The United Methodist Church (UMC) will hold its next General Conference session in early May 2016 in Portland, Oregon. Among key items to be considered is a proposal called “The Third Way” which would permit individual UMC conferences to vote to permit their ministers to conduct same-sex “weddings” and to permit UMC ministers on an individual basis decide whether or not to conduct such marriages.
In the following short video UMC pastor Kennetha Bigham-Tsai, chair of the Connectional Table’s Legislative Writing Team, describes changes being considered:
Methodist pastor Rob Renfroe urges a no vote on the LGBTQ proposals and comments on the rules for process the UMC GC hopes to employ at GC 2016:
While the United Methodist Church is not the Seventh-day Adventist Church, Adventists have followed developments in that communion with considerable interest. The “Third Way” Methodist proposal seems remarkably similar to the “Third Way” women’s ordination proposal some floated in the months previous to the 2015 SDA San Antonio GC session, in that it claims to offer a neutral approach with which all in the church can live, while granting legitimacy to an unbiblical practice. Advocates of LGBTQ rights are at work within the Adventist Church as well.
The UMC faces possible schism next month over the LGBTQ proposals.
Category: position three
Pr. Louis R. Torres responds to Ty Gibson’s arguments about women’s ordination in this Spanish language reaction.
http://ordinationtruth.com/featured/la-ordenacion-de-las-mujeres-apremiante-llamamiento-de-un-lider-de-la-iglesia/
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Clinton Wahlen response to Ty Gibson
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Ty Gibson recently placed a lengthy article favoring TOSC position 3 on the internet. In his brief response Clinton Wahlen gently points out glaring problems in Gibson’s approach. Elder Wahlen serves the church through the General Conference. He is associate director of the Biblical Research Institute.
FIND IT HERE.
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Would Ellen G White support TOSC position 3?
At the very end of TOSC a third group arose which claimed to support the idea of male leadership yet argued that as God had accommodated Israel by giving them the king they requested, so the church should permit Divisions wishing to ordain women to do so in the broader interests of unity.
We believe that the brief Ellen White article that follows helps answer the question, would Ellen G White have supported TOSC position 3?
FIND IT HERE.
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TOSC Papers Linked
The PDF format document you can download below is three pages long and facilitates study of the Theology of Ordination Study Committee papers prepared in the study process accomplished in 2013-2014. The papers are organized into columns so that you can see which ones support TOSC position 1, 2 or 3. The papers are referenced and hyperlinked so that all can investigate the materials that have been prepared supporting the various positions.
FIND IT HERE.
We would like to express our appreciation to Laurel Damsteegt, who served on TOSC and who provides this useful study guide.
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Biblical Interpretation Council of Adventist Pastors (CAP) Culturally driven General Conference Session 2015 San Antonio Headship Home and church connection Homosexuality Ken Mindaro Male-sex specific roles Ordination Without Regard to Gender OrdinationTruth.com position three Sabbath Seventh-day Adventist Church The larger issues TOC position two TOSC position one
On Defending Marriage and the Sabbath
Physician Ken Mindoro offers a few short but pointed lines relating to recent challenges to marriage, the Sabbath, and women’s ordination. Beware the reasoning you choose, because it may come back to bite you…
FIND IT HERE.
The Connectional Table, a United Methodist body of clergy and lay people gathered from around the world, have revealed their plans to propose a “third way” for that denomination. Addressing concerns about “unity” and a renewed “focus on mission,” the proposal would be voted on at General conference in 2016. For the UMC, the Connectional Table functions as a key leadership council for the denomination, guiding and coordinating that church’s mission, ministry and resources.
The article, published by the United Methodist news Service, is found here:
Church body proposes more open stance on homosexuality.
In the Seventh-day Adventist Church, some have used precisely the same “third way” language for their proposals to permit women’s ordination on a piecemeal basis by individual unions and divisions as locally determined. Consider: can even one Christian denomination be named that has not chosen a “third way” on this kind of matter, that has not in the end settled on an unbiblical way?
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Biblical Interpretation Council of Adventist Pastors (CAP) Culturally driven Docjin Zivadinovic Doctrine of the Church Doctrine of Unity Don Mackintosh Ecclesiastical authority Headship Jim Howard Male-sex specific roles Ordination Without Regard to Gender OrdinationTruth.com Phil Mills position three Secrets Unsealed Seventh-day Adventist Church The larger issues Theology of Ordination Study Committee (TOSC) Unity Women in Ministry Women's Ordination
Secrets Unsealed WO symposium presentations–Oct 3
Women’s Ordination #9 Oct 3 — “The Third Option: A Way Forward or a Step Backwards?” — Jim Howard
Women’s Ordination #10 Oct 3 — “Are Liturgical and Organizational Matters Important?” — Daniel R. Mesa
Women’s Ordination #11 Oct 3 — “Regional Ordination: A Path to Conregationalism?” 2nd Panel
Women’s Ordination #12 Oct 3 — “Reply to NAD and other Pro-Women’s Ordination Arguments” — Docjin Zivadinovic
Women’s Ordination #13 Oct 3 — “Women’s Ordination and the Jerusalem Council” — Phil Mills
Women’s Ordination #14 Oct 3 — “The Present Relevance of 1 Timothy” — Don Mackintosh
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Biblical Interpretation Council of Adventist Pastors (CAP) Doctrine of the Church Doctrine of Unity Gender General Conference Session 2015 San Antonio Headship Male-sex specific roles Ordination Without Regard to Gender position three Seventh-day Adventist Church Theological pluralism Theology of Ordination Study Committee (TOSC) TOSC position one
Women's Ordination: Group #1 review of position Summary #3
We offer here the link to a detailed new analysis prepared by Theology of Ordination Study Committee (TOSC) group #1 of the position summary of TOSC group #3. We find this 23 page pdf file to have remarkably useful clarifying content, helping the reader better understand both the group #3 and the group #1 positions.
women’s-ordination-group-1-review-of-position-summary-3
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Biblical Interpretation Council of Adventist Pastors (CAP) Cultural reconstructions Culturally driven Gender General Conference Session 2015 San Antonio Ordination Without Regard to Gender OrdinationTruth.com Polity position three Seventh-day Adventist Church Stephen Bohr Theology of Ordination Study Committee (TOSC) Women in Ministry Women's Ordination
Response to 'third position' video
Pr. Stephen Bohr of Secrets Unsealed Ministry responds point-by-point to the “hand-drawn”-style video presented by advocates of the “third way” position. (The third position arose at the end of the Theology of Ordination Study Committee (TOSC) process. It differs from “position 2” only in that it admits that “male leadership” is God’s ideal. However, this supposed recognition is meaningless since postion three, like position two, would allow each division of the world church to decide independently for itself whether or not to ordain women.)