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Resolution on Covenant Freedom & Women in Ministry
CHICAGO, IL (June 13, 2003) - The full text of the proposed resolution follows,
listed as item number 31.a on the Annual Meeting agenda:
Whereas we recognize that the Evangelical Covenant Church has chosen to
ordain women; and
Whereas we believe that the Scripture clearly calls and gifts women to
significant ministry in the church; and
Whereas we acknowledge that many women who have been called and gifted by
God have had limited opportunities for significant ministry in the church;
and
Whereas we affirm the role of denominational leadership in providing
leadership and encouraging education to increase the potential for women to
utilize their gifts in significant ministry; and
Whereas we also recognize that within the broader evangelical church
community and within the Evangelical Covenant Church there are different
Biblical points of view as to the nature of the role of women in ministry
in the church, (for example-the eqalitarian view in which no
restrictions to ministry are based on gender, and the complementarian view
in which some restrictions to ministries of authority in the church are
based on gender), and
Whereas we in the Evangelical Covenant Church have had a long tradition of
cherishing freedom "which allows for differences of opinion in matters
of interpretation, doctrine and practice within the context of biblical
guidelines and historical Christianity" (Covenant Affirmations, a brief
form),
Therefore be it resolved that the 118th Annual Meeting of the Evangelical
Covenant Church express its desire that conformity to a particular view of
women in ministry within these biblical guidelines shall not be grounds for
exclusion of any church, new or existing, from association with the
Evangelical Covenant Church or exclusion of any qualified applicant for
ministerial license, ordination, or commissioning.
- Submitted by the Graham Evangelical Covenant Church, Graham,
Washington
Copyright © 2008 The Evangelical Covenant Church. |
