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OCTOBER 24, 2013

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NAD Executive Committee Recommendation "Affirms" Men and Women for Ordination

On Monday, November 4, members of the North American Division Executive Committee at their year-end

meeting voted by a 6 to 1 margin to “affirm the conclusion that all people, men and women, may receive ordination as

an affirmation of the call of God.”

The much-anticipated action, which is a recommendation and does not change current NAD policy or practice,

passed by a margin of 182 to 31, with 3 persons abstaining.

A second part of the motion supported “the authorization of each division to consider, through prayer and under the

direction of the Holy Spirit, its most appropriate approach to the ordination of women to the gospel ministry.”

The vote came after more than three hours of presentation made by the 14-member NAD Theology of Ordination

Study Committee, and an additional 90 minutes of questions and comments from the floor. In an unusual move for

Adventist polity, the two NAD TOSC members who did not agree with the majority recommendation were allowed a

20-minute “Minority Report” to articulate their understandings of the key Biblical passages bearing on the

appropriateness of ordaining women to pastoral ministry.

NAD TOSC chair Gordon

Bietz, president of Southern

Adventist University both

introduced and concluded

the Committee’s

report. According to Bietz,

the committee began its

work in May 2012 at the

request of the General

Conference that all divisions

develop a committee

process to study the topic of

ordination and how the

global church should

address the matter at its

2015 San Antonio, Texas

world session.

The NAD Study Committee

report will be presented to

the 103-member General

Conference Theology of

Ordination Study Committee at its January 2014 meeting, where reports and recommendations from each of the

other 12 divisions of the world church are expected. The larger committee will prepare recommendations for the

October 2014 meeting of the world church’s Executive Committee, which sets agenda for the San Antonio business

session.

Nearly 3000 delegates from the more than 200 nations in which the church operates will gather in July 2015 to elect

leaders, adopt policies, and provide direction to the 17-million member international movement. A final action on the

matter of ordaining women to pastoral ministry is expected at that session.

NAD leadership was careful to highlight that the division’s process had been developed with fairness and

transparency.

“As we looked to staff this committee, we sought for balance and different perspectives that will represent all

viewpoints of the Division,” NAD executive secretary G. Alexander Bryant told the 250 delegates.

Members of the Study Committee included scholars from Adventist universities, administrators, ministerial directors at

several levels of church governance, pastors, and both men and women. Those serving on the committee were:

Gordon Bietz, D.Min., Chairman

President of Southern Adventist University

Kyoshin Ahn, Ph.D.

Associate Secretary, North American Division

Dedrick Blue, D.Min.

Senior Pastor, Northeastern Conference

JoAnn Davidson, Ph.D.

Professor, Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary

Kendra Haloviak-Valentine, Ph.D.

Associate Professor, La Sierra University

CHANGE OF MIND: Dwight Nelson, pastor of Pioneer Memorial Church at Andrews University,

described the change in his own beliefs about the ordination of women as part of the NAD TOSC

report Monday morning. [PHOTO: Dan Weber/NAD]

Lourdes Morales-Gudmundsson, Ph.D.

Professor, La Sierra University

Dwight Nelson, D.Min.

Pastor, Michigan Conference

Leslie N. Pollard, Ph.D., D.Min

President, Oakwood University

Edwin Reynolds, Ph.D.

Professor, Southern Adventist University

Stephen Richardson, Ph.D.

Ministerial Director, Allegheny East Conference

Russell Seay, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor, Oakwood University

Tara Vincross, M.Div.

Pastor, Pennsylvania Conference

Clinton Wahlen, Ph.D.

Associate Director, Biblical Research Institute

Ivan Williams, D.Min.

Director, Ministerial Department, North American Division

Links to the major elements of the NAD TOSC report are included here:

Study Committee Report

Introduction trailer video

Theology of Ordination video

Concept of Ordination video

Hermeneutics video

Old Testament Considerations video

EGW and Ordination video

Conclusion video

Minority Report

Ellen White, Women in Ministry, and the Ordination of Women

Theology of Ordination (PowerPoint Presentation) by Gordan G. Bietz

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