Women in Ministry in the Vineyard, U.S.A.

Introduction

The Pentecostal and Charismatic movements have witnessed a progressive move during the course of the last cen­tury toward embracing and empowering women at all levels of spiritual authority and ministry.¹ Today, complementarian­ism is decidedly a minority view among those who believe in the continuation of all spiritual gifts in the life of the church.

Charisma magazine, the flagship publication of the Pentecostal-Charis­matic world, has repeatedly defended egalitarianism and actively promotes the ministries of several high profile women such as Joyce Meyer, Paula White, Mar­ilyn Hickey, Gloria Copeland, Juanita Bynum, and Cindy Jacobs, just to men­tion a few. J. Lee Grady, Charisma's Editor, has himself written a defense of egalitarianism in a book with the inten­tionally inflammatory title, Ten Lies the Church Tells Women: How the Bible Has Been Misused to Keep Women in Spiritual Bondage.²

Those within the mainstream Word of Faith movement, as well as most advocates of the so-called "health and wealth gospel," are typically vo­cal egalitarians. It almost goes without saying that among the thousands of in­dependent charismatic churches most would endorse the ordination of women to the role of senior pastor in the local church.

However, there are a few excep­tions, the most notable of which would be Sovereign Grace Ministries, under the capable leadership of C. J. Mahaney (who serves on the Board of CBMW). I should also mention New Frontiers and its leader, Terry Virgo, who have now planted more than 500 churches found on five continents, primarily in the U.K., with an increasing number in the U.S.

Grace Churches International, based in North Carolina, embraces more than 300 churches globally and is gener­ally complementarian in its perspective on the role of women in ministry (see www.gracechurchesinternational.net).

The following statement is taken from their International Handbook:

Grace Churches Interna­tional recognizes that wom­en may enjoy the privileges of ministry without the re­sponsibilities of govern­ment. In light of this, Grace Churches International or­dains men into local elder­ship and five-fold ministry offices listed in Ephesians 4:11.

Women in the Vineyard

One will search in vain among of­ficial Vineyard documents prior to Sep­tember 2006 for a statement articulat­ing its beliefs on the role-relationship of male and female.³ However, in the March/April 1994 issue of Vineyard Re­flections, John Wimber, who gave leader­ship to the Vineyard until his death in 1997, wrote an extensive article entitled, "Liberating Women for Ministry and Leadership."⁴ Although that title might suggest that Wimber was an egalitar­ian, the substance of the article points in another direction. "I believe God has established a gender-based eldership of the church," wrote Wimber. "I endorse the traditional (and what I consider the scriptural) view of a unique leadership role for men in marriage, family, and in the church." Wimber proceeds to cite Eph 3:14-15 in pointing out that "this [view] ultimately reflects the hierarchy of the Trinity."

His conclusion is clear and un­equivocal: "Consequently, I personally do not favor ordaining women as elders in the local church," a statement in sup­port of which he refers the reader to the relevant portions in Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, edited by John Piper and Wayne Grudem.⁵ He argues that whereas both men and women can exercise most of the pastoral "functions" of an elder, only men (and in Wimber's opinion, only "ordained men") can hold the office. Thus, says Wimber, "I encour­age our women to participate in any ministry, except church governance."

Others would point out that in spite of his complementarian convic­tions, Wimber permitted at least two notable exceptions: both Jackie Pull­inger (Hong Kong) and Ann Watson (England) served as the senior leaders of their respective congregations (although I should mention that Watson viewed her role as exceptional, given the pre­mature death of her husband, and not a position to which women in ordinary circumstances should aspire).

The Vineyard USA Board of Di­rectors officially adopted a statement of faith in 1994 that lacks any reference to the egalitarian/complementarian debate. In their Theological and Philosophical Statements, under the heading of "Our Leadership Personnel Requirements," one finds an affirmation of "a strong, loving marriage in which both the hus­band and wife sense the call to minister" (the only Scriptural citation being Acts 18:26). Nothing more is said by way of explanation as to whether this "call to minister" might entail senior govern­mental or pastoral authority.

Under the leadership of Berten Waggoner, its National Director and President, The Vineyard, USA, thought it wise to clarify what until now had been a very nebulous position concern­ing the extent to which women might be empowered in all levels of spiritual authority. In personal e-mail correspon­dence, Waggoner stated that "due to the confusion among its churches concern­ing their position on women in leader­ship at a trans-local level, the leader­ship of the Vineyard found it necessary to make a much needed statement of clarification on this important issue."⁶ Whereas some would consider this a dramatic turn of events for the Vineyard, especially in view of Wimber's personal stance on the subject, Waggoner and the Board disagree and regard it as simply the public acknowledgement of devel­opments that have been gradually in the making for over a decade. In any case, September 21, 2006, will prove to be a historic moment in the history of this movement and ministry.

Although a number of Vineyard leaders had expressed their egalitarian convictions (chief among whom was Princeton-educated theologian and pas­tor, Don Williams), the first indication to those outside the movement that change was on the horizon came in 2002 with the publication of Rich Nathan's book, Who Is My Enemy?⁷ Whereas Nathan did not claim to speak authoritatively on behalf of the Vineyard at large, it must be noted that he is a Board member of Vineyard USA and the Senior Pastor of one of the Vineyard's largest congrega­tions, the 6,000 plus member Vineyard Christian Fellowship of Columbus, Ohio. More than a few were caught off-guard by his explicit endorsement and defense of egalitarianism in this volume. Needless to say, it was a sign of things to come.

The Letter of September 21, 2006

Whatever uncertainty existed to this point in time, everything changed with a document issued on Septem­ber 21, 2006 (the entire transcript can be found at www.vineyardusa.org). The Vineyard USA Board of Directors sent a letter (by e-mail) to all pastors affirm­ing what they call "the trans-local em­powerment of women in leadership."⁸ The letter was authored by Bert Wag­goner, but was sent with the unanimous approval of the national Board.

Waggoner notes that five years ear­lier (2001) a request had been made by a Vineyard church that they be allowed to appoint a woman as senior pastor. At that time the Vineyard already "had sev­eral ordained women senior pastors who were co-senior pastors with their hus­bands and one woman senior pastor"⁹ (I assume the latter is a reference to Jackie Pullinger).

Waggoner and the Board deter­mined that the opportunity for open dialogue was important before any de­cision was made. Some thirteen papers, representing both sides of the debate, were posted on the Vineyard USA web­site and extensive discussion was under­taken among Regional Overseers and local church pastors.

According to Waggoner's letter,

after the Regional Overseers discussed it at the Regional level and after considerable discussion at Board meet­ings, the Board decided to clarify what had been the de facto but unstated policy: the issue of senior pastor leader­ship would remain as a pre­rogative of the local church. Our position was that the local church was the instru­ment for ordination. Local churches had the freedom to decide who was to be or­dained and the freedom to ordain them.¹⁰

This did not, however, address a number of unresolved issues, chief of which was what Waggoner refers to as "trans-local" leadership and relation­ships. For example, again citing Wag­goner:

Could women speak at our regional and national leader­ship conferences? Could we encourage conferences that empowered women at any level of ministry? Could we write articles . . . on successful women pastors and preach­ers in the movement? Could women become APCLs [Area Pastoral Care Leader] or lead Task Forces if we saw that they were gifted to do so? Could the national lead­ership speak positively con­cerning what women were doing in leadership? Were our educational systems free to train women to be pastors and national leaders? The bottom line question was, "Does the national leader­ship have the prerogative to empower women at all lev­els of ministry in the Vine­yard?"¹¹

During the months of February through September of 2006, extensive discussion was engaged at all levels of leadership within the Vineyard, after which the Board "unanimously agreed" on the following position in regard to the trans-local ministry of women:

In response to the message of the kingdom, the leadership of the Vineyard movement will encourage, train, and empower women at all lev­els of leadership both local and trans-local. The move­ment as a whole welcomes the participation of women in leadership in all areas of ministry.¹²

The Board also stated that "each local church retains the right to make its own decisions regarding ordination and appointment of senior pastors."¹³ According to Waggoner, "this decision is not a dictate passed down from the national leadership. Pastors continue to be free to handle these issues according to their convictions within the context of their local churches. It is simply a description of how we will act toward women in leadership as we endeavor to lead the Vineyard movement in the U.S. at the national level."¹⁴

Waggoner is also careful to point out that the Board has "simply addressed the issue of whether to restrict someone from trans-local leadership positions in the Vineyard based on gender. We are not speaking to the questions of mari­tal or family roles as this has never been a prominent concern in our movement. We welcome, respect, and value pastors in the Vineyard who have different po­sitions on the issue of women's roles in the church than we have taken."¹⁵

Unresolved Issues

Decisions such as this rarely, if ever, occur in a theological vacuum, and the Vineyard is no exception. In the criti­cally important paragraph cited above, the phrase, "in response to the message of the kingdom," is vitally important in understanding the conclusion to which Vineyard leadership ultimately came. On the one hand, the Vineyard is to be applauded for its emphasis on the King­dom of God as the underlying theologi­cal principle that gives shape and focus to the movement. However, some in the movement are concerned that the Vineyard Board has embraced an over-realized eschatology that appeals to the consummation of the kingdom to justi­fy what appears to be a disregard for the explicit biblical commands concerning the role of women in pastoral leader­ship. Whether or not this is an accurate assessment (and Waggoner insists it is not) remains to be seen.

If there is any one predominant in­fluence within the Vineyard it may well be William Webb's book, Women, Slaves, and Homosexuals,¹⁶ on the basis of which it is argued that the Scriptures put us on a theological trajectory that moves the church beyond the experience of the New Testament and its imperatives concerning the role relationship of men and women. Webb's book, together with others of the same theological orienta­tion, such as that of John Stackhouse,¹⁷ indicate an increasing trend among egalitarians in which the exegetical de­bate is conceded to complementarians. They grant that the New Testament en­dorsed male headship but argue that it was an accommodation to the culture of the day to facilitate gospel ministry, not a timeless principle designed to govern relationships in the present.

I should also point out that it does seem strange that, notwithstanding the official statement released by Waggoner and the Board, they do not consider the Vineyard to be an egalitarian movement. Evidently the Board believes that by al­lowing local churches to set their own policy concerning senior leadership they have stopped short of officially making the Vineyard egalitarian. Yet, it remains to be seen to what extent complemen­tarian pastors will be appointed to posi­tions of leadership at the national level and granted a voice in the shaping of the Vineyard's future.

There is also the very real problem of what complementarian pastors should do if a woman is placed in authority over them as Regional Overseers or ACPLs by the national Board. Waggoner has made it clear that, whereas comple­mentarians are certainly welcome in the Vineyard, it will be difficult for pastors to remain who believe it is a violation of their conscience to serve under the lead­ership of women at the trans-local level. The question remains whether the letter of September 2006 will ultimately have the effect of not simply marginalizing complementarian pastors but effectively forcing their withdrawal from member­ship in the Vineyard altogether.

As of June, 2007, Waggoner in­dicated, with regret, that six churches had withdrawn from the movement. "This loss," wrote Waggoner, "reflects that only a small minority take excep­tion with our position to the extent of needing to dissociate from fellowship over the issue."¹⁸