The Presbyterian Church of Australia’s (PCA) peak body, the General Assembly of Australia, has voted to “discharge with thanks” a special committee, Women’s Ministry in the PCA. This disbands the committee that has existed since 2007 to “foster biblical partnerships between men and women.”
The narrow vote of 49 to 47 leaves the national level of the Presbyterian Church of Australia without a committee focused on the place of women in the largely complementarian denomination. This vote follows the recent decision of the NSW branch of the church to move to male-only elders, which is currently being considered by regional Presbyteries, as part of the Presbyterian “Barrier Act” method of making decisions.
In the PCA, local church governing boards called “sessions” are made up of local church elders, including ministers, who can be elected to the state and national General Assemblies. The NSW decision, if ratified, will mean that voting members of the General Assembly will also be exclusively male, once any existing women elders retire. (Some women, such as deaconesses, can have speaking rights.)
A Women’s Ministry in the PCA magazine “Ministering Together” contains examples of Presbyterian Churches developing methods of having women attend meetings of session, alongside reports of more traditional complementarian churches. For example, Reforming Church Bendigo uses a device called “Fixed Orders of the Day” to suspend Session standing orders in such a way as to provide opportunity to church members to talk with their leaders all at once, about anything. Brisbane’s City South Church believes that 1 Timothy demonstrates how the church is meant to work like a family, and has Elders’ wives meeting Session. Living Church Carina appoints ‘‘session co-workers” who work together with the Elders to make up the Living Church Board.
Examples like these fueled discussion within Presbyterianism.
The mover of the motion to discharge and thank the committee, Neil Chambers, the minister at Bundoora Presbyterian Church, in the north of Melbourne, claimed that almost all the methods suggested by the Women’s Ministry Committee are available to sessions. But he wanted men and women to be encouraged in doing what they can do in ministry, not focused on the ‘no’.
Arguments put by others to disband the committee included how well the Presbyterian Church is doing with men and women working together, the Presbyterian Women’s Association that links local fellowship groups meant a national committee is not needed, and that good pastoral care at the local level will take care of any issues.
The General Assembly voted to continue to provide ways for women to network and encourage each other, without a national committee at least for now. But no plan to bring that about was voted on.
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