DELEGATES at the 60th Session of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists turned down a motion that would have allowed each division of the church to decide for itself whether to ordain women to the gospel ministry in its territory.

By a margin of 1,381 to 977, with five abstentions, delegates ended a five-year process characterised by vigorous and sometimes acrimonious debate. General Conference President Ted N C Wilson appealed to church members to unite in the mission of the Church after the vote, taken by secret ballot, was counted at the Alamodome stadium in San Antonio, Texas, on July 8, 2015.

“Now is the time to unify under the blood-stained banner of Jesus Christ and His power, not our power,” said Pastor Wilson. “Now is the time to unify in our mission as Christ’s church.”

What does the vote mean?

The vote means that it’s business as usual for Adventist churches worldwide, including Jamaica.

In an address to delegates on Friday, July 10, Pastor Wilson said that the vote on the issue of women’s ordination meant “we maintain the current policy”. He said that the vote simply barred the church’s world divisions from making decisions on the ordination of women. It has nothing to do with women being ordained as local elders — a practice based on church policy that has been in place for several decades.

Furthermore, he said, the vote was not related to commissioned ministers, who can be male or female under the church’s policy, and urged division presidents to clarify the meaning of the vote in their territories.

Some people have mistakenly characterised the vote as a decision to limit women from having a say in the Adventist Church’s decision-making process and leadership at all levels.

“Not so,” said Pastor Everett Brown, president of the Adventist Church in Jamaica. “Women are very much involved in leadership positions and decision-making at all levels. Female pastors have been serving the church in many divisions of the world church in leadership positions, including serving as pastors of local churches. In their service to the congregation, they use their gifts in preaching, teaching and church administration, while not being ordained to the gospel ministry.”

Brown continued: “Many of our local Churches, though led by male pastors, have female elders with many of those being first elders. Women also are members and active participants on boards and committees at every single level of the church. The church has a women’s ministries department and none for men. Churches have men’s ministries coordinators who operate under the family ministries department.”

In September 2013, the church in Inter-American Division, which includes Jamaica, celebrated the Year of the Laity where elders, including women, were given the opportunity to baptise people they had introduced and helped to become members of the church.

“The Church in Jamaica continues to support females in all areas of ministry, including females serving as pastors, but accepts the recent decision of the church not to allow divisions to ordain female pastors to the gospel ministry,” Brown added.

As at December 2014, the Seventh-day Adventists Church worldwide has more than 18 million members in more than 216 countries, and worshipping in over 148,000 churches and companies. The Church has more than 18,000 ordained ministers.

Nigel Coke is the communication, public affairs and religious liberty director of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Jamaica.