Mission life: THE KUKMIN DAILY

Chongshin Theological Seminary to Block Admission of Female Students

2014-09-19 17:28

On September 18 at its regular board meeting (photo), the steering board of Chongshin Theological Seminary (PCK Hapdong) made a decision that will effectively block the entrance of new female students to its M.Div program, and this has caused controversy.

The steering board passed a bill, submitted by East Gwangju Presbytery, which agrees “to grant admission to Master of Divinity programs at PCK Hapdong seminaries only to ordination candidates who are recommended by presbyteries.” Since PCK Hapdong does not recognize ordination of women, 100% of ordination candidates recommended by PCK Hapdong presbyteries are male. If the schools grant admission only to ordination candidates recommended by presbyteries, no female can be admitted to such programs.

At the board meeting, participants gave opinions such as, “The M.Div. program is a program for ordination, and PCK Hapdong doesn’t ordain women,” and “Women can’t be ordained but if they wish to study at one of the Chongshin theological seminaries nevertheless, they should get into a Master of Arts program and study Christian education.” The bill was passed unanimously. If the foundation board (chair: Rev. Kim Yeong-wu), a body of 15 members, confirms the decision of the steering board, this bill will go into practice.

Currently there are 1,179 students enrolled in Chongshin Theological Seminary’s M.Div program, of which 121 are women. At PCK Hapdong-approved seminaries, there are 31 women among the total 370 enrolled students. Most women graduates of these seminaries work as “jeondosa” (unordained junior pastor) or missionaries.

The female students at Chongshin Theological Seminary responded with stunned surprise. Ms. A declared, “This is going too far… as if it wasn’t enough that PCK Hapdong doesn’t ordain women.” Ms. B criticized, “They make women jeondosa work in fields of ministry, but don’t want to give us the opportunity to study to become ministers. This attitude really goes against the times.”

Rev. Kim Jong-jun (Seoul Flower Garden Church), the newly elected steering board chair, said, “This was an agenda item decided during the term of the former board director. It seems the board members didn’t fully consider the related problems… We’ll discuss the matter once again when the steering board meets.”

Article and photo by reporter Paek Sang-hyun (100sh@kmib.co.kr), with Yeara Ahn-Park (yap@kmib.co.kr)


Click here for the original article in Korean

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