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.”
UPDATE: The sequence of events was that a motion for the committee to continue was lost, with a motion to thank them moved the foloowing day.
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 retired long-term 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.
UPDATE: An earlier version of this story stated no plan was voted on for women to network – but a senior Presbyterian has told The Other Cheek that some deliverances (motions) put forward by the Women’s Ministry committee had already passed before the motion to disband the committee was put forward.
The General Assembly requested the Moderator and Clerk to enact those decisions and empowered them to recruit people to help and allocated funding – the funds that would have been used by the disbanded committee.
One of the deliverances (motions) that was passed was to “Request the committee continue to equip, assist and encourage ministers, elders, and presbyteries to implement the recommendations and encouragements of the 2023 Assembly regarding the WMPCA 2023 report.”
The 2023 Assembly minutes record that WMPCA motion as including these key recommendations.
“Recommend that all Sessions consider how best, within their local context to engage with women in key decisions of the Church, including the following possibilities:
a) Session setting up a women’s advisory group whom they liaise with on specific issues.
b) Session inviting key women of their church to its Session meetings for a discussion that would inform its decision making.
c) Session choosing to appoint some key women in their church to a ‘co-worker’ position and give them the privileges of an associate while Session sits.
d) Establish, and explain, what the formal and informal communication channels are between women in the congregation and the Session. “
In addition, Assemblies were asked to encourage their committees to include women in their membership, and the State and General Assemblies to investigate having women included as associates in their meetings.
Correction: Neil Chambers has retired from Bundoora Presbyterian
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