A Patriarchal Church?

As far as my academic research and interest in what other denominations think about SDA’s goes, I can honestly say we don’t figure too highly when it comes to our founding history. The typical response I have often heard among other jesting clergy is, “aren’t you that mob that were founded by a woman?”. This is an argument that we have had to defend in many of our publications and debates about the authenticity of our historical roots. So you can imagine my surprise when I read literature that suggests the SDA church is steeped in a “patriarchal” culture and still continues to treat unfairly the opposite sex in our system?

There are two fronts to this criticism and they both need to be rebutted or at least clarified.

The first erroneous idea is that the SDA faith was staunchly male dominated and women had no real role to play being somehow maligned and forgotten. This is false. One of the most important, if not indispensable pioneers in the early years of our church was a woman. Ellen White (pictured) was at the forefront and had a hand in many of our current doctrinal positions, vision for mission and administrative structure than any other leader in the church. Yes, a woman figured prominently in our history but we were neither overly feministic or patriarchal in our development because of it.

The church was influenced by the times in which it lived and as a consequence men outnumbered women in positions of leadership and employment. To say that this was generated by the church is not only false but shortsighted to say the least. By comparison, the SDA organization among other predominant religions that emerged at the time was way in front for allowing women to lead and participate in all aspects of church life. Mormonism and the Watchtower Society on the other hand were very dark upon their women and held them in low esteem when it came to leadership and worship practices. Not so the SDA church. Along with EGW, a steady stream of SDA women pioneers flowed out of our institutions and joined the ranks among the great leaders that emerged in our history. They were definitely outnumbered by the men but they were there and unrestricted in their ministries.

The second falsehood is that the SDA church is still somehow restricting women with its patriarchal and unfair employment practices and opportunities for women.

There have been many huge advances for women over the past 20 years with the establishment of a full time Women’s Ministry branch which stems all the way to the GC. Women feature very highly now in policy making at all levels with gender equality built into election procedures from top to bottom. Committees and Boards now have mandates throughout the world church to recognise gender balance when electing officers and leadership positions within the system. This is all without even mentioning denominational figures at a local level where women outnumber men in positions by an average of 3 to 1 in favour of women.

So where does the idea come from that the church is still steeped in patriarchal dominance and women are suffering as a result? It comes from the question over paid pastoral positions or if you like the disparity between the number of male clergy as opposed to female. A portion of this argument does include the pool from which our high ranking officials are drawn in elections who are usually pastors moving up the administrative ladder. Probably a fair call but many have argued that they are simply choosing those with the best ability to fill roles rather than be governed by gender. Another fair call.

Knowing these minor disparities however doesn’t necessarily equate to a male dominated church where females are suppressed. Sure, the pastorate is a men’s club you could say (this is changing), but almost every other area of church life is dominated by women.* Think about it. At all of our conventions and meetings, men are never in the majority. With the exception of Pastoral retreats, our events attract more women than men. From committee meetings to local church activities (the engine room of the church), the majority of our volunteers are women. So how does a church arrive at a place where they have a mostly male clergy but women feature highly on the attendance and participation scale? The answer lies in the fact that the pastor has come to appreciate women more because they are the faithful ones who are always ready to bolster up any cause he suggests. To put it plainly, the Pastorate leans more towards women’s needs because they are the gender who hold the church together and keep it going despite the clear depletion of male participants. But “hang on a minute” I hear you saying, “What about all the men who attend church and are active and participating?”

There are still men in the church, but tough earthy working guys rarely come to church.** Most current church men have grown up in the church and come not to be transformed or create a revolution but because they enjoy participating in the comforting rituals that have changed little since their childhood. Today’s churchgoing man is humble, tidy, dutiful and above all, nice.*** This is in contrast to the men in the bible who were dangerous, radical and often in trouble with the established religious leaders of their day. The average church nice guy then is a different breed to the ones we know who saturate the pages of the scriptures. The Nice Guy phenomenon may explain the reason why we have a male dominated leadership without what you would expect in such an environment - women being suppressed.

The fact remains certain, the SDA church has never had and does not have a male dominated environment where women are regarded as unequal to men, save perhaps in days gone by where there was normal cultural influence.

* Murrow, Why Men Hate Going to Church, pg 4. These studies are cross denominational but anyone who has been a member of the church for some time will recognise the truth of these trends.
** ibid, pg 6. I understand that there are exceptions to the rule but for the vast majority of churches this seems to be the case..
*** ibid