Home Christian News Welcoming Women Pastors—Christian and Missionary Alliance Considers Ordaining Women

Welcoming Women Pastors—Christian and Missionary Alliance Considers Ordaining Women

Draw the Line, Opponents Urge

The policy change won’t sail through without opposition. Last November, Ohio Pastor Andrew Ballitch wrote a lengthy rebuttal to the proposal, warning that CMA’s history and identity are at stake. His article, posted by the Council of Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, explores the views of CMA founder A.B. Simpson, who “appears conflicted at times” about women’s roles in the church “but was nonetheless clear.” Simpson, argues Ballitch, “feared quenching the Holy Spirit’s work, so he was hesitant to curb the function of women in ministry…but the more such a ministry felt like preaching, the more uncomfortable he became.”

Ballitch also examines biblical exegesis within the CMA, concluding that it precludes women from being given the title of pastor. And he lists practical problems that might arise within local churches as well as in the denomination as a whole. Ballitch urges CMA leadership to remain “committed to the authority of Scripture and its application, over and above pragmatic, emotive, convenient, or cultural temptations”—and to be willing to risk people leaving because of what the denomination “has always been.”

“The issue is not the opening of the door to egalitarianism,” adds Ballitch, “it is the survival of complementarianism. The line should be drawn where Scripture is clear. A pastor is an elder is an overseer. Pastors-elders-overseers are biblically qualified men. And only those qualified to be pastors-elders-overseers preach during corporate worship of local churches.”

Pursuing the Great Commission’s Divine Assignment

In April’s message to members, President Stumbo said he respects differing views and doesn’t want to force local churches “into any compromise for how you function.” He also makes this request: “Please accept the fact that other Jesus-loving, Bible-honoring leaders and congregations have come to different conclusions, and they have a place at the Alliance table as well.”

Stumbo concludes by reminding members of the urgency of fulfilling the “divine assignment” of Jesus’ Great Commission. “I believe we’ll get more done for Jesus if we remove unnecessary barriers and find better places of mutual respect among us,” he says. “We will have even more effectiveness in seeing the Church of Jesus established and flourishing throughout our nation and to the least-reached places of this planet.”

Terry Smith, a denominational vice president, agrees that the Great Commission is the CMA’s top priority, calling other issues “second-tier.” He says, “What really makes our heart pound fast is mobilizing more people to ministry. That’s kind of the heart of who we are.”

The CMA, Smith explains, doesn’t fit well into categories such as egalitarian or complementarian. Throughout its history, the denomination has viewed women as “humble servants of God who were doing what God called them to do,” he says.