Ministers may now use the title “pastor” regardless of gender.

The Christian and Missionary Alliance (CMA) has decided to ordain women and allow them to carry the title of “pastor.” More than 60 percent of the denomination’s delegates approved the two changes at the Alliance’s general council in Spokane, Washington, last week, after four years of official discussion and debate.

John Stumbo, president of the Alliance, supported the changes but also urged the gathered delegates to respect different interpretations of the New Testament verses on church leadership.

“Do not think that just because someone disagrees with your biblical position that they don’t love the Word of God, honor the authority of the Word of God, and hold true to its core teachings,” he said. “Everyone I’ve spoken to across the country has come with a thoughtful position. … We have the right, privilege, and necessity of having a mutual respectability for each other.”

Stumbo said the Alliance, which includes about 2,000 churches in the United States, needs unity, but not uniformity. Churches that accept the ordaination of women and those that don’t can work together to proclaim the gospel.

“A deeper life and missions movement—that has always been the Alliance at its best, experiencing the fullness of Jesus within us, the heart change of Christ within us, that sends us on mission to the world,” he said.

The denomination has trained both men and women for that mission to the world, but the women were previously “consecrated,” not ordained, and were told they should not use the title of pastor. Some women testified during the biannual conference that calling themselves “Consecrated Woman of God” and using the acronym …

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