Onley's Insights
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A Reformed Monthly 76th Year of Publication | June 14, 2021 | No. 3126 $5.00 Christ-centred. Creative. Canadian. WOMEN ORDAINED IN THE CRC Serving in the shadow of ‘maybe’ after 25 years. Cheryl Mahaffy TWIN NIECES TURNED 25 the day let their ordination lapse. That I began writing this article. They leaves 177 active in ministry – were born in 1996, the very year about one woman for every six when the synod of the Christian ordained men. The number of Reformed Church (CRC) first ap- active clergy women has nearly proved women for ordination and doubled in the past decade, and gave congregations the option they are serving in a multiplicity of calling women as Ministers of ways. But those whose gifts of the Word. Born prematurely, call them to parish ministry say those two tiny girls spent agoniz- they’ve had a harder time than ing months in neonatal intensive men to find a post, especially as care but have thrived since then, lead pastor. nurtured and nurturing with love. Perhaps it’s no surprise: Last Can the same be said of women year, 48 years after a synodical ordained in the CRC – and of the study committee concluded that denomination they serve? excluding women from ecclesi- astical office cannot be defended Queen Elizabeth II greets Lieutenant Governor of Ontario David Onley and his wife Ruth at Buckingham Palace, 2008. WAITING FOR THE CALL on biblical grounds, a quarter of The CRC has ordained 200 CRC churches responding to a women since 1996. Some have denominational survey said they ONLEY’S INSIGHTS retired, left the denomination or Continued on page 2 David Onley, former Lieutenant Governor & polio survivor, on COVID lessons and the fragile gift of life. | Angela Reitsma Bick HE HOLDS HONORARY DEGREES from 10 Canadian universities; he’s at Sick Kids Hospital in Toronto, received both the Order of Ontario and the Order of Canada; he’s in “but there’s a resiliency to chil- the Terry Fox Hall of Fame, and the town where he was born named a dren that young.” Over multiple park after him. Yet when he answered the phone for our interview, the waves of the disease, occurring Honourable David Onley sounded like any other grandparent during from 1927 to 1962, an estimated COVID-19 – excited that his grandchildren, finally able to visit again, 50,000 Canadians, mostly chil- were coming over soon. dren, suffered paralysis from David Onley worked as a journalist before serving as Lieutenant polio, and four thousand died. Governor of Ontario from 2007 to 2014. He was the first Canadian Neil Young, Joni Mitchell and with a visible disability in both of those public roles. His physical Paul Martin Jr. are all polio sur- disability stems from an earlier epidemic: polio, which he contracted vivors. David Onley recovered, in 1953 at age three. but the disease left its mark. He “I missed my family terribly,” he says of spending seven months Continued on page 3 Maaike Vander Meer MAIL TO: PM# 40009999 R9375 PM# 4 | Working with my dad 6 | Taking mom home 17 | COVID’s learning loss News ORDAINED CONTINUED presiding at the communion table while pregnant with her second would not hire a woman pastor child. As she spoke the promise, and another third did not answer “This is my body, broken for you,” the question. Just 33 percent an- she felt the baby kick. “It was swered “yes.” deeply, deeply personal, not vis- Lynette van de Hoef Meyers, ible, but I felt that in my body and who graduated from Calvin felt with my people and I loved Theological Seminary this year, it,” she says. “There’s just depth was among those searching for of complexity and beauty being a post at time of writing. She re- in a woman’s body and nourish- cently preached at a church that ing my son that I think is good welcomed her warmly, yet was to bring to theological reflection.” restricting its pastoral search to male candidates. “I don’t under- CLEAR CALL, STRONG COM- stand the double standard, or MITMENT the willingness to accept female A common thread among the ‘exhorter’ but not a full-time pas- women contributing to this ser- tor,” she writes. “I wish we could Stroobosscher Heather by submitted Photo ies is a clear sense of calling. For move beyond our discomfort or CRC Pastor delegates at Synod in 2015 (l to r): Adriana Sybenga, Bonny Mulder-Behnia, Mary Stegink, Heidi De Jonge, some, it stretches back to child- the newness of it all, and embrace Meg Jenista, Susan LaClear, Willemina Zwart, Rita Klein-Geltink and Heather Stroobosscher. hood; for others, it arrives long the beauty of how God speaks in after others see their gifts for and through women.” after one of her sermons and said, consider me a ‘safe’ person, initially due to my gender, and (whether ministry. “You preach like a man. I need to this is justified or not) are more willing to talk to me about faith, doubt “God dramatically and un- TO LEAD OR NOT rethink what I believe. I think I and traumatic life experiences than they are their church pastors in expectedly plucked me right out Of the 177 women now active can try.” their home churches. I consider this a great honour and privilege – one of my context at the age of 39 – in ministry, 102 have found that I carry with much care.” my kids were 3, 6 and 9 – and sent positions with churches. Fewer THE OTHER CALLS me to seminary,” writes Heather than half, or 41, are lead, sole or Ordained CRC women who are GIFTS IN WAITING Stroobosscher. Later, in conver- co-pastors; the remaining 61 fill not in parish ministry also serve For ordained women working elsewhere when their gifts call them to sation, she describes how drop- roles such as worship coordina- in significant ways (see graph). lead a congregation, however, the yearning for a parish post is palpable. ping in on a friend’s “Discerning tion or children’s ministry. Roles Ordained in 2018, Sara DeMoor After graduating from Calvin Theological Seminary in 2010, Amanda Your Calling Conversation” led that involve less preaching and walks alongside students as CRC Bakale waited four years before receiving a call to Community CRC to a pondering that changed her leadership – less sense of au- campus minister at the Univer- in Kitchener, Ontario. “It was disheartening,” she says. “Deeply dis- life. When she shared her call thority, historically a danced- sity of Guelph in Ontario. She heartening. I did wonderful things: got a Masters in counselling in with her pastor, his response was, around concept where women resisted ordination for years, in- psychotherapy, served as interim pastor, worked at World Renew in “It’s about time.” in the CRC are concerned. Beth tent on pursuing law – and loathe Burlington. But I had to wrestle ordination from the denomination.” As a woman answering the call, Fellinger is among the minority – to become a target in a denomin- With no call in sight (and the search complicated by the fact that Stroobosscher met challenges lead pastor at Destination Church ation “where I feared I would her husband already had a campus ministry post in Ontario), Bakale that caught her by surprise. En- in St. Thomas, Ontario. She have to continually defend my encouraged World Renew to recognize her work with young adults tering seminary meant leaving graduated from Eastern Semin- right to exist as a woman in min- as pastoral ministry. With the support of her home church and classis, her home church in Michigan, a ary in 1981, when expectations istry.” Then involvement in CRC she was ordained. “It was both joyous and sad,” she recalls. “It wasn’t CRC that did not affirm women for her future leaned to being “a campus ministry while attending a church calling me; it was a denominational position.” in office. One of her first pos- good pastor’s wife or a children’s the Institute for Christian Stud- Reflecting on what she brings to Community CRC, Bakale recalls itions put her in a congregation pastor.” Instead, she has led a ies, coupled with immersion in church restart and three church an emerging leader program, re- plants, including Destination. directed her life. “THIS was the “Being a lead pastor has been a vocation God had created me for,” gift that honored the dreams of she says. my childhood,” she reflects. Like “I don’t think I could have im- many ordained women, her jour- agined what an asset my gender ney includes experiences both could have been in campus min- ironic and hopeful. Including the istry,” DeMoor continues. “Stu- older gentleman who approached dents and faculty of both genders THE HUSBANDS It’s often assumed that, for women, family obligations make it difficult to move. But in some clergy families, it’s men making those sacrifices. “I’ve now uprooted my husband and family twice to countries where he couldn’t work,” writes Brenda Kronemei- jer-Heyink. Heidi De Jonge’s husband, also an ordained minister, left jobs he loved twice so she could accept calls to parish ministry. He has also served as the family’s primary stay-at-home parent, she reports. “All this to say that sometimes in marriage, and in the denomina- tion, sacrifices get made in order to further important movements.” 2 JUNE 14, 2021 | CHRISTIAN COURIER News that did not support women’s ONLEY CONTINUED in downtown Toronto, where ordination but, wanting to tap his grandparents were founding her gifts, hired her as Director of members in the late 1920s.