Bob asked:
Which part do you agree with? That any woman who is ordained today cannot possibly be ordained as a gospel minister, and must therefore only be ordained as a local elder? Or that the authority to authorize ordination belongs to union conferences?
1) I agree that females who are ordained today (with one exception which I will mention) cannot be ordained as SDA clergy and therefore are only ordained as local Elders. The local congregation has the authority to ordain local Elders. It does not have to ask permission from anyone.
2) The local Conference sends a list of the candidates that it wishes to ordain to the Union. The union then grants permission for the Conference to ordain, or, denies permission to ordain.
3) The Conference, in most cases, retains the authority to grant credentials and/or to rescind the credentials. NOTE: In some cases, the authority to grant and rescind credentials is held by the Union, the Division and the General Conference. E.G. In my denominational work history, I have held credentials granted me by the General Conference, the Division and the local Conference. Currently my credentials come from both the Division and the local Conference. But, the majority of SDA Clergy hold credentials granted by the local Conference.
4) In any case, once credentials are granted, the denomination further recognizes those credentials by entering the names of the people who hold those credentials into certain denominational records and so list them in the YEARBOOK. My name is listed in those records and in the YEARBOOK.
5) An exception to the above relates to females in China. The General Conference recognizes women who have been ordained as clergy in China.
a) Over a period of several years, the REVIEW has published articles which have announced to the world at large that women in China are recognized as ordained clergy.
b) The names of women so recognized have been entered into official denominational records.
c) The above is true in general. It is also true that in a few cases, the actual status of an individual is in doubt.
6) In summation, I believe with others:
a) That the action of local congregations in North America to ordain females does not actually violate GC policy because it is only an ordination to the position of local Elder.
b) China is not in violation of the policy because it has been granted an exception.
However, the issue does not end here. There are those who believe that the General Conference does not have the authority to deny Divisions/Unions permission to ordain females.
1) Divisions have always had the authority to amend GC policy as it is applied in their Division. The question now is: Does the Division authority to amend GC policy extend to allow the ordination, as clergy, of women? In my mind, this question has not been definitively answered. NOTE: The Division is NOT a separate organization level. It is a part of the General Conference. Therefore, if the Division amends a GC policy that is a General Conference action.
2) The Unions clearly hold the authority to approve clergy ordinations. Under what conditions does the General Conference have the authority to approve/deny clergy ordinations and take that authority away from the Unions?
3) The purpose of the General Conference has always been to develop general uniform rules of action that apply throughout the world. But, it has not been to develop specific applications of those rules of action. That has been left to the Divisions and the Unions.
4) For the General Conference to tell the Unions that they can continue to decide for males, but that they no longer have the authority to decide for females, is discriminatory and may be beyond the authority of the General Conference.
5) In my opinion, the issues here are greater that whether or not females may become ordained clergy. They involve the authority and role of the General Conference in the world church.
NOTE: My attempt here has been to discuss denominational policy. Some may say that such is not Biblical. I have not attempted to discuss it from that point of view.