In case you missed, the CRC just recently celebrated 20 years of Women’s Ordination in Ministry. To go along with the celebration, First CRC of Toronto put together a resource package to celebrate the milestone.
Our hope is that these resources will stimulate dialogue and reflection. And what better place to start the conversation than right here and now!
To get started, let's tackle one of the discussion questions here on The Network.
Take a look at the attached statistic sheet "Women in the CRC: Where We Are Today." After reading the stats, what is your response to the following question(s):
- What surprises you about the current status of women in ministry in the CRC?
- How does (or doesn’t) your church and Classis reflect what you read? Why may this be?
I'd love to hear from you in the comments below!
Comments
What pleasantly surprises me is the number of 100 women who have been ordained in the CRC.
Larry Van Essen
The statistics don't surprise me, they seem on trend with the new faces at the seminary and candidacy posting. What is surprising is the lack of women in the top levels of leadership. One of the issues that I have as we move into the 21st century is the insistence of ordained staff for leadership positions. There are many well educated and suitable candidates who have decades of experience in lay or non-ordained ministry of a variety of types but we do not see them as suitable candidates. Without ordination of the Word there is no place beyond congregational ministry in our denomination.
Let's Discuss
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