In 2018, while the college was beginning work on its plan to make Covenant a great place for women to work and study, Covenant’s publication The View published a small statement by Joel Belz on the events of the summer’s General Assembly. “None of us enjoy losing a vote,” he writes, “especially on an issue we consider to involve an important principle. So I was still absorbing the assembly’s rejection of a proposal that would allow the election of women to the Board of Trustees of Covenant College. After less than an hour’s debate, the proposal had been defeated by a vote of 727-449-18.”
It’s a surprising statement, one that raises a multitude of questions. Why does the PCA’s General Assembly get to decide if women are allowed on the board? Why can’t women be elected to the board at all? Why didn’t the vote get passed?
Unfortunately, like most things, the answers to these questions are inherently complicated. And it starts with Covenant College’s relationship with the Presbyterian Church in America. The college didn’t begin under the PCA’s banner but was founded by the Bible Presbyterian Church. After the Bible Presbyterians split, it became the college of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church. And when the Evangelical Presbyterian Church and the Reformed Presbyterian Church, General Synod merged, it became affiliated with the new denomination, the Reformed Presbyterian Church, Evangelical Synod. And after that denomination merged with the PCA in 1982, it became officially the college of the PCA.
As a result, the college is not simply connected to the PCA by ideological ties, but belongs to and is ultimately controlled by the denomination. It’s officially designated as a PCA Agency in the rules concerning the college, found in the Book of Church Order. And the Book of Church Order requires that the board of trustees in all their agencies be composed of ordained people.
As of the time of writing, the PCA does not allow women to be ordained. The question of women’s ordination has been debated in the church for many years, and we won’t be discussing it in depth. But it’s enough to say that it’s not something the PCA is likely to change its stance on anytime soon. As a result, women are, for the foreseeable future, barred from the Board of Trustees at Covenant College.
The rule that the Board of Trustees should be composed of ordained church members isn’t without purpose. In the words of Professor Herb Ward, “[The PCA] wants to maintain the principle of accountability of church agencies to the Eldership.” The Board of Trustees is tasked with ensuring that the college is continuing the mission of the PCA. Additionally, by having a Board of Trustees made up of ordained officials from the PCA, the college maintains its affiliation in a legal sense. “I do think it’s prudential for the college to ensure a majority of the trustees are ordained officers, because that makes it very clear our connections to the PCA and that affords us legal protections that other Christian colleges don’t have.” President Derek Halvorson explained.
But despite the importance of maintaining the PCA affiliation, the leadership at Covenant College strongly feels like it’s time for women to officially be members of the Board of Trustees. “It’s really unfortunate because I feel like it most significantly deprives us of the gifts of some really talented women who could be serving on our board making significant contributions there,” President Halvorson said. Stephanie Formenti echoed the sentiment. “I would love to see women on the board. I think we’re missing out by not having women on the board.” The absence of female representation is also felt by the student body, which, according to the college’s website, is 53% female.
It might not be fair to say that Covenant’s Board of Trustees is only male. While only ordained men can be voting members, the board has found some loopholes that allow women’s voices into the room. A role called “Trustee Advisor” has brought a number of unordained people, including women, into the conversions happening at Covenant over the last several years. Some are Alumni, while others represent portions of the church community. “I’m grateful for the women who are willing to serve as advisors because they’re great and they’re not bashful. They get involved and it’s awesome,” President Halvorson said.
The question of female leadership isn’t being ignored by the PCA either. In 2016, the General Assembly authorized a subcommittee to study the issue of women’s roles in the church. The resulting 63 page document, shared a year later, affirmed that established church leadership roles were not open to women in PCA congregations. But, at the same time, it encouraged churches to uplift women in their gifts and celebrate female leadership in church communities, citing the leadership of Biblical women. It opened up new opportunities for women in the PCA that, in the words of the report, were “long overdue.”
With growing support for women’s leadership in PCA communities and efforts to improve the environment for women at the school, Covenant College was thinking about introducing women as voting members of the Board of Trustees. Doing so wouldn’t be simple—the rule was written into the Book of Common Order, and in order to change it, the overture would require a majority vote at the assembly and then the approval of a supermajority of presbyteries. And the school, not being a PCA church, couldn’t bring forth an overture in the first place.
The first obstacle was solved by partnering with the local Tennessee Valley Presbytery.
“We had made the case that it was consistent with our denominations' theology, and with the difference between a college and a church, for board seats to be opened to unordained persons,” President Halvorson said. The Tennessee Valley Presbytery submitted an overture to amend the pertinent sections of the denomination’s constitutional documents to the 46th General Assembly.
Unfortunately, complications arose. Other PCA presbyteries had submitted similar overtures pertaining to the question of the boards of PCA agencies. Those agencies included Covenant Theological Seminary, the PCA Foundation, PCA Retirement & Benefits, Inc., and Ridge Haven Conference Center, the summer camp.
So, when the overture came up for discussion at the General Assembly, it was no longer the clear cut question of if unordained people should be permitted to serve on Covenant's Board. “It ran into opposition for a number of reasons,” Halverson said. “But there were some people I talked to who said, ‘Hey, I’d be fine if the college had women on the board or unordained people on the board, but I think the seminary, because it’s training pastors, ought to have ordained people on its board. And so I’m gonna vote this down.’”
The College and the Tennessee Valley Presbytery tried again the next year, 2019. Once again the overture combined with similar overtures and was voted down even more harshly. After the poor reception to the second attempt, Covenant’s leadership agreed to wait on the issue. “I still hope that someday, maybe when some of our cultural hysteria settles down, I’m hoping we’ll be able to have a thoughtful conversation about that,” Halverson explained.
Some options still remain open. Perhaps the next step is establishing clearer definitions of the PCA’s agencies, creating divisions between groups that train pastors and missionaries, and agencies like Covenant and Ridgehaven, where openings should be made for non-ordained members on their boards. President Halvorson suggests that students within the PCA can also help the process by talking to their pastors about the overture and why it matters.
Ultimately, the question of women’s representation on Covenant’s Board of Trustees isn’t going to be solved overnight. The PCA’s process of voting and debating are time-consuming, and cultural anxieties about hot-button issues slow the process down and muddy the waters of the conversation. But, with the college and many presbyteries convinced of the importance of such a move, it seems like an inevitable change in the College’s future. The question left is only “when?”
From a distance, it’s a tough situation for women at the school. The all-male Board can only be changed by the all-male voting body at the General Assembly. But, talking with faculty and administration around campus is encouraging. It’s clear that the school shares a vision of the future for the women here. At this point, Covenant is still waiting on the question of female members of the Board of Trustees. In the meantime, it’s focusing more closely on the things that can change, investing in training and discussions with the goal of creating a better culture for women at the college. “I’d love to see the number of women in the faculty continue to grow,” Halvorson said, considering the future of women’s roles at Covenant. “When I was a student there were two! Definitely hiring women in senior administration, women on the board, more women in the faculty. I want it to be a culture where everyone, women and men both, are respected, are granted the dignity that goes with being an image bearer, are equals in the workplace, and everyone’s contributions are equally valued.”