ORDINATION OF WOMEN [CASE #TWO]: Ellen White, Women Leadership, and Ordination

The figure of Ellen White transcends all ecclesiastical offices. Like all other prophets, she is appointed, ordained and commissioned by God, and accountable to God alone. A prophet has the final authority as long as he or she speaks in the name of the Lord. This is why Ellen White is an important figure in the ongoing discussion about the women leadership and ordination into the gospel ministry. If a statement in her writings had read: “Let none be an impediment to any of the sisters who seeks to be ordained as a minister”, the debate over women ordination would have belonged to centuries ago. This shows how she is very important to us today, and the reason why anyone who begins studies on women ordination must first review her writings carefully and compare with scriptural text, church history, and current issues. Ellen White was not a leader of a church. Neither did she seek to become a pastor or conference director. Her position as a prophetess, of course, transcends these ecclesiastical institutions. However, she was not against women as institutional leaders, elders, and pastors in the church. How do we know that? Can her position on women’s leadership be synchronized with Adventist understanding of ordination? These questions are very important to us at this time, and it is a reward to everyone to seek answers.

Ellen White, victim of “women silence”

First let me remark that Ellen White was a victim of women silence in the church. She faced attempts to silence her speaking at public gatherings and in some churches. Not reasons pertaining to her prophetic ministry, rather, for being a woman. One sad incidence, which she wrote to inform James White about happened in Arbuckle, California in April 1, 1880. Ellen White wrote:

I had in the evening, it was stated, the largest congregation that had ever assembled at Arbuckle. The house was full. Many came from five to ten and twelve miles. The Lord gave me special power in speaking. The congregation listened as if spellbound. Not one left the house although I talked above one hour. Before I commenced talking, Elder Haskell had a bit of paper that was handed in, quoting certain texts prohibiting women speaking in public. He took up the matter in a brief manner and very clearly expressed the meaning of the apostle’s words. I understand it was a Campbellite who wrote the objection and it had been well circulated before it reached the desk, but Elder Haskell made it all plain before the people. (Letter 17a, 1880, p. 2).

This incidence does not belong to the past. At least many Adventist churches have fought this over the years. Some, like my local churches in Ghana, have fought this “women silence” and have overcome it. Able women can now teach, preach and are involved in many church activities. Irrespective of the enough light the church has received today, there are still many Adventist churches that continue to battle over “women silence” in the church. This is a reality going on. For such reasons, each person needs to be careful when it comes to the discussion of women ordination.

Ellen White, and Women leadership in the church

Ellen White was not a Feminist. However, and in part, I might consider her as a Christian Feminist. Not only that she advanced the equality of men and women, but also she spoke extensively on women’s engagement in church activities. A large collection of her quotes in the Daughters of God, portrays her as very vocal on women’s participation in ministry. There are so many contexts where she wrote strongly in defense of women’s ministry and involvement in church activities. In relation to women’s occupancy in ecclesiastical bureaucracy, she was not silent on it. The question is, can a woman lead a church as an elder or a pastor? What will Ellen White say?

In a letter to one Johnson in 1879, Ellen White wrote: “It is not always men who are best adapted to the successful management of a church. If faithful women have more deep piety and true devotion than men, they could indeed by their prayers and their labors do more than men who are unconsecrated in heart and in life” (Manuscript Releases, vol. 19, p. 56. Emphasis is mine). The context that resulted in this letter were many factors of which some involved women silence. The hypocrisy of the male leadership has cast a gainsaying over women, possibly as insignificant in church activities or leadership. Ellen White’s letter was very sharp, straight and the problem was made clear. In speaking of women, Ellen White used the word “management”. The word parallels `the Greek work ἐπιμελέομαι “to take care of” in 1 Tim. 3: 5. In Business terms, management has to do with organization and coordination of activities. It has nothing less than a leader of an organization. The person who manages, takes risk and responsibility of the affairs of the organization. The phrase “management of a church” can only be applied to pastors and elders in the Adventist church. Though Ellen White somewhere applied the word “management” to the seven deacons in Acts 6 [see AA, 89], deacons today, in the Adventist church, only do assist pastors and elders.

Perhaps the above statement of Ellen White is not strong enough to assert any encouragement of women to become elders and pastors. Somewhere in relation to colporteur work, Ellen White wrote that: “It is the accompaniment of the Holy Spirit of God that prepares workers, both men and women, to become pastors to the flock of God” (6 T., 322). Unless a person translates the word “pastor” in this context as contrary to the administrative work of a pastor, this statement is an unequivocal statement that expresses Ellen Whites thoughts on women becoming pastors. On the contrary, let us suppose that Ellen White is talking about licensed pastoring, not necessarily to become ordained pastors. This argument cannot be sustained because the church manual does not even create an allowance for female licensed ministers. It uses the term “men” [CM, 34] and this is only five years ago. Contrary to the answer, the manual continues to support licensed ministers to be ordained first as elders. It is common sense to interpret Ellen White’s statement as her support in favor of women leadership in the church, and especially where needed.

Women can lead other institutions of the church such as schools. Ellen White says: “The leaders in our schools should be men and women of quick intuitions, who have the Spirit of God to aid them in reading character, who have managing ability, who can understand different phases of character, and display tact and wisdom in dealing with varied minds” (CSW, 162 Emphasis are mine). Once again, the term management appears here in connection with leadership in schools. Ellen White never contradicted herself in women’s ministry in the church. To Ellen White, women are capable and it is the Spirit of God that equips leaders to manage churches and institutions.

Ellen White and Women Ordination

Ellen White never made any public or formal statement on the ordination of women into the gospel ministry. C. C. Crisler, Mrs. White’s secretary seemed to imply that Ellen White “was very careful about expressing herself in any wise as to the advisability of ordaining women as gospel ministers” (Daughters of God, p. 255). Crisler continued “She has often spoken of the perils that such general practice would expose the church to by a gainsaying world; but as yet I have never seen from her pen any statement that would seem to encourage the formal and official ordination of women to the gospel ministry, to public labor such as is ordinarily expected of an ordained minister” (Ibid). Can we rely on this to suppose that Ellen White was against women ordination?

Since the ordination of women is absent in the writings of Ellen White, the only testimony we have about her sentiments on the subject is that of Crisler. Apparently, Crisler does not make any assertion to any precise or absolute stance of Ellen White. Crisler himself was very careful not to do any conjecture for Ellen White. He wrote: “This is not suggesting, much less saying, that no women are fitted for such public labor, and that none should ever be ordained; it is simply saying that so far as my knowledge extends, Sister White never encouraged church officials to depart from the general customs of the church in those matters” (Ibid). If it was a general custom, then the argument departs from a theological issue, at least to Ellen White, to an ecclesiastical order.

The Ordination of women was not an issue as big as we may find today in the nineteenth century. However, the witness from Crisler testifies clearly that Ellen White was aware of the issue. She [Ellen White] might have had double feelings about the subject. She seemed to have had a discussion with others on the subject, not necessarily on theological or Biblical terms, rather, on a personal feeling of its dangers to the church in “a gainsaying world”.

Whatever it is in the ordination of women, we are left without traces in the writings of Ellen White. However, if Ellen White thought that women can be elders, pastors, and to lead institutions, yet hesitated on ordination, then the practice of ordination and church management might have meant two different things to her. Even today, some are of the opinion that a woman can be an elder or pastor but cannot be ordained. Such conclusions lead the church into dualism. Again, this conclusion makes the meaning of ordination mystic in nature. If a successful woman pastor cannot be ordained, then it is not the office which has sexist overtones, it is rather “ordination” itself. This seems Catholic to me, and the reason why I have compared and contrasted the meaning of ordination in Catholicism and Adventism somewhere [Click Here]. This is so important because when the Protestants broke from the Catholic Church, not all Catholicism were left behind. Many of the fragments of catholic practices still remain in protestant churches and one is the order of ordination. Our church is not an exception and I have dealt with this in the referral link in this article.

Conclusion

Ellen White is one important figure to the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Her own victimization of sexist attitude from others might have influenced her ministry to speak out profusely in defense of women’s ministry in the church. In the context of her letter to Johnson, she sharply rebuked some individuals in the church who probably had some misconceptions about women’s leadership in the church. Her writings encourage the involvement of women in church management and institutional leadership. Though it was not clear from her writings about the ordination of women, she never spoke against it. Her understanding about the subject might not have been fully developed, or because the issue was not a bone of contention then. However, it is very obvious that she never spoke against women becoming elders, pastors, and taking up leadership positions in the church. She indeed encouraged it as a needed integration to effective ministry.

Ordination, as understood in the Adventist church, is contrary to Catholicism. Jesus does not come visibly to lead His church in the person of the ordained. Neither will ordination turn the essence of women into maleness essence. Already, some have fallen for this interpretation by linking headship with ordination. Such interpretations only lead the church into transsubstantiatio and mysticism. Again, any position a person takes on the ordination of women must be carefully looked into less it contravenes and usurps the writings of Ellen White and her prophetic gift. If women can manage churches, lead institutions, and can be pastors according to Ellen White, what then prevents the church from ordaining them? Our mission is our top priority in church leadership. The Church Manual states: “By virtue of ordination, the pastor is qualified to function in all rites and ceremonies. The pastor should be the congregation’s spiritual leader and adviser. Pastors should instruct the officers in their duties and plan with them for all lines of church work and activity” (CM, 33). If women cannot do this, then everything goes back to our theology of ordination; not necessarily the ordination of women.