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North American Division Congregation Responds to Mailing


On March 14, 2015, the Chewelah Seventh-day Adventist Church held Grassroots Faith Sabbath. Members of this North American Division (NAD) congregation responded to the NAD “Theology of Ordination Q&A” brochure. Some two weeks previously the Division had printed thousands of brochures and mailed copies to all NAD churches without informing their home conferences. In the unedited video, after a two minute introduction, members respond to the NAD mailing and speak to General Conference session delegates. After receiving the NAD WO brochures, members of the congregation had wanted to respond in their own words, whether in favor or opposed, to women’s ordination and this was arranged. Vocations of those participating include nurse, engineer, psychologist, business owner, wellness educator, farmer, film director-producer, health consultant, software programmer/analyst, missionary, evangelist, and marriage and family counselor. Presentations were uncoached, unedited, unrehearsed and uncensored. Every participant is a member of the Chewelah Church. The Council of Adventist Pastors thought OrdinationTruth.com readers would find the material a fascinating snapshot showing how members in the pews—the real grassroots of the church—view the women’s ordination issue as it has been handled by the North American Division. The denomination has heard from scholars, pastors, and administrators, but the various media have carried relatively less from rank and file membership. It seemed useful to us for interested members of the world church to hear from others who, like themselves, are truly the backbone of the church.
The Seventh-day Adventist Church where this was recorded is located at 2310 Sand Canyon Rd, about two miles off highway 395, Chewelah, Washington, USA.

19 replies on “North American Division Congregation Responds to Mailing”

I am just curious. How does events like this going to unify the world church?? Your organization sure looks like Adventist propaganda.

Can you further explain your comment?
I think forcing us to accept a non Biblical position is what will keep the movement from “unifying “

Daniel, Hearing the opposing view on a subject such as WO is not propaganda. The pro-ordination group has control of the media outlets for the NAD. The only way that the opposing view can be expressed is through groups like OrdinationTruth.

I want to say Thank You to the Sisters and Brothers of the Chewelah Seventh-day Adventist Church for studying and responding to the “propaganda” as I heard a few of the brethren refer to the. W.O. pamphlet. I too thought the same, who what and why is something not biblical being thrust upon us as if women’s ordination is a done deal? And I commend you for researching the complete Ellen White comments instead of using one sentence out of context as the author (s) of the pamphlet.
Now to the question of the shaking and the “remnant” coming out of the remnant..
Will we who come out be Non conference? Or …?
Can we vote to replace current leadership with Men of Biblical character and who live and believe in “thus saith the Lord”.
May God Bless You All

Daniel, the current voice of the church on women’s ordination is a clear “No!” from 1995 General Conference session. That is what is “in.” “Out” is, so far, the action pushing for women’s ordination and acting unilaterally against the world church. Let’s pray for the delegates for San Antonio.

There was a motion to ordain women. It failed to pass. That is not the same as taking an action to deny ordination to women. Some who vote against the motion may have done so because the General Conference has no authority over ordination.

Larry, thank you very much for the witness of the congregation in Chevelah. It is refreshing not only to hear a new Luther but also a sustaining congregation to glorify Jesus and His word.
May God bless you and all the sisters who have courage to give frankly a bible-founded answer to the WO-Pamphlet from the NAD, and may other ministers take this as an example, what they can do in speaking and writing adressed to the NAD leadership, so that a reformation can go forward. One brother has said a good word: time of silence is gone, now we must speak!

“Those who stand in defense of the honor of God and maintain the purity of truth at any cost will have manifold trials, as did our Savior in the wilderness of temptation. While those who have yielding temperaments, who have not courage to condemn wrong, but keep silent when their influence is needed to stand in defense of the right against any pressure, may avoid many heartaches and escape many perplexities, they will also lose a very rich reward, if not their own souls. Those who are in harmony with God, and who through faith in Him receive strength to resist wrong and stand in defense of the right, will always have severe conflicts and will frequently have to stand almost alone. But precious victories will be theirs while they make God their dependence. His grace will be their strength. Their moral sensibility will be keen and clear, and their moral powers will be able to withstand wrong influences. Their integrity, like that of Moses, will be of the purest character.” 3T 302-303.

Really appreciate the church members of the Chewelah Church expressing their thoughts on this issue. As Judith said, conflicts offer an opportunity for us to study and pray for guidance in finding out “what saith the Lord” on the subject. It can strengthen us in our knowledge and faith. May this present issue of women’s ordination do that. I hope many more congregations will follow the example of the Chewelah Church and speak as boldly and humbly as they did.

it’s all a matter of choice to either repudiate discrimination of women in church, or to maintain the status quo by perpetuating it.
They sent a wrong question from the AC to the GC Session, it should have been rather,
Regarding the current status quo of discrimination of women, should we,
A) REPUDIATE ______
B) PERPETUATE ______
But the way things have been orchestrated tells us that we can certainly expect a NO vote for the current question. The result will not be based on what the NAD wants, but what the world church will impose on us. Though I am sure the Unions in the NAD will not be caught unprepared, they must already have a good “plan B”…

It is interesting to see people lambaste each other’s views on this issue by using the argument of biblical evidence. There is biblical evidence for both sides of this argument. Sometimes it makes me wonder if we are reading the same Bible. The argument is really over the definition of the word ordination and to whom it should be applied to and under what circumstances. It is also a question of top down leadership or bottom up leadership and authority within the Adventist Church. Our early leaders tried to strike a balance between the two but having a world church and modern communication technology has caused us to think differently about what “governance” and authority mean within our church.

Reply to George Tichy about the plan the NAD has or might have if the GC does not vote for ordinaiton. I have no inside information on this but the vote by several Unions to ordain women which took place over a year ago, I believe was done purposely so that if the GC, in session, turns down this request, the NAD will say, “It is now too late as we have already begun doing so, please grant us an exception”.

Though not regarding the issue that this video is regarding, I found the following statement in the description interesting. “After receiving the NAD WO brochures, members of the congregation had wanted to respond in their own words, whether in favor or opposed, to women’s ordination and this was arranged.” The reason it was interesting was that there was not one single person in the video who was in favor, all were opposed. Perhaps the description should be changed to indicate that it is a video from members who are all against WO.

It is true that the ‘vocal few’ in NAD and some other places around the globe seem to have a monopoly of the media outlets maybe because of their financial capabilities. However, it is a known fact that the majority of Seventh-day Adventists around the world do not support the WO move majorly because it is not biblical hence no precedent. Therefore, what the ordinationtruth.com is doing is highly commendable and everyone on the Lord’s side should further on their work by spreading the other side of coin, namely, calling our church to stand up for the truth and vote DOWN the call for the ordination of women into the gospel ministry at San Antonio. Goliath had all the armor and fame but David still defeated him with his “sling and five smooth stones.” The Great Watcher in heaven will take charge of this also. Let us hold our peace!

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