Voices of Orthodox Women discontinues its ministry
The Layman, November 28, 2012
The Voices of Orthodox Women (VOW) board of directors has voted to bring the ministry to a conclusion but confirmed that – as individuals – they will “continue to work for faithfulness to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”
A Nov. 15 letter stated that “the season of effectiveness for VOW, as an organization, is coming to an end. We believe that we were called to a task, and we accepted it. We worked hard, and we know we have made a difference in the lives of many. Even though there have, at times, been small rays of light in the programming and materials from Presbyterian Women, we have not seen the changes that we had hoped would occur. However, because God is faithful, we know that we have not failed.”
VOW’s active ministry was discontinued in the fall of 2012, and the board of directors will be dissolved on May 31, 2013. The website will be deleted from the Internet on the same day, but its resources and articles will be archived on The Layman Online (www.layman.org).
“As the years passed it became apparent that a strength of our witness was the encouragement and words of hope we gave to individuals who were feeling very lonely in their struggles to maintain an honorable walk with Christ. We have conviction that God has used, and will continue to use, our efforts for His Kingdom,” the letter read.
Board members signing the letter include: Deborah Milam Berkley, Kathryn Churchill, Ann Combs, Sylvia Dooling, Tracee Hackel, Viola Larson, Terrye McAnally, Diane Vander Meer and Marcia Slentz-Whalen.
In April, 2012, Dooling, the “face” of VOW for over 15 years, announced her retirement from the organization effective Dec. 31
Presbyterian Lay Committee President Carmen Fowler LaBerge, remarked, “No individual, no family, and no network has worked harder for the Biblical and evangelical renewal of the PCUSA than Sylvia and Bob Dooling and the Voices of Orthodox Women. We will miss their astute theological counsel, their powerful witness as truth-tellers and the camaraderie of their presence going forward.”
VOW is a network of Presbyterians committed to the work of reformation and renewal of women’s ministries in the PCUSA. While it does affirm and support the work of Presbyterian Women and other women’s organizations within our denomination, when possible, VOW “opposes any effort to distort our historic Reformed faith in order to make it conform to the values of a contemporary culture that is in moral and intellectual free-fall. Among others, these distortions include radical feminism (with all of its attendant doctrines and ideological commitments), sexual anarchy, and fundamentally defective understandings of Christian mission.”
On the conclusion of the ministry, LaBerge added, “God calls forth men and women for seasons of ministry. All those involved with VOW were faithful to hear and answer that calling. They stood valiantly for the truth when many women in the PCUSA exchanged the truth for half-truths and untruths. The need for identifying and challenging error has not waned, which makes us confident that God will raise up a new generation to stand where VOW has so faithfully stood during the generation now past.”
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This article states that the Layman Online has graciously agreed to archive the VOW materials. That’s what one reads on the VOW website. But I can’t find the stuff anywhere on Layman Online. Is it there? Where? I’d really like to have access to it.