Debate shows common ground
on ordination issue
By G. Jeffrey MacDonald, The Layman, June 18, 2009
ORLANDO, Fla. – Two leading pastors of the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) drew a standing-room-only crowd of 600-plus Wednesday to a debate on what’s become a hot issue at the 37th annual General Assembly: Whether women should be recognized as deaconesses.
Ligon Duncan, senior minister of First Presbyterian Church in Jackson, Miss., argued the Biblical case for a male-only diaconate that draws on women’s gifts for assistance in service ministries. Tim Keller, senior pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City, explained why his church commissions, or appoints, deaconesses – and also why he’s not advocating for women to carry the mantle of ordination in those roles.
Through the 90-minute forum, both speakers acknowledged the issue’s capacity to drive emotionally-charged conflict in the denomination, which reserves for men the ordained offices of minister, elder and deacon. But rather than attack one another, the two leaders emphasized their search for common ground in an approach that attendees said they found most helpful.
“I really don’t think there’s a mainstream voice calling on us to abandon our complementarianism,” which distinguishes between roles for men and women, Duncan said. “This issue is: How is our complementarianism going to look?”
Common ground was indeed on display. Both speakers agreed women have gifts for mercy ministries, such as caring for the sick and needy, which the church ought to embrace and publicly recognize in some way. Both said the deaconess debate shouldn’t be couched as a slippery slope to women’s ordination since what’s at stake is a service position, not a teaching or governing one. And although Keller said he believes in a Biblical basis for ordaining women to the diaconate, he also said he agrees with Duncan that the PCA shouldn’t take that step.
“As a person in a denomination that does not ordain women to be deacons, I need to show some respect to that,” Keller said.
Differences became apparent as the two explored whether women ought to be called “deaconesses.” Duncan built his case in part on Acts 6:1-6. The ordination of “the seven” to diaconal service, he said, was limited to men. The Biblical writer uses the Greek word andras in masculine form, rather than the generic plural anthropos, which would have included women in the category. Also, 1 Timothy 3:11 refers to women playing a supporting role rather than an office-holding one, Duncan said.
God wasn’t being arbitrary in reserving the office for men, in Duncan’s view. He was holding men to a responsibility, including ministry to widows, which men might otherwise not engage.
“God will not allow the male leadership of the church to be unconcerned about or uninvolved in ministering to the direst needs of their sisters in Christ,” Duncan said. “They simply cannot delegate away that responsibility.”
Keller had practical as well as Biblical and historical reasons for his position. In his urban congregation, he said, the vast majority of women are single. Therefore, expecting wives of deacons to assist them in mercy ministries isn’t realistic. He also said that recognizing women as deaconesses (despite having never ordained them to the role) has been critical to the success of Redeemer Presbyterian Church, a dynamic church with multiple sites and a track record for numeric growth. The Redeemer diaconate gives away between $200,000 and $350,000 per year to help individuals in need, Keller said, and does ministry with among 70 to 80 individuals in need per month.
“If the women weren’t involved in [the diaconate], it would not be anything like it is at all,” he said.
In the New Testament, Keller finds sanction for women to do the work of “deaconing.” He pointed to such figures as Phoebe and Tabitha, who worked among the poor and widows. He argued John Calvin recognized this precedent as authoritative for including women in an order of deacons charged with ministering to the poor and sick.
“You may be really resisting what the Bible says [if you] worry that ‘if we let women do too much deaconing, it will lead to something else’” such as women seeking ordained ministry, Keller said.
The debate offered prelude to some of Thursday’s expected floor actions at the General Assembly. Commissioners will vote on overtures calling for a study group to help clarify the roles of women in local church life. The PCA’s Overtures Committee voted, 42-34, earlier this week to forego a study group, but the General Assembly will have the final say.
As Wednesday’s debate wrapped up, some attendees offered a standing ovation. In the hallway outside, listeners said they had appreciated both the careful Biblical exegesis on both sides and the prevailing tone of mutual respect.
“I was impressed with how congenial the two men were,” said Rick DeMass of Tacoma, Wash. “It had a disarming effect on the rest of the group … Presbyterians don’t need to be split any more than they have to be.”
The issue is expected to continue for years to come. Among the questions is whether congregations such as Redeemer ought to be censured for having women serve as deaconesses. Keller argues his church hasn’t run afoul of the PCA’s Book of Common Order because it hasn’t actually ordained women to the role. To date, no one has chosen to take this rising star in the denomination to task by charging the church with a violation.
Meanwhile, some are hopeful that more women in other congregations might come to be recognized as deaconesses for the work they do among people in need.
“Women are more nurturing, more intuitive and have the gifts of service,” said Cathryn Flowers Ritchie, an attendee from Orlando and a former commissioned deaconess in the Reformed Presbyterian Church Evangelical Synod. “The diaconate needs to be recognized to be really effective in many ministries.”