Finland Celebrating Two Decades of Female Ordination

Last Thursday, the Lutheran Church in Finland celebrated an anniversary that will most certainly receive great applause from contemporary culture: the church marked 20 years of ordaining women to the pastorate.

In 1988, seven cathedrals around Finland ordained some 90 female ministers. Today, their numbers have increased to the point that one-third of the country's pastors are women.

Though the issue remains somewhat controversial within the Lutheran Church there, the complementarian position is disallowed: last month the church's Supreme Administrative Court passed an edict that renders ineligible for the pastorate anyone refusing to work with a female pastor.

"Lutheran bishops don't view opposition to female pastors as heresy," a Finnish news report remarked. "But they say such convictions are not grounds to refusing to work by the side of women of the cloth."

Opposition to female pastors as heresy? This is practically the view held by leaders of the Finnish church, for they have proven that conscientious objectors will be punished. This rang clear in December when a Finnish district court charged and fined three dissenting pastors for refusing to work with female pastors.

 It is indeed a sad day in the church when culture trumps truth in so sweeping a manner as it has taken place in Finland. The Lutheran churches in that Nordic country have swapped a proud heritage of standing upon the Scriptures for a mess of cultural pottage, for it was Martin Luther who was the great father of the Reformation, the man used profoundly of God to recover the cherished principle of sola Scriptura.

And it is an even sadder day when the classical, biblical role of women in ministry and the term "heresy" are used in the same sentence. Let us humbly pray for a biblical awakening in Finland.