NR #1996-025: Lake Erie Ordains First Christian Reformed Clergywoman Classis Lake Erie has ordained Lesli van Milligen as the first Christian Reformed clergywoman. The March 2 decision means that Lesli, wife of Rev. Tom van Milligen, will serve as an evangelist in North Hills CRC of Troy, Michigan, along with Pastor George Vander Weit. As an evangelist, van Milligen will be able to perform all functions of pastoral ministry including administration of the sacraments and solemnization of marriages. The only limitation on her service will be that she cannot serve as the senior pastor or sole pastor of an organized congregation - a problem easily solved in her case for any church willing to call her husband as the senior pastor. Only a technicality prevents van Milligen from being immediately ordained as a full minister of the Word: despite graduation with a master of divinity degree from Fuller and two years of study at Calvin Seminary, she needs to complete a few additional courses at Calvin required for regular ordination to the Christian Reformed ministry. NR #1996-025: For Immediate Release Lake Erie Ordains First Christian Reformed Clergywoman by Darrell Todd Maurina, Press Officer United Reformed News Service TROY, Mich. (March 29, 1996) URNS - "My sisters, if they could be here today, could testify that I have preached to them for a long time," said the candidate for ordination at the spring meeting of Classis Lake Erie, recounting childhood games of playing church in which the candidate had always played the role of pastor. Those words might not raise eyebrows at most ordination examinations, but they made history when spoken on March 2 by the first female candidate for ordination in the 292,000-member Christian Reformed denomination. "I don't know what happened to me, but I never realized that was something women didn't do," said Lesli van Milligen. "It never occurred to me that I couldn't be in the pulpit." In her examination, van Milligen recounted her family background in Colorado Springs and Denver, ministry experience in various church settings, education at Calvin College, Fuller Theological Seminary, and Calvin Seminary, views of family life with her husband, Rev. Tom van Milligen, and her theology and philosophy of ministry. Following a brief closed session - customary for classical ordination examinations - Classis Lake Erie voted unanimously to ordain her as an evangelist. As an evangelist, van Milligen will be able to perform all functions of pastoral ministry including administration of the sacraments and solemnization of marriages. The only limitation on her service will be that she cannot serve as the senior pastor or sole pastor of an organized congregation - a problem easily solved in her case for any church willing to call her husband as the senior pastor. Only a technicality prevents van Milligen from being immediately ordained as a full minister of the Word: despite graduation with a master of divinity degree from Fuller and two years of study at Calvin Seminary, she needs to complete a few additional courses at Calvin required for regular ordination to the Christian Reformed ministry. At least for now, van Milligen's inability to accept a call as a senior or sole pastor will not be a problem. She, along with her husband, will serve as co-pastors of North Hills CRC in the Detroit suburb of Troy along with Pastor George Vander Weit, pastor of the church since 1989 and stated clerk of the classis. The two van Milligens will share a single full-time position, both being called as half-time pastors. Classis Lake Erie's role in ordaining the first Christian Reformed clergywoman was no surprise. Lake Erie has been a leader for years in the Christian Reformed efforts to ordain women, and Vander Weit wrote the overtures to Synod 1990 to allow the ordination of women and to Synod 1994 to allow evangelists to serve in organized churches as well as emerging mission works. Vander Weit was also a leading figure in the Synod 1995 decision to allow each classis to decide for itself whether to allow the ordination of women based on local needs and circumstances. "Providentially, the overture I wrote for someone else is being used in our own congregation for Lesli," said Vander Weit. "I think team ministry gives us opportunity to do a lot more things, to do a lot more training of our membership, and I think that's where we're going to see the benefits where each of us has a particular area of responsibility." "We didn't go out saying 'let's find a woman,' we searched for a couple years looking for the right person and when we found Tom and Lesli we found the right persons," said Vander Weit. "We just thought it was something that would work and the fact that she is a woman is not something we went after but something that happened. We rejoiced that it happened, but it wasn't something we did to make a point or make a statement." Although Vander Weit is known throughout the CRC for heavy involvement in writing overtures and other ecclesiastical activities - many of the thirteen overtures coming this year from Classis Lake Erie originated with him - Vander Weit said North Hills' goals in calling two additional staff members did not include freeing him up to write more overtures. "I think I have always found the time to do things I think are important, so whether or not they would be here would have no effect on that," laughed Vander Weit. "We hire people to free up the ministry of North Hills, not to free up the pastor to be involved in denominational pursuits." While North Hills CRC plans to avoid detailed division of ministry responsibilities between the three co-pastors, Vander Weit said that Lesli van Milligen's duties will focus on coffee break women's ministry, evangelistic outreach through the church's child care facilities, and assisting the church school teaching staff. Van Milligen - who worked her way through seminary as a Spanish language teacher and served in two churches in Spain - will also teach a course in Spanish at the church. Van Milligen said the concept of team ministry with her husband offered unique opportunities for service - as well as some unique challenges for her two daughters. "The first thing Alie said when she learned that both Tom and I would be preaching was 'Who would sit with us if both of you are in the pulpit?" said van Milligen. "When you're married to the person you work with primarily, you have to work very hard to be in prayer with each other and for each other, and constantly strengthening our marriage and family relationship," said van Milligen. "For me this is a plus, always working to improve what we should be working to improve anyway." According to van Milligen, one of the reasons that she and her husband chose to accept a call to North Hills CRC and to Classis Lake Erie is the broad-based support for women in office in the church and the classis. "We need to get past the stage where we say how strange this is and say instead, wow, this works," said van Milligen. "I'm not someone people highlight because I just happen to wear a dress some of the time, because being a trophy gets in the way of real ministry." While Lesli van Milligen noted that she was having difficulty getting used to being called "pastor," Tom van Milligen - who had previously served four years as pastor of Telkwa CRC in the Canadian province of British Columbia - will be in the unique position of being the first husband of a Christian Reformed clergywoman. "It has been a learning experience," said Tom van Milligen. "It didn't hit me until I was actually in it that I would be responsible for seeing that the children would be taken care of and the housework would be done and their schedules would be adhered to. It's been a privilege to be able to learn how to support her in ministry and to pray for her as she has prayed for me and to work for her success as she has worked for mine in the past." Although both van Milligens said they wanted to avoid placing too much emphasis on their role as the first ordained clergy couple in the CRC, both also recognized that they would be setting precedents for the future. "I take very seriously that people are looking in this direction and what I do has significance beyond what happens at North Hills," said Lesli van Milligen. "Very few of us have had women who could show us the way to go, I constantly pray for wisdom for balancing the roles of being a pastor and being a pastor who is a woman." "We have some models in other denominations but we have no models in the Christian Reformed Church to pursue; even through the notion of a husband and wife working together is really an old one, for a number of years it was assumed that a wife was in ministry with her husband but in a fairly particular way," said Tom van Milligen. "The team aspect gives us the freedom to cover each other's weaknesses and accentuate each other's strengths." "I can now say I really think that Lesli's gifts are more prevalent in this area and there are ways she can say this as well." Cross-References to Related Articles: #1995-022: Classis Lake Erie Sends Forty Pages of Overtures to Synod #1995-025: Lake Erie: Allow Women in Office and Women Expounding #1995-070: Christian Reformed Classes Permitted to Declare Church Order Ban on Women's Ordination "Inoperative"; Synod Decision Given Immediate Effect without Two-Year Ratification Process #1995-087: Most Christian Reformed Classes Decline Synodical Option to End Prohibition on Women in Office #1995-088: List of Classis Decisions on Women in Office #1996-027: Total of Christian Reformed Classes Allowing Women's Ordination Reaches Thirteen #1996-028: List of Classis Decisions on Women in Office Contact List: Pastor George Vander Weit, North Hills Christian Reformed Church 2901 Waterloo Dr., Troy, MI 48084 * O: (810) 645-1990 * H: (810) 649-5388 * E-Mail: NoHillsCRC@aol.com Evang. Lesli van Milligen, Co-Pastor, North Hills Christian Reformed Church 4402 Willow Creek Dr., Troy, MI 48098 * O: (810) 645-1990 * H: (810) 528-2474 * FAX: (810) 645-1991 Rev. Tom van Milligen, Co-Pastor, North Hills Christian Reformed Church 4402 Willow Creek Dr., Troy, MI 48098 * O: (810) 645-1990 * H: (810) 528-2474 * FAX: (810) 645-1991 ------------------------------------------------ file: /pub/resources/text/reformed: nr96-025.txt .