March 12, 2003, was the inaugural chapel at Nazarene Theological Seminary for the Wynkoop Center for Women in Ministry. Jeren Rowell, Senior Pastor at Shawnee, Kansas, Church of the Nazarene delivered the sermon. Rev. Rowell challenged us to consider what we say about women in ministry versus what we do.

Rev. Rowell granted permission to post his sermon as a means to help members of the laity consider their attitudes and responses to clergywomen. Historically, the Church of the Nazarene has always ordained women into the ministry. As stated in the sermon, the number of ordained women has declined. Yet an increasing percentage of students enrolled in the Religion Departments of Church of the Nazarene colleges, universities, and seminary are women.

As we contemplate attitudes regarding clergywomen, we need a strong Wesleyan voice that clearly states our position. Rev. Rowell also clearly calls us to check our attitudes and responses as they relate to living out a theology of love.

You are invited to read Rev. Rowell's sermon, to contemplate his challenge, and to act accordingly.

Inaugural Chapel — Wynkoop Center for Women in Ministry.
Nazarene Theological Seminary, March 12, 2003.

“Grace and peace to you, from God our Father and the Lord, Jesus Christ.”

As you may know, the theme of the ANSR conference this week is, “Women in Ministry: What We Say, What We Do.” I have a 12-year-old boy in my congregation who would be interested in that discussion.

Just a few weeks ago one of our pastors, Margaret Tyler, took a group of preteens on a tour of the International Center, just down the hill. The folks in the Children's department and over at NYI treated them very well. They were quite impressed with it all, especially when they toured the offices of the general superintendents.

As the tour guide, with reverent voice, explained the lofty doings of the folks in those offices, the little group of young people huddled in the midst of the foyer, gawking at the pictures displayed around the wall. They were photographs, the guide explained, of every general superintendent in the Church of the Nazarene, from Dr. Bresee to Dr. Middendorf.

That's the moment when, during a pause in the program, Joshua blurted out, “How come there's no women in those pictures?” Good question, Josh. Maybe it has something to do with “What We Say, What We Do.”

We say the right things. We say,

We say,

We say,

We say the right things, mostly. What do we actually do? There are facts associated with what we actually do. I suspect many of those will come to light in the next few days of the ANSR Conference.

I have been told that in 1908 twenty percent of elders and fifteen percent of licensed preachers were women. By 1973 only six percent of clergy were women. Today it hovers somewhere under three percent and only a fraction of these are pastors. At the same time, some thirty percent of students here at NTS are women.

Deeper than statistics, however, are attitudes. The quoted percentages are only surface symptoms of a deeper dysfunction. Introduce the topic of women in ministry, and across our denomination suddenly the atmosphere will be charged with anxiety.

Despite what we say, we are too often doing the wrong things. For example, we allow laypersons with prejudice to derail the nomination of a woman as pastor without challenging that prejudice.

We allow church leaders to get away with saying the right things outwardly, when privately it becomes clear that they really do not want women to fill significant places of church leadership.

We allow each other to use inappropriate language in settings like church meetings and gatherings of the clergy. We still say things like, “Pastors and wives retreat,” “let's pray for God's man for this church,” as well as a continual use of masculine pronouns even when women clergy are obviously present.

And I'm only speaking to the context that I know. There are much deeper issues in places beyond USA/Canada that must be addressed.

Why is there such a disconnect between what we say and what we do? Professor Robinson wrote in a Holiness Today article,

I agree with Dr. Robinson that our corporate problem is not biblical interpretation or theology. In light of the text that Pastor Ana and Mario Zani read for us, I would suggest a simple, but not a simplistic answer: Our current situation has everything to do with a failure to practice the law of love.

Even a cursory reading of this text makes it abundantly clear that the only hope for us to function with the “unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace” is when love is practiced. The Epistle to the Romans presses this truth when the writer says,

“Don't just pretend that you love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Stand on the side of the good. Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other. . . “(Romans 12:9-10, NLT).

If the heart of this issue is love, then what would it mean to renew an atmosphere of love in our church? We are not speaking of feelings that should be mustered. We are speaking of decisions that must be made.

One year ago, in preparation for the Global Theology Conference in Guatemala City, President Benefiel shared with the conferees a review of Eric Law's book, The Wolf Shall Dwell with the Lamb: A Spirituality for Leadership in a Multicultural Community* . Law is addressing the issue of authentic community in the context of real cultural differences.

His focus is on the power dynamic at work when “cultural groups of northern European descent and cultural groups of color” come together for common conversation and work. The power dynamic, he notes, is something of which those with more power are generally unaware.

Nevertheless, these power differentials are “inappropriate in the Church.” What is needed and required is intentional challenge to those power differentials. Eric Law calls for justice defined as “the equal distribution of power and privilege”.

This is not accomplished through “coercion or control, but rather by those in power relinquishing their power.” He speaks to multicultural relations, but the principle applies in our current conversation.

If I may paraphrase Law's thesis: It is not enough for me as a white, middle class, American, male to believe in my mind that women belong in places of church leadership. As a holder of power I must purposefully redistribute that power. The goal is justice. The motive is love.

Specifically, I must use my power to influence the attitudes of leaders, both lay and clergy, toward women in ministry. When I hear colleagues or friends speak derisively of women in pastoral leadership I must never allow those comments to pass without direct but loving challenge.

I must use my power to make space in the systems and structures of our church so that meaningful invitations can be extended to women to take places of leadership. I must watch my own language, making sure that my words to, about, and on behalf of women in ministry are careful and not careless.

Mostly, I must pray the Lord of the Church to renew and deepen in me a heart of perfect love that would never exclude, demean, control, or coerce. Let us pray for a heart of perfect love that will include, uplift, release, and invite.

I trust much conversation will ensue this week about these issues. For now, let us hear the word of the Lord: “Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves.” (Romans 12:9-10, NIV) . This is the word of the Lord. (Thanks be to God.) Amen.

*Eric H. F. Law, The Wolf Shall Dwell with the Lamb: A Spirituality for Leadership in a Multicultural Community. (Chalice Press: 1993)