B.L.
Puritan Board Sophomore
Evening Friends,
At some point in the past I must have subscribed to byFaith, the PCA's online magazine, and on occasion I'll read what's going on in that denomination. The featured article this week is titled "From former prisoners to Ivy League grads, PCA’s Unity Fund casts a wide net", which piqued my interest so I gave it a read.
If unfamiliar with the PCA's Unity Fund here is some additional info from the website:
As I read the article I was a bit surprised by the profile of one of the scholarship recipients who is a woman serving as a youth ministry intern at her PCA church who was awarded money from the PCA Unity Fund to pursue a MDiv at Reformed Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C.
I had to wonder...under what sort of rationale would the PCA, as a denomination, provide financial assistance to a woman who is pursuing a degree reserved for men who are seeking to enter into the gospel ministry? I remember being surprised to learn Westminster Theological Seminary (WTS) allows ladies to enroll in their MDiv program...and now learned Reformed Theological Seminary (RTS) does as well. If you're not eligible for ordination why would you pursue and be accepted into a MDiv program? Why would the PCA subsidize the tuition for a woman to pursue a MDiv?...am I missing something here?
At any rate...I was curious what my PCA brothers and sisters thought about this fund and more generally whether folks here think those who are ineligible for pastoral ministry should be admitted into the MDiv programs of schools like WTS and RTS.
At some point in the past I must have subscribed to byFaith, the PCA's online magazine, and on occasion I'll read what's going on in that denomination. The featured article this week is titled "From former prisoners to Ivy League grads, PCA’s Unity Fund casts a wide net", which piqued my interest so I gave it a read.
If unfamiliar with the PCA's Unity Fund here is some additional info from the website:
The 43rd General Assembly considered a personal resolution on racial reconciliation. Presbyteries responded to this appeal “to prayerfully consider any and all sins of racial prejudice” by submitting overtures on racial reconciliation that called us to individual and corporate repentance.
Repentance is an essential first step of racial reconciliation, but not the only one. So, the 44th General Assembly created The PCA Unity Fund. One of the objectives of The PCA Unity Fund is to provide seminary tuition subsidies to ethnic minority men called to gospel ministry in the PCA; and to ethnic minority men and women who are pursuing other ministry roles in a PCA church.
As I read the article I was a bit surprised by the profile of one of the scholarship recipients who is a woman serving as a youth ministry intern at her PCA church who was awarded money from the PCA Unity Fund to pursue a MDiv at Reformed Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C.
I had to wonder...under what sort of rationale would the PCA, as a denomination, provide financial assistance to a woman who is pursuing a degree reserved for men who are seeking to enter into the gospel ministry? I remember being surprised to learn Westminster Theological Seminary (WTS) allows ladies to enroll in their MDiv program...and now learned Reformed Theological Seminary (RTS) does as well. If you're not eligible for ordination why would you pursue and be accepted into a MDiv program? Why would the PCA subsidize the tuition for a woman to pursue a MDiv?...am I missing something here?
At any rate...I was curious what my PCA brothers and sisters thought about this fund and more generally whether folks here think those who are ineligible for pastoral ministry should be admitted into the MDiv programs of schools like WTS and RTS.