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[Gregory]

Columbia Union Constituency Overwhelmingly Approves Ordination Without Regard to Gender
 
In a specially called session of the Columbia Union Conference Constituency, delegates from all eight conferences voted overwhelmingly to approve a recommendation from the union executive committee authorizing ordination without regard to gender. The historic vote was 209 in favor and 51 opposed, with nine abstentions­—a ratio of 4 to 1.

 The approved motion states:
 
“That the Columbia Union Conference authorize ordination to the gospel ministry without regard to gender.”
 
This means that the union will no longer deny requests from conferences to ordain proven female ministers to the gospel ministry.
 
“There was a good spirit and healthy discussion, all bathed in prayer,” says Dave Weigley, union president. “We remain part of, united with, and fully committed to the mission of the worldwide Seventh-day Adventist Church.”
 
The four-hour meeting was streamed live and will be available shortly at www.columbiaunion.org/2012specialconstituency. A news story and photos will be published at www.columbiaunion.org and in the August Visitor.
 
#####
 
 Contact:
 Celeste Ryan Blyden, Communication Director
 Tel: (410) 997-3414; Email: cryan@columbiaunion.net
 

[Murcielago]

Interesting. The opposition to women's ordination have always pointed to the west, and Southeastern California Conference in particular as the center of this movement. Is it perhaps more universal than has been hoped?

[Gregory]

And, the Columbia Union is home to the General Conference.

[Johann]

I understand this meeting took place in a church across the street from the office of president Wilson. It seems likely that a majority of the GC officers have their membership in churches within the Columbia Union. Even if they are not, they might have been delegates ex officio to this assembly.

[Gregory]

http://www.columbiaunion.org/article/1092/news/2012-news-archives/2012-special-constituency/july-29-2012-special-constituency-comments-page

The Columbia Union Conference has opened its website for people to post comments on the vote yesterday. Click on the above URL to post such.

[Bob Pickle]

“There was a good spirit and healthy discussion, all bathed in prayer,” says Dave Weigley, union president. “We remain part of, united with, and fully committed to the mission of the worldwide Seventh-day Adventist Church.”

Could someone please explain to me how this is so? Here you have a majority of delegates at a constituency that voted to rebel against not one but two GC Session votes, and the union president says that they remain part of and united with the world church. Does he not sound delusional?

Suppose the union executive committee voted against doing something, and one of the union departments voted to do it anyway. Would Weigley appreciate that and approve of that? I think not. And I doubt that any administrator in North America would. Imagine a hospital board voting against doing something, and a nurses' unit or a floor voting to do it anyway. Imagine what the hospital president might think about that.

But these illustrations fall short since we aren't talking about the vote of a GC Committee or some board somewhere. We are talking about a GC Session vote by representatives from the entire world church.

[Gregory]

Unions have a right to hold special Union meetings.  They have the right to decide on who is to be ordained.

[Johann]

"The secret of unity is found in the equality of believers in Christ. " - Ellen G. White

[Robert]

It is about time...we are all created equal in Christ!  Small minds have been holding back the work...Testimonies to the Church, Vol 5, p.463 ... "the superficial conservative class whose influence has steadily retarded the progress of the work, will renounce the faith and take their stand with the avowed enemy towards whom their sympathies have long been pending" ...

[Bob Pickle]

Unions have a right to hold special Union meetings.  They have the right to decide on who is to be ordained.

I think you are evading the point.

So does a union have the "right" to decide to ordain a dog, a parakeet, a dolphin, a two-year-old, a sodomite, an unrepentant mass murderer, etc.? Is this so-called "right" so absolute that a union can decide to ordain someone who isn't a "man" when GC Working Policy requires that an ordination candidate be a man (L 45 10; L 50)?

I do not think that you take the position that the unions' "right" to decide who is to be ordained is absolute. Am I correct?

[Bob Pickle]

It is about time...we are all created equal in Christ!

We are all created equal, but we still don't have the same roles. No man has yet given birth, despite his equality with his wife. Thus though there is equality in creation, there is not equality of the roles that that creation has entrusted us with.

[Gregory]

Bob, so you compare the ordination of women with that of a dog and a sodomite.  Quite the comparison, which I will suggest speaks for itself.

[Artiste]

No Gregory I dont think so.

He actually made this point:

Is this so-called "right" so absolute that a union can decide to ordain someone who isn't a "man" when GC Working Policy requires that an ordination candidate be a man (L 45 10; L 50)?

[Gregory]

Bob said:

So does a union have the "right" to decide to ordain a dog, a parakeet, a dolphin, a two-year-old, a sodomite, an unrepentant mass murderer, etc.? Is this so-called "right" so absolute that a union can decide to ordain someone who isn't a "man" when GC Working Policy requires that an ordination candidate be a man (L 45 10; L 50)?

Read it carefully.  Bob asks us to consider the claimed right to ordain females on the same level as a right to ordain a dog, sodomite, a 2-year old. 
]

[Artiste]

He has a point there.