Anglican Botswana Diocese set to ordain women

During the delegates’ conference held in Malawi in November 2023, the Synod, at least in the central province which consists of dioceses from Botswana, Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe, turned the tables around to vote, probably for ever, to allow for ordination of women in the ministry, at least for countries that are willing to do so.

The question of ordination of women has in the past created a controversy around how African Christian women face many sexist and theological obstacles to ordination, both in the Anglican and other churches. In 2013 at a Provincial Synod the motion failed, despite previous efforts and appeals by those dioceses ready to allow them which included Botswana. Out of 14 dioceses, 10 voted against the ordination of women.

Globally, in the general context of modern Christianity, it is only in recent years that women have begun to realise that although they have been accepted as equal to men in politics, the judiciary and the academic world, they are still playing a subservient role in the leadership of churches.

In the African Anglican church, it was at a meeting held in Zambia in 2013 where Bishop Chad from the Dioceses of Harare proposed that women be allowed into ordained ministry, supporting Botswana. At that meeting, he stressed that there are women who have even decided to go to other churches and countries to train and be ordained, a move that he said had broken the Anglican Church over the years particularly in the Central Province that Botswana is part of.

At the same forum, Bishop of Northern Malawi, Fanuel Magangani, argued that the ordination of women is not biblically backed and has also not proved of any help to the church. For her part, however, Botswana church elder, Doreen Nteta, argued that there was arrogance in the acceptance of women’s ordination by some church leaders. She said that Botswana had been ready to ordain women from as far back as the 1980s.

In 2023 in Malawi, Botswana faced nearly 10 years of resistance to its advocacy but persisted with calling for change in some of the canons of the church. The Botswana Dioceses attending the conference, led by the Right Reverend Bishop Metlhayotlhe Beleme, a Molepolole native, vowed not to stop pushing and was able to convince the deep-rooted traditionalists from elsewhere on the continent to change their minds.

“This Synod to resolve that ordination of women be allowed in Dioceses that are ready to go ahead with the ordination of women.....” read the motion and it was passed with 64 delegates voting Yes and 21 delegates voting No in Blantyre, Malawi.

This was to the delight of the Botswana delegates in particular and Bishop Metlha as he is fondly called by his flock.

In a post-Synod interview with Mmegi, Bishop Metlha, a firm but ever cheerful and humble servant of God, could not hide his overwhelming delight about the resolution.

“Well, the outcome was long overdue and we are naturally very happy about it,” he said in November.

More recently on the first Sunday of the New Year, he announced after his sermon that though plans will be put in place to ordain women, there is however another process that has to be undertaken. The process, he said, has to be done before implementing the ordination process in the near future.

Reacting to the success over the Malawi debate, theologian Reverend Dr Celestino Chishimba, a native of Zambia and Dean of the Botswana Dioceses, shared that until recently in Europe and North America, women have been prevented from holding ministerial positions as fully ordained church ministers, deacons and priests.

“It is a breakthrough for Botswana but let us note that this happened before in South Africa, which has its own Synod.

“So the Anglican churches of the Province of Central Africa, Botswana inclusive, have joined the evolution,” Chishimba said.

He said the Christian church in general is another institution where African women have not been able to exercise authority at the highest levels.

Chishimba said while in all religions women have been assigned some specific duties, leadership has remained the prerogative of men. He said the prevention of women from holding ministerial positions is not only in Christianity but also the other major religions of the world like Islam, Judaism, Buddhism to name a few where the priesthood, the highest role in the religious community in the religious community, has been reserved for men.

In the case of Christianity, Dr Chishimba, who is also a lecturer at the Anglican’s St Augustine Theological College in the Village, Gaborone, said the absence of a sacerdotal for women has often been attributed to the influence of Judaism as portrayed in the Old Testament. However patriarchalism is clearly the dominant orientation in the Old Testament as seen in the masculine images of God being set forth as anthropomorphisms.

“Unlike the deities of the Ancient Near East, the God of the Old Testament is a spirit and not to be depicted as either male or female and in fact, feminine imagery, though not common, is also used to describe Jehovah as he is described as a nursing mother in Isaiah 49:5,” stressed Chisimba.

Notwithstanding, Chishimba shared that despite the male dominance in the Hebrew society, women were not barred from holding the office of prophetess as stated in 2 Kings 22:14 and Judges 4:4, or even as rulers as stated in 2 King 11:3. He said however unlike other contemporary religions in the Ancient Near East, Judaism had no priestesses. He also said according to Conn (1988:256) this was to avoid the dangers of fertility cults and sacred prostitution practiced by the neighbouring Canaanites.

In further unpacking the problem, Rev Chisimba shared that in the New Testament, all the offices in the early church such as apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers, as also stated in Ephesians 4:8-11, are in the masculine gender.

Still, Chisimba reveals that the Apostle Paul while allowing women to teach children and younger women within the congregation, prohibited them from speaking in public meetings and this prohibition was probably aimed at preventing the spread of some forms of Gnosticism which spoke of women as being intermediaries between God and man and also gave to Eve a prior existence in which she consorted with celestial beings.

Nevertheless, he shares that Paul also states that in a spiritual sense there is no distinction between men and women (Gal. 3:26-28) and that their perspective roles in the Church are complementary rather than one gender dominating the other.

“Accusations of misogyny against Paul are not well substantial because women appeared to have been his staunchest supporters in the churches he established in Greece and Macedonia.

“The same cannot be said for the early Fathers of the church who either ignored women altogether or regarded them as inferior to men as mentioned by, Byne (1988:5) in her book, “Women before God” where some of the views which the church Fathers had as far as women are concerned are mentioned,” Chisimba explained.

The Reverend however said the views may not represent the official position of the Church towards women during the patristic period, but it appears that leadership role of women in the church was doomed from an early stage.

It is interesting to note that opposition to the ordination of women to the priesthood is strongest in churches with a strong sacramental tradition such as Roman Catholic (Roma), as well as the Anglican and Orthodox Churches respectively where the administration of the Eucharist is reserved for the male priest who is acting “In loco Christi”.

This is evidenced by the fact that women have been ordained with relatively little opposition in denominations such as the Baptist and Methodist churches where the Communion service is merely a commemoration of the Last Supper, rather than a sacrifice with the transubstantiation of the elements as found in the Eucharist.

In an opinion note, Rev Chisimba, referenced from a contemporary feminist theology noting that the rise of women’s liberation movement in the Mmid-20th Century helped to create a feminist-critical consciousness which inevitably questioned the status of women within the church. This is despite the fact that women in some domination constitute as much as 80% of active membership and contribute a substantial share of the church finances.

“There have being calls for investigation of the traditional roles of men and women in decision-making within the churches and hermeneutical questions have been raised by both male and female theologians.

“One would be, how do we interpret what is seen as the male orientation of the Bible? And is gender equality possible in church leadership?

“And so feminist theology has recently become an increasingly significant feature of contemporary theology,” Chisimba argued.

Notwithstanding, the ordination of women seemed inevitable since it was found to be theologically unobjectionable by the General Synod of the Anglican Church in 1975. This has prompted a bitter debate over the years resulting in splits and divisions within the church globally. In London in 1992, after years of deadlocks and divisions, the Church of England voted to allow women to become bishops, overturning centuries of tradition and overcoming a long-running dispute that had undermined the unity of Anglicans. At least 31 years after the Church of England took the historic step, equality campaigners say female clergy are still victims of “institutionalized discrimination”.

Meanwhile, Machache of Botswana, as they proudly call themselves in the circles of the churches’ praise and worship tradition, are, following the latest developments, eagerly waiting for the moment Bishop Metlha will make an announcement as to when and which women will be ordained as deacons and probably as priests.

So far, 14 women have been trained as Ordinands, awaiting ordination at the St Augustine Theological College in Gaborone.