Women are needed as pastors in the SDA church

At the recent Women’s Ministries Congress in Friedensau in September 2017, the presidents of the German-speaking fields expressed in their words of greeting their appreciation for what women are doing in the Seventh-Day Adventist church. In addition to this Pastor Werner Dullinger, president of the South German Union, encouraged women to follow their calling and serve the church as pastors in spite of the present policies of the world church. In the European field women can serve just like their male colleagues with the exception of top leadership positions. During the Sabbath morning service Denise Hochstrasser, Women’s Ministries director for the EUD, interviewed Marjukka Ostrovljanovic and Kirsi Müller. Marjukka is working as a pastor in Regensburg, Germany, and Kirsi is finishing her Master’s degree in Friedensau. Both young women were enthusiastic about working as pastors. They also staffed the berufen.me booth in the exhibition hall, prepared to answer questions about women in ministry.
One of the participants at the Leadership Certification seminar during the following weekend in Florence was Ludmyla Olinyk, called Mila, who finished her BA in theology at the Italian seminary this past summer, and is now working towards her Master’s degree. She is looking forward to going into pastoral ministry, hopefully next year. She received a WM scholarship in 2016. This really helped her a lot in motivation and financing her studies. She plans to write her thesis on Women’s Ministries and why it is necessary in today’s SDA church.
Compared with the Trans-European Division, where there are about 60 women serving as pastors, the Inter-European Division has a long way to catch up. But the EUD executive committee voted the following resolution at the mid-year meeting in May 2016: “To find, in compliance with existing policies, multiple ways to train and empower women for ministry and to encourage them to engage in all possible areas and levels of Church life and service.” May many more young women find their calling in the ministry as they are gifted by the Holy Spirit.