Woman,Women, and the Priesthood in the Trinitarian Theology of Elisabeth Behr-Sigel

Abstract

This article arises from a critical examination of the way the human sexuality debate developed at national level within the United Reformed Church (URC) between 1997 and 2000. Documents that reflected the thinking of members of the Church were carefully examined in order to identify the issues that members of the URC considered fundamental to the debate. From this analysis three closely linked themes, which, it will be argued here form a circular argument, are reflected on theologically: homophobia, sexuality and changing traditional interpretations of the Bible. There can only be an end to the debate when the URC and other Churches are able to escape this circular argument. Taking the experience of South Africa after the apartheid years as a guide, the discussion concludes by exploring ways by which the Church might end the debate and move forward.     

Preparing Women for Baptist Church Leadership: Mentoring Impact on Beliefs and Practices of Female Ministers

Effective leadership is important in all organizations, and the Baptist church is no exception. Strong spiritual leaders can make a difference in the life of the institution and its members. Today, a growing number of African American women are answering the call to the Baptist church ministry; but the preparation, training, and mentoring are often insufficient. Ten African American women were interviewed to learn about their backgrounds, education, support, and roles as Baptist ministers in the church to discover perceptions of themselves as teachers, preachers, counselors, and leaders in the church and how they were trained and prepared to assume their leadership roles. Feminist and “servant leadership” theory provided the underpinning of this study. Research questions for study were: (1) In what ways did being mentored, or not, affect African American women ministers' perceptions of their effectiveness in ministry? (2) What relationship/role, if any, do mentors have in preparing these ministers to advance to a senior position of leadership within the Baptist Church? Major findings were that few ministers were willing to serve as mentors, although mentoring is vital for the growth in the position. Instead, women ministers were found to be self-motivated and personally inspired. Results also included role analysis of women ministers as teachers, preachers, counselors, and as mentors themselves. Sadly, the study found that in some cases women were not supporting other women in the Baptist church. Thus, being a woman in ministry is extremely challenging and this process is complicated even more when the minister is an African American woman.     

What Makes Good Ministry Good? Women in Ministry

Abstract

What are the special ethical issues faced by women in ministry? In this article conventional assumptions about ethics in ministry, taken from the work of Gaylord Noyce, are compared with the experiences, attitudes and expectations of ordered and lay members of the Anglican Church of Canada and the United Church of Canada in two Canadian regions. The similarities and differences are then explored in conjunction with more contemporary theories. Conventional approaches to pastoral ethics and women in ministry limit concern to issues of discrimination in wages, employment and advancement. This article concludes that while such discrimination exists, it is not nearly as great a concern for women as the fear of sexual harassment. This fear is not only great but well founded. The research supports the claim that for a woman to be engaged in good ministry, she is required to do it differently from men.     

When a child comes out in the latter-days: an exploratory case study of Mormon parents

Under the modern gay rights movement, cultural and societal values regarding sexuality, marriage, and family have rapidly evolved while the fundamental doctrine of monogamous, heterosexual marriage espoused by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has not. Questions arise as to how orthodox Mormon families come to terms with their child coming out in light of the Church’s policy on same-sex marriage and families. This article employs an exploratory case-study method to examine the experience of one such orthodox Mormon family whose child came out as gay. The findings herein suggest that it is possible for families and individuals in these circumstances to develop and maintain loving and supportive relationships in spite of religious differences. These findings better equip academics, professionals, clergy, and families to address the mental health concerns of and create inclusive spaces in families, congregations, and communities for youth who identify as sexual minorities.     

Reinterpreting the purpose of premarital counseling

Summary Premarital pastoral counseling is a broader activity than is often suspected, going beyond a set of interviews designed to prepare a couple for marriage. Its purpose is to extend the resources of the Gospel and the Church to a couple at a critical period in their lives. In the case of Bill and Gretchen, this meant reassessing their guilt over having had intercourse prior to marriage and setting it within the context of God's forgiveness. It meant helping Bill's mother to meet certain of her personal needs, and it meant helping Bill to understand his own interpersonal relationships more clearly. Later observation showed that, as a couple, Bill and Gretchen were able to sustain a meaningful relationship with each other and to meet the continuing stresses placed upon their marriage as they tried to help Bill's mother and father.The adoption of the purpose advocated here enables the pastor to avoid the contagion of emergency feelings, to set meaningful partial goals for his work with a couple in various stages of the premarital counseling relationship, and to set premarital counseling squarely within the context of his total pastoral ministry.     

Assessing the Psychological Type Profile of Canadian Baptist Youth: A Study Employing the Francis Psychological Type Scales for Adolescents (FPTSA)

A growing body of international research employing psychological type theory within the context of congregation studies has drawn attention to the way in which churches draw larger numbers of feeling types than thinking types (among both men and women). These studies have focused on adult churchgoers. The present study extends this field of research among 1630 Canadian Baptist youth attending church-based summer youth programmes (aged 12 to 19 years) who completed the Francis Psychological Type Scales for Adolescents. In this new study, 87 % of male youth and 93 % of female youth preferred feeling. The implications of these findings are assessed for the ministry of the Church among thinking types.     

Searching for salvation: An analysis of US religious searching on the World Wide Web

Ministerial itinerancy is characteristic of, although not exclusive to, the British Methodist Church. Rational choice theorists Finke and Starke have claimed that, historically, itinerancy has served to promote and reinforce instrumental commitment to the local church. This article develops and assesses a rational choice analysis of the effects of ministerial itinerancy on the organisational commitment of Methodist congregations and their ministers. It concludes that rational choice theory can only offer a partial analysis and fails to take into account less instrumental forms of organisational commitment. The article surveys the current debate within the Methodist Church about the future of ministerial itinerancy and suggests that the Church may be in the process of recognising that ‘moving ministers’ is not necessarily good at ‘moving congregations’ to embrace the national Church's priorities. The article predicts that itinerancy will remain an important feature, but not a defining characteristic, of the Methodist ministry and will no longer tend to ‘go with the job’.     

Women’s Ministry in Ecumenical Perspective

Although discussion about the ministry of women seems to have come to a standstill as a result of arguments that don’t seem to change, the actual practices of the churches have evolved beyond doctrinal positions. In the Roman Catholic Church, many women have been appointed to positions in pastoral care and education, and even to decision‐making bodies. In the Orthodox Church, prerogatives previously reserved for nuns are beginning to be applied to lay women. But if we can entrust women with pastoral responsibilities, why is it not possible to move to include them in priestly ministry? To answer this question, we need to analyze the implicit levels of refusing the priesthood to women.     

Mental health counselling in the Black American Church: reflections and recommendations from counsellors serving in a counselling ministry

The goal of this study was to examine the relationship between “The Black Church”, the mental health needs of its members, and addressing those needs from the perspective of counsellors within the church. Four in-depth interviews were conducted with members of the mental health counselling team at one large, African American-serving church in the Midwest to explore their thoughts about their church pastor’s desire to expand their current ministry to a fully operating counselling centre. The findings suggest that “the Black Church” not only has a role and responsibility in addressing the mental health needs of African Americans within and outside of the church but can also use religiosity as a facilitator rather than a barrier to mental health service use among African Americans.     

Predictors of heavy drinking and drinking problems over the first 4 years of marriage.

This study investigated the factors predictive of heavy drinking and drinking problems over the early years of marriage, focusing on premarital drinking and the relatively stable individual risk and protective factors that were present prior to marriage and on social-interpersonal factors that may change or emerge over marriage. Newlywed couples were assessed at the time of marriage and at the 1st, 2nd, and 4th anniversaries with respect to frequency of heavy drinking and the extent of drinking problems and a variety of factors that have been found to be predictive of adult alcohol problems. The results indicated that antisocial characteristics, family history of alcoholism, negative affect, and alcohol expectancies were related to heavy drinking and alcohol problems at the time of marriage. Changes after marriage were predicted by the drinking of one's partner and of one's peers and by alcohol expectancies for social/physical pleasure for both men and women. In addition, the quality of the marriage was longitudinally protective from the experience of alcohol problems for both men and women, although it was not related to changes in heavy drinking.     

Pope Francis: a pastor according to the heart of Christ

Catholic Canon Law stipulates that the Pope is ‘the pastor of the universal Church on earth’. Pope Francis took up the challenge which this statement poses to those exercising the Petrine ministry by asking for prayers that he might be ‘a pastor according to the heart of Christ’. How is a Pope ‘a pastor according to the heart of Christ’? What particular opportunities does the Petrine ministry offer for this? What are the pastoral aspects of the papacy? What does it seem we can expect from Pope Francis in this regard? As this article shows, the task of ‘a pastor according to the heart of Christ’ has an impact on several aspects of the implementation of the Petrine ministry, such as using the Pope’s power in the service of unity, encouraging collegiality in communion as the visible centre of the entire Christian Church in dialogue with other religions, that the world may believe.     

Democracy and the Church of Sweden

The Church of Sweden was democratized in the 1930s when party politics was introduced into church elections. Since then, party politics have more and more been part of the governing style of the Church of Sweden. In 2000 the church was disestablished and a new election system was introduced with direct elections to the General Synod. The system of political parties remained. This article questions the democracy of the church using criteria for democratic structures. It also focuses on the role of the ordained ministry in the governance of the church, as the bishops have not been full members of the Synod since 1982. The conclusions are that the Church of Sweden is not fully democratic since participation in elections is at about 10% and the electorate has few chances to understand what the elections are about. The bishops’ weak formal position in the Synod is not in accordance with the teachings of the church on episcopacy. The conflict between democratic principles, inherited from the Swedish constitution, and church teaching on the ordained ministry and its role has not been fully resolved so far.     

How effective are our marriage ministries? A critical survey

Since the introduction of marriage and family counseling into some seminary curricula thirty years ago, the majority of clergy have developed premarital counseling as a part of their marriage ministries, and educational committees have established marriage and family courses in church school programs. Two questionnaires, used in three clergy conferences, provide data for a critical survey of representative clergy involved in ministry to marriage. Analysis of the data and interviews with a continuing education director and a marriage counseling trainer provide reasons why clergy may not be fully qualified and, therefore, may be only partially effective as marriage counselors. The kinds of educational experience necessary for ministers to become more effective in marriage ministry are examined. Finally, the minister's role in marriage in a secular society is interpreted as undergoing a shift for which many clergy are unprepared.     

Christ and the Homosexual: An Early Manifesto for an Affirming Christian Ministry to Homosexuals

In his book Christ and the Homosexual (1960), Rev. Robert Wood presented American Christians with a view of homosexuality that was revolutionary: in short, he argued that homosexuals held a rightful place in church and society and that they should abandon neither Christianity nor the church. More specifically, the author called for the advancement of civil rights for homosexuals; the construction of pro-homosexual theologies; the education, ordination, and career placement of “out” homosexuals; and marriage equality for same-sex couples. This article situates these topics within Wood’s lifelong (and ongoing) ministry of promoting the full acceptance of homosexuals in American society and in The United Church of Christ, his own denomination. The following sources from the Robert Wood Archive at The Congregational Library in Boston, MA, USA, have been used in this article: the author’s notes and early drafts of Christ and the Homosexual; his voluminous correspondence from the 1940s through the 1990s; and an unpublished biography of Wood. In addition, this article’s author draws upon an oral history interview conducted with Robert Wood in July 2012.     

Discerning the Ministries of Women

In 1988, the historic Rhodes Inter-Orthodox Symposium on the Place of Women in the Orthodox Church encouraged, among other things, fuller participation of women in the life of the church. This article reports on the results of a study that solicited the views of Orthodox Christians regarding the participation of women in the life of the church. Nearly three-quarters of respondents clearly stated or intimated that they would like to see more opportunities for women to serve in the church. One-third of the respondents identified the issue of deaconesses in their essays. Responses here revealed a great diversity of experience, education, and opinion. Nevertheless, more than half of the respondents commenting on deaconesses showed an openness to this ministry. This may be a powerful measurement indicating that exploring the pastoral need for this and other ministries may well be long overdue.     

The Church in the Closet

Abstract

This article employs the metaphor of ‘the closet’ to explore the ambivalent status of the contemporary Church. The requirements of prophetic ministry and mission require that the Church leaves the security of the closet and claims its vocation as a counter cultural movement. However, remaining within the closet the Church enjoys the security and protection of the dominant powers. It is hard to relinquish these comforts particularly in contexts where ‘coming out’ may result in persecution or even martyrdom.     

The Fate of the Anglican Clergy and the Class of '97: Some Implications of the Changing Sociological Profile of Ordinands

This paper identifies some of the most salient trends in the changing sociological profile of Church of England ordinands over the past 30 years. While the Church itself monitors age and gender, there have been few independent studies carried out since the 1960s which explore these and other variables in any depth. By measuring changes in age, gender, churchmanship, ethnicity, plans for future ministry and setting these alongside wider changes in Church life, occupational mobility in society, and Church policy on ordination training (especially towards families and women's vocations), it is possible to highlight some likely implications for the future. What appears to be predictable with some degree of certainty is the continued growth of the evangelical tradition, increasing involvement in chaplaincy (which itself signals an interesting dynamic in the 'location' of religion and religious professionals in social life), and much more willingness within the Church to experiment with different patterns of ministry and more flexible modes of theological training.     

Health counseling competencies needed by the minister

The purpose of this study was to characterize current health counseling practices of the Church of Christ minister and to identify areas of needed health counseling competencies which should be addressed during professional preparation of the minister. The subjects who made up the sample for this study came from the population of active local ministers of the Churches of Christ who resided in the states of Arkansas, California, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Texas.Specifically, it was found that the Church of Christ minister is most frequently called upon to offer counsel in the health-related areas of marital problems, patient counseling, death education, alcohol problems, drug use or abuse, and aging, respectively. It was also found that the majority of the ministers surveyed felt that their training for the ministry had not adequately prepared them to offer health counsel. The majority of the sample indicated that all health topics listed on the questionnaire should be required during initial preparation for the ministry. Other findings were also noted.     

Sustaining churchgoing young Anglicans in England and Wales: Assessing influence of the home

ABSTRACT

Responding to the problem facing the Church of England, as identified by the Church Growth Research Programme, regarding sustaining churchgoing young Anglicans, and also responding to the Renewal and Reform agenda to address this problem, the present study discusses the roles of three agencies in delivering effective Christian education and Christian formation: local churches, local schools, and the home. Building on a fruitful stream of research within Australia and the UK, the present study drew on two samples of young Anglicans: 2,019 9- to 11-year-old students attending church primary schools in Wales, and 2,323 13- to 15-year-old students attending church secondary schools mainly in England. The data demonstrated that young Anglicans who practised their Anglican identity by attending church did so primarily because their parents were Anglican churchgoers. Moreover, young Anglican churchgoers were most likely to keep going to church if their churchgoing parents (especially mother) talked with them about their faith. The implications from these findings, for an Anglican Church strategy for ministry among children and young people, is that alongside resourcing local churches and promoting deeply Christian schools, it may also be wise for the Church to invest in the education and formation of churchgoing Anglican parents.