\n<\/p>\n
Eight congregations have broken away from the Christian and Missionary Alliance (CMA) over the denomination\u2019s decision to ordain women and allow them to carry the title of \u201cpastor.\u201d<\/p>\n
The change was approved<\/a> by a majority of delegates at the Alliance\u2019s general council in June, after several years of discussion. According to an internal study, it is supported<\/a> by more than 60 percent of the denomination of about 414,000 people.<\/p>\n Women in the Alliance could previously be \u201cconsecrated\u201d to ministry and serve as \u201cConsecrated Women of God,\u201d even preaching and teaching in Sunday services, at the discretion of local churches. The Alliance has a history of encouraging women to preach and sending them to plant churches while still placing restrictions on their \u201cecclesial authority.\u201d The updated polity maintains this distinction and does not allow women to serve as elders or senior pastors in CMA churches. The consecration process will now result in ordination.<\/p>\n \u201cWe take a rather unique centrist position in our polity on this issue,\u201d CMA vice president Terry Smith told CT. \u201cFor some, this stretched beyond where their convictions would allow them to go.\u201d<\/p>\n The elders at Alliance Bible Fellowship in Boone, North Carolina, voted unanimously to separate in July.<\/p>\n \u201cThis decision was not easy. In fact, it grieves us,\u201d senior pastor Scott Andrews said<\/a>. \u201cOur hearts are grieved to see the direction that we believe the CMA is taking that we just cannot follow.\u201d<\/p>\n Andrews called the change \u201ca significant step toward egalitarianism, which eliminates any gender distinction in the roles of men and women in the church.\u201d<\/p>\n The church is one of the larger and more prominent CMA congregations in the South. Vice president Mike Pence visited<\/a> in November 2020 as the special guest of Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and Samaritan\u2019s Purse CEO Franklin Graham. A little more than 1,000 attend every Sunday, and on the congregation\u2019s website, newcomers are directed to a special page with information about the church\u2019s commitment to complementarianism<\/a>, separate from the general \u201cWhat We Believe<\/a>\u201d statement.<\/p>\n According to Andrews, \u201cAlliance is the same church we were two months ago [and] 40 years ago. It is not we who have changed; it is the CMA which has changed.\u201d<\/p>\n The other seven departing churches have not made prominent public statements about their decision to separate. The majority of them are in the CMA\u2019s southern district, according to multiple sources involved with the internal workings of the denomination. The region\u2019s superintendent, Mick Noel, has been visiting congregations in East Tennessee, North and South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and the Florida panhandle, trying to calm things down. The region\u2019s church leaders will meet for a regularly scheduled conference in the Savannah area the second week of October.<\/p>\n Noel declined to talk to CT about individual congregations in the process of leaving.<\/p>\n \u201cMy role is to shepherd district churches who are working through the issues,\u201d he said in an email. \u201cThe Alliance has historically been a community of congregations focused narrowly on Christ and his mission. My job is to remind us all of this commitment and to encourage grace and benevolence to those who hold differing opinions on lesser matters.\u201d<\/p>\n Some pastors in the region are also promoting the message of the power of unity for the sake of the gospel.<\/p>\n Ahead of the general council meeting, Duane Mabee told<\/a> his congregation in Hixson, Tennessee, that \u201cour ability to maintain loving unity and work together in spite of our differences is far more important than the outcome of the discussions. The world can argue and divide over important issues. Only Christ makes it possible for us to continue to love each other and work together despite deeply held differences.\u201d<\/p>\n After the decision, he reminded<\/a> them that who gets called \u201cpastor\u201d is \u201cnot a core issue of the gospel\u201d and \u201cwe should hold tightly to the core issues of the faith, love each other deeply and work together passionately to advance Christ\u2019s Kingdom and promote the glory of God.\u201d<\/p>\n CMA president John Stumbo has reminded people that the Alliance brings different Christian traditions together, uniting Wesleyan and Reformed churches that have taught different things at different times about women in ministry. The movement put those disagreements aside, because they wanted to prioritize deeper life in Christ and the work of spreading the gospel.<\/p>\n \u201cThat has always been the Alliance at its best,\u201d Stumbo said, \u201cexperiencing the fullness of Jesus within us, the heart change of Christ within us, that sends us on mission to the world.\u201d<\/p>\n CMA leadership has also argued that differences on this issue do not indicate that some in the Alliance are less committed to the authority of the Scripture. They say Christians can legitimately differ on their interpretations.<\/p>\n After all, while the apostle Paul clearly writes, \u201cI do not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority over a man\u201d (1 Tim. 2:12), he seems to have actually permitted and even authorized multiple women to exercise authority in New Testament churches, including Phoebe<\/a> (Rom. 16:1), Priscila (Rom. 16:3; Acts 18:26), Junia<\/a> (Rom. 16:7) and Euodia and Syntyche (Phil. 4:2\u20133). The apostle Peter also noted that Paul wrote \u201csome things that are hard to understand\u201d (2 Pet. 3:16), so there must be room for some reasonable differences of interpretation.<\/p>\n \u201cCan we not admit that maybe my brother or sister who loves Jesus and Scripture and reads faithfully might come out with a different understanding?\u201d CMA vice president Terry Smith asked CT in 2021, as the denomination was discussing the issue. \u201cWhat really makes our heart pound fast is mobilizing more people to ministry. That\u2019s kind of the heart of who we are.\u201d<\/p>\n Not everyone is happy with that approach to reading the Bible, however. Some pastors think the CMA leadership is undermining the authority of Scripture.<\/p>\n Tom Sugimura, the senior pastor of an Alliance church outside Los Angeles, said<\/a> there could obviously be only one correct interpretation. Christians believe in \u201ca God who does not contradict himself,\u201d so \u201cGod has only one <\/em>interpretation of his Word, not two<\/em>, and any confusion must be on our <\/em>part, not his<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n After the vote, however, the Southern California congregation decided to remain in the CMA.<\/p>\n \u201cWe humbly accept the decision,\u201d Sugimura wrote<\/a>, \u201cas we continue on in local church ministry. Christ will continue to build his church and we will be his servants.\u201d<\/p>\n For others, however, continued affiliation with the Alliance seemed like it would be a betrayal of their commitment to the authority of Scripture. Remaining, they said, was no longer acceptable for them.<\/p>\n \u201cWe mean no ill will toward them, nor is it our desire to disparage them,\u201d said Andrews in North Carolina. \u201cWe will continue to love and pray for them as they seek to fulfill the Great Commission\u2014our elders simply believe it is going in a direction we cannot follow.\u201d<\/p>\n The congregations separating from the CMA have so far not made any moves to join another denomination or network of churches. Some, including Alliance Bible Fellowship, are affiliated<\/a> with The Gospel Coalition.<\/p>\n