How Seventh-day Adventist Lay Members View Women Pastors

The membership of 20 Seventh-day Adventist churches in the United States and Canada that are served by a female pastor or associate pastor was surveyed to determine how well female pastors are received by their congregations. Substantial majorities rated their female pastors as competent and effective in the pastoral tasks they performed, and 91% gave them an overall rating of excellent or good. While three-fourths of the members were initially favorable to having a female pastor this support grew to 87% during the pastor's tenure. Over three-fourths favored ordination to the Gospel ministry for their female pastor. Women parishioners, younger members, and those with more formal education were more likely to be supportive both of their female pastor and of ordination for women clergy.