News

André Wright, Night Editor

A bid to allow women to become ordained bishops in one of Jamaica's most populous Christian denominations has failed, reinforcing a tradition that has stimulated vigorous debate within church circles.

But women got a firmer foothold as another motion got the green light, allowing them to sit on pastors' councils, the executive arm of local churches.

The New Testament Church of God, which has allowed women to be licensed ministers but barred them from the roundtable of bishops who administer the denomination, blocked the bid at its general assembly in Florida last month.

The tectonic shift, if the bishopric resolution had passed, would have given greater administrative influence to women, the chief gender constituent of the church.

Currently, only 18 women hold the rank of licensed minister out of a pastoral complement of 257 in Jamaica. There are 341 New Testament churches on the island. The denomination has an all-male executive council here.

Bishop Barrington Brown, who leads the New Testament Church of God in Jamaica and the Cayman Islands, believes that it will take some time to convince both laity and clergy that women should have equal footing with men.

Brown, during an interview with The Gleaner in late July, argued that spiritual gifts and roles should not be judged along gender lines.

"The gifts of the Spirit are not in us, the gifts of the Spirit are in God. and it is God who gives them.

"And if God chooses to put the gift on a woman, I think the Church should allow the woman the opportunity to fulfil this gift," said Brown, who was installed head of the 93,000-member denomination in 2008.

He emphasised that God's favour - not prejudice for male leadership - should be the consequential arbiter of who oversees church matters.

"The question I would raise is, are there any gifts of the Spirit which we can ascribe exclusively to men? I don't see any.

"If she has the gift of administration, give her the opportunity to administer. If a man doesn't have the gift, you shouldn't put him in a position simply because he is a man."

But the administrative bishop, who once headed the deno-mination's seminary, the Bethel Bible College, in Mandeville, Manchester, admits that elevating women to the helm of the New Testament body could meet strong resistance. Defiance could be greatest among men uncomfortable with women calling the shots.

Brown said he doubted that a woman would be ordained chief bishop of the Jamaica diocese for at least a decade.

"In terms of church politics and church culture, I don't see it happening before the next 10-15 years. I don't see it as an immediate thing, considering where we are in terms of church politics," he added.

andre.wright@gleanerjm.com