The Presbyterian Church of Australia in NSW (PCNSW) General Assembly voted in favour of an overture (motion) that women can not be elders, today. The vote passed 136 to 61. The meeting took place at PLC Sydney in Croydon.
Technically, the decision is not final. The General Assembly also voted that the (sustained) passed overture must be sent down to all regional presbyteries for a vote. Presbyterians have a process called The Barrier Act, which calls for presbyteries to vote for or against the overture unamended. If a majority of presbyteries vote for the overture, it will return to the General Assembly next time it meets. If it is passed by the next assembly, it becomes part of the church code (law). Given today’s overwhelming vote this decision is vanishingly unlikely to be overturned.
The General Assembly (GA) is the Presbyterian form of Church parliament. Today’s debate began with a vote to accept the report of an Elders Consultation Special Committee, which was set up to ensure there was sufficient consultation on the topic. This capped a several-year legal delay on the debate over women elders in NSW due to a concern raised that the NSW government’s Work Health and Safety Act would be breached. This involved a phone call to an official of the Assembly in 2023, alerting them that deliberating on the topic at the GA meeting might be a “triggering event” that would be captured by NSW safety legislation.
A paper called “Healthy Complementarianism,” was commissioned by the Assembly in 2021 and produced by a Committee for Elders and Deacons convened by Murray Smith of Christ College, the PCNSW seminary. The overture (motion) to move to male-only elders was introduced by Murray Smith, making the case for male-only elders.
Here are a few from a long list of speakers.
Hazel Nisbet spoke, apologising to the female elders in the room for the difficult position they are in.
Mark Adams from Randwick spoke against sustaining the overture. He is discussing how complementarianism is about men and women working together for governance, as seen in eldership. Conversely, he believes that positions of authority held by one person should be a man.
Shane Gooch, the minister for Revesby, finished his speech for the overture by saying that he felt he would be negatively impacted if the motion didn’t pass. He is of the opinion that allowing women to remain elders is to disobey God.
Stephanie Schwarz spoke against the overture, noting it as a secondary theological issue and one which could cause considerable harm.
The GA meeting today featured a sometimes tense debate, which was not aided by the front table not being across their standing orders.
Murray Smith, in his right of reply, said the meeting had spoken the truth in love. He addressed the female elders – pointing to another overture to be put forward to have male and female deacons and deaconesses. In the courts of the church.
Murray Smith said, “This motion makes no comment on the service of elders who have served and preserves the service of existing female elders.”
The Presbyterian Church of Australia has two types of elders who supervise a congregation: Ruling Elders who lead, and Teaching Elders or Ministers, who teach as well as lead. Today’s vote was to decide whether ruling elders should be male.
The rule that PCA teaching elders be male was passed by the 1991 General Assembly of Australia, the national body. However, the decision about whether ruling elders should be male only or male and female was left to the denomination’s state bodies.
The Other Cheek commends the PCNSW for making the General Assembly available on livestream and allowing the public into the PLC hall.
Image: PLC Croydon in Inner West Sydney, the site of the General Assembly. Image Credit: PLC