NR #1996-026: Northern Michigan: No Ordination for Mary-Lee Bouma When Classis Northern Michigan met on March 5 in the tiny northern Michigan hamlet of Highland, representatives from 17 churches in one of the CRC's most rural classes voted against allowing the ordination of women within its classis - an issue that might never have been on its agenda if it were not for the specific case of Mary-Lee Bouma, the unordained full-time pastor of Trinity CRC in Mt. Pleasant. Bouma has served since 1994 under a provision adopted by Synod 1992 allowing women to "teach, expound the Word of God, and provide pastoral care, under the supervision of the elders" of the local church. While a number of Christian Reformed congregations have used the "expounding" provision to have women seminarians lead services and a few have hired female seminary interns, Mt. Pleasant was only the second of three Christian Reformed congregations to hire a woman as an unordained pastor. NR #1996-026: For Immediate Release Northern Michigan: No Ordination for Mary-Lee Bouma by Darrell Todd Maurina, Press Officer United Reformed News Service HIGHLAND, Mich. (April 2, 1996) URNS - Three days after Classis Lake Erie voted to ordain the first Christian Reformed clergywoman, Classis Northern Michigan voted against following suit. When Classis Northern Michigan met on March 5 in the tiny northern Michigan hamlet of Highland, representatives from 17 churches in one of the CRC's most rural classes dealt with an issue that might never have been on its agenda if it were not for the specific case of Mary-Lee Bouma, the unordained full-time pastor of Trinity CRC in Mt. Pleasant. The contrast between the Lake Erie and Northern Michigan decisions was largely due to differences in the makeup of the two classes. Classis Lake Erie, a group of 24 mostly urban congregations in Ohio and eastern Michigan, has been a leading advocate for years of opening all offices of the church to women. The Highland setting of snow-covered gravel roads leading to a picturesque wooden church could hardly have been more different from that of Mt. Pleasant, where a modern church structure located near the Central Michigan University campus primarily serves the university community. Bouma has served since 1994 under a provision adopted by Synod 1992 allowing women to "teach, expound the Word of God, and provide pastoral care, under the supervision of the elders" of the local church. While a number of Christian Reformed congregations have used the "expounding" provision to have women seminarians lead services and a few have hired female seminary interns, Mt. Pleasant was only the second of three Christian Reformed congregations to hire a woman as an unordained pastor. The third, North Hills CRC of Troy, Michigan, was subsequently able to ordain Lesli van Milligen as an evangelist - not an option for the other two churches with only one ordained pastor, since evangelists can only serve in emerging mission churches or as support staff in churches with multiple pastors. Much of the classis debate centered on the unique position of the Mt. Pleasant church within Classis Northern Michigan. Classical home missions committee chairman Rev. Ken Nydam said that allowing Trinity CRC to ordain Bouma would not affect the rest of classis. "If we pass this we are not saying that the role of women elders and ministers is to be imposed upon us; that will always be something you will deal with as a council," said Nydam. "If this is a secondary issue, just as we want to be free to follow our conscience not to have women elders and pastors, we want to let Trinity church be free to have women elders and pastors." "When Mary-Lee Bouma came there, acting in the role of a pastor, the ministry there became viable again," said Nydam. "It appears that there is a blessing in the church under her ministry and it behooves us to look at her ministry on that basis." "Will we stick with church order and close down a church?" asked another delegate. "That's what may happen if we say no and Mary-Lee gets discouraged and goes somewhere else." The elders from Trinity CRC also urged classis to allow Bouma's ordination. "What is happening in Mt. Pleasant is all because of the leading of the Holy Spirit," said one elder. "I would hope that before we vote we would take some time to clear our heart, let the Holy Spirit work, and accept his decision." Such sentiments might have silenced the opposition in other classes, but that didn't happen in Northern Michigan. Rev. Merlin Buwalda responded to Nydam with a vigorous defense of the church order's prohibition of women in teaching and ruling office. "I've been a pastor for 27 years, and we are nowhere close to where we were 27 years ago," said Buwalda. "I see this issue as one of several other related issues, homosexuality, using female pronouns for God, that are troubling the church today. I have been a big supporter and advocate of women serving in the church, and will be until I die, but I believe women are not allowed to serve in ruling office in the church." Buwalda also noted the pain that the women in office issue had brought to two of his former congregations which had split over the issue of women in office. "Already since 1991, our denomination has lost 26,691 members," said Buwalda. "If you've calculated that number out, you'll find that seventy percent of those people have left because they do not believe the Bible allows women to hold these offices. Thirty percent have left for all other reasons, including support for women in office." Others in classis echoed Buwalda's concerns in stronger language. "I get very emotional about this, I can hardly talk about it without my voice quivering," said Rev. James Evenhouse of Atwood CRC. "When I hear this called a secondary issue, I cannot agree because it affects our view of the authority of Scripture." Rev. Gordon Miller of New Hope Community CRC in Kincheloe noted that the classis decision on ordaining Bouma would affect not only one church. "The issue that we're dealing with here is much bigger than one exception; our vote here will affect our whole classis and denomination," said Miller. "The roots of this aren't coming from Scripture, they're coming from culture. The Reformed Churches of South Africa bought into apartheid because that's what the culture said. Do we want to be doing that?" When the proposal came to a vote, Classis Northern Michigan voted by a 17 to 15 margin against declaring the word male in the denominational church order to be inoperative. That wasn't the end of the matter, however. Later in the day, Trinity CRC presented a proposal to allow the church to ordain Bouma without having classis first declare the word male inoperative. The proposal created a fair amount of confusion among the delegates. "We've just decided this matter; the process is that classis has to first declare the word male inoperative," said Buwalda. The Trinity CRC delegates argued that local churches ordain ministers in the same method as elders except that they seek the assistance of classis in doing so - an argument opposed by both Nydam and Buwalda. After the chair ruled the Trinity CRC proposal out of order, classis defeated a challenge to the chair, ending debate on ordaining Bouma for the time being. What will happen next is not at all clear. Bouma, a 1994 graduate of Calvin Theological Seminary, has applied to the Calvin board of trustees for ministerial candidacy and is expected to be declared a candidate by Synod 1996 - unless synod adopts one of a number of overtures opposed to women in office. That would make her eligible for call in any of the 313 churches in 13 classes which have allowed women in office, but not for call to any church in the classis where she now serves. "If you do not declare male to be inoperative, you cannot have women ministers, and that's simply all there is to it," said Calvin Seminary professor of church polity Dr. Henry De Moor. "If Mary-Lee wishes to continue in Trinity Mt. Pleasant, her options are precisely.those that were open to her prior to 1995: she could expound the Word of God on a regular basis; she could not do the sacraments or any official acts of ministry," said De Moor. "The other option would be for Mary-Lee to consider a change of position, to consider a call in a classis which has declared the word male inoperative." De Moor noted that even if Bouma were ordained in another classis, the Mt. Pleasant church would still not be allowed to call her. "The act of extending a call has to be approved by a classical counsellor, and no classical counsellor in a classis which has not declared the word male to be inoperative is going to approve a call to a woman minister," said De Moor. "If they did, classis would overturn that call." One possible option would be for the Mount Pleasant church to join a classis which has declared the word male to be inoperative - an option which has been explored by Mt. Pleasant. "As far as I know there is no law prohibiting any church from being asked to be redistricted from one classis to another," said De Moor. "To cite a purely hypothetical situation, I would be leery if a church in Colorado that does not have the approval to ordain women ministers would ask to be a part of Classis Lake Erie; that would seem to be a silly sort of thing. I could see where a church could ask to be moved from Northern Michigan to Lake Erie. I don't know what sort of validity that might have and what reasons might be adduced for it, but if synod were persuaded it would be possible." "If Trinity Mt. Pleasant wished to change its classical affiliation it would have to make geographic sense," said De Moor. "There would have to be reasons that go beyond the simple matter of one classis declaring the word male inoperative. Whether there might be other factors besides the geography that would come into play, that would have to be decided by synod." According to Pastor George Vander Weit, stated clerk of Classis Lake Erie, Bouma had sought his advice on the matter. "She respects me as a person who knows church polity," said Vander Weit. "She talked about various possibilities and this was one possibility, is it possible for Mt. Pleasant to transfer into Lake Erie. This is a possibility but there has been no official request, there's no committee of classis that has even considered this." However, a Mt. Pleasant transfer to Lake Erie - which would also have implications for conservative churches in classes which have voted to allow the ordination of women - may not provide an easy solution for the church or the classis. Vander Weit said he had urged Bouma to return to the classis and encourage it to revise its decision. "I think that this classis would say that a classis ought to wrestle with its own theological issues and come to whatever resolution is best for that classis," said Vander Weit. "It seems to me that Classis Northern Michigan, if it is really interested in the integrity of the Mt. Pleasant ministry, should have no problem ordaining Mary-Lee to that ministry, and any delegate who is opposed to women serving in that capacity can just abstain from voting. It would be very unfair of them to vote 'no' if it is only the issue, not the person, they oppose." Cross-References to Related Articles: #1994-043: Second Woman Pastor to Serve Christian Reformed Church; Mary-Lee Bouma to "teach, expound the Word of God, and provide pastoral care" as an unordained solo pastor of Trinity CRC, Mt. Pleasant, Michigan #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 #1996-025: Lake Erie Ordains First Christian Reformed Clergywoman #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: Miss Mary-Lee Bouma, Expounder, Trinity Christian Reformed Church 211 W. Broomfield, Mt. Pleasant, MI 48858 * O: (517) 772-0664 Rev. Merlin Buwalda, Pastor, Lake City Christian Reformed Church 403 John St., Box 659, Lake City, MI 49651 * O: (616) 839-4978 * H: (616) 839-4424 * FAX: (616) 839-3099 Dr. Henry De Moor, Professor of Church Polity, Calvin Theological Seminary 3233 Burton St. SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49546-4387 O: (616) 957-7194 * H: (616) 940-0513 * FAX: (616) 957-8621 * E-Mail: DEMH@Calvin.edu Rev. James Evenhouse, Pastor, Atwood Christian Reformed Church 10037 N US 31, Ellsworth, MI 49729 * H/O: (616) 599-2581 Rev. Gordon Miller, Pastor, New Hope Community Christian Reformed Church 3 Osborn Pl., Kincheloe, MI 49788-1022 * O: (906) 495-5283 Rev. Kenneth Nydam, Jr., Pastor, Cadillac Christian Reformed Church 509 E. Garfield, Cadillac, MI 49601 * O: (616) 775-5291 * H: (616) 775-5914 Pastor George Vander Weit, Stated Clerk, Classis Lake Erie 2901 Waterloo Dr., Troy, MI 48084 * O: (810) 645-1990 * H: (810) 649-5388 * E-Mail: NoHillsCRC@aol.com Rev. Paul Veenstra, Stated Clerk, Classis Northern Michigan 11520 Atwood Rd., Ellsworth, MI 49729 * H: (616) 599-2765 ------------------------------------------------ file: /pub/resources/text/reformed: nr96-026.txt .