Should Women be Ordained in the Pentecostal Churches?

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Should Women be Ordained in the Pentecostal Churches within the African Christian Diaspora?

Thesis Statement

In this paper, I will describe the ecclesiological problem of women’s ordination from a case study that I observed in Berlin, Germany. I wish to claim that the issue of excluding women from ordination is a result of a sociological contrivance that oppresses women. The churches safeguard the issue under the canopy of theological claims. It is appropriate for the churches, which exclude women from ordained ministry, revisit this problem theologically. In this essay, I will exploit the issue using the Wesleyan quadrilateral approach for the analysis. I hope to submit a systematic and an intelligible argument that explains why the Pentecostal churches should treat women equally as men in the area of ministerial ordination.

Case Study

The Council of Christian Communities of an African Approach in Europe cosponsored an African Christian Diaspora Conference with Humbolt University, Berlin, Germany, Rostock University, Rostock, Germany, and University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany. On September 11-15, 2003, the conference was held in Berlin, Germany. The theme was “The Berlin-Congo Conference 1884-The Partition of Africa and Implications for Christian Mission Today.” The council invited me to present on the situation of the African American Churches. More than 100 delegates were present for the conference. Pastor Johannes Wilson and Archbishop Madelia Oku-Adagame were both among the delegates present. Pastor Wilson and Archbishop Oku-Adagame are also board members of the Council of Christian Communities of an African Approach in Europe. Both are pastors of Pentecostal churches. Wilkins is Pastor of an independent Penteco...

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...rry Smith (Scarecrow Press, Inc: Lanham, Maryland and London, 1998)

Lincoln, Eric C. and Mamiya, Lawrence, H., The Black Church in the African American Experience (Duke University Press: Durham, N.C., 1990)

Maloney, David, M., The Church cannot ordain Women to the Priesthood: Declaration Of the Congregation fro Doctrine of the Faith (Franciscan Herald Press: Chicago, IL, 1978)

“Mountain Lake Park,” Christian Standard, 23 July 1891

Mitchell, Ella P. (editor), Women: To Preach or not to Preach (Judson Press: Valley Forge, PA 1991)

Schussler-Fiorenza, But She Said: Feminist Practices of Biblical Interpretation (Beacon Press: Boston, MA, 1992)

Smith, Amanda Berry, Autobiography: The Story of the Lord’s Dealings with Mrs. Amanda Smith, The Colored Evangelist (1893) (first reprint-Chicago: Afro-American Press, Division of Afro-American Books, Inc., 1969)

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