It has been a long wait for Baptist women in the Sunshine State when it comes to ordination. Queensland Baptists usually lag about 20 years behind other Baptist Unions in Australia with respects to such advancements. The reason is, just Queensland. It’s an article of faith here to studiously avoid doing what they do south of the border – even if it makes perfect sense. The sandgropers in Western Australia are either a pragmatic lot or the lazy type as they did away with ordination completely and only have accreditation.

NSW & ACT Baptists and the Victorians have been ordaining women for long time, but up in Queensland women have had to wait. The matter was last prognosticated over in 2009, following some excellent work done by a delegated team led by the redoubtable Stan Nickerson. The General Superintendent and the Board at that time elected not to take a position on the matter. This decision would have a 15 year consequence, and it is to our shame.

Late one Friday afternoon at the Assembly the proposal by the task team to affirm women in ordination was defeated and instead since then we’ve had the patently ridiculous halfway house policy whereby we are able to officially accredit and register women but we cannot ordain them. Baptists pride themselves on a form of governance which results in the membership of a church or Assembly “discerning the mind of Christ”. You would be hard pressed and possibly inebriated to claim that this outcome was pleasing to God in any way. It was the kind of position you arrive at where you have to suppress your own sniggers and cross your fingers behind your back as you explain it to people.

Although it enabled women to be accredited, it was still a slap in the face of women as it fell short of the fullest conferral of approval and endorsement from the denomination.

To the credit of the current Board and denominational leadership, the matter was looked into again over the last year. At the 2023 Assembly the Board presented a paper outlining 4 choices:

1. Say no to female ordination outright.
2. Say yes.
3. Go the the way of W.A, and scrap ordination and only have accreditation.
4. Allow churches to ordain, whilst QB (Queensland Baptist – the denomination) advises on ordination standards.

The position taken by the Board in 2023 was option 4. The stated reasons were a tad confusing, firstly saying that as a Board they were not unanimous and couldn’t agree, then saying that it’s not their place, and then curiously saying that they couldn’t find any ‘compelling reason’ to support option 2.

This was an unsustainable position, as a system controlled by individual churches would create a class system. An ordination from one of the flagship churches would obviously carry more weight than an endorsement from a small regional church. Ordination either needs to have the full weight of the denomination or its a waste of time. The other rationale they gave for not supporting ordination was paper thin and it sought to hide behind technicalities.

The biggest issue was that the Board was allowing an opportunity to draw a line under our terrible legacy towards women to go to waste. Dr Pam Condie has documented this in her doctoral thesis examining the history of Baptist women in ministry in Queensland. It makes for appalling reading. The QB Board had a golden opportunity to not only usher in a new era but begin a process of healing and reconciliation in relation to the hurt and injury they have caused through the years. Many women have left, many have stayed in the hope that they would one day see women being ordained.

About turn

To their credit again, the Board listened to submissions and reversed their position. This is an extremely rare thing to my memory, Baptist Boards (especially ours) hardly ever change their position once they have arrived at one. The proposal taken to the 2024 Assembly this week is essentially option 2 + 4: churches are invited to be the initiators of the ordination process of female candidates, following which QB works with the church to progress the application through the normal channels (which doesn’t necessarily result in ordination, for either men or women). The eventual ordination is conferred by the denomination. The proposal was cloaked in the Baptist distinctive of autonomy, meaning that ordaining women is not something that will be forced on any churches that hold to the complementarian persuasion.

Extensive consultations were held throughout the least year, including Zoom meetings and opportunities for submissions.And so we arrived at the 2024 Assembly held on 2 May 2024 on the Gold Coast. The pre-Assembly paperwork stated the following:

“…the QB Board believes that the issue for the Assembly in 2024 is not whether the QB Movement through its Assembly can come to a common agreement on the role of women in ministry. The QB Board believes that establishing such a unified position is both impossible and unnecessary and would infringe the autonomy of local QB churches. The issue for discussion will be whether the QB Movement will allow local church autonomy for its member churches on the issue of the selection and affirmation of candidates for ordination.”

Sadly the Chair didn’t keep the discussion constrained to the advice communicated in writing before the Assembly, and verbally by the Director of Movement (our version of a CEO, it’s a long story…) in comments made directly before the floor was opened up. This allowed women to be insulted one last time at Assembly.

We heard of the damaging effect this would have in homes throughout Queensland, as ordained women in the church would usurp the godly role of men as head of the household back in their own homes. The thought of tremulous men returning home to be dominated by their newly emboldened wives would be hilarious if it were not for the fact that the contribution was 100% serious.

We also heard about how as a denomination we would experience the same decline as others who have allowed women to be ordained, and who have departed from clear biblical authority. The truly frightening prospect (to some) of a female senior pastor was also raised. This of course has nothing to do with ordination, as our very own Director of Movement isn’t ordained, but lets not allow facts to get in the way of a good scare campaign.

One other contributor raised the terrifying prospect of cross dressers nominating for eldership. Sadly this was entertained, which saw women on the cusp of a significant moment having to listen to a disrespectful red herring being thrown into the discussion around their ordination.

Thankfully we were spared the usual ‘slippery slope’ contribution, which goes something like (with gravelly voice and shaking jowls) “If we allow women to be ordained it will be the slippery slope to liberalism!!! Next thing we’ll be ordaining [insert nightmare scenario].

The Great Anticlimax

One would have imagined that the result would be announced in a manner that was reflective of the historicity of the decision, and also respecting the tremendous pain and hurt that women have carried over this matter for many decades as they’ve watched their sisters in other States being ordained and recognised by their denomination.

As it transpired, a cursory announcement was made halfway through the next business item. It was so cursory that Air Force Chaplain Karen Haynes, who has been an accredited QB pastor for 16 years, missed it. This was followed by a prayer, seemingly directed at those who would find the outcome difficult. And that my friends was that. A truly historic moment in the life of our denomination had the feel of those votes you get at the end of a meeting to destroy the ballots.

That moment in our history can’t be rewound. So to the women in Queensland Baptist who have been waiting for many years, and to those who have carried hurt and wounds over this denial of God’s calling on your life – I hope that this begins the journey of healing for you. To those who disagree, as you saw this morning, the sky hasn’t fallen in and very little has changed in real terms. Women have been pastors in QB churches for decades, and they have been able to be accredited since 2009, so it’s all good. And if we experience decline as a movement, it won’t be down to the 33 female pastors we have, but the large majority of blokes. And also, you should be pretty safe in your homes, but just make sure you take the bins out mate.