The Council of the Church of the Brethren (Církev bratrská), one of the Czech Republic's historic free evangelical churches, has opened a church-wide conversation on the ordination of women after meeting with three pastors who have promoted the question. At its September session in Prague, the Council said it did not want to rush a proposal on women's ordination, and that the issue needed enough room for a discussion across the whole church — a discussion the Council itself would lead, and to which women would be invited to bring their life experience and views. The decisions are recorded in the Council's own annotated report of the meeting.
The Church of the Brethren is one of the oldest free church bodies in Central Europe, and in a country often described as one of the continent's most secular, its internal debates carry weight well beyond its own congregations. Alongside the women's ordination initiative, the Council reviewed the church's existing ordination practice. The Brethren recognise two forms of ordination — pastoral, and a second category covering diaconal and chaplaincy ministry — and the Council recommended that the church's order of governance should not be expanded on this point, saying the present provisions already give sufficient scope for entrusting gifted members with particular forms of service. Read together with the women's ordination discussion, that recommendation suggests the Council intends to let the wider conversation run before any change to the rules is proposed.
The same meeting heard a detailed report from the ETS seminary, whose director, Miloš Poborský, described a stable staffing situation but a persistent difficulty: congregations are not sending students to study. Five students graduated this year, and 31 have registered for the 2026/2027 year, 12 of them full-time — eight men and four women. A new course, "The Art of Leading", is prepared for its first year. The Church Music course will not open this year, with only eight applicants against a minimum of ten, and the Foreign Missions course has six registered against a minimum of eight. The Bible school in Ostrava has 21 students in its second year, and a new Bible school in Písek–Elim is planned for 2027/2028. The Council also appointed two new vicars, Jiří Sirenjakov in Děčín and Filip Hracke in Hradec Králové; commissioned Lukáš Nyzio and Petr Šedý as chaplains in the Czech army's active reserves for five years; named Pavel Škrobák administrator of the Zlín congregation from 1 October; took note of Karel Hennhofer's re-election as senior of the North Moravia district; appointed Helena Mrázková as the Brethren's deputy chief spiritual adviser to the Czech Scout association, Junák; and approved a loan of three million Czech crowns from the building fund towards the completion of a prayer house for the congregation in Třinec-Sosna.
(Originally published in Czech. Summary translated by CC / Connexion.)
Source: Církev bratrská (Church of the Brethren, Czech Republic) — portal.cb.cz
