The 1985 General Conference Session in New Orleans voted “To take no definitive action at this time regarding ordination of women to the gospel ministry” and to continue studying. Further to its action, the 1987 Annual Council established a Commission on the Role of Women, composed of 79 members (62 men and 17 women). It met at the General Conference in Washington, D.C. on March 24-27, 1988. At the end: “The commission agreed that new studies should be prepared from a biblical standpoint on the ordination of women, and from these papers a special group of persons should develop a consensus paper.”
Of the 29 documents below, 24 papers were submitted in advance. The 79 Commission members were divided into six groups, which had papers assigned to them to analyze. Each group met separately for 5-6 hours prior to the main meeting of the Commission, discussing papers pertinent to their subject area. These intensive discussions then informed the rest of the meeting. The list of 24 papers as assigned to the six groups, and the members of each group, are found in the first document entitled “Participants and Discussion Questions” and the documents below are grouped accordingly.
The final five documents under “Other Presentations” consist of presentations to the Commission that were not included in the advance discussions, but were nevertheless delivered at the March meetings.
