Christian and Missionary Alliance Denomination Votes to Ordain Women
Delegates also affirmed that elders can only be men.
Last week in Spokane, Washington, the Christian and Missionary Alliance (CMA) denomination voted to ordain women as pastors. The vote passed with over 60% of the denomination’s delegates supporting it, according to a report by Christianity Today.
Photo by Rosie Sun / Unsplash / Creative Commons
The issue has been debated within the CMA for four years.
The delegates affirmed that both men and women can carry the title of “pastor” or “reverend” at the discretion of the local church congregation if they have met the required qualifications and have completed the consecration and ordination process as outlined in the Manual of The Christian and Missionary Alliance. Only men can serve as elders and lead pastors.
Before this decision, women in the denomination were consecrated but not ordained and did not use the title of pastor.
CMA’s president John Stumbo supported the changes but also exhorted delegates to respect differing viewpoints on the matter.
“Do not think that just because someone disagrees with your biblical position that they don’t love the Word of God, honor the authority of the Word of God, and hold true to its core teachings,” he told the gathering.
The approved proposal stated the CMA’s view of ordination had arisen out of church tradition more than out of Scripture and that it sees ordination as “a holy process of vetting, certifying, and endorsing those who sense God’s call to vocational ministry, have evidenced that call through character, giftedness, and preparation, and have had that call affirmed by the church.”
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It also pointed out that female Christian workers have been somewhat limited in their ministry reach by their lack of ordination, such as serving as an institutional or military chaplain.
U.S. Air Force Chaplain Krista Lain told gathered delegates at the biannual conference that being ordained will make her life easier as a military chaplain because she’ll no longer have to give an explanation of her credentials.
Some congregations within the CMA have already been using the title of pastor for women in ministry. Salem Alliance Church in Oregon was founded by a woman over 100 years ago, its current pastor Rob Bashioum told the delegates, and today has 14 women on staff with the title of pastor.
When the CMA was founded in 1887 by Pastor A.B. Simpson, he encouraged women to be trained to preach at the denominational college.
“I believe this recommendation affirms the early practices of the Alliance and the intentions of our founder,” Bashioum said. “Our women are exceptional, and without them we would not see the kingdom advance like we have.”
A sizable portion of the delegates opposed the measure, arguing it would lead to a liberal slide and decline of the CMA, as seen in denominations like the Presbyterian Church (USA) and the Episcopal Church.
Opponent Sandy Rose, who is consecrated and whose husband is a pastor, told the gathering that “titling women as pastors is going to have a long-term negative effect on our denomination.”
The CMA currently has about 2,000 churches in the United States.
