Last Sunday (June 4), the Ohio Conference Constituency delegates met to select officers for the next quinquennium, and review departmental reports.
The Back Story
Ohio leadership has long been infatuated with female headship, and women’s ordination is the holy grail of their agenda. It is common knowledge that not being in favor of women’s ordination is pretty much a deal breaker for getting hired as a pastor in Ohio, or as a president of Columbia Union. This places a loyal Adventist in a difficult position – driving a wedge between the Ohio conference and the world church (who has three times voted against ordaining women as pastors).
Before a constituency meeting, the executive committee must approve the agenda. Church members who wish to add an item to the agenda must submit the suggestion to their church board. If the church votes to approve the agenda suggestion, it is sent to the conference. The conference then brings the request to the executive committee, who votes on whether to add the item to the agenda. There are two opportunities for this, 90-days prior to the constituency meeting and 45-days before the meeting.
90 Days before the 2023 constituency meeting, the Bowling Green Seventh-day Adventist church sent a proposed agenda item to the Ohio Conference.
Dave Weigley (Columbia Union President) was present for the executive meeting that considered this request. The committee, populated with numerous conference employees voted to reject this agenda item 17-3.
45 Days before the constituency meeting (April 30), four other Ohio churches submitted a request that the Ohio Conference would discontinue ordaining women in violation of the world Seventh-day Adventist church ordination standards. Weigley was present again. The conference secretary (who dates back to the Raj Attiken presidency) said that WO is not a doctrinal issue. The administration also advised that this agenda item not be placed on the agenda—the request was defeated again 19-1 with one abstention.
Biblical Sexuality
The Bowling Greene church submitted a different request on April 30. That the Ohio Conference would add an agenda item to affirm the Adventist Church’s statement on biblical sexuality. The Ohio leadership did not want this item on the agenda.
It was suggested by a pastor that the Ohio executive committee itself could vote to affirm the Seventh-day Adventist statement on biblical sexuality. This suggestion gained traction and was voted on and passed by the Executive Committee. This potentially encouraging development was not made public to the members of Ohio.
The Constituency Meeting on June 4
After the agenda for the meeting passed, a delegate went to the microphone and made a motion that the Ohio Conference would discontinue ordaining women, and come into harmony with the world SDA church ordination standards. It was seconded. Seven people were allowed to speak for the motion and seven against. Two minutes each. I was the sixth person in support of the motion.
“I see three issues here.
One. The Ohio Conference is creating an unethical dilemma for it's members. By violating the ordination standards of the Adventist church, you are forcing each member in Ohio to choose between the world church they are a part of and a small sub-entity of that world church. A fragment. This violates the conscience of our members, and you are doing it without regard for the convictions of the members in our churches.
Second. The Columbia Union is currently under a formal warning from the GC Executive Committee because of their insubordination of the ordination standards of the world SDA Church. This went into effect in October 2019. Ohio's repeated unlawful ordinations (including another one last year) have contributed to this formal warning from the GC Executive committee. The leaders of this Union are here in this room today.
Lastly. Everone in this room knows it. There is a rainbow colored freight train heading towards us at full speed. We need to know what we believe from the Bible on gender distinctions. The WO and the LGBTQ agendas are feeding off of each other. They use the same arguments to advance their agenda. They both share the same ethical trajectory. And they are both biblically wrong. We need to know what we believe from the Bible in order to withstand this runaway rainbow train headed straight towards us. Thank you.”
Others spoke persuasively about the need to remain in harmony with the world Seventh-day Adventist Church. Opponents of adding the motion to the agenda made several emotional pleas, and one said that Ellen White’s calling meant that WO is legitimate. One individual speaking against the motion fainted during her speech. She was taken to the local hospital. Fortunately, she was fine.
The Vote
The vote was surprisingly close.
162 in favor of adding the motion to the agenda of the day.
188 opposed.
40.5% to 47%. Take away the large amount of conference employees in the room who generally vote in a way that pleases their boss, and this motion passes easily.
Takeaway
The Ohio Conference has ordained at least eight women in direct violation of the world Seventh-day Adventist Church ordination standard, including one in 2022.
Ohio is an island of insubordination surrounded by 4 states that have chosen to remain in harmony with the Seventh-day Adventist Church.
The Ohio Conference adminstration is causing division, not the loyal members of Ohio. Conference insubordination creates war against itself.
The close vote on Sunday sends the message that current Ohio Conference leadership does not have a mandate to continue violating the world church ordination standards.
The members in the pew are doing their part to resist the insubordination in many NAD Unions and Conferences. The GC needs to do their part and discipline these rebellious Unions
The Ohio Conference Executive Committee voted on April 30th to affirm the Seventh-day Adventist Church’s position on biblical sexuality. Our members need to know this and be encouraged by it. Other Conferences may wish to do likewise.
Progressives in the church have unwittingly been playing with fire for 35 years by adopting elements of our culture and tampering with God’s gender distinctions. And culture is not neutral, friends—it comes from somewhere.
The rise of the neo-pagan sacred feminine in our culture (through 2nd and 3rd wave feminism) has helped influence and motivate the clamor for WO in the church. Now, the church is being confronted by an ideological neo-pagan leviathan in the LGBTQ+ agenda. This militant agenda is at war with the distinctions of God. Non-binary sexuality is leading to non-binary spirituality, and it is in this context that we are called to preach the Everlasting Gospel.
Take heart, friends. Stand up for God’s truth. Resist the non-binary neo-pagan culture around you and reach out to people are being wounded by gender confusion in all of its permutations.
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“Let the redeemed of the LORD say so” (Psalm 107).