I’d made this request. Even though I received a negative response, I don’t believe making the request was in vain because it signalled some of us—I’m not alone—see this as a problem that needs addressing.
Tags: Bruce Manners