Resolution on Covenant Freedom & Women in Ministry

Whereas we recognize that the Evangelical Covenant Church has chosen to ordain women; and

Whereas we believe that the Scripture clearly calls and gifts women to significant ministry in the church; and

Whereas we acknowledge that many women who have been called and gifted by God have had limited opportunities for significant ministry in the church; and

Whereas we affirm the role of denominational leadership in providing leadership and encouraging education to increase the potential for women to utilize their gifts in significant ministry; and

Whereas we also recognize that within the broader evangelical church community and within the Evangelical Covenant Church there are different Biblical points of view as to the nature of the role of women in ministry in the church, (for example-the eqalitarian view in which no restrictions to ministry are based on gender, and the complementarian view in which some restrictions to ministries of authority in the church are based on gender), and

Whereas we in the Evangelical Covenant Church have had a long tradition of cherishing freedom "which allows for differences of opinion in matters of interpretation, doctrine and practice within the context of biblical guidelines and historical Christianity" (Covenant Affirmations, a brief form),

Therefore be it resolved that the 118th Annual Meeting of the Evangelical Covenant Church express its desire that conformity to a particular view of women in ministry within these biblical guidelines shall not be grounds for exclusion of any church, new or existing, from association with the Evangelical Covenant Church or exclusion of any qualified applicant for ministerial license, ordination, or commissioning.

- Submitted by the Graham Evangelical Covenant Church, Graham, Washington

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