Archbishop Henry Orombi

Archbishop Henry Orombi, Uganda

I appreciate most all of what the Archbishop has said, but if I may comment on one topic.

On the issue of woman’s ordination Archbishop Henry Orombi stated the following: “in the scripture - sexuality is clearly clearly outlined and taught, nothing about the ordination of women there (in the scriptures).” (2:15-2:28 within interview)

On the surface, Archbishop Orombi’s statement is true since term ordination does not appear in the scripture. While Ordination is man’s creation, through his church here on earth, God, through the scriptures, does have much to say about the earthly leadership of the body, overseers and deacons, and also the roles and relationship of men/women. Therefore, at least on the surface, it appears that Archbishop Orombi’s is not being intellectually honest.

People far more informed than I put forth the thesis that the spiritual decline of TEC originated with the feminist movement. Prior to 1920 all Protestant and Episcopalians believed that birth-control was counter to biblical teachings. TEC’s enlightenment lead the way, the Protestants followed and now only the Roman Catholics have anything to say about birth control. Later, enlightenment ushered in abortion, women’s ordination and finishing with Bishop Jefferts Schori’s node toward our mother god (“…let us grow in the ancient primordial wisdom of our mother God “). The result is that TEC has been and continues to be in decline and I believe that it is apropos that Bishop Schori is at the helm during TEC’s accelerating drop.

As for leadership, while the Bible does not use the word ordination, it does have comments on leadership positions such as overseers and deacons. Some selected Biblical quotes follow:

•   “The overseer must be above reproach, the husband of but one wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not given to drunkenness, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him with proper respect.” (1 Timothy 3:2-4)

•   “Deacons, likewise, are to be men worthy of respect…” (1 Timothy 3:8)

•   “A deacon must be the husband of but one wife…” (1 Timothy 3:12)

•   “I do not permit a woman to teach or have authority over man… for Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner. ” (1 Timothy 2:12-14)

•   “Now I want you to realize that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God.” (1 Corinthians 11:3)

These are a few of the verses that our Anglican founding father’s likely used when deciding whether or not to ordain women. Since Archbishop Henry Orombi’s position on women’s ordination differences from the historic teaching/practice of the church he should have a better comment than to say that the scriptures say nothing.

Archbishop Henry Orombi also commingles the topic of ordination with the concept of making disciples—almost to suggest that we should go teach and make disciples, priest and bishops of everyone. We are told to make disciples of everyone, but leadership has a special classification, of which ordination should likely be included.

In the USA, TEC and even the broader Christian community is suffering from years of compromise. Enlightenment or “coming of age” hasn’t worked for the churches in the USA. Please send us truly biblical based leadership.

Respectfully,
J. Silvey