UK: Reform Clergy Struggle to get Incumbencies because Women’s Ordination Is Now First Order Issue
by Julian Mann, Virtueonline:
Large conservative evangelical churches in the Reform network are now seeing highly capable young men whom they have supported into ordained ministry finding it increasingly difficult to get appointed as vicars because of their opposition to the ordination of women.
Even when applicants are not being explicit about holding to ‘male headship’ in the family and the church, they are reportedly having it ‘flushed out of them’ during the appointment process.
The Reform Covenant states that the network’s ‘understanding of God’s way of life for his people’ includes: ‘The unique value of women’s ministry in the local congregation but also the divine order of male headship, which makes the headship of women as priests in charge, incumbents, dignitaries and bishops inappropriate.’
One minister who recently expressed interest in an incumbency in an urban parish with a large Muslim population was told by the diocesan bishop that his ‘male headship credentials’ would not fit. This minister did not need to be ‘flushed out’ because he had been open about his Reform membership.
Arguably, the most disturbing aspect of this recent development in the Church of England is that support for female ordination is now being treated as a first order issue in appointments. For some curates in training posts this potentially means homelessness if they cannot find an incumbency.
Given the reality for applicants who hold to the ‘complementarian’ view of the equality yet difference between the sexes, curates would surely be advised to be honest about where they stand. Why wait to be ‘flushed out’ if you truly believe the male headship stance is an honorable one with substantial biblical support?
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