It had long been understood that granting a person a ministerial license implied that unless something went seriously amiss, the person within a few years would be ordained to the Gospel ministry; in other words, persons granted ministerial licenses were considered to be on the path toward ordination (or more popularly, on track for ordination). The few women who had been granted ministerial licenses over the years had not been viewed as on the path to ordination for the reason that the church was following the obvious Bible instruction that elders should be men.
In 1975 the practice of granting ministerial licenses to women was discontinued, but at the same time the Annual Council of the General Conference voted thatif great caution were exercisedselected women might be ordained as local elders. You should know that this surprising turn of events came about at the insistent urging of a relatively small group of articulate promoters.
Two years later (1977), women were allowed to serve as associates in pastoral care. The language was chosen carefully. Women were not to be known as assistant pastors. Many leaders were uneasy about allowing women to serve as pastors.
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