The highly-respected minister, scholar, and leader Dr. Calvin B. Rock recently offered some valuable counsel regarding women’s ordination in this video and the message below:

“I think that the essential understanding is that of giftedness. The scriptures do not say in Joel 2, ‘God’s going to pour out his spirit in some limited manner on one group or the other.’ Giftedness, as described in I Corinthians and Ephesians and other places, does not come to us with gender label.

“For me, the whole ordination question boils down to one simple question: Does this person have the gift? And the other part of that question is: If so, who are we not to recognize it? Continue reading


Elder Charles Bradford, retired President of the North American Division (1979-1990), gave this inspiring message on women’s ordination in 1991, reminding us that the Holy Spirit determines to whom He will give the gift of ministry, and the Church should recognize those who have received it. Elder Bradford declared: “A gift is a terrible thing to waste.” Continue reading


“Rights and Wrongs” – The Real Issue in Women’s Ordination. In this presentation in Loma Linda on January 24, 2015, Kessia Reyne Bennett explained that the real issue is not who has the right to choose ministry for themselves; the issue is God’s right to choose whom He will. This is an important contribution to the discussion on women’s ordination.

“Recognizing the Holy Spirit-ordination of women into the gospel ministry with full ecclesial authorization (what we currently call ‘ordination’) is important because to reject, de-legitimize, or neglect His movement is an affront to the Spirit’s authority and to His right to do with us whatever He wants.”

She points out that “issues of church policy, Continue reading