In his last post, Shane overviewed the current situation for woman in ministry in the AOG - basically, that while in AOG rhetoric women are acknowledged to be equally gifted and empowered by the Spirit, they are very under-represented in current credentialing statitistics, and completely unseen at the national leadership level. Why? Shane has asked me to respond to his question from my perspective as a female (called, I believe, to some kind of servanthood/leadership) in the pentecostal church.
One thing I noticed when reading through the AOG constitution is that while they used ‘he/she’ to describe people wishing to apply for PMCs (probatinary ministry certificate, hold that OK for a couple of years and you can apply to be ordained - OMC) and SMCs (special ministry certificate - this is non-progressive); the gender-inclusiveness stopped and it was all 'he' when it went on to talked about state and national office-holders.
I think in some ways it's because of the time clauses were added....'he' was more likely to be thought as an inclusive term when they wrote about the state and national office-holders....and then by the time they were adding clauses about PMCs and SMCs writing had moved to require 'he/she'. But nevertheless, when you read the constitution as a whole document it definitely feels like a barrier - and the very fact that it goes unnoticed probably points to (and reinforces) the subconscious picture in most people's minds that people on the state and national executive will be male.
Continue reading "Women in Pentecostal Leadership: Why Not?" »
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