Two rights make a wrong - two parts
Editorial
by Anna Groff and Everett J. ThomasPrint Article Email to a Friend
The Lancaster (Pa.) Mennonite Conference bishop board considered on Feb. 15 additional disciplinary action against bishop Linford King after he ordained Janet Breneman in the district he oversees (see page 6). King was reprimanded by the board in August 2007 for his ordination of Elizabeth Nissley in June 2007.
Assistant editor Anna Groff was baptized in the East Chestnut Street Mennonite Church in 1997. Editor Everett Thomas was baptized in the Vine Street (now James Street) Mennonite Church in 1963. Both congregations are in the Lancaster city district where King serves as bishop.
The ministers in the Lancaster (Pa.) city district are right to encourage their bishop, Linford King, to ordain women pastors in their congregations. This is because Lancaster Mennonite Conference (LMC) decided to join Mennonite Church USA. Furthermore, a flawed decision-making process regarding ordination of women does not trump denominational membership expectations.
Those in LMC who want to ordain women should be able to follow the , which guides Mennonite Church USA and calls both men and women to leadership positions: “The church … appoints gifted men and women to a variety of leadership ministries on its behalf.”
Although a bishop board recommendation for women to be ordained did not receive the required two-thirds vote of credentialed leaders in January 2007, the conference should address the ways that process was flawed and, therefore, has led some congregations to ordain women:
1. Lay people—many are asking for the ordinations of these women—had no voice in the vote.
2. Leaders who did not participate in the sessions addressing the bishop board’s recommendation to ordain women were permitted to vote.
3. The wording of the bishop board recommendation—stating that women could be ordained but not become bishops—could have been problematic for some voters and skewed the results.
LMC should make a timely commitment to revisit its January 2007 decision with conversation and discernment rather than disciplining a bishop who follows our confession of faith.
These ordinations also demonstrate the commitment of individuals and congregations to LMC. As Elizabeth Nissley (see side note) said, “I prefer to not follow our history of divisiveness over this matter and instead learn to live with differences.”
Remaining in a trying situation with determination to follow God’s call—without breaking away—requires such strength and loyalty.—ag
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The Lancaster (Pa.) Mennonite Conference bishop board was right to initiate disciplinary proceedings against Linford King, bishop for the Lancaster city district. This is because ordination is a ministerial vestment that may be authorized only by an area conference, according to one of Mennonite Church USA’s formation documents.
Lancaster Mennonite Conference (LMC) must begin ordaining women as soon as possible. To be part of Mennonite Church USA means that ordination is open to women as well as men. A Mennonite Polity for Ministerial Leadership (Faith & Life Press, 1996) is unequivocal in this regard.
“Women and men may be granted credentials to Christian ministry,” says the document in the introduction to the ordination section. This is the basis for those who have moved forward with ordination of women in Lancaster Conference.
But the next two sentences in the document reveal why the action of one bishop—at the urging of some ministers and congregations within his district—may also be considered wrong.
“These credentials are granted only by an area conference … and the credentialed person is accountable to the area conference for the ministry credential.”
The issue here is ordination. This great treasure of the church may be vested in a minister only by an area conference, according to Mennonite Church USA. To allow a single bishop—working at the behest of a subgroup within a conference—to claim this treasure creates a conundrum.
“If we change the rules for you,” a wise mother once told her child, “then we must change the rules for everyone.”
There is a way forward in this difficult situation. LMC established a credentials committee several months ago. To this group should be assigned the responsibility to determine ministerial credentials; such a group must be authorized and freed to offer ordination to all whom God has called to ministry and whom the church confirms.—ejt
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Additional Notes
The Lancaster (Pa.) Mennonite Conference bishop board considered on Feb. 15 additional disciplinary action against bishop Linford King after he ordained Janet Breneman in the district he oversees (see page 6). King was reprimanded by the board in August 2007 for his ordination of Elizabeth Nissley in June 2007.
Assistant editor Anna Groff was baptized in the East Chestnut Street Mennonite Church in 1997. Editor Everett Thomas was baptized in the Vine Street (now James Street) Mennonite Church in 1963. Both congregations are in the Lancaster city district where King serves as bishop.
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