The year 2003 marks the 30th anniversary of an ad hoc committee assembled by the General Conference to study "The Role of Women in the Church" in general, and women's ordination in particular. Twenty-seven women and men were invited to meet at the Ohio Conference junior camp, Camp Mohaven, from September 16-19, 1973. Women made up more than half of the group.

The zigzag history of women's ordination during the past 30 years emerged during a two-hour presentation for the Association of Adventist Women (AAW) conference in Loma Linda, California, October 16-19. Like that program, the purpose of this article is to provide a quick overview of history.

Many don't realize that nearly all of the Camp Mohaven participants favored women's ordination. In fact, they thought it would be approved as early 1975. Only two or three individuals voiced reservations. Yet, this tiny minority-and those who joined them-have dominated the debate and political responses of the church for 30 years.

Not a New Idea

Although Mohaven participants did not know it, the idea of ordaining women to gospel ministry was not new for Seventh-day Adventists. The first proposal came to a General Conference session in 1881. Why wasn't it acted upon? One reason may be pragmatic. The GC executive committee consisted of just three men-George Butler, Stephen Haskell, and Uriah Smith-and they were certainly overworked.

What is definite is that several Adventist women in the late nineteenth century were successful pastors and evangelists and carried preaching licenses along with their male colleagues. According to historian Bert Haloviak, Ellen White participated in some of these examinations. Early Adventists did not consider women preachers a scandal or a breach of biblical teachings. In fact, for 100 years the Adventist Church issued ministerial licenses to women. After Mohaven, however, money matters and church politics converged to change this policy.* As a result, the last few women holding ministerial licenses in the mid nineteen-seventies felt the sting have having them withdrawn.

Hide and Seek

Why did the General Conference call the meeting at Camp Mohaven? Surprisingly, requests to ordain women to gospel ministry arose outside the United States in the nineteen-sixties. Church leaders in Finland and Germany wanted to ordain several successful women evangelists and pastors. Then, in 1973, the Brotherhood Church in Washington, D.C., ordained the first woman elder in North America, and Sligo Church in Takoma Park, Maryland, invited two women to join the pastoral staff.

The Mohaven council made several recommendations to the 1973 Annual Council. Among other things, it urged that qualified women be ordained as elders in local churches, and that women in ministry enter a two-year pilot program leading to an evaluation. The goal was to prepare women for ordination by the 1975.

Instead, delegates to the 1973 Annual Council voted "to receive the report." They went on record to say that a woman's primary role was in the home as wife and mother. Delegates also voted that if women served in ministerial roles they should be given missionary licenses or credentials-on the lower end of church recognition.

Despite the setback, the Biblical Research Institute (BRI) asked scholars to prepare more definitive papers on women's ordination and related topics in 1974-1975. While neutral in tone-noting that the Bible neither commanded nor forbade women's ordination-the scholars saw no theological obstacle to ordaining women.

Intentionally or not, the BRI papers were buried for many years. While it was not uncommon for BRI to keep scholars' work confidential, it was frustrating for every congregation or conference considering women's ordination to have to begin from scratch.

As time passed, leadership at the Biblical Research Institute changed and views of women's roles divided sharply. From 1975 to 1995, decisions and church policies about women in ministry continued to be made without the benefit of the scholars' theological work.

Not until 1984 did BRI reluctantly release 100 copies of the edited papers. This breakthrough came after persistent requests by the Association of Adventist Women (AAW) for its second annual conference convened in Berrien Springs, Michigan. And, not until 1995 were the papers placed in book form by the Pacific Press. They were not noticed. By then, books opposed to women's ordination were being distributed or endorsed by BRI and key leaders in world divisions.

The 1980s-Actions Stimulate Debate

The impact of Mohaven faded. Then two actions in the 1980's ignited new discussions. Following a provision in the Church Manual, the Potomac Conference authorized eight local elders to perform baptisms in 1984. Three elders were women who were also local pastors. The action provoked intense debate at the General Conference. Baptisms by women were soon halted.

In 1986, however, a local church board boldly voted to authorize its woman pastor to baptize candidates if she so chose. Margaret (Peg) Hempe had joined the Loma Linda University Church staff in the late nineteen-sixties as a Bible worker. As her work had expanded, she was publicly called a pastor. Hempe chose to baptize. General Conference leaders remained silent.

These actions did cause GC leaders agree to more study on women's ordination. Three councils on "the role of women in the church" met in 1985, 1988, and 1989. Delegates flew in from around the world; unlike Mohaven, only a handful were women.

The Un-Policy

At the 1985 Council on the Role of Women in Washington, D.C., the 66 delegates spent three days making 50 speeches pro and con on theology, history, and cultural issues. What won the day, however, was a procedural issue. No one realized how pervasive the idea would become. At this meeting GC leaders first articulated the "lock-step" concept. No one could ordain women anywhere, they argued, until everyone, everywhere agreed.

This un-voted, un-policy thwarts women's ordination today. By contrast, other church policies are often adapted by each world division as it sees fit. Consider the issue of equal pay for equal work for men and women. This policy is practiced only by North America and other countries that have laws requiring it. In other words, the General Conference has not required a lock-step procedure in all divisions to provide fair pay.

Yes and No

Political tension charged the 1989 Council on the Role of Women in the Church which met at Cohutta Springs, Georgia. Many of the delegates were division officers anticipating the 1990 GC session in Indianapolis. Although the council reviewed papers, reports and surveys, the real work of the session was done in a private meeting of division presidents with GC President Neal C. Wilson. Together they presented a two-pronged recommendation to be voted up or down. The provision said no, Adventist women could not be ordained. It also said yes, women would be permitted to baptize-if their division agreed.

The floor debate at the 1990 GC session raged for hours. By a fairly close vote, the contradictory "yes/no" recommendation from Cohutta Springs was adopted.

Church leaders did take one positive step for women that recognized some of their aspirations and complaints. Beginning in 1983, the Office of Human Relations at the North American Division (NAD) had sponsored an on-going women's commission, first under Warren Banfield, and continued by Rosa Taylor Banks. Acknowledging the value and potential of this model, both the NAD and the GC established Women's Ministries Departments in the fall of 1990. (The first "woman ministry" at the GC had been led by S.M.I. Henry, a contemporary of Ellen White's, in 1898. After her untimely death in 1900 the ministry lapsed.)

In summary, the nineteen-eighties were characterized by General Conference councils, debates, and arguments over how to interpret Scripture. For the most part, local conferences and churches took the policy-stretching actions favoring women in ministry.

1990's-Actions and Reactions

Debate in the nineteen-nineties moved into another arena-books. Of the 12 published in this period, only two argued against ordination-Raymond Holmes' Tip of the Iceberg: Biblical Authority, Biblical Interpretation, and the Ordination of Women in Ministry (1994), and Samuel Koranteng Pipim's Searching the Scriptures: Women's Ordination and the Call to Biblical Fidelity (1995).

Yet these two books were the ones chosen for wide distribution by many division and union conference leaders around the world. By contrast, a book supporting women in ministry that also represents the majority view of seminary professors at Andrews University, has been virtually ignored by the church. (Edited by Nancy Vyhmeister, Women in Ministry: Biblical and Historical Perspectives was published in 1998 by the Andrews University Press.)

Utrecht and After

The North American Division came meekly to the 1995 GC session requesting that the world church grant it latitude in making decisions that affected its mission and ministry. Presenters and delegates on the floor, however, had a laser focus on women's ordination. The vote was a resounding "no" for women. It also revealed a world church ridding itself of North American domination.

After Utrecht, two large local churches that had long benefited from the outstanding ministry of women pastors, chaplains, and Bible teachers, considered options. They knew the global church might never ordain women. They knew that only union conferences could authorize ordination credentials that would be recognized universally. They also knew of no policy that prevented them from ordaining a minister to serve a local congregation.

On September 23, 1995, Sligo Church ordained three women and on December 2, 1995, La Sierra University Church ordained two.** The much smaller Loma Linda Victoria Church also ordained its woman pastor on December 2. Similar events occurred in Garden Grove, California in 1996, and at the Loma Linda University Church in 1997. General Conference and division leaders decried the events.

Seeking Fairness

With an increasing number of women pastors qualifying for ordination except for their gender, the Southeastern California Conference (SECC) faced a dilemma. How could it demonstrate that male and female pastors were valued equally? Over the years, the Gender Inclusiveness Commission, SECC constituents, and the conference executive committee had called for women's ordination to achieve fairness. In the year 2000, the SECC executive committee adopted a recommendation from the Gender Inclusiveness Commission to establish a new credential. Men and women would be set apart for ministry at the same ceremony and would receive the same "ordination-commissioned" credential. Having struggled with some of the same issues, the Arizona Conference also adopted the credential. Both conferences have conducted ordination-commissioning services that included both men and women.

Today, most Adventist church leaders believe women's ordination is dead. During the 30 years since Camp Mohaven, they have focused on maintaining a lock-step policy on women in ministry. They believe Utrecht ended the discussion and formalized the policy.

While scores of theological papers and books have been produced since 1973, the majority of Adventist church leaders have endorsed those that portray women in traditional roles.

This is a dramatic contrast to the views of early Adventist leaders. They defended the ministry of many women effective pastors and evangelists, not just the ministry of Ellen White. Nineteenth century Adventists were strong characters who went against the grain of society and prevailing theology. They preached that church traditions should give way to the Spirit's movement in the last days as prophesied by Joel and the Apostle Peter.

Today, this vision seems to be history.

*See Bert Haloviak's paper, "Money and Theology: IRS and Redefining SDA Ministry," written in 1996. This research paper can be accessed at www.adventistarchives.org

**Sligo Church ordained Kendra Haloviak, religion teacher; Norma Osborn, pastor; and Penny Shell, hospital chaplain. La Sierra University Church ordained Madelyn Haldeman, religion teacher; and Halcyon Wilson, pastor. The Loma Linda Victoria Church ordained its pastor, Sheryll Prinz McMillan.

Kit Watts is assistant to the president for communication at the Southeastern California Conference, and special projects coordinator for the La Sierra University Women's Resource Center. The 30-page program booklet, "Camp Mohaven to the New Millennium," from the AAW conference on October 18, 2003, expands this article. For order information: e-mail wrc@lasierra.edu; phone (909) 785-2470; or write to WRC, La Sierra University, 4700 Pierce Street, Riverside, CA 91515.