Czech-Slovak Union Votes to Ordain Women to Pastoral Ministry, Rejects GC Document

Spectrum Website
#1

In business meetings held last week, March 21-24, 2019, delegates of the Czech-Slovak Union voted their affirmation that women pastors should be ordained to pastoral ministry while rejecting the document “Regard for and Practice of General Conference Session and General Conference Executive Committee Actions” that was voted at the GC’s Annual Council on October 14, 2018.

Two dozen agenda items were discussed by 214 delegates during the Union’s business sessions according to a series of articles on the Union’s website. An overview of the items discussed was given in an article dated March 27, 2019, and included the following two voted items (translated to English via Google Translate):

Document on “Regard for and Practice of General Conference Session and General Conference Executive Committee Actions”

The proposal was accepted to file a petition for the annulment of the document “Regard for and Practice of General Conference Session and General Conference Executive Committee Actions” approved by the General Conference Executive Committee on October 14, 2018, and to replace it with a different mechanism that leads to unity in the Church. The Czech-Slovak Union Conference does not agree with the enforcement of unity by a “higher organizational body”; they believe that unity comes from the action of the Holy Spirit on every individual.

The proposal was accepted that the conference express its support for the opinion expressed in the Declaration of the Committee of the Czech-Slovak Union of the Seventh-day Adventist Church on the “Regard for and Practice of General Conference Session and General Conference Executive Committee Actions” on September 23, 2018.

The proposal was accepted that the procedure described in the “Regard for and Practice of General Conference Session and General Conference Executive Committee Actions” approved by the GC Executive Committee on October 14, 2018 would not be applied in the Czech-Slovak Union of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

Ordaining Women to Full Preaching Service

The proposal was accepted that women in the Czech-Slovak Union be ordained to the preaching service.

The voted actions, in the original Czech, are included in full below:

Dokument o respektování a praktickém uplatnění rozhodnutí výboru a zasedání Generální konference

Byl přijat návrh podat k vyšší organizační složce podnět ke zrušení dokumentu „Dokument o respektování a praktickém uplatnění rozhodnutí výboru a zasedání Generální konference“ schváleného výborem Generální konference dne 14. 10. 2018 a nahradit jej jiným mechanismem vedoucím k jednotě v církvi. Konference Česko-Slovenské unie nesouhlasí s vynucováním jednoty „vyšší organizační složkou“; věří, že jednota přichází z působení Ducha svatého na každého jednotlivce.

Byl přijat návrh, aby konference vyjádřila podporu stanovisku vyjádřenému ve Vyhlášení výboru Česko-Slovenské unie Církve adventistů sedmého dne k „Dokumentu o respektování a praktickém uplatnění rozhodnutí výboru a zasedání Generální konference“ ze dne 23. 9. 2018.

Byl přijat návrh, aby postup popsaný v „Dokumentu o respektování a praktickém uplatnění rozhodnutí výboru a zasedání Generální konference“ schváleném výborem GK dne 14. 10. 2018 nebyl uplatňován v Česko-Slovenské unii Církve adventistů sedmého dne.

Ordinování žen do plné kazatelské služby

Byl přijat návrh, aby v Česko-Slovenské unii mohly být ženy kazatelky ordinovány do kazatelské služby.

The September 23, 2018 declaration referenced in the above vote was a statement issued by the Union leading up to last year’s Annual Council that rejected the GC’s proposed document, stating that it was “contrary to how we understand the biblical model of church administration and leadership.” Read the full Czech-Slovak Union statement here.

The Czech-Slovak Union has issued statements in the past on these matters as well. In May 2014, they stated that “women can be ordained to full pastoral ministry in our union conference” and following the 2015 GC Session vote on women’s ordination, they expressed their disappointment, stating that the vote contradicts Scripture.

Alisa Williams is managing editor of SpectrumMagazine.org

Image courtesy of http://www.casd.cz/

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This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at http://spectrummagazine.org/node/9510
12 Likes
#2

this is an example of clear-eyed leadership by a union aware of its commission and jurisdiction…wonderful…

26 Likes
#3

The spirit of Huss is still active.

21 Likes
#4

Congratulations for doing the spiritual “right thing”, Czech-Slovak Union!

Your “people” are strong and valiant, George Tichy. :smiley:
@GeorgeTichy

19 Likes
#5

Congratulations!! Maybe they know something about dictatorship, and centralised control, and they servived it, even until death. What an example they have set, God bless them.

21 Likes
#6

YES, YES, YES!
Don’t mess with the Czechs/Slovaks!
We have Hus’ blood in our veins.
(I am actually 100% Bohemian!)

So, what is Ted Wilson going to do with “my people?” Tie them all on the top of a stake? That’s old fashion! Excommunicate them? Who cares???

Image result for burning at stake images huss
johnn-huss-and-bohemias-reason-to-sing-800x445.png800×445

12 Likes
#7

This was a legit “Repeal & Replace” action!
Repeal and cancel that nonsense created by the GC, and replace it with common sense.
Hope the rest of the Unions everywhere in the world will soon follow suit.
And hope also that in 2020 TW will be “Repealed & Replaced” as well. Time to get rid of administrators like him. The Church deserves better since it’s already the year 2019, and no longer 1844! No old, bearded people needed anymore! …

18 Likes
#8

I see exultation and jubilation in some sections, but wait a minute. What are we saying. If all those who reject the so-called dictatorship by Ted Wilson, what will happen to the church eventually? It is easy to rejoice when a decision made agrees with our positions. Let us look further than our noses. Are we prepared for the split? Is it worth it?

2 Likes
#9

There will be no “split”.
There will be Reoganization of Attitudes toward the giving of the Gospel
to the World, giving of the Gospel to the individual nations, giving of the
Gospel to the cities and to the neighborhoods, giving of the Gospel
within families.

15 Likes
#10

Has anyone noticed that Andrews is initiating a study of Parents of LGT+
children.
THIS should NEVER have to happen in the SDA church. ALL should be
Welcome in the SDA church.
It is BECAUSE SDAs Do Not Welcome “Sinners” as Christ did. [See
Luke 15 – the Lectionary Reading for March 31] that we even have
to do this type of study.
It shows HOW ANTI-CHRIST we are in 2019. How GOD-less we are
in 2019.
And persons Complain because a Eastern Europe Union votes to
reject the GC Document of Fall 2018?
This Anti-Christ and God-less attitude is pervasive among those who
sit in the pews and stand in the pulpits.

8 Likes
#11

Maybe you do not see what I see. You are underestimating the hardening of attitudes from both camps. You are assuming that those who are aggrieved by the vote will simply roll over those who got the vote in their favor. That is the greatest mistake you are making. In my book, the GC can be likened to Rehoboam, while the other camp represents Jeroboam. Both sides thought they were right and were willing to take up arms to support their positions. This is the same scenario here. The ugly attitudes that I see from both camps are worrying. You should be worried too

#12

I am curious, when is it a bad thing to harden your position when it is opposed to the disenfranchisement of women?

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#13

Hardened attitudes mean that you are no longer listening to the other party, but you have profiled them. So even if they state a valid concern you only hear what you want to hear and filter out the grain of truth. In short, you become a hardliner, or a fanatic to your doctrine. Dangerous.

#14

One shoul recall that it was the sin of Adam that doomed the human race. So much for headship.
But the real issue facing Adventism is it unwillingness to seriously examme it end time theology, which correctly understood is telling the world that a last generation will vindicate God.,

6 Likes
#15

I’d like to suggest that there is a much more accurate parallel from the history of Israel and Judah that can be applied to the ongoing decay of the credibility of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists. It is one that apparently Christ, Himself, (The “Angel of the Lord”) applied:

“When I purposed to leave Minneapolis, the angel of the Lord stood by me and said: "Not so; God has a work for you to do in this place. The people are acting over the rebellion of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. I have placed you in your proper position, which those who are not in the light will not acknowledge; they will not heed your testimony; but I will be with you; My grace and power shall sustain you. It is not you they are despising, but the messengers and the message I send to My people. They have shown contempt for the word of the Lord. Satan has blinded their eyes and perverted their judgment; and unless every soul shall repent of this their sin, this unsanctified independence that is doing insult to the Spirit of God, they will walk in darkness. I will remove the candlestick out of his place except they repent and be converted, that I should heal them. They have obscured their spiritual eyesight. They would not that God should manifest His Spirit and His power; for they have a spirit of mockery and disgust at My word. Lightness, trifling, jesting and joking are daily practiced. They have not set their hearts to seek Me. They walk in the sparks of their own kindling, and unless they repent, they shall lie down in sorrow. Thus saith the Lord: "Stand at your post of duty; for I am with thee, and will not leave thee nor forsake thee." These words from God I have not dared to disregard.”–Letter 2a, 1892, pp. 4, 5. (To "Dear Nephew and Niece, Frank (F.E.) and Hattie," Nov. 5, 1892.) {3MR 191.2}

“the people” in this case were those SDA leaders assembled in a General Conference, and as such, should have been considered as speaking for God on Earth, but since that Minneapolis session rebellion, they have spoken for the rebel Korah, instead.

Perhaps if the Earth at Minneapolis had swallowed those assembled SDA leaders who joined with Korah in 1888, their rebellious influence would not still be providing ‘majority votes’ against God’s Word in General Conference assemblies, today. Only Moses, Aaron, Miriam, Joshua, Caleb and the minority of Israel were of a mind to allow Christ to lead Israel into Canaan, where Christ wished to continue to be their King.

However, in SDA history, Christians have still not even entered into the ‘Heavenly Canaan’, so the troubles between Rehoboam of Judah and Jeroboam of Israel cannot yet reflect the ongoing failure of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists to most closely follow Christ as their ‘King’, for the last 131 years. They have failed to do this, even while still claiming to be as ‘holy’ as Christ’s chosen messengers, who are still mocked by them, whether those messengers be Moses, Aaron, Ellen, Waggoner, Jones or Christ, Himself.

When we see an SdA GC president at a GC session, reading aloud the long record of the GC’s own historical 131-year ‘Korah’s rebellion’ (just as young King Josiah once did before all of assembled Judah, see II Chronicles 34) then there is hope that the long SdA GC rebellion is ending and King Jesus will finally be allowed to lead us all into the ‘Heavenly Canaan’. Until then whenever the voice of the SdA GC is heard, no one can be certain that it is not the voice of the rebel Korah, alone, speaking.

The Czech-Slovak Union is not rebelling against God in standing apart from ‘Korah’s Rebellion’, and standing by the ‘Word of God’, though the whole rest of the SDA church chooses to be buried alive with Korah.

9 Likes
#16

Lizwi, if you want to hear hardened positions, head over to Fulcrum7 or Advindicate. For years, this side has been demanding their way and proclaiming it the only way forward in Adventism. In fact, some come here from time to time and many an open discussion has ensued (you may read commentary here on many issues, including this one). The interesting thing we have noticed here, is that these writers almost without exception demand that if we don’t like their Headship views, we can leave the church. Over and over that attitude is expressed. The closed side does not tolerate open discussion about the issue. You will find that here. Check out the other sites mentioned above for hardliners, fanatics, and dangerous heretics.

But please stay and continue to dialogue. That’s what we believe in here at Spectrum.

14 Likes
#17

The only split that I see so far is the women in China “splitting” and doing the job!
Soon the GC will approve them, as long as they commit to send part of the tithes to the GC. Same old story, Money talks!!!

6 Likes
#18

"Are we prepared for the split?"

If one actually occurs…Adventism appears less prepared than many other denoms who prepared for a schism. However, I believe that it is the financial aspects of things that are stopping the schism from happening. Good old fashioned, cold, hard, CASH.

"Is it worth it?"

Depends upon the goal and we will see (if it ever does occur)…so many other churches have gone through the process. Perhaps, consulting with one of them (post 20 years or more) could be enlightening.

6 Likes
#19

You said this to Steve @niteguy2.

It’s interesting how you claim to see things that others don’t, even when talking to someone like Steve who we have known here for so many years and who “sees things” always well and in an appropriate way.

And then, come on, saying that he is “making a mistake?” Why don’t you just step back a little bit with that kind of judgment? Who are you anyways, to judge people here as you have done several times now? Why don’t you share your views, opinions, and disagreements just as the way you see things, without being judgmental and accusatory?

Just sayin…

3 Likes
#20

Nobody is ready for any split, ever. This is not what people and institutions expect, or want. But, hey, ready or not, the RCC had to face the split when the reformers decided not to compromise with abuse of power and manipulation of the masses. And the SDAs still support that split, right?

Splitting is sometimes necessary, especially when there are moral principles involved. If discrimination of women is not eliminated from our midst, I don’t see how a split cannot happen after all. If the GC continues defending and trying to impose discrimination of women, in my opinion the Unions should just split. I would support my Union, PUC, in full if after all they decided not to conform to the GC’s decision to keep discriminating women.

Kudos to the Czech-Slovak Union! Not only they decided to stop discrimination of women, they also rejected a malicious document created by the GC! I didn’t expect less than that from my people!!! … :wink: :wink:

15 Likes