20 years ago — Nov. 18, 1996
“This year we are celebrating 40 years of ordination of women to the ministry of the Word and Sacrament in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). In the life of the church that isn’t a very long time. However, it is a generation. A great deal has changed within the church during that time. … I dream of a day when all children will feel that they can explore any calling from God. Children who experience various models in ministry — women and men, ministers and lay people, white and racial ethnic — see that God calls all types of people to service … . My hope for the future of the church is not centered on women in ministry, but on people doing ministry. … Because church leaders in the 1950s … listened to God speaking to them and changed their way of thinking; because Margaret Towner and others were willing to follow God’s call … our Presbyterian Church has grown and expanded and matured.”
Guest Editorial “My Hope for the Future of the Church” by Caroline Wylie Smith
