In April 2025, ten Fellowship Pacific Churches presented a Complementarian Motion at the Pacific Conference with two goals:
- Clarify the ministry roles of female elders, preachers, and pastors
- Encourage Pacific churches to reconsider the Scripture on this topic
Significant confusion existed about Fellowship Pacific’s stance on female leadership. The Fellowship National Bylaws state that member churches must reserve the office of pastor exclusively for Biblically-qualified men (National Bylaw 4). Many assumed this meant that while women might hold pastoral titles, their ministry and spiritual authority would be restricted to children’s or family ministries.
These ten churches did not realize that the entire region of Fellowship Pacific embraced female elders to preach and exercise spiritual authority over entire congregations, including men.
This confusion was resolved when Ms. Lorrie Wasyliw testified from the platform about Fellowship Pacific’s history. Having attended every town hall and conversation twenty years ago when the policy was adopted, she confirmed that Fellowship Pacific has openly embraced female elders, preachers, and pastors throughout this period. Her testimony made the Region’s actual position abundantly clear.
