by David Robertson on Substack
When I worked with Sydney Anglicans I came across what was termed ‘the Sydney Morning Herald test’: Will anything we are going to do land us in the SMH? Well, the Presbyterians in NSW have failed that test. We have ended up in the SMH. A hit piece was published about the NSW Presbyterian General Assembly – https://www.smh.com.au/national/this-christian-church-has-banned-women-elders-it-s-a-dangerous-move-20260723-p60hwd.html
On 28 July 2026 I submitted an edited version of the following article as a response to their attack. We wait to see if they will be diverse enough to publish it! Meanwhile AP have been gracious enough to publish the longform version here.
I was recently a member of the NSW Presbyterian Church Assembly which according to an opinion piece published in the SMH, puts women at greater risk of domestic violence. Apparently, I “committed an act of overt sexism and undermined the health and safety of women”. As someone who was born of a woman, is married to a woman, has two female daughters, four female granddaughters, and numerous female friends, you will forgive me for taking this a bit personally. Perhaps you will allow me to present the other side of the story?
The General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church voted to return to the biblical qualification of elders being men, not because we deny that women can lead in many spheres, nor because we believe that women are inferior, nor because we are a patriarchal institution seeking to return to the Stone Age, but simply because we believe it is what Christ commands. Nothing more. Nothing less.
This is not a new position. Kylie Maddox Pidgeon is absolutely correct to point out the history of the Presbyterian Ladies College. A school which has spent more than 140 years educating girls for lives of leadership. But for the majority of that time, the Presbyterian Church, which founded this college, did not have women elders. How is it possible that they could have a college which educated women for leadership whilst having this apparently neanderthal approach? If it is a contradiction now, then surely it was a contradiction then?
The problem is that Miss Pidgeon is reading the issue through the lens of a post-modern feminist. She is perfectly entitled to do that. But she is not entitled to demand that the church share either her ideology or her doctrines. As a church of Jesus Christ, we are obligated to follow His Word – whatever the passing fashions of the culture around us.