Ordination of Women

The Gospel reading for this week reminds us that there were a number of key women in the group of Jesus’ followers—Mary Magdalene, Joanna and Susanna are three that are named (Luke 8:2-3). Women were members and leaders of the Jesus’ movement from the very beginning.

The Uniting Church in Australia has ordained women since its inauguration. All three denominations which came into union had ordained women. The Congregational Church was the first to ordain women. They voted to ordain women in 1908 and ordained Winifred Kiek in 1926. The first woman ordained in the Methodist Church was Margaret Sanders in 1969; and in the Presbyterian Church, M.J. Thalheimer in 1974.

The Uniting Church remains committed to the ordination of women on the following grounds:

1. We ordain both women and men to the Ministry of the Word because we believe ordination without discrimination on grounds of gender is a fundamental implication of the gospel of God’s love in Christ for all human beings, without distinction. For this our understanding we appeal to Scripture as testimony to the living Word, which is Christ.
2. We remind the members of the Uniting Church, ministers, candidates for the ordained ministries and, in particular, Presbyteries — which have responsibility for the act of ordination — that the Basis of Union affirms the ordination of women.
3. We affirm that the Holy Spirit has called and continues to call women as well as men to the ministry of the Word.
4. We recognise that in ordaining women as well as men to the ministry of the Word we, in company with other Churches, have departed from an almost universal practice of the Church throughout most of its history. We believe we do so in obedience to the gospel.
(Why Does the Uniting Church in Australia Ordain Women to the Ministry of the Word? 1990)