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A Declaration By Adventist Women In A Joint Meeting of Representatives
From Major Adventist Women's Organizations - Addison, Pennsylvania WHEREAS the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists has adopted a plan known as Global Mission, and WHEREAS the North American Division has voted to accept that plan and implement its objectives throughout the division, and WHEREAS that plan states: ...Based on our understanding that every believer is commissioned to minister in his or her spiritual gifts, we therefore call for every church member to participate creatively in a global strategy to take the everlasting gospel to every people group and each individual on planet earth... And WHEREAS the North American Division strategy calls for "...CREATING vital and dynamic worship, fellowship, and service in Bible-based Christ-centered congregations..." and "... RECLAIMING inactive and former church members..." and WHEREAS action 323-89N, EQUAL OPPORTUNITY FOR SERVICE, was voted at the 1989 NAD year-end meeting and has been adopted as policy D 75, which reads: The official position of the Seventh-day Adventist Church is that all members in good and regular standing shall be given full and equal opportunity within the Church to develop the knowledge and skills needed in the building up of the church. This position and its resultant course of action requires that all services and all levels of Church activity be opened to all members on the basis of their qualifications. The North American Division will seek applications from qualified women, minorities, and the handicapped, and will afford all individuals equal opportunity in employment, appointment, promotion, salary, and other organizational benefits without consideration for race, color, gender, national origin, ancestry, physical handicap, age, height, weight, marital status or prior military service. And WHEREAS among the statements of Fundamental Beliefs of Seventh-day Adventists, statement thirteen says: ...In Christ we are a new creation; distinctions of race, culture, learning, and nationality, and differences between high and low, rich and poor, male and female, must not be divisive among us. We are all equal in Christ, who by one Spirit has bonded us into one fellowship with Him and with one another; we are to serve and be served without partiality or reservation... this assembly of international Adventist women calls for the following actions to be accomplished throughout the world church between now and 1995 so that women may be full participants in Global Mission and in the governance of the church at all levels. 1. To more closely reflect the 2:1 church membership ratio of women to men, elect or appoint at least 30 percent female representation to all levels of decision-making bodies, including administration, boards, committees, and delegates to Annual Council, year-end meetings, and constituency sessions. This calls for a change in the present methods of formulating these groups so that they will more accurately represent church constituencies with reference to women and minorities. 2. Implement NAD policy D 75 throughout the North American Division; adopt the same policy in the General Conference and each world division; and develop a monitoring or auditing instrument to measure the progress of implementing this policy worldwide. 3. Appoint a full-time Director of Women's Ministries at all levels, including local conferences. Her duties will include identifying, assessing, and developing strategies to meet women's needs; generating and disseminating accurate information concerning the role of women in the church; sponsoring retreats for the purpose of spiritual nourishment; and educating women regarding church governance and policies. At the General Conference, the director should be a General Field Secretary. At all levels, this position should be fully funded with an appropriate budget to cover travel, the cost of research, publications, translations, materials, and meetings. 4. Encourage and recognize the formation of a women's caucus. This would include at least annual international meetings and more frequent meetings at the division and union levels. 5. Prepare and/or promote and distribute worldwide, publications on women's issues in key languages. 6. Educate ministers and church leaders through a series of seminars and articles in official church publications (e.g. Ministry) regarding the true nature of the inclusiveness of the Gospel. 7. Develop and implement a standard of equity that governs and implements church policy making. Among other things, this calls for an auditing tool for worldwide use that will indicate how conferences, unions, or divisions are meeting the objective of equal pay for equal work. 8. Recognize and ordain women in the role of deacon and elder at the local church level, with a goal of at least one woman elder in every church. 9. At the General Conference level, by 1995,
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