c. 2006 Religion News Service

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. _ As 188 delegates gather for the Christian Reformed Church Synod, Karen Norris wishes she were one of them.

But Norris, of Grand Rapids, cannot be part of the annual conference because she is not yet ordained _ and because she is a woman.

That could change if delegates decide this week to allow women to serve as Synod delegates and to serve as ministers in any church.

The same proposals were turned away last year. However, this year brings a new element: the support of the denomination’s board of trustees, which is advising the synod to “speak clearly for the change.”

Norris, 35, will be watching the vote closely. While she hopes delegates will approve a proposal to remove the word “male” as a requirement for Christian Reformed ministers _ currently women only may serve by special exception _ Norris does not expect a dramatic change.

“I think it will open more doors but it will be a gradual process,” Norris said. “A lot of churches agree with women in office in principle, but it’s still really hard for them to imagine having a female pastor.”

The Grand Rapids-based denomination traces it roots to Dutch Calvinists, and currently claims 187,000 members in 1,047 congregations. A vote on women’s ordination is expected Wednesday (June 14) or Thursday.

Those pushing the proposal say it’s time the denomination stopped debating the decades-old issue and opened all churches to women’s gifts.

“There’s nothing new to say,” said the Rev. George Vander Weit, pastor of Fuller Avenue Christian Reformed Church in Grand Rapids and a longtime advocate of women’s ordination. “I’m not saying every church needs to call a woman pastor, but every church needs to have the opportunity to do that if they wish.”

The proposal figures to meet opposition from those who oppose women’s ordination on biblical grounds. Some even oppose voting on new ministerial candidates as a group because it can require them to approve women as well as men.

The women’s issue is likely to generate the most debate, 10 years after the denomination ordained its first woman.

The Rev. Ruth Hofman was ordained pastor of First Toronto Christian Reformed Church in August 1996. That followed the historic votes of synods in 1995 and 1996 opening the pulpit to women as a local option.

Intended to recognize the differing interpretations of Scripture within the denomination, the policy allows local church groups _ called classes _ to waive the requirement that ministers must be men. Forty women have been ordained as pastors, chaplains and other positions.

Last year, the synod turned down a proposal that allowed women to serve as delegates at the all-male synod. Delegates decided to revisit the idea when a majority of classes allowed women to be ordained.

That day has come: 25 of the denomination’s 47 classes allow women to serve as ministers in their churches.

Given that, a Grand Rapids-based classis _ which has ordained 23 women ministers _ proposes women be admitted as delegates to synod and as ministers in any church that wants to hire them.

Vander Weit, who wrote the proposal, says it’s “high time” the denomination did away with the last impediment to women’s ordination. “If we’re striving for some unity, we ought to say we each have strongly held convictions,” said Vander Weit, who serves with a female minister. “Let’s treat each other as we wish to be treated. Let’s honor both these convictions.”

A report from the denomination’s board of trustees says further study or discussion will only “create more unproductive ferment” on an issue that drove tens of thousands from the denomination in the 1990s.

A top church official believes most who would leave over the issue already have, and that people’s fears about opening all churches to women should not hold back the change.

“It will happen. It’s inevitable it should,” said the Rev. Peter Borgdorff, the church’s outgoing executive director.

It may be inevitable but that does not make it right, says the Rev. Ronald Meyer, pastor of Drenthe Christian Reformed Church in Zeeland Township, Mich. He says officials are overlooking the fact nearly half the classes still oppose women’s ordination. He calls the Classis Grand Rapids East proposal “unbiblical.”

“Removing the word male has a disrupting effect,” Meyer said. “It attacks the peace of the denomination,” Meyer said.

While her fellow male students at Calvin Seminary have been contacted by several churches interested in hiring them, Norris said she has had just one church ask her for a sermon tape.

Another church that initially was open to hiring a woman pulled back after a congregational vote showed half the people opposed it.

“It’s always a little painful for me” talking to male candidates, Norris said. “I see how sought-after they are compared to me.”

(Charles Honey writes for The Grand Rapids Press in Grand Rapids, Mich.)

KRE/JL END HONEY