# The Christian Reformed Church's positions



## CDM (May 16, 2006)

Here is the CRC's position on _Women in Ecclesiastical Office_:

http://www.crcna.org/pages/positions_women_office.cfm



> *Women may be ordained to all ecclesiastical offices in the Christian Reformed Church.* Women may be ordained as deacons in any church and as elders, ministers, and evangelists in churches belonging to classes that have declared the word male inoperative in Church Order Article 3-a. In classes that have not approved opening all the offices to women, individual congregations may still elect women as elders. The church's position is in effect until 2005, when it will again be reviewed. The biblical-theological argumentation that undergirds the CRC's approach to this issue can be found in Agenda for Synod 2000, pp. 355-73.



Is not Dr. Robert Godfrey, President of Westminster West, an ordained minister in the CRC? Which leads me to ask, does Westminster, too, teach that women can be Elders and Pastors?

Has the CRC always held to the liberal view of women in the church? 

I thought the CRC was a "conservative" denomination.


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## smhbbag (May 16, 2006)

From what I've been told by some CRC'ers, that has been the official denominational stance for quite a while. Strangely, most individual churches have not gone that route.

At Dordt College (CRC in Iowa), the issue is taught with a very heavy hand toward the ordination of women. The college certainly endorses it from the top down, although I know of nothing official saying so.

Like I said, though, most individual churches I'm aware of have not succumbed, and are strongly conservative on this issue and others, but the leadership has been pretty liberal for a long time. I'm not sure on any of the causes for that disconnect.


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## CDM (May 16, 2006)

That's amazing there are many (CRC) church's that haven't succumbed into liberalism. I wonder if it's like that with the PCUSA? 

I am wondering what I would do if my denomination (PCA) went this route. I am quite sure that that would force me to leave. And I believe membership is for life unless God calls you somewhere else for a purpose or apostasy.


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## R. Scott Clark (May 16, 2006)

> _Originally posted by mangum_
> Here is the CRC's position on _Women in Ecclesiastical Office_:
> 
> http://www.crcna.org/pages/positions_women_office.cfm
> ...



Yes, Bob Godfrey is president of WSC.

NO! Bob does not support the ordination of females to ministerial or presbyterial office.

In fact, Bob led the confessional response to the ordination of women. All that ended in 1995 when the CRC Synod declared that the Holy Spirit had led them to set aside the Church Order articles that deny ordination to ministerial and presbyterial office to females.

Bob was among the leaders of the Alliance of Reformed churches which eventually became (ca. 1996) the United Reformed Churches. Bob helped to lead his local congregation (now the Escondido URC) out of the CRC and into the URC.

He did this at considerable personal cost to himself and to the seminary.

Bob, Mike Horton, Derke Bergsma (emeritus professor of practical theology) and I are all members of and ministers in the United Reformed Churches in North America.



> Which leads me to ask, does Westminster, too, teach that women can be Elders and Pastors?



No, the seminary does not support the ordination of females to the presbyterial and ministerial offices!

Back in the 90's we published this Testimony to Our Time.

Part of which says:



> *Concerning the Ordination of Women we believe*:
> 
> That men and women equally bear the image of God and are to serve him with all their gifts according to his specific callings to them.
> 
> ...



Chris asks:



> Has the CRC always held to the liberal view of women in the church?



No, until the 1960's or so, the CRC was a very confessional Reformed federation/denomination. From the 1950's, however, there were forces at work to make it a more progressive and broadly evangelical denomination. Those forces more or less won in 1995. It is certainly not a confessional Reformed practice or doctrine to say that the Holy Spirit led a synod to do something or other. That's the sort of language one expects from Rome or Pentecostals.

They essentially punted the exegetical, theological, and historical argument and trumped them all by appealing to direct revelation. In a word: Yikes!

Please let no one think that WSC supports the ordination of females to office contrary to the Word of God. We don't believe that 1 Tim or 2 Tim has been superseded by new, extra-canonical revelations.

Steve Baugh has written some of the strongest criticisms of the evangelical feminist movement. You can see his work in the massive CBMW collection of essays. You can also see other essays on the CBMW website. See also here. Peter Jones has also been strong on this. Bob Godfrey published essays on this matter in the Outlook for years.

I hope this clarifies things.

Chris, if you'll permit me a brief pastoral admonition:

I know you didn't mean any harm by your post, but even such a post with innocent public questions and suppositions issues such as these about can unintentionally create false impressions and rumors. Some people don't need any excuse misrepresent the seminary and its teaching. Before posting such (based on outdated information which led to a false premise and an implied false conclusion stated as a question) it would have been well for you to spend a moment on the WSC website to search "women" and "ordination" and the Testimony would have popped right up. I know, because that's what I did.

I'm sensitive about this -- maybe too much so -- because we spent a lot of capital and put the seminary (in human terms) at considerable risk to stand boldly for the Word of God as confessed by our churches.

rsc


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## Casey (May 16, 2006)

> _Originally posted by mangum_
> That's amazing there are many (CRC) church's that haven't succumbed into liberalism. I wonder if it's like that with the PCUSA?
> 
> I am wondering what I would do if my denomination (PCA) went this route. I am quite sure that that would force me to leave. And I believe membership is for life unless God calls you somewhere else for a purpose or apostasy.


Uhm. Maybe it's semantics, but . . the CRC is a far cry from the PCUSA. The CRC has latched on to broad evangelicalism, not liberalism . . at least that's my understanding of the situation. I could be wrong. I think of the CRC as no longer Reformed, but just another evangelical denomination (many of which ordain women).


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## CDM (May 16, 2006)

> Please let no one think that WSC supports the ordination of females to office contrary to the Word of God. We don't believe that 1 Tim or 2 Tim has been superseded by new, extra-canonical revelations.
> 
> Steve Baugh has written some of the strongest criticisms of the evangelical feminist movement. You can see his work in the massive CBMW collection of essays. You can also see other essays on the CBMW website. See also here. Peter Jones has also been strong on this. Bob Godfrey published essays on this matter in the Outlook for years.
> 
> I hope this clarifies things.



Yes, this certainly does. Thank you very much your words are timely.



> Chris, if you'll permit me a brief pastoral admonition:
> 
> I know you didn't mean any harm by your post, but even such a post with innocent public questions and suppositions issues such as these about can unintentionally create false impressions and rumors. Some people don't need any excuse misrepresent the seminary and its teaching. Before posting such (based on outdated information which led to a false premise and an implied false conclusion stated as a question) it would have been well for you to spend a moment on the WSC website to search "women" and "ordination" and the Testimony would have popped right up. I know, because that's what I did.
> 
> ...



Please accept my apology if I have fomented rumors. I accept your admonition, I usually would check more than the 1 "source" but I erred. By God's grace and help from brothers like you, I won't repeat it. 

FYI, I recently have listened to Dr. Godfrey's Church History Conference he did at Reformed Presbyterian Church of Bowie (PCA) located in Maryland and was thoroughly blessed by it.


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