Statement of the North German Union Conference of Seventh-day Adventists

On June 19, 2016, the executive committee of the North German Union voted the following policy:
Encouraged by the numerous expressions of solidarity, and building on the statement cited above, the North German Union Conference (NGU) resolves the following for its territory:
1.The NGU is committed to the biblical practice of the laying on of hands with a prayer of blessing as visible sign of the church in order to commission its pastors for service in full-time ministry in the churches. This is what the NGU means when it speaks of "ordination."
2.This commissioning or "ordination" is granted to both men and women without distinction and is valid only in the territory of the North and South German Union Conferences, because our administrative bodies only have the authority to speak for these regions.
3.The election of a pastor, male or female, to serve in the leadership position of (Conference or Union) President will be implemented by a renewed commissioning or "ordination."
4.This renewed commissioning or "ordination" for service in the leadership of our church takes place with the understanding that this does not establish any kind of hierarchy, but is rather done in recognition of the particular responsibility of leadership, asking for God's special blessing for this task.
5. With this understanding of the practice of the laying on of hands, male and female pastors in the territory of the North and South German Union Conferences will be commissioned or "ordained" for their ministry.
6. In this way, both Union Conferences adhere to their statement issued in July of 2015 and implement the equal treatment of male and female pastors in concrete practice. In addition, the intended goal of the resolution passed by the North German Union Conference constituency meeting in 2012, namely to commission or ordain men and women in the same manner, is also implemented.
Moreover, the resolution is in agreement with the guidelines of the General Conference (Working Policy E 5 10). Read the whole statement under:
http://www.adventisten.de/fileadmin/Intern/NDV/Dokumente/NGU-ExecComm_Ordination_of_Women_2016-06-19_eng.pdf