In its regular meeting on December 6, the Executive Committee of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Southern Germany (South German Union/SDV) voted to allow the equal ordination of men and women in pastoral ministry. In doing so, the Church has made ordination practice uniform throughout Germany. (Original news here.) The North German Union had already decided on equal ordination on April 25, 2021. (News here.)
The resolution was adopted at the request of conferences within the Union to ordain female pastors. It was furthermore decided to instruct the administration of the SDV to request that the Adventist World Church leadership revisit the issue regarding the ordination of female pastors. Recently, this issue was debated at the 2015 Adventist General Conference Session in San Antonio, Texas. The majority of delegates from all over the world voted against allowing divisions to independently decide this question for their region.
On 29th April 2021, the EUD Administration addressed the North German Union’s decision. (Statement here.)
At the time, the EUD Administration stated that it “does not support an action against a vote taken at a General Conference Session.” Furthermore, “until a commonly agreed solution is reached, the Church should continue to encourage and show appreciation to all women, regardless of the capacity in which they are serving the Lord and the Church”. Finally, on the other hand, that “one of the most important lessons that the Adventist Church should learn is that the best way to find a solution for such a sensitive matter is to entrust its resolution to the administration of each World Division, in a similar way to the decision regarding the ordination of church elders made about half a century ago.” The EUD Administration has now reaffirmed the terms of that statement in reference to the South German Union's recent vote.
