“A congregation that has or would like to call a woman teaching elder located in a presbytery that has voted against women teaching elders may transfer from its current presbytery to an adjoining one that does receive women teaching elders.”

On Wednesday, March 3, the Interim Committee on Women Teaching Elders produced a report which, pending completion of the proposed constitutional amendments and review of the Permanent Judicial Commission, will be presented for approval to the 30th General Assembly at Cherry Creek in June 2010.

The committee was created by an act of the 29th General Assembly in June 2009 and was appointed by General Assembly Moderator Nate Atwood. Its charge was “to explore ways to include those pastors and churches with conflicting positions on women teaching elders in the presbyteries of the EPC.”

The committee’s report was approved by a 15-0 vote, with no abstentions. Committee membership represented the full range of positions on women teaching elders in all the presbyteries of the EPC. The exchange of ideas was free, vigorous and comprehensive.

Participants were irenic and respectful of one another as differing viewpoints were
understood and affirmed in the discussion before the final proposal was created and approved. Members of the committee on all sides of the issue were excited about the proposal and their unanimous support for it.

The primary recommendation in the report provides relief for a congregation that has or would like to call a woman teaching elder located in a presbytery that has voted against women teaching elders. That congregation may transfer from its current presbytery to an adjoining one that does receive women teaching elders.

Other recommendations re-affirm the EPC’s historic position on women in ministry and offer relief to the Mid-America Presbytery, which has been in conflict over this issue. To read the full text of the report, click here. [Editor’s note: the original URL (link) referenced is no longer valid, so the link has been removed.]

The committee was co-chaired by TE Jim Dixon and TE Sandy Willson of Cherry Hills Community Church, Highlands Ranch, Colorado and Second Presbyterian Church, Memphis, Tennessee, respectively.

The first meeting took place on November 2, 2009 at Second Presbyterian Church in Memphis, Tennessee. After the meeting, proposals were drafted and distributed, and a dynamic email exchange among committee members ensued. The committee met and completed its work in two days (March 2-3, 2010) at Cherry Hills Community Church in Highlands Ranch, Colorado.

To read the entire report: https://theaquilareport.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1663:report-of-the-interim-committee-on-women-teaching-elders-full-report&catid=50:churches&Itemid=133

SOURCE: http://www.epc.org/about-the-epc/epnews/epnews-2010-0311/#1