Joint letter in the Baptist Times on Women in Leadership

In this week's Baptist Times (14 May) you will find a joint letter (of which I'm a signatory) contributing to the current debate over the affirmation of the leadership of women by the Baptist Union of Council. Here's what we said:

We have been interested, but not surprised, by some of the recent correspondence in the Baptist Times following the BU Council debate on women in leadership. Whilst the basis of the BUGB is the Declaration of Principle the Union’s constitution, which is agreed by Assembly, makes Council the body responsible for the general policy of the Union. The policy of accrediting women ministers has been settled for over forty years. On the basis of this policy ministers are ordained and commissioned for ministry within the Union, accredited and in due course recognised and affirmed each year at Assembly. The difficulty arises when churches decline to accept a particular group of people whose ministry has been affirmed and accredited in their name and the recent March Council reflected on the continuing struggle for acceptance that many women still experience in our churches. Historically we have handled diversity though a commitment to one another and dissent by encouraging each other to look afresh at what the Spirit is saying to us through Scripture and the wider Baptist Community. Council was not seeking to threaten anyone but rather to call us to discern how we proceed with integrity, grace and gospel conviction.

Council seeks, as part of its remit and through its deliberations, to discern the mind of Christ for the Union. This process of discernment by those gathered is profoundly Baptist, as is the subsequent offering of these reflections to Churches on behalf of the Union. It is surely not un-Baptist for the Union to say to its member churches that it affirms the leadership of women: we have been doing this since the 1920s. It is surely not un-Baptist for the Union to challenge those churches who disagree to reconsider their reading of scripture: without this, we might still be supporting slavery as a legitimate reading of scripture. It is surely not un-Baptist for the Union to actively seek to promote, facilitate and encourage the leadership of women: it is part of our calling to welcome those whom God has gifted among us. In fact, this is surely all very Baptist; it is an expression of the covenant relationship we have with one another in Christ.   One of the more troubling aspects of this conversation is that whilst it is clear that there are some in the denomination who do not agree that women should be ministers they are reluctant to voice this or to make the case with a biblical / theological argument. It maybe that we will not come to agreement but we will be better for listening to one another and grasping the issues.

Neil Brighton, Simon Woodman, Craig Gardiner, Andy Goodliff

Also worth reading is the first of two posts from Steve Holmes.

This issue needs now to find a wider debate, beyond just the letters pages of the Baptist Times.       

Comments

[catriona]

thank you Andy and others

[Keith G Jones]

Andy and friends, BUGB Council did a very important thing in re-affirming our Baptist Union affirmation of the ministry of women amongst us - a fact of life since the early 1900's and increasingly important. Interdependency is our reality and ha been for four hundred years and those who deny the ministry of women and want the Union to take another view ought to reflect carefully on the nature of their own commitment to this family. Thank you for your letter in the "BT".

[Julie Aylward]

Thank you all