Female Priesthood in Church of Jesus Christ (Josh Gehly 3 of 6)

The Church of Jesus Christ based in Monongahela, PA allows for limited female priesthood ordination of women. We'll discuss women's roles with Josh Gehly, an evangelist in the church and discuss Bickertonite Church structure. Is an Evangelist similar to the LDS calling of Seventy? We'll also discuss differences in baptismal practices. Check out our conversation... https://youtu.be/E_Pusr4YeHc Don’t miss our other conversations with Josh: https://gospeltangents.com/people/josh-gehly   Copyright © 2024 Gospel Tangents All Rights Reserved Except for book reviews, no content may be reproduced without written permission GT  00:35  Well, let's go into a few other things here. I'd like to dive a little bit more into your church. We've definitely been talking about our similarities here.   Josh  00:45  Yeah.  GT  00:45  Let's talk a little bit about similarities and differences.  Josh  00:50  Great.  GT  00:51  So, in your church, you serve as an evangelist.  Josh  00:54  I do.  GT  00:55  And when I spoke to you earlier, you have Seventy Evangelists. And so, of course, in the LDS Church, we have a Quorum of Seventy. It sounds like you would be a Seventy, we would call you a Seventy in our church.  Josh  01:11  That would be very comparable. We don't use that phrasing, really. We do have a Quorum of Seventy. It is our evangelists. And for us, that is the tip of the spear on the missionary efforts around the world for the church. The evangelists and the Quorum of Seventy are the overseers of those projects.  GT  01:30  So, just one Quorum of Seventy?  Josh  01:32  Correct.  GT  01:33  Okay. Because I'm trying to--well, let's talk a little bit about church structure.  Josh  01:38  Yeah.  GT  01:39  So, you have a president of your church. Would you call him a prophet?  Josh  01:46  We do not. Although, this gets a little away from structure. But we do believe the gift of prophecy is active and alive, and throughout the church. You will see both apostles and members under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit say, "Thus saith the Lord," and give the word of the Lord. And sometimes those are prophetic utterances. And so that is not limited in the church to a specific role. We would, maybe humbly, make the argument that even scripturally, Isaiah was not necessarily a leader of the church, but he was a prophet. We have room for the gift of prophecy throughout the church, but it's not necessarily restricted to a specific office. I know that is definitely a difference. That's something unique, maybe to us. Our presidency, then, to your point is--this is something we changed after the death of Joseph Smith. In the 1800s, we came about with a change. The change was our Quorum of Twelve, the presidency is within the Quorum of Twelve. So, we only have Twelve apostles, and [out of] those 12, the presidency is a functioning unit within the Twelve.  GT  03:02  Okay, so the First Presidency, rather-- like in our church, we've got 12 plus 3, you've just got 12.  Josh  03:09  We've got 12, plus zero. (Chuckling)  GT  03:13  And so the First Presidency are also apostles.  Josh  03:17  Correct.  GT  03:18  Because I know in our [church] I believe, I'm pretty sure this is true. In the Community of Christ, their First Presidency is not necessarily an apostle.   Josh  03:30  Okay. That is very different. Our presidency are all apostles. That's our pool. When it comes to the ministry, electing a president or a counselor, the only available options are our quorum of Twelve apostles.  GT  03:50  Okay. And then do they serve for a set term, or is it a lifetime appointment?  Josh  03:53  Well, it's always been elected. So it has always been...  GT  03:58  They have a vote?  Josh  03:59  Yeah, we’ve always had a vote.  GT  04:00  And it was not unanimous, like in my church?  Josh  04:03  It doesn't have to be unanimous. It doesn't have to be.