Women in Pentecostal and Charismatic Ministry (Global Pentecostal and Charismatic Studies) (Global Pentecostal and Charismatic Studies, 21) 9004332529, 9789004332522

Table of contents :
Women in Pentecostal and Charismatic Ministry: Informing a Dialogue on Gender, Church, and Ministry
Copyright
Dedication
Contents
Acknowledgments
Notes on Contributors
Note on the Cover Illustration
Definitions
Introduction: The Purpose and Theoretical Framework of this Book
Part 1: Biblical and Historical Roots
Editor’s Note to Chapter 1
1 Women in Ministry: A Pentecostal Reading of New Testament Texts
Editor’s Note to Chapter 2
2 Examples of Women’s Leadership in the Old Testament and Church History
Editor’s Note to Chapter 3
3 Callings, Giftings, and Empowerment: Preaching Women and American Pentecostalism in Historical and Theological Perspective
Part 2: Historical Exemplars
Editor’s Note to Chapter 4
4 Florence Crawford and Egalitarian Precedents in Early Pentecostalism
Editor’s Note to Chapter 5
5 Giving Room to the Anointing: Carrie Judd Montgomery’s Influence on Women in Ministry
Editor’s Note to Chapter 6
6 Producing Change: Kathryn Kuhlman and Modern Media
Editor’s Note to Chapter 7
7 A Successful Calling: Women, Power, and the Rise of the American Prosperity Gospel
Part 3: Global Exemplars
Editor’s Note to Chapter 8
8 The ‘Outback Spirit’ of Pentecostal Women Pioneers in Australia
Editor’s Note to Chapter 9
9 Canadian Pentecostal Women in Ministry: The Case of Bernice Gerard and Feminist Ideologies
Editor’s Note to Chapter 10
10 The Holy Spirit and Hospitality: Pentecostal Empowerment for Building Relationships with the World’s 800 Million Muslim Women
Editor’s Note to Chapter 11
11 Merchandised Women: Priceless, Called and Empowered
Part 4: Distinctive Concerns of Female Leadership and Ministry
Editor’s Note to Chapter 12
12 Women as Assemblies of God Church Planters: Cultural Analysis and Strategy Formation
Editor’s Note to Chapter 13
13 When Liberation Becomes Survival
Editor’s Note to Chapter 14
14 Living a Theology of Co-Gender Ministry
Editor’s Note to Chapter 15
15 Women Praying for Women: Christian Healing Ministries and the Embodiment of Charismatic Prayer
Afterword
Editor’s Note to Appendix A
Appendix A: The Testimony of Naomi R. Dowdy
Editor’s Note to Appendix B
Appendix B: The Testimony of Theresa D’Souza Greenhough
Index

Citation preview

Women in Pentecostal and Charismatic Ministry

Global Pentecostal and Charismatic Studies Edited by William K. Kay (Glyndŵr University) Mark Cartledge (Regent University) Editorial Board Kimberly Alexander (Regent University) Allan Anderson (University of Birmingham) Jacqueline Grey (Alphacrucis College, Sydney) Byron D. Klaus (Assemblies of God Theological Seminary, Springfield, mo) Wonsuk Ma (Oxford Centre for Mission Studies) Jean-Daniel Plüss (European Pentecostal/Charismatic Research Association) Cecil M Robeck, Jr (Fuller Theological Seminary) Calvin Smith (King’s Evangelical Divinity School)

Volume 21

The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/gpcs

Women in Pentecostal and Charismatic Ministry Informing a Dialogue on Gender, Church, and Ministry Edited by

Margaret English de Alminana Lois E. Olena

LEIDEN | BOSTON

Cover illustration designed by Steven Félix-Jäger. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: English de Alminana, Margaret, editor. Title: Women in Pentecostal and Charismatic ministry : informing a dialogue  on gender, church, and ministry / edited by Margaret English de Alminana,  Lois E. Olena. Description: Leiden ; Boston : Brill, 2016. | Series: Global Pentecostal and  Charismatic studies, ISSN 1876-2247 ; volume 21 | Includes bibliographical  references. Identifiers: LCCN 2016039222 (print) | LCCN 2016041106 (ebook) | ISBN  9789004332522 (pbk. : alk. paper) | ISBN 9789004332546 (E-book) Subjects: LCSH: Women in church work--Pentecostal churches. | Sex  role--Religious aspects--Pentecostal churches. | Pentecostal women. Classification: LCC BX8780.Z5 W66 2016 (print) | LCC BX8780.Z5 (ebook) | DDC  253/.3994082--dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016039222

Typeface for the Latin, Greek, and Cyrillic scripts: “Brill”. See and download: brill.com/brill-typeface. issn 1876-2247 isbn 978-90-04-33252-2 (paperback) isbn 978-90-04-33254-6 (e-book) Copyright 2017 by Koninklijke Brill nv, Leiden, The Netherlands. Koninklijke Brill nv incorporates the imprints Brill, Brill Hes & De Graaf, Brill Nijhoff, Brill Rodopi and Hotei Publishing. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher. Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Koninklijke Brill nv provided that the appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910, Danvers, ma 01923, usa. Fees are subject to change. This book is printed on acid-free paper and produced in a sustainable manner.

This book is dedicated to the pioneer Pentecostal and Charismatic women in ministry who have paved the way, to the young female leaders rising up to answer God’s call, and to Kate Bowler, one of this volume’s authors, whose struggle with cancer during the writing and editing of this book exemplifies the courage of spirit that this book is all about.

Contents

Acknowledgments xi Notes on Contributors xii Note on the Cover Illustration xx Definitions xxii

Introduction: The Purpose and Theoretical Framework of this Book 1 Margaret English de Alminana

part 1 Biblical and Historical Roots Editor’s Note to Chapter 1 33 1 Women in Ministry: A Pentecostal Reading of New Testament Texts 35 Melissa L. Archer Editor’s Note to Chapter 2 57 2 Examples of Women’s Leadership in the Old Testament and Church History 59 Mimi R. Haddad Editor’s Note to Chapter 3 70 3 Callings, Giftings, and Empowerment: Preaching Women and American Pentecostalism in Historical and Theological Perspective 73 Zachary Michael Tackett

part 2 Historical Exemplars Editor’s Note to Chapter 4 101 4 Florence Crawford and Egalitarian Precedents in Early Pentecostalism 103 Margaret English de Alminana

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Editor’s Note to Chapter 5 140

5

Giving Room to the Anointing: Carrie Judd Montgomery’s Influence on Women in Ministry 143 Jennifer A. Miskov



Editor’s Note to Chapter 6 159

6

Producing Change: Kathryn Kuhlman and Modern Media 164 Amy Collier Artman



Editor’s Note to Chapter 7 181

7

A Successful Calling: Women, Power, and the Rise of the American Prosperity Gospel 184 Kate Bowler

part 3 Global Exemplars

Editor’s Note to Chapter 8 203

8

The ‘Outback Spirit’ of Pentecostal Women Pioneers in Australia 204 Denise A. Austin and Jacqueline Grey



Editor’s Note to Chapter 9 227

9

Canadian Pentecostal Women in Ministry: The Case of Bernice Gerard and Feminist Ideologies 229 Linda M. Ambrose



Editor’s Note to Chapter 10 247

10

The Holy Spirit and Hospitality: Pentecostal Empowerment for Building Relationships with the World’s 800 Million Muslim Women 249 Lois E. Olena

c ontents



Editor’s Note to Chapter 11 271

11

Merchandised Women: Priceless, Called and Empowered 272 Beth (A. Elizabeth) Grant

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part 4 Distinctive Concerns of Female Leadership and Ministry

Editor’s Note to Chapter 12 293

12

Women as Assemblies of God Church Planters: Cultural Analysis and Strategy Formation 295 Loralie Robinson Crabtree and Joy E.A. Qualls



Editor’s Note to Chapter 13 320

13

When Liberation Becomes Survival 323 Estrelda Yvonne Alexander



Editor’s Note to Chapter 14 348

14

Living a Theology of Co-Gender Ministry 349 Stephanie L. Nance and Ava Kate Oleson



Editor’s Note to Chapter 15 368

15

Women Praying for Women: Christian Healing Ministries and the Embodiment of Charismatic Prayer 370 Peter Althouse

Afterword 385 Margaret English de Alminana Editor’s Note to Appendix A 389 Appendix A: The Testimony of Naomi R. Dowdy 391 Editor’s Note to Appendix B 395 Appendix B: The Testimony of Theresa D’Souza Greenhough 396 Index 402

Acknowledgments We wish to thank William Kay and Mark Cartledge, Global Pentecostal and Charismatic Studies Series editors, for their tireless assistance throughout the many months of this project. Their commitment to women in ministry and their scholarly and gracious support has helped bring this book to completion. Additionally, we appreciate the institutional and collegial support of Southeastern University and the Assemblies of God Theological Seminary as well as the Society for Pentecostal Studies for being places of creative networking, global scholarship, and rich fellowship. It is primarily out of these environments that we secured the quality participation of our remarkable contributors, without whom this volume would not exist. We also offer a special word of thanks to Steven Félix-Jäger, whose brilliant artistry created the unique cover art for this volume. Finally, we gratefully extend our love and appreciation to our families, especially our husbands, Marty de Alminana and Doug Olena, for their patience and encouragement throughout this journey.

Notes on Contributors Estrelda Yvonne Alexander (Ph.D., Catholic University of America) is a sociologist and political theologian. She is founding president of William Seymour College. Her published works include Black Fire Reader: A Documentary Resource on African American Pentecostalism (2013), Black Fire: One Hundred Years of African American Pentecostalism (2011), Limited Liberty: The Ministry and Legacy of Four Pentecostal Women Pioneers (2008), and The Women of Azusa Street (2005). She also co-edited two works with Amos Yong: Phillip’s Daughters: Women in the Pentecostal Movement (2009) and Afro-Pentecostalism: Black Pentecostal and Charismatic Christianity in History and Culture (2011). Her current project is serving as senior editor of the Dictionary of Pan African Pentecostalism slated for publication in 2016. Additionally, Alexander has authored more than thirty essays and journal articles, lectured on college campuses in conferences, and preached in pulpits across the United States. She has been a member of the Society for Pentecostal Studies since 1994 and served as its president in 2009. She is an ordained minister in the Church of God (Cleveland, tn). Peter Althouse (Ph.D., University of St. Michael’s College at the University of Toronto) is professor of religion and theology at Southeastern University, Florida. His publications include Catch the Fire: Soaking Prayer and Charismatic Renewal (with Michael Wilkinson) (2014), Spirit of the Last Days: Pentecostal Eschatology in Conversation with Jürgen Moltmann (2003), and The Ideological Development of Power in Early American Pentecostalism (2010), as well as edited volumes: Winds from the North: Canadian Contributions to the Pentecostal Movement (with Michael Wilkinson) (2010), and Perspectives in Pentecostal Eschatologies (with Robby Waddell) (2010). He is past co-editor for Canadian Journal for PentecostalCharismatic Christianity and current co-editor for Pneuma: The Journal of the Society for Pentecostal Studies. Linda M. Ambrose (Ph.D., University of Waterloo) is professor of history at Laurentian University in Sudbury, Ontario, Canada, where she has taught Canadian social history since 1994. She has been researching and writing about the history of Canadian Pentecostal women in ministry throughout the twentieth century. Ambrose has presented her work on this topic to the Society for Pentecostal Studies, the Canadian Historical Association, the Canadian Society of Church

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History, and the European Research Network on Global Pentecostalism. Her publications on Canadian Pentecostalism have appeared in Pneuma, the Canadian Journal of Pentecostal-Charismatic Christianity, the Journal of the Canadian Historical Association, Historical Papers: Journal of the Canadian Society of Church History, and Winds from the North: Canadian Contributions to the Pentecostal Movement (2010). She is co-editor of the Canadian Journal of PentecostalCharismatic Christianity (beginning in 2015) and currently serves on the Society for Pentecostal Studies editorial committee. Melissa L. Archer (Ph.D., Bangor University) is assistant professor of biblical studies at Southeastern University in Lakeland, Florida. A credentialed minister in the Church of God (Cleveland, tn), she has been involved with various aspects of church ministry since her youth and has served as co-pastor with her husband, Kenneth, at three churches. Prior to teaching at Southeastern, she taught at Ashland Theological Seminary, Lee University, and Pentecostal Theological Seminary. Her published works include ‘I Was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day’: A Pentecostal Engagement with Worship in the Apocalypse (2015), articles for the Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000), a co-authored article for Church of God Evangel (2006), a book review (Ashland Theological Journal, 2010), a journal article on early Pentecostals’ use of the Apocalypse (  j pt, 2012), and an article surveying Pentecostal scholarship on the Apocalypse (  j pt, 2015). She and her husband have lived in Lakeland, Florida, since 2011. They have two sons, Trent and Tyler, and two daughters-in-law, Skylar and Christina. Amy C. Artman (Ph.D., University of Chicago) is an instructor in world religions and religion in America at Missouri State University. Artman is an ordained minister in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). She also teaches the History of Christianity as an adjunct at Lexington Theological Seminary in Lexington, Kentucky. Artman recently contributed work on the healing evangelist Kathryn Kuhlman to a multi-authored article published in The Bulletin of the Study of Religion (“Beautiful Babies, Hidden Mothers, and Plasticized Prisoners: The Display of Bodies and Theories of American Religion”). Artman lives in the beautiful Ozark Mountains in northwest Arkansas with her husband, David, and her Australian Shepherd dog, Blue. Denise A. Austin (Ph.D., University of Queensland, Australia) is director of accreditation and standards and associate professor of history at Alphacrucis College, the

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national training college of Australian Christian Churches (Assemblies of God in Australia). She and her family served as ag missionaries in Hong Kong before returning to Brisbane where Austin continued her studies. Her research was subsequently published as: ‘Kingdom-Minded’ People: Christian Identity and the Contributions of Chinese Business Christians (2011). As Director of the Australian Pentecostal Studies Centre, Austin recently received a Community Heritage Grant from the National Library of Australia toward Pentecostal archival preservation. Her research interests include Australasian Pentecostal history and the Chinese Christian diaspora. She has authored Our College: A History of the National College of Australian Christian Churches (2013). Denise is an ordained minister with Australian Christian Churches and secretary for the Theological Commission of Asia Pacific Theological Association. Her family resides in Brisbane and continues to make regular visits to Asia. Kate Bowler (Ph.D., Duke University) is assistant professor of the history of Christianity in the United States (Duke Divinity, Durham, North Carolina). Her first book, Blessed: A History of the American Prosperity Gospel (2013), traces the rise of Christian belief in divine promises of health, wealth, and happiness. Recent publications include “Blessed Bodies: Prosperity as Healing within the AfricanAmerican Faith Movement,” in Global Pentecostal and Charismatic Healing (2010) and “Bigger, Better, Louder: The Prosperity Gospel’s Impact on Contemporary Christian Music” co-written with Owen Reagan in Religion and American Culture (2014). She is currently working on a project about co-pastors in modern American Christianity. Barbara Cavaness Parks (Ph.D., Fuller Theological Seminary) is a missionary educator with Assemblies of God World Missions (agwm). She has served on faculty at Asia Pacific Theological Seminary (apts), the Assemblies of God Theological Seminary (agts), and Evangel University (eu). An ordained ag minister, Parks has lived in Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Singapore and has taught internationally for more than forty years. In addition to numerous articles, she has co-authored three books: God’s Women Then and Now (with Deborah Gill) (2009); Unbelievable … Yet True (with Theresa Greenhough) (2011); and This End Up: Structure for the Organic Church (with Gwen Osborne) (2013). She also has chapters in Azusa Street & Beyond (2006) and Philip’s Daughters: Women in Pentecostal-Charismatic Leadership (2009), and What’s So Liberal about the Liberal Arts? (2016). God’s Women Then and Now is

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available in Tamil, Finnish, Spanish, and as an independent study text from Global University under the title, The Biblical Role of Women. She and her husband Paul are associated with International Ministries, Oral Learners Bible Institute, Global Initiative: Reaching Muslim Peoples and based in Springfield, Missouri. Loralie Robinson Crabtree (m.a., Assemblies of God Theological Seminary) is an ordained Assemblies of God (ag) minister and church planter. She has served in numerous capacities including youth ministry, leadership development in the ag National Women’s Department, as Doctor of Ministry program coordinator at the Assemblies of God Theological Seminary, and as Connections Pastor at Central Assembly of God in Springfield, Missouri. In addition, she has been a contributing writer to various ag publications including Today’s Pentecostal Evangel, On Course magazine, Teen Life Sunday school curriculum, Take 5 Devotional, and The Council Today newspaper. She speaks at women’s events and has been a guest lecturer and chapel speaker at various ministry colleges. Crabtree and her husband, Dan, reside in Haverhill, Massachusetts, where she is church planting in the Merrimack Valley area north of Boston. They have two young adult sons and a teen-aged daughter. Margaret English De Alminana (Ph.D., University of Wales at Glyndŵr) is an associate professor of theology at Southeastern University. She served as the senior chaplain of women at Orange County Correctional Facility’s Female Detention Center, overseeing a vibrant ministry for more than 3,000 women in crisis annually. There she developed and launched an in-jail, faith-based drug rehabilitation dorm, including the development of corresponding programs and curriculum. She launched and oversaw an intercity mission for street women at the heart of Orlando’s red-light district. Her publications include: Removing the Veil (BridgeLogos, 2008); “A Biblical Investigation of Matriarchal Structures in Ancient Semitic Life,” (Journal of Pentecostal Theology, 2016); “Incarcerated Women, Reflections on Their Stories” (Priscilla Papers, 2010); and “Reconnecting with the Mystics: Kathryn Kuhlman and the Reshaping of Early Pentecostalism” (jepta, 2013). In addition, de Alminana has written numerous books for others and many articles and book reviews. Since 2016 she has served as the Executive Director of the Society for Pentecostal Studies. She resides in Winter Haven, Florida, with her husband, Marty, and has three grown children and four grandchildren. She is passionate about seeing women rise to their full measure of calling.

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Naomi R. Dowdy (D.Litt., Southern California Theological Seminary) is the Founder and Chancellor of tca College, Singapore (1979), the largest accredited multidisciplinary Pentecostal/charismatic college in the nation. An ordained ag minister, she has served as a missionary, church planter, senior pastor, and an educator. In 1976, she pioneered Teen Challenge (Singapore) working closely with the government and Interpol to deal with Singapore’s growing problem of drugs. She has founded many new, cutting-edge ministries, in addition to serving in many positions of leadership such as chairperson for the 15th Pentecostal World Conference in Singapore (1989). During her years of ministry, she was the first woman elected to the General Council Executive Committee in Micronesia and Singapore. She led in the development and writing of training materials for effective discipleship used by churches in over twenty nations. Dowdy has written five books regarding the restoration of all of God’s gifts to the church and various articles dealing with issues facing the church today. Beth (A. Elizabeth) Grant (Ph.D., Biola University, School of Intercultural Studies) has served as a missionary with the Assemblies of God to Southern Asia/India and to Europe since 1977. She is an associate professor of intercultural education at the Assemblies of God Theological Seminary, and teaches as an adjunct faculty member at Southern Asia Bible College in Bangalore, India, and Continental Theological School in Brussels, Belgium. In 1997 with her husband, David, she founded Pro­ ject Rescue India, which ministers to women and children in sexual slavery. The ministry is now affiliated in seven nations. Grant co-edited Hands that Heal: An International Curriculum to Train Caregivers of Survivors of Trafficking (2007), and authored Courageous Compassion: Confronting Social Injustice God’s Way (2014). Since 2009, she has served as the first female Executive Presbyter for the Assemblies of God, advocating for women in ministry and leadership. The Grants have two daughters, Rebecca and Jennifer, two sons-in-law, Tyler and Jon, and four grandchildren: Judah, Gemma, Madison, and Ella. Jacqueline Grey (Ph.D., Charles Sturt University, Australia) is associate professor of biblical studies at Alphacrucis College, the national college of the Australian Christian Churches (ag in Australia). Her publications include Them, Us & Me: How the Old Testament Speaks to People Today (2008), Raising Women Leaders (2009), and Three’s A Crowd (2011) as well as various articles and book chapters. She is an ordained minister in the acc and speaks regularly at local and international

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events. Grey has also appeared on various national tv and radio programs in Australia. She is committed to the mission of higher education in the church and provides assistance to Pentecostal colleges in developing their institutional goals. Currently Grey serves on the executive committee of the Society for Pentecostal Studies. Her research interests include hermeneutics, prophetic literature, and feminist readings of scripture. She loves traveling, photography, art, coffee with friends, and Italian food. Mimi R. Haddad (Ph.D., University of Durham, Durham, England) is president of Christians for Biblical Equality. In 2013, she was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Divinity from Palmer Theological Seminary of Eastern University. Haddad is an adjunct assistant professor at Fuller Theological Seminary (Houston). She serves as a gender consultant for World Vision International and Beyond Borders, lectures widely on gender and faith, and is a founding member of the Evangelicals and Gender Study Group of the Evangelical Theological Society. She has written more than one hundred articles and blogs and has contributed to ten books, including Godly Woman: An Agent of Transformation (2014) and The Fragrance of Christ (2011). Haddad is a contributing author to Coming Together in the 21st Century: The Bible’s Message in an Age of Diversity (2009). She is an editor and a contributing author to Global Voices on Biblical Equality: Women and Men Serving Together in the Church (2008). She and her husband, Dale, live in the Twin Cities, mn. Jennifer A. Miskov (Ph.D., University of Birmingham, u.k.) is a revival historian, author, and speaker who currently teaches at Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry in Redding, California. She served as History Interest Group Leader for the Society for Pentecostal Studies from 2012–2015. Ordained by Heidi Baker with Iris Global, Jennifer is also the Founding Director of Destiny House, a ministry that cultivates communities of worshippers who launch people into their destinies from a place of intimacy with God and connection with family. In addition to establishing annual healing and revival retreats at the Home of Peace in Oakland, Miskov has written Ignite Azusa: Positioning for a New Jesus Revolution (2016), Life on Wings: The Forgotten Life and Theology of Carrie Judd Montgomery (2012), Water to Wine: Experiencing God’s Abundance in the Canary Islands (2011), Spirit Flood: Rebirth of Spirit Baptism for the 21st Century (In light of the Azusa Street Revival and the life of Carrie Judd Montgomery) (2010), and Silver to Gold, A Journey of Young Revolutionaries (2009). She also co-authored Defining Moments (2016) with Bill Johnson.

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Stephanie L. Nance (D.Min., Assemblies of God Theological Seminary) serves as the adult spiritual formation/ministries pastor and member of the preaching/teaching team at Chapel Springs Church in Bristow, Virginia. An ordained minister with the Assemblies of God, Nance previously served as the communications strategist for the national Assemblies of God Network for Women in Ministry in Springfield, Missouri, and as an associate pastor in Juneau, Alaska. God has used her fifteen years in vocational ministry, Master of Divinity in expository preaching, and Doctor of Ministry degree to shape her into an effective oral and written communicator. Her research explores how the mystery of God intertwines with the human experience in the digital information age. Lois E. Olena (D.Min., Assemblies of God Theological Seminary) is associate professor of practical theology and Jewish studies at the Assemblies of God Theological Seminary where she also serves as D.Min. project coordinator. An ordained ag minister, Olena has been involved since her youth in various aspects of church ministry as well as teaching internationally. In 2011, she became the first female to hold the post of executive director of the Society for Pentecostal Studies. Her publications include Stanley M. Horton: Shaper of Pentecostal Theology (2009); book chapters in Forgiveness, Reconciliation, and Restoration: Multidisciplinary Studies from a Pentecostal Perspective (2010), “But These Are Written …”: Essays on Johannine Literature in Honor of Professor Benny C. Aker (2014), and Children of the Calling: Essays in Honor of Stanley M. Burgess and Ruth Vassar Burgess (with Eric N. Newberg) (2014). She has also published numerous book reviews and articles. Ava Kate Oleson (D.Min. Assemblies of God Theological Seminary) is the Doctor of Ministry Program Coordinator and an adjunct professor at agts. With a rich background in counseling, teaching, pastoral care, church leadership, and strategic planning, Oleson is known for her exceptional ability to integrate psychology and theology into her writing and teaching. She served as a staff therapist at the Center for Family Therapy in Orange, California, and in full-time ministry and education for twenty-five years. Her work has taken her to places such as Continental Theological Seminary in Brussels, Belgium; Tacoma, Washington; Romania; Argentina; and Toronto. Her writing appears in national publications and ezines, such as Sage Publications, Called magazine, Encounter Journal, and The Network for Women in Ministry. Oleson’s doctoral project focused on how female ministers can ensure long-term sustained impact in the twentyfirst century.

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Joy E.A. Qualls (Ph.D., Regent University) is an associate professor and department chair of communication studies at Biola University. Her research interests grew out of a desire to know that “how we talk about things” matters. Qualls’s primary work has centered on women’s leadership and the church as well as religious and political rhetoric and their intersection. Married to Kevin, a licensed counselor, since 2005, they are raising two fifth-generation Pentecostals, Blakeley and Soren. Zachary Michael Tackett (Ph.D., Southern Baptist Theological Seminary) is associate professor of ­theology at Southeastern University, Lakeland, Florida. Prior to serving at Southeastern, Tackett served three Assemblies of God churches as an associate pastor for nineteen years. Since 2012, Tackett has served as the Secretary/ Treasurer of the Society for Pentecostal Studies. Some of his key publications include “As a Prophetic Voice: Liberation as a Matrix for Interpreting American Pentecostal Thought and Praxis” published in the Journal of the European P­ entecostal Association (2013); “As Citizens of Heaven: Perspectives on Peace, War, and Patriotism among Pentecostals in the United States during World War i” in the Canadian Journal of Pentecostal-Charismatic Christianity (2013). His dissertation, “The Embourgeoisement of the Assemblies of God: Changing Perspectives of Scripture, Millennialism, and the Roles of Women,” considered various cultural and theological developments—including the roles of women—that are a result of Pentecostals over time moving toward the center of American society.

Note on the Cover Illustration Illustration designed by Steven Félix-Jäger

Montage Photos from Left to Right

Back 1 Marie Smith (Used by permission Australasian Pentecostal Studies Centre) 2 Leaders of the Azusa Street mission (Used by permission of the Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center) Second Row 3 Bernice Gerard (From the Pentecostal Assemblies of God Canada Archive) 4 Agnes Ozman (Used by permission from the Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center) 5 Stella Wheaton  (Used by permission from the Australasian Pentecostal Studies Centre) 6 Evelyn Brumpton  (Used by permission from the Australasian Pentecostal Studies Centre) 7 Maria Woodworth-Etter (Used by permission from the Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center) 8 Harriet Tubman Public domain 9 Jennie Evans Moore Seymour (Used by permission from the Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center) 10 Kathryn Kuhlman (Used by permission Kathryn Kuhlman Foundation) 11 12 13

First row Theresa D’Souza (Used by permission of Theresa D’Souza Greenhough) Carrie Judd Montgomery (Used by permission of the Christian & Missionary Alliance archive) Mother/daughter team, Esther Wong Yen and Mary Yeung (Used by permission of the Australasian Pentecostal Studies Centre)

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12 Kathryn Kuhlman (Used by permission of the Kathryn Kuhlman Foundation) 13 Anonymous 14 Carrie Judd Montgomery (Used by permission from the Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center and the Salvation Army National Archives)

Definitions Evangelical A global, trans-denominational movement of Protestant Christianity holding certain tenets in common including salvation by faith in Christ’s atonement. Evangelicalism arose from the Reformation period of the sixteenth century. Evangelical A North American association of conservative Protestant religious groups forming the National Association of Evangelicals (nae) in 1942. Fundamentalist Fundamentalists were largely comprised of evangelicals (from the Reformed and Wesleyan traditions who focused on individual conversion and relationship to God), who during the Progressive Era challenged new trends in American Protestantism.

Introduction: The Purpose and Theoretical Framework of this Book Margaret English de Alminana The Pentecostal/charismatic story has long celebrated numerous and surprising leadership achievements by women. A struggle for female agency1 and voice forms one of the richest and most consequential themes of an ongoing Pentecostal/charismatic narrative tradition that has yet to be fully considered and explored, especially on its own terms. Still, as some Pentecostal and charismatic women have succeeded in leaping over barriers, many more have succumbed to overt and covert attempts to silence their voices and restrict their participation. In addition, the historical record, even respecting the contributions of women, has been largely shaped and referenced from masculine perspectives. In reflecting upon these notable achievements, considerations arise that cannot be fully understood using male-centric frames, questions such as: What were the challenges of these women? How did these women respond in ways both beneficial and detrimental to their cause? How did they understand and frame their own participation? How did so many leap over barriers that others in similar circumstances never approached? Were their opportunities greater or lesser than those encountered in other contexts, and, if so, why or why not? This volume argues that the narrative contains significant gaps and the achievements of many Pentecostal and charismatic women have been overlooked, marginalized, or rejected. One might ask: Who were these women, and why should the world care to hear from or about them? They were women who launched and carried Pentecostalism—a religious current that continues to rise precipitously—from city to city and to the world. These women challenged the ecclesiastical and theological status quo, and their voices inspired social and religious change. In an era of endemic racism,2 early Caucasian 1 “Individuals exhibit agency when they act in unexpected ways, despite ways in which actions are shaped by social institutions and internalized customs and traditions.” See Kelsy C. Burke, “Women’s Agency in Gender-Traditional Religions: A Review of Four Approaches,” Sociology Compass 6/2 (2012): 122–133. 2 The racist attitudes that paralleled the rise of the movement are demonstrated in the wide appeal of writings such as Harvard University’s Earnest Hooton (1887–1954) who advocated eugenics: “We must rid ourselves of false prophets of cultural salvation and the witless preachers of human equality. The future of our species … is dependent on biology. We must have fewer and better men, not more morons.” Ernest Albert Hooton, Why Men Behave Like

© koninklijke brill nv, leiden, ���7 | doi 10.1163/9789004332546_002

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Pentecostal women aligned themselves with African-Americans in surprisingly egalitarian ways. Theirs are the voices of a current of religious expression that worked to shape the religious and social conscience of North America, the United Kingdom, and the world. Their power, agency, and impact rose and declined dramatically. These are individuals who ought to be heard.

Method and Theory

This book is about women and Pentecostalism. It is intended to give an introduction to the way women have been influenced by, and influenced, the Pentecostal/charismatic movement from its very beginning. Most, but not all, of the contributors to this volume are in some way or another connected to the Pentecostal and charismatic movements. Pentecostal and charismatic women have offered a wide variety of divergent responses to the opportunities and limitations they have experienced in their commitment to religious service. In an attempt to focalize this discussion, scholars, activists, leaders, and exemplars from a variety of disciplines reflected on the following question: How have women responded to a religious context that has depended upon their gifts while, at the same time, limited their voices and perspectives? This volume attempts to offer missing and/or silent voices and contexts of women as an important corrective to an historical record and epistemological process that has shaped gender-focused discussions. According to Janet Bauer, “Because ‘men’s studies’—and predominantly Western male points of view—have set the content, definitions, and language in studies of fundamentalism,3 women’s standpoint brings us something about the perspective of the other in it—the Apes and Vice Versa or Body and Behavior (Princeton University Press, 1941), 25. See also Jerry Bergman, “Evolution and the Origins of the Biological Race Theory,” Creation Ex Nihilo Technical Journal 7 (2) (1993): 155–168. 3 ‘Fundamentalism’ is used here broadly, as many Pentecostal/charismatic Christians might reject the appellative, despite their movements’ association with it. “Russell P. Spittler, in his insightful essay entitled ‘Are Pentecostals and Charismatics Fundamentalists?’ argues that these three communities of faith (Pentecostals, Charismatics and Fundamentalists) should be kept distinct even though they adhere to similar beliefs and practices.” See Kenneth Archer, A Pentecostal Hermeneutic: Spirit, Scripture and Community (Cleveland, tn: cpt, 2009), 90. “Pentecostals and Fundamentalists … are arch enemies when it comes to matters of speaking in tongues and the legitimacy of expecting physical healing in today’s world. … If the word ‘fundamentalist’ gets defined only by biblical style, Pentecostals can be labeled fundamentalists without question.” See also, Russell P. Spittler, “Are Pentecostals and Charismatics Fundamentalists? A Review of American Uses of These Categories,” in

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‘underside of fundamentalism’—the non-male-secondary elite, the marginal followers. A look at women not only sheds light on variations within fundamentalism but also challenges the general focus and conclusions of these studies …”4 It is hoped that this volume also will prove an instrument with which to inform an ongoing, gender-focused dialogue to help identify, understand, assess, compare, and contrast the Pentecostal and charismatic faith contributions of women. José Medina writes, “Besides the dominant testimonial sensibility that was strongly prejudicial in racial and sexual matters, there were also alternative (even if marginalized) ways of speaking and listening, alternative standpoints to occupy in testimonial exchanges. Alternative social imaginaries can serve as correctives of each other, epistemic counterpoints that enable people to see limitations of each viewpoint, creating beneficial epistemic friction.”5 Yet, this is not a book by Pentecostal women for Pentecostal women, but a book for all those interested in the roles, ministry, and achievements of women working in a Pentecostal and charismatic context. As such, it also offers a more generalized case study of disempowered and marginalized populations that have struggled to achieve agency and voice. A body of recent scholarly research reflects with Martin Riesebrodt et al. on re-emergent conservative trends in North America and the West and the women who participate in them: “What has been even more puzzling is the active participation of women in religious movements that advocate a return to strict enforcement of patriarchal structures of authority and morality.”6 It is hoped that the voices and testimonies of women in this volume will illuminate such questions. The book engages with criticism of women and includes selfcriticism, but it is also balanced with appropriate but oft-neglected commensurate esteem and acknowledgement of achievement. Although it draws from the expertise of male scholars, it is weighted heavily with female ones in order to maintain an intentional diacritical aspect. The co-editors of this book are North American, as are many of the chapter authors, which lends to the volume a natural North American perspective. The authors do not apologize for this lens, but, rather, state it as a point of Charismatic Christianity As a Global Culture, ed. Karla Poewe (Columbia, sc: The University of South Carolina, 1994), 106. 4 Judy Brink and Joan Mencher, eds., Mixed Blessings, Gender and Religious Fundamentalism Cross Culturally (New York: Routledge, 1997), 234. 5 José Medina, The Epistemology of Resistance: Gender and Racial Oppression, Epistemic Injustice, and Resistant Imaginations, (Oxford: Oxford Press, 2013), 78. 6 Martin Riesebrodt and Kelly H. Chong, “Fundamentalisms and Patriarchal Gender Politics,” 1999 Journal of Women’s History, vol. 10, no. 4. (Winter), 1.

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authenticity. Nevertheless, this book is intended to provide access to the global voices of Pentecostal and charismatic women but does so within an academic, and, therefore, critical context. All of the women accept the authority of Scripture, but this does not imply that they should be viewed as fundamentalists. Pentecostal women would see their interpretation of Scripture both in the context of their personal religious experience and the experience of the communities to which they almost invariably belong. Respecting ‘narrative’ as a hermeneutical method, Pentecostals have long considered not only their saga as a unique collection of shared experiences that interface with a particular biblical interpretation, but also a unique epistemological interpretive manner. This manner combines shared meaning from the community’s ecstatic expressions viewed through a lived scriptural lens that offers contemporary relevance. The result is often expressed in terms of ‘narrative’ or ‘story.’ Kenneth Archer describes the method as follows: “What distinguished the early Pentecostal Bible Reading Method from the Holiness folk was not a different interpretive method but a ‘distinct narrative’ which held the similar methods together in a coherent and cohesive interpretive manner.”7 This method of reading and understanding their faith rested largely on the social and economic position they shared, referencing community experiences and traditions. “The Pentecostal community or collection of communities is bound together by their ‘shared charismatic experiences’ and ‘shared story.’”8 Within this narrative, each celebrant had a part. This was his or her ‘testimony,’ which offered a personal application of the ecstatic expressions of the whole.9 This experiential dimension is key to understanding all religious expressions, according to Anne Clifford who asserts that “bringing faith in God to understanding is not a generalized process. The process is initiated again and again by questions of importance that rise in the experiences of culturally situated human persons. … Experience has a common sense meaning and yet it 7 Kenneth Archer, A Pentecostal Hermeneutic: Spirit, Scripture and Community (Cleveland, tn: cpt, 2009), 128. See appendices A and B of this volume for examples of testimony in the lives of Naomi Dowdy and Theresa D’Souza Greenhough. 8 Ibid., 133. 9 An illustration of this would be found in Rachel Sizelove’s ‘vision’ of a “sparkling fountain” rising from Springfield, mo, and flowing to the ends of the earth. This ecstatic expression is held by the Pentecostal community to be linked to the establishment of the Assemblies of God headquarters. See Joyce Lee and Glenn Gohr, “Women in the Pentecostal Movement,” Enrichment Journal, http://www.enrichmentjournal.ag.org/199904/060_women.cfm .html.

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names a complex and varied reality.”10 Ivone Gebara agrees with this approach, offering that theology begins “with shared experience from oral transmission, from the simple fact of sharing life.”11 She views this way of doing theology as “what is most representative of the popular milieus.”12 Although the Pentecostal/charismatic triadic balance between Scripture, Spirit, and community is an important one to Pentecostal women, in some cases, their negotiation of it is neither systematic nor consistent. If readers ask how such women know what the Spirit of God is doing, they might be pointed to Scripture and biblical patterns, models, and narratives, but they would not be subject to excessive proof-texting or fundamentalistic-type sermons. The women would likely offer to readers testimony (i.e., the public communication of spiritual experiences) such as “this is what God did for me …,” “I prayed and felt God was leading me …,” and so on. Such is the language of personal encounter and personal relationship rather than the language of the systematic theologian or the heavily theorized academic. Therefore, this volume is not absent of theory but offers it as arising in response to the common struggle for agency and voice. Korean theologian Chung Hyun Kyung affirms this methodology: “Theology must become democratized. Asian women’s theology is a live-ing theology. For Asian women theology is not just talking or thinking about God. It is living the liberation and wholeness here and now.”13 Just as one need not eat an entire pot of soup in order to fully identify its flavor, this volume seeks to tell ‘her Pentecostal/charismatic story’ by highlighting individual perspectives, offering historical and global exemplars in several categories that form an ‘illustrative,’ but by no means ‘comprehensive,’ account of the challenges and achievements of Pentecostal and charismatic women. It should not be assumed that these women are widely known; many lived and operated in obscurity, and others are remembered only in the limited circles of Pentecostal historians. Certain well-known figures, such as Aimee Semple McPherson, have not been included, owing to the exhaustive coverage she has received in recent years, as well as an editorial intention to avoid a subtle projection of anomalism. 10 11

Anne M. Clifford, Introducing Feminist Theology (Maryknoll, ny: Orbis Books, 2005) 1. Ivone Gebara “Women Doing Theology in Latin America,” in Feminist Theology from the Third World, ed. Ursula King (Maryknoll, ny: Orbis Books, 1994), 49; in Mitchem, Womanist Theology, 38–39. 12 Ibid. 13 Chung Hyun Kyung, Struggle to Be the Sun Again: Introducing Asian Women’s Theology (Maryknoll, ny: Orbis Books, 1990), 100.

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Challenges of Women

Readers will encounter no attempt to minimize the enormous difficulties and obstacles that Pentecostal women have encountered, but, rather, will be offered an opportunity to critically engage with the real challenges these women faced. Many, for instance, battled against interpretations of the New Testament that appeared to forbid their ministry in any public sense in the church. Others came from disadvantaged backgrounds, either because the ethnic group to which they belonged was socially ranked at the bottom of the system or because they were deprived of educational opportunities, either by the denominations or the societies in which they lived. Despite such limitations, this volume would agree with Stephanie Mitchem that “theology is not the exclusive property of the elite”14 and that these women must be included in order to discover a fully-informed narrative. Challenges of Cultural, Religious, and Vocal Space The challenges faced by Pentecostal and charismatic women examined by this volume represent three areas of concern: challenges of cultural space, challenges related to the pulpit, and challenges of expression. These areas of concern are illustrated by exemplars who speak to these issues historically, globally, and through distinctive concerns of women’s ministry. Cultural challenges include the response of these women to numerous issues that impact their lives, including feminism. Pentecostal and charismatic women often found themselves struggling to express their Christianity as women while, at the same time, being conscious of complicated points of intersection and divergence with secular feminism. They almost invariably accepted the importance of families, especially heterosexual, nuclear families, while at the same time being keenly aware that the churches where they felt called to serve were themselves supportive of and entrenched in various forms of gender-based prejudice. Secular feminism offered an alternative that many found themselves unable to fully embrace, even if some of its goals seemed laudable. In a sense, these women are feminists but not; they are concerned with knocking down traditional barriers placed against them and pushing against patriarchal boundaries, but they lack the stridency sometimes associated with secular feminism. Whereas some feminists focus on a radical political agenda

14

Stephanie Y. Mitchem, Introducing Womanist Theology (Maryknoll, ny: Orbis Books, 2002), 39.

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that includes the struggle for the rights of gays and lesbians, these women are just as radical in their own respect. Theirs is a tightrope walk where on one side they strongly value family—which might cause some secular feminists not to view them as radical—while at the same time they struggle for space and voice in a context that is institutionally biased against them. On one hand they may be rejected and misunderstood by more secular feminists because they do not seem to be radical enough, but on the other hand they may be rejected and misunderstood by the religious world that eyes them with suspicion of being too radical. At the same time, they may consider themselves neither one nor the other but rather a voice and expression that ought to be heard by virtue of its own merits and frames. Nevertheless, it is with respect to their commitment to family that they entered into a Janus-faced conundrum that often resulted in sabotaging their own liberty. Where Pentecostal and charismatic women felt themselves challenged to accept wider roles of service and leadership based upon their full participation in the outpouring of the Spirit and Pentecostal Declaration, they also felt themselves prohibited by other, more fundamentalistic Pauline interpretations of male headship respecting the family. On one hand they accepted messages on spiritual empowerment and authority as equally applicable to themselves, while on the other hand they became bombarded by relentless coaching regarding female submission to male authority. Many were hurled into a quagmire of conflict, feeling constantly called upon to defend their gifts and callings against religious brokers whose promotion of female submission became a ceaseless refrain. Vivian Deno argues that some Pentecostal women “successfully thwarted attempts to subordinate them by reclaiming and retooling a domestic moral authority that insisted on their right and obligation to remoralize their homes as well as the rest of the nation.”15 Others navigated through the quagmire by anomalyzing themselves or by negotiating personal concessions by lending feminine credibility to the increasing volume of male traditionalists. Such efforts only served to further erode female authority and made passing on any level of spiritual entitlement to succeeding generations of women all but impossible. A theme that emerges throughout the chapters is the sense that authority and power—including patriarchal authority and power—are in no sense static. They are the stuff of relationally dynamic social contracts subject to relentless and ongoing re-negotiating and revising, shifting, defining, codifying, and re-examining. Between males and females in Western culture, power 15

Vivian Deno, “God, Authority, and the Home, Gender, Race, and us Pentecostals, 1906– 1926,” Journal of Women’s History 16, no. 3 (2005): 84.

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and authority, whether ecclesial or relational, is always a dance between two partners. If one theme emerges more than any other it is perhaps the theme of ‘empowerment’ connected with the belief that the Holy Spirit, by the imparta­ tion of charismata or ‘spiritual gifts’ (see 1 Cor. 12 and 14) enables women to do what they, encumbered in traditional social strictures, limitations, and role assignments, normally would be unable to do. This leaping of barriers brings a sense of countless possibilities open to women as a consequence of the gracious empowerment of the Spirit and provides the starting point for many women. Yet, this empowerment is neither primarily political nor even economic. It is not the kind of empowerment that arises from election to an office or by virtue of control of financial resources—although, it is true that some Pentecostal women have indeed become very wealthy or placed in positions of ‘political’ power within denominations or large congregations. Nevertheless, this volume argues that this struggle—this women’s struggle—has a place within the Pentecostal and charismatic metanarrative.

Breaches of Context

This volume posits that the androcentricity of the Pentecostal/charismatic historical and theological account has left room for significant contextual breaches. Such gaps can be bridged, not only by including additional data gathered from the largely silent more than half of its participants to an ongoing masculine story, but also by offering this information contextualized in greater female-centric perspectives, and within the narrative frames of their own epistemological contributions and journeys. According to Sandra Harding et al., “We cannot understand women and their lives by adding facts about them to the bodies of knowledge which take men, their lives, and their beliefs as the human norm.”16 In addressing these reference and epistemological gaps the Pentecostal/charismatic record can offer to the global community a more accurate and fully informed account of its overall substantial contributions. The historical accounts of early Pentecostal events at Azusa Street provide  an example of one such epistemological breach. For decades, early

16

Sandra Harading and Merrill B. Hintikka, Discovering Reality: Feminist Perspectives on Epistemology, Metaphysics, Methodology, and Philosophy of Science (Dordrecht, Holland: D. Reidel Publishing Co., 1983), ix.

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historians and the movement at large labored under the misconception that no leadership had been in place during the revival based upon the very limited participation of white males. In truth, a well-organized and robust leadership presence had been in place from the start comprised mainly of male and female African-Americans and Caucasian women. For some decades, white males referencing the revival and not seeing themselves in leadership positions saw no one there at all—hence the revival was initially recorded as a sovereignly occurring phenomenon arising solely as the result of divine agency. Decades later this narrative was reinvestigated, and historians ‘discovered’ the leadership of African-American senior pastor, William Seymour. Nevertheless, the enormous leadership investments made by several key women continue to be overlooked, misunderstood, and undervalued.

Experience and the Struggle for Agency, Autonomy, and ‘Voice’

Agency as defined by feminist theorist Lois McNay is “the capacity for autonomous action in the face of often overwhelming cultural sanctions and structural inequities.”17 As is the case with other marginalized populations, the agency of women has tended to be viewed by those in power in homogenous ways. However, any attempt to essentialize a concept of women’s participation is rejected. Instead, this volume attends to experiences of women within specific Pentecostal and charismatic cultural, religious, and historical frames of reference. A similar demand for unique agency and ‘voice’ is made by womanist theologian Stephanie Mitchem who writes: “Until ‘I’ can state my realities as a human being … I am limited to participating in theologies that draw from the ground of someone else’s life.”18 Therefore, this volume allows that Pentecostal and charismatic women are surprisingly diverse, and their faith responses are quite varied. Some of the authored responses collected are influenced by womanist, egalitarian, feminist, classical Pentecostal, Neo-Pentecostal, and charismatic streams, while other respondents offer insights from their perspectives as leading practitioners in various religious traditions and fields. In this respect, this volume offers ‘her’ dynamic, diverse Pentecostal/charismatic story, and a unique opportunity to hear the silent and overlooked feminine majority on its own terms as personages in their own right. 17 18

Lois McNay, Gender and Agency: Reconfiguring the Subject in Feminist and Social Theory (Malden, ma: Polity Press, 2000), 10. Stephanie Y. Mitchem, Womanist Theology (Maryknoll, ny: Orbis Books, 2002), ix.

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Testimonial Injustice By revisiting the primary evidence surrounding early Pentecostal/charismatic events, one is startled with a sense that the historical record at times has been over-weighted with blame towards women for the movement’s missteps and failures while commensurate recognition for notable achievements has been minimized or even excluded. It seems evident that the epistemological framing in play has been laden with no small amount of bias, most notably during certain formational periods. For example, some have remembered Florence Crawford, one of the original steering committee members at Azusa Street, as an aging white woman and the somewhat cranky daughter of pioneers, in an altogether unflattering light. Widely implicated for ‘stealing’ publishing records from Azusa Street, an event considered by some to have activated the decline of the revival, Crawford was assigned with sexual motivation, i.e., a spurned secret love interest for African-American mission pastor, William Seymour. That this married matron seemed completely unsuited for such an unfounded accusation escaped the notice of her male detractors, at least initially. The charges created something of a myth about her that has—despite being redirected and revised—continued to diminish her contribution to these early events. Arguably, Crawford experienced a kind of testimonial injustice at the hands of historians.19 Similar silencing techniques experienced by generations of Pentecostal and charismatic women, resulting in self-silencing and self-censure of similar diacritical testimony based upon the witnessed censuring of such figures, is a form of epistemic violence, according to Kristie Dotson.20 Seeking a New Norm Beyond offering an appropriate corrective to an androcentric perspective, this volume argues that women should be, at the very least, afforded the respect, human dignity, agency—and ‘voice’—to tell their own stories from their own perspectives and contexts.21 Akin to womanist approaches to theology, which 19

20 21

“Testimonial injustice occurs when a speaker is given less credibility than deserved because of an identity bias or prejudice held by the hearer based upon her gender”; See Miranda Fricker, Epistemic Injustice: Power and the Ethics of Knowing (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007), 1. See also: “Feminist Social Epistemology,” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Nov. 2006, rev. Feb. 2013, http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/feministy-socialepistemology. 15/26. Kristie Dotson, “Tracking Epistemic Violence, Tracking Practices of Silencing,” Hypatia: A Journal of Feminist Philosophy 26, no. 2 (2011): 236–257. “An argument advocating an even stronger model of communities as primary knowers comes from Lynn Hankinson Nelson (1990, 1993). Nelson’s work is inspired by Quine and

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“aim to develop a variety of theological constructions in which black women are the main subject,”22 this volume similarly makes Pentecostal/charismatic women its focus. In offering this corrective, a new normative epistemological account can be advanced.23 It is hoped that this corrective effort in seeking more informed norms will help to align certain aspects of Pentecostal/charismatic epistemological efforts with ongoing feminist work in wider academia. “One of the key features of feminist epistemologies responsible for some of their significant contributions within social epistemology has been their serious commitment to developing normative epistemological accounts.”24 The task of this epistemological work “is to uncover how patriarchy has permeated both our concept of knowledge and the concrete content of bodies of knowledge, even that claiming to be emancipatory. Without adequate knowledge of

22 23

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his holistic theory of evidence in which there are no firm boundaries between evidence and theory. What Nelson includes in her conception of evidence that Quine did not is the larger social and political context within which science is produced. She couples this with arguments for the historically dynamic nature of the category of evidence; changes in public and communal standards of evidence will result in changes to the evidence itself. According to Nelson it is communities who construct and share knowledge and standards of evidence, and thus it must be communities who are the primary agents of knowledge (Nelson 1990, 256). Nelson’s point is that if we are to understand why a particular theory is supported at a particular time, we must examine communities, not just isolated individuals. Her arguments allow her to explain how androcentric science has lost its evidential support: although androcentric science may have enjoyed considerable evidential support at one time, changes in the social and political context of particular communities resulted in feminist work both revealing and resisting the influence of androcentric assumptions. This shift in the communal standards of evidence has diminished evidential support for androcentric research.” “Feminist Social Epistemology,” Stanford Encyclopedia of Epistemology, rev. 2013, http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/feminist-social-epistemology. See also Nelson, Lynn Hankinson, and Jack Nelson. 2003. Feminist Interpretations of W.V. Quine. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2003. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost), EBSCOhost (accessed February 8, 2016). See also Louise Antony and Charlotte Witt, A Mind of One’s Own: Feminist Essays on Reason and Objectivity (Boulder, co: Westview Press: 1993). Mitchem, 46. “Social epistemology distinguishes itself from sociology of knowledge in its goal of providing a normative analysis of knowledge (Full 1988; Schmitt 1994a), seeking not only to describe our current social practices of knowledge production, but also to understand how we ought to know and how we can improve our knowledge practices;” “Feminist Social Epistemology,” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Nov. 2006, rev. Feb. 2013, http:// plato.stanford.edu/entries/feministy-social-epistemology. 1/26. “Feminist Social Epistemology,” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Nov. 2006, rev. Feb. 2013, http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/feministy-social-epistemology. 1/26.

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the world and our history within it (and this includes knowing how to know), we cannot develop a more adequate social practice.”25 It is this enduring and ongoing struggle against epistemic violence—more commonly understood among Pentecostals as the struggle to find and offer ‘voice’—that weaves together the essays in this volume. Need for a Corrective? Beyond offering corrective information to the historical record that is based upon the experiences and contexts of Pentecostal women, the ‘testimony’ of Pentecostal and charismatic women offers a corrective that probes more deeply, even re-imaging the salient locus of contribution. While feminist theory widens the epistemological event by increasing the loci of context and voice to include the experiences and expressions of women, Pentecostal and charismatic women consider that the true anthropologic root of human existence is found, not in the cacophony of human voices and experiences, but in the divine. Theology rooted in feminist theory tends to draw from rootedness that is political and left-leaning as well, according to Mary McClintock Fulkerson. “Feminist theology calls for official theological reflection to expand and include theologies normed by women’s experience. … With different experiences come different theologies, for theology expresses human experience of the divine.”26 Where feminist theology offers a new interpretive lens that is more inclusive of all people, women and others, the corrective offered by Pentecostal and charismatic women tends to intersect with this theory only intermittently and briefly at various points. This outcome is because Pentecostal and charismatic women’s experiences express a deeper root. Such women ‘testify’ to direct, dynamic encounters with the divine that reconstruct essentialist anthropologic assumptions because they reflect, not an interpretive human lens, but rather a corrective primitive expression of the imago Dei. The corrective offered by the ‘testimonies’ of Pentecostal and charismatic women is evidenced in the revealing of numerous interpretive grids or lenses that have veiled a plenary human expression of the imago Dei. This revelation has been at the source of much of the persecution against Pentecostal and charismatic women, as well as the marginalization and rejection of their 25

26

Jane Flax, “Political Philosophy and the Patriarchal Unconscious: A Psychoanalytic Perspective on Epistemology and Metaphysics,” in Discovering Reality: Feminist Perspectives on Epistemology, Metaphysics, Methodology, and Philosophy of Science, ed. Sandra Harding and Merrill B. Hintikka (Dordrecht, Holland: D Reidel Publishing Co., 1983), 269. Mary McClintock, Changing the Subject: Women’s Discourses and Feminist Theology (Minneapolis: Fortress Press: 1994), 15.

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stories. In the case of apostolic champions such as Aimee Semple McPherson, under whose dominating presence her male colleagues paled by comparison, her achievements were continually re-imaged by legions of detractors, outside and within Pentecostalism. It was as if her living expression (her testimony) following her encounter with the divine set at variance centuries of essentialism, making her an existential threat to it, one that needed to be stopped. Whereas her female followers celebrated the primitive unveiling of the divine expressed in her ‘testimony,’ i.e., her life and achievements, many of her male colleagues responded in ways that were quite the opposite.

“Usable” Past: An Historical Overview27

McPherson’s were but a small part of the many remarkable contributions of women that distinguished early Pentecostalism. The dawn of twentiethcentury Pentecostalism was an era in which no initial ‘stained-glass ceiling’28 was erected against the Pentecostal ministries of women. On the contrary, one of the most distinctive (and controversial) features of early Pentecostalism was that, in contrast to denominations marked by centuries of male ecclesiastical control, a significant proportion of its major voices were female. Generally speaking, all turn-of-the century Pentecostal and the Holiness churches that preceded them were marked by a wide acceptance of female clergy and other female leaders. “At the beginning of the [twentieth] century, the ordination of women was accepted virtually throughout the Holiness Movement.”29 Throughout church history, women have made vital contributions to ministry—especially during times of spiritual awakening. Compared to mainline denominations that only more recently began ordaining women, the Holiness Movement (which precipitated the Pentecostal Movement) enjoyed a protracted and rich tradition of female leadership. Susie Stanley compares the heritage of holiness women with other denominational women who challenged these same barriers much later: “We have the heritage. 27

28 29

Much of the information in this section is based on Margaret English de Alminana, “A Biographical Survey of 20th Century Female Pentecostal Leadership and an Incipient Egalitarian Struggle” (PhD diss., Glyndŵr University, u.k.), 2011. A term coined by Susie Cunningham Stanley, quoted by Timothy C. Morgan, “The StainedGlass Ceiling,” Christianity Today, May 16, 1994, 52. Cheryl J. Sanders, “History of Women in the Pentecostal Movement,” Cyberjournal for Penecostal-Charismatic Research, #2 (July 1997), Pentecostal-Charismatic Theological Inquiry International, http://www.pctii.org/cyberj/cyberj2sanders.html.

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Old-line Protestant churches do not have that heritage. When they began ordaining women in the ‘50s, ‘60s, and ‘70s, they did not have that heritage to draw on. We are really fortunate. We have a usable past to claim and recover.”30 Initially Pentecostalism, rooted directly in the Holiness Movement, offered female leaders a similar embrace. “It carried through this theme and was perhaps even more consistent in the practice of the ministry and ordination of women.”31 Early Pentecostal women believed that the same Spirit dwelling in and qualifying men for ministry inhabited them. Pentecostal pioneer Maria Woodworth-Etter said, “It’s high time for women to let their lights shine; to bring out their talents that have been hidden away rusting … God left the glorious work of saving souls in the hands of the church.”32 Throughout North America, early Pentecostal female ministers redefined post-Victorian femininity and provided a new sense of value to other women. Young women were inspired to dream beyond the confines of domestic tedium through the influence of these individuals who oversaw organizations, ascended the pulpit, and launched massive ministry efforts. As Harvey Cox observes, “Women, far more than men, have become the principal bearers of the Pentecostal gospel to the four corners of the earth.”33 In 1939, two-thirds of the members and half of the preachers and missionaries of us Pentecostal churches were women.34 Allan Anderson considers that “the prominence of women was certainly true in the Pentecostal movement in the us, which to some extent has reneged more recently on its earlier promotion of the ministry of women, whose exploits have been legendary.”35 The denomination begun in 1923 by Aimee Semple McPherson, the Church of the Foursquare Gospel, claims more than 243,354 us members, with more than 1,622 us churches.36 Worldwide, it  boasts of more than 7.5 million members with 64,389 congregations and

30

Susie Stanley, “Heritage of Our Call,” in Honoring God’s Call: A Celebration of Holiness Women Preachers (Kansas City: mo: Beacon Hill Press, 1996), 20. 31 Donald W. Dayton, “Yet Another Layer of the Onion, or Opening the Ecumenical Door to Let the Riffraff In,” The Ecumenical Review 40, no. 1 (January 1988):106; Sanders, ibid. 32 Maria Woodworth-Etter, A Diary of Signs and Wonders (Tulsa, ok: Harrison House, 1916), 215. 33 Harvey Cox, Fire from Heaven: The Rise of Pentecostal Spirituality and the Reshaping of Religion in the Twenty-first Century (London: Cassell, 1996), 124–125. 34 Allan Anderson, An Introduction to Pentecostalism (Cambridge, uk: Cambridge University Press, 2004), 274. 35 Ibid. 36 “2015 Foursquare Annual Report,” http://www.foursquare.org/about/stats.

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meeting places in every state in the us and in 146 other countries.37 In 1944, the year of McPherson’s death, women accounted for 67 percent of the denomination’s ordained clergy.38 In an authorized position paper approved by its General Presbytery, the Assemblies of God recalls the original place and position of female leaders at its inception: “Supernatural manifestations and gifts of the Holy Spirit have played a distinctive role in the origin, development, and growth of the Assemblies of God. From the earliest days of our organization, spiritual gifting has been evident in the ministries of many outstanding women.”39 Divine enablement has also been seen in the spiritual leadership of women in other Pentecostal groups. The Pentecostals believed that the twentieth century Pentecostal outpouring of the Spirit was a true fulfillment of the scriptural prediction, “Your daughters shall prophesy … and upon … the handmaids in those days will I pour out my Spirit” (Joel 2:28-29, kjv). Pentecostal women took their leadership mandate from the Joel prophecy. At the inception of the Pentecostal movement a woman, Agnes Ozman, was first to speak in tongues in January, 1901, at Charles Parham’s Bethel Bible School. Jennie Evans Moore Seymour, wife of William Seymour, ministered together with her distinguished husband at the Azusa Street mission. Following his death, Ms. Seymour oversaw the mission alone. Florence Crawford assisted with publishing The Apostolic Faith, a newspaper sponsored by the mission, and went on to found the Apostolic Faith organization, one of the earliest Pentecostal denominations in the us.40 Pentecostalism owes an enormous istorical debt to such women. Without their influence the movement that has swept the world for more than a century might never have come into being. Yet, much of the honor due these female pioneers has not been afforded them.

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“2015 Foursquare Annual Report,” http://www.foursquare.org/about/stats. Andy Butcher, “Foursquare President ‘Humbled’ by Second Term Ratification,” The Foursquare Church, http://www.foursquare.org/news/article/foursquare_president_humbled_by_second _term_ratification. Sheri R. Benvenuti, “Pentecostal Women in Ministry: Where Do We Go from Here?” Cyberjournal for Pentecostal-Charismatic Research, http://www.pctii.org/cyberj/cyberj1/ ben.html. “The Role of Women in Ministry,” General Council of the Assemblies of God (usa), (Official ag Position Paper), http://www.ag.org/top/beliefs/Position_Papers/pp_4191 _women_minsitry.cfm. Joyce Lee and Glenn Gohr, “Women in the Pentecostal Movement,” Enrichment Journal (Assemblies of God usa), Fall 1999, http://womeninministry.ag.org/history/index.cfm.

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Promises Broken

The mothers of early American Pentecost enjoyed a leadership platform, including an acceptance of their gifts and voices, far wider than what is experienced by today’s average North American Pentecostal female. Over the twentieth century their platform became increasingly restricted and their voices progressively diminished, marginalized, and eventually all but silenced. Statistics show that the proportion of women clergy in the Church of the Nazarene fell precipitously from 20 percent in 1908 to 1 percent more recently, and, in the Church of God, from 32 percent in 1925 to 15 percent.41 One finds a similar pattern of acceptance and decline in the Foursquare denomination as is also exampled in the Assemblies of God. “After its formation in 1914, a third of the Assemblies of God’s ministers and two-thirds of its missionaries were women.”42 However, this wide acceptance was not a fully egalitarian embrace. Although the Pentecostal Movement was largely initiated by female pioneers, restrictions were placed upon their role in the nascent denomination that would eventually undermine their ongoing contribution. “Women had no voting rights in the newly formed ag General Council and they could be evangelists and missionaries but not elders. Full ordination was granted to women in the ag in 1935, but with so many limitations that few women sought ordination.”43 This early precipitous decline of voice and agency experienced in the us can be accounted for in part by an intentional effort to diminish the presence of females in response to a negative reaction to Pentecostalism that arose from other denominations and movements. Indeed, the birth of North American Pentecostalism did not occur in the early century without deep self-doubt and persecution from without and within. Typical of contemporary religious reaction to early Pentecostalism was that of the Christian Missionary Alliance denomination. In May, 1907, revival swept the student body at the general convention assembled at Nyack Missionary Training Institute in New York. Several prominent leaders had received the baptism of the Holy Spirit and had spoken in tongues, which elicited a reaction from other prominent leaders.44 A.B. Simpson appointed Dr. Henry Wilson to visit the meetings and to return with a report. A.W. Tozer, longtime editor of the Alliance Witness, quoted Wilson as saying, “I am not able to approve of the movement, though I am willing to concede that there is probably 41 Sanders, 3. 42 Ibid.,1. 43 Anderson, 274. 44 William W. Menzies, Anointed to Serve, the Story of the Assemblies of God, Vol. 1 (Springfield, mo: Gospel Publishing House, 1971), 71.

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something of God in it somewhere.” The report resulted in Simpson’s renunciation of the doctrine of the baptism of the Holy Spirit as evidenced by speaking in tongues.45 Not only did Holiness pastors attack the new movement but the nascent guardians of American Protestantism, the fundamentalists, also strongly opposed it. G. Campbell Morgan, respected Bible expositor, referred to the Pentecostal Movement as “the last vomit of Satan.” H.A. Ironside repudiated the Pentecostal Movement as “a delusion and insanity.”46 Such criticisms worked to shape a concerted response from organizations such as the Moody Bible Institute from which fundamentalism was emerging. Pentecostals—especially those who had come into the movement from having held leadership positions in other movements—felt the need to retreat, especially with respect to the widely publicized and deeply misunderstood distinctives of Pentecostalism, including glossolalia, exuberant expressions of prayer and worship, and its embrace of women, blacks, and Latinos/as. ‘Wild fire,’ or emotional expressions that seemed especially uncontrolled or unnecessary, accounted for much misunderstanding, and became associated with women and African-Americans. William Menzies writes, “It must be noted that much of this horrified reaction came about through limited contact with Pentecostals, hearsay and rumor generating at least some of the criticism. However, the volatility and instability of some within the Pentecostal ranks without question brought some justifiable reproach upon the adolescent revival.”47 Sharp public criticism of the early Pentecostal Movement evoked a reaction from its leaders, especially from male leaders who came into Pentecostalism from other more traditionally patriarchal Protestant organizations with long traditions of rigid gender stratification. Those not necessarily committed to all of the tenets of its early forms of worship were pressured to respond to attacks from evangelical and denominational leaders, especially with respect to the movement’s egalitarian embrace of females. The greatest assaults came, not because of glossolalia, but because of the women in ministry. “To many mainline, middle-class denominations, the fledgling movement was scandalous because of its shift away from traditional patriarchalism.”48 Instead of guarding and protecting Pentecostalism’s earlier distinctives, male leaders veered away from them. They began to organize in a deliberate shift away from

45 Ibid. 46 Ibid. 72–73. 47 Menzies, 73. 48 Ibid., 3.

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egalitarianism and more controversial pneumatic expressions in an attempt to seek acceptance from fundamentalists whose popularity was rising. The status of women had been ambiguous throughout the brief American Pentecostal past. On one hand, the broader context in which the Pentecostal Movement thrived tended to support female gospel workers. Antidenominationalism, free-church polity, emphasis on the Holy Spirit and the end times, and a preference for voluntary associations nurtured many forms of women’s public witness. Clearly some viewed the numbers of women who swelled their ranks as a liability and not an advantage. Lacking the earlier more democratic Pentecostal vision, a growing group of white male leaders saw the women, blacks, Latinos/as, poor, and outcast classes and cultures that filled their churches as something of an embarrassment.49 One might wonder why so many women who had broken barriers did not rise up in concert against these waves of gender marginalization and stratification. Many did, including notable leaders like Florence Crawford who started her own denomination, and Aimee Semple McPherson who returned her Assemblies of God credentials and launched the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel. Possibly as a response in part to the Assemblies of God’s early decision to withhold ordination from women, McPherson started her own training school. The l.i.f.e. Bible College was founded in 1923 and would train 3,000 preachers, many of them women.50 “The first class … enrolled thirty-one men and sixty-eight women, a student body reflecting McPherson’s 49

50

According to Charles Barfoot et al., the early acceptance of Pentecostal women into ministry leadership positions generally has tended to be rejected by their male ministry counterparts as the charismata and egalitarian distinctives of the movement are increasingly viewed with greater ambiguity and eventually are seen more as liabilities than blessings. After the first stages of Pentecostal organizational formation “… a reaction occurs against pneumatic manifestations of charisma among women, which come to be regarded as undesirable.” See Charles H. Barfoot and Gerald T. Sheppard, “Prophetic vs. Priestly Religion: The Changing Role of Women Clergy in Classical Pentecostal Church,” Review of Religious Research, 22, no. 1 (September): 2–17; Presented at annual meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion, Chicago, 1977, p. 1.; “To many mainline, middle-class denominations, the fledgling movement was scandalous because of its shift away from traditional patriarchalism.” See Barfoot et al., 3; Anderson considers racism as a factor in early organizational efforts. “… only whites were invited to the convention that launched the ag in 1914 … To some extent, therefore, this division in the Pentecostal movement was also a racial one.” See Allan Anderson, An Introduction to Pentecostalism, 47; “The Reverend Robert A. Brown, who was married to one of the most influential women ministers, felt that: ‘… He hated to see women put on a white garment and try to look like angels, and go into the baptismal pool to baptize converts.’” See Barfoot, 13. Anderson, 97.

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dedication to empowering female church members.”51 At a baccalaureate ceremony, she encouraged women to preach and not be hindered, “The Lord is calling the handmaidens today as well as the servants; the daughters as well as the sons. There are some who believe that a woman should never witness for Jesus Christ—that her lips should be sealed. This is not according to the Word of God. … I would bring a message to my sisters just now: Go on with the Word of God.”52 Nevertheless, many women ministers found themselves caught in a doctrinal conundrum, believing themselves, on one hand, as released by the Spirit into full participatory membership—including leadership—through the egalitarian inclusion of both males and females. But, on the other hand, they were unable sufficiently to resolve the traditional doctrinal edicts that seemed to limit them. The women themselves sometimes complicated the situation further by introducing what were considered as unnecessarily loud, overly dramatic, and extravagant expressions of worship, sometimes called ‘wildfire.’ Some historians and researchers, including prominent female ones, consider the bureaucratizing efforts of the Assemblies of God and other Pentecostal denominations to have been positive and necessary. Margaret Poloma writes, “Doctrinal problems, unscrupulous preachers, and the need to coordinate mission efforts were among the salient reasons given to override prophecy and to replace it with a level of bureaucracy.”53 Stained-Glass Ceiling Although their key involvement in igniting the flame of Pentecost should have secured women a leadership role in the movement throughout its historical narrative, this outcome was not realized. Instead, the doors of opportunity gradually closed upon the gifts of women, although never completely, and a stained-glass54 ceiling was erected. The descent away from egalitarianism did not occur in a steady progression, but through continuing waves of action and reaction, with some periods of time demonstrating egalitarian surges, the egalitarianism that distinguished the century’s Pentecostal Movement eventually diminished. Today, a female pastor has little chance of being appointed to a 51 52 53 54

Sutton, 54. Aimee Semple McPherson, “To the Servants and the Handmaidens: Baccalaureate Sermon,” Bridal Call Foursquare 13 (February 1930),5; Sutton, 204–205. Margaret M. Poloma, The Assemblies of God at the Crossroads, Charisma and Institutional Dilemmas (Knoxville: The University of Tennessee Press, 1989), 103. Susie Cunningham Stanley, quoted by Timothy C. Morgan, “The Stained-Glass Ceiling,” Christianity Today, May 16, 1994, 52.

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senior position in any Assemblies of God church, large or small. Those women who hold senior leadership positions generally do so because they planted the ministries they lead. What began in wide acceptance of the leadership of women has, in more recent years, declined substantially. In fact, in the Assemblies of God in 2014, 22.9 percent of credentialed ministers were female.55 Historically, only about 8 percent have been female senior pastors.56 Today, 6.5 percent57 of ag credentialed women serve as senior pastors, and female ag credential holders lead just over 4 percent of all ag churches.58 As previously noted, the Foursquare denomination, with women having once accounted for 67 percent of the denomination’s ordained clergy,59 saw those numbers plummet to 42 percent by the late 1970s, and dip again to 37 percent by 2009.60 While this ratio is high compared to other Pentecostal/charismatic organizations, it must be noted that a great percentage of these ordained women were wives of ordained pastors who did not necessarily function in recognized leadership roles, with only a handful functioning as senior pastors of congregations.61 More generally, positive signs abound. In the decade leading up to 2010, the numbers of senior female pastors in denominational churches doubled, and from 2010 to 2015 indicators have continued to suggest an upward surge that 55 “ag us Female Ministers, 1977–2014,” General Secretary’s Office, Statistics, Assemblies of God, http://agchurches.org/Sitefiles/Default/RSS/AG.org%20TOP/AG%20Statistical%20 Reports/2015%20%28year%202014%20reports%29/MinFemAn%202014.pdf. 56 George O. Wood, “Why Credentials Are Important for Women Ministers,” Assemblies of God, http://wim.ag.org/0509/0509_credentials.cfm. 57 Sharon Casada, e-mail message to Loralie Crabtree, April 4, 2014. Sharon Casada is a demographic specialist in the Office of the Statistician at the General Council of the Assemblies of God. As of February 25, 2014, there were 596 lead pastors reported, “Lead Female Pastors,” email to Joy Qualls from George O. Wood, February 25, 2014. However, 76 of these 596 women are not credentialed with the ag, and 62 have ag credentials but do not pastor an ag church. Thus, the figure of ag credentialed women pastoring an ag church as of February 25, 2014 was 458. 58 Casada: “We do not know how many non-AG-credentialed women are lead pastors [serving in ag churches].” Although the ag does not officially keep track of this, the email from George O. Wood to Joy Qualls on February 25, 2014 clarified how many of the female ag ministers are serving as lead pastors. 59 Sheri R. Benvenuti, “Pentecostal Women in Ministry: Where Do We Go from Here?” Cyberjournal for Pentecostal-Charismatic Research, http://members.cox.net/pctiicyberj/ben/ html. 60 Bill Shepson, “More Female Pastors Than Ever Before, Study Finds,” Foursquare News, www .foursquare.org/news/article/more_female_senior_pastors_than_ever_before_study _finds. 61 Benvenuti, “Pentecostal Women in Ministry.”

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has not begun to plateau. “From the early 1990s through 1999 just 5 percent of the senior pastors of Protestant churches were female. Since that time, the proportion slowly rose, doubling to 10 percent in 2009.”62 Fifty-eight percent of the those women accounting for the increase came from mainline churches, including the United Methodist Church, Evangelical Lutheran Church, and Episcopal Church. Overall, where the numbers of senior female clergy had increased to 12 percent for all congregations, these gains were not directly reflected in more conservative evangelical churches where just 9 percent of clergy were women.63 Pentecostal and charismatic churches would be represented by this 9 percent. However, 6.5 percent of female senior pastors in the Assemblies of God places it near the bottom of all churches that were measured— with only the Southern Baptist Convention, which voted an injunction against female leadership in 2000, at 4 percent, and the Free Methodist Church at 1 percent—rating lower.64 Those groups once lauded for their inclusion of women now trail the mainline denominations they once fought so hard to emulate. Today, there are more women professionals than men in the workforce,65 and women earn more degrees then men.66 If Pentecostals followed other denominations and the wider culture into this barren place, perhaps it will follow them back out, for women have continued to make enormous strides within the culture, strides not yet fully reflected in the church. In fact, “Data from the American Community Survey show that in 2005, 28.5 percent of men had a bachelor’s degree or higher, compared with 26.0 percent of women. In 2014, the percentage for men was 29.9, while that for women was 30.2, marking the first year that women’s college attainment was statistically higher then men’s college attainment.”67 In 2013, women outnumbered men as college students

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“Number of Female Senior Pastors in Protestant Churches Doubles in Past Decade,” Barna Group (September 14, 2009). Used by permission. 63 “What Percentage of Pastors Are Female?” Hartford Institute for Religion Research, http:// hirr.hartsem.edu/denom/research.html. 64 Ibid. 65 “fff: Women’s History Month: March 2015” (February 26, 2015), United States Census Bureau, https://www.census.gov/newsroom/facts-for-features/2015/cb15-ff05.html. 66 Kurt Bauman and Camille Ryan, “Women Now at the Head of the Class, Lead Men in College Attainment,” United States Census Bureau, http://blogs.census.gov/2015/10.07/ women-now-at-the-head-of-the-class-lead-men-in-college-attainment/. 67 “More Working Women Than Men Have College Degrees, Census Bureau Reports,” United States Census Bureau, Newsroom Archive, http://www.census.gov/newsroom/releases/ archives/education/cb11-72.html.

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by 56.2 percent.68 By 2018, they will account for 46.9 percent of the total labor force,69 as the share held by men is projected to decrease.70 It may well be that ‘her story’ is only beginning to be told.

Organization of Chapters

‘Her Pentecostal/charismatic story’ offers historical and global exemplars in three illustrative categories: historical, global, and distinctive concerns of leadership and ministry. Having offered theoretical constructs that provide the framework and explanation for the historical experiences of women that follow, the volume examines these applications using several historical models that address classical Pentecostal and more recent charismatic contributions from a sampling of cultural and historical perspectives. Biblical and Historical Roots The notable historical achievements of these women locate their roots in several important theoretical places. Melissa Archer, biblical scholar and educator, offers a scriptural basis for Pentecostal and charismatic female participation based upon a Pentecostal hermeneutical reading of the New Testament. She revisits New Testament scripture passages that pertain to women using a Luken lens. Mimi Haddad, president of Christians for Biblical Equality, examines various ecclesial polity models that tend to privilege one gender over another and offers a Pentecostal/charismatic basis for church governance based upon egalitarian charisms. She roots her discussion in Old Testament passages, and also provides an historical context for contemporary egalitarianism with loci in the Evangelical/Holiness streams that preceded and shaped early Pentecostalism. Zachary Tackett, historian, completes the section by offering a discussion of the limits imposed upon the earlier egalitarian and inclusive constructs that ascended through the early twentieth century largely due to the unchallenged patriarchal expectations of larger cultural frames. Tackett addresses the ongoing struggle experienced by Pentecostals whose ecclesiology releases women into new liberties that might seem to contradict established value systems and assault entrenched power structures. Three theories are posited to help 68 “fff: Women’s History Month.” 69 “Professional Women: Vital Statistics Fact Sheet,” Department for Professional Employees afl-cio, http://dpeaflcio.org/programs/factsheets/fs_2010_Professional_Women.htm. 70 Ibid.

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provide interpretive grids for evaluating the theological and cultural juxtaposition of an eschatological commitment to Pentecostalism’s prophesying daughters. The first is institutionalization; the second, radicalization followed by embourgeoisement; and the third, the nature of the Pentecostals’ eschatology as it relates to egalitarianism. Historical Exemplars Volume co-editor, Margaret English de Alminana, offers a discussion of the early egalitarian precedents of Pentecostalism based upon the bibliography of Azusa pioneer Florence Crawford, who later went on to launch her own denomination that flourishes to the present day. This historical essay offers a narrative supporting the premise that, inherently, Pentecostalism is an egalitarian construct. Jennifer Miskov, historian and practitioner, introduces readers to Carrie Judd Montgomery, who helped to shape the ministry of divine healing through her theology, literature, and healing homes in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In large part, Montgomery responded to the limitations imposed upon her gender by refusing to engage in the debate. Instead, she foraged ministerial and social networks that helped her to defy traditional confinements by promoting Pentecostalism through print media. Ministering during the formative stages of several nascent religious streams, Montgomery exploited these early opportunities to great advantage. Montgomery’s ministry bridged the Holiness and Pentecostal eras, paving the way for the early female pioneers from the Azusa Street revival and beyond. Although Kathryn Kuhlman’s earliest foray into ministry began under the aegis of the Pentecostal revival that swept North America in the early twentieth century, her ministry rose to prominence much later in the century following wwii. Historian Amy Artman highlights Kathryn Kuhlman and the rise of charismatic media ministry during these same decades. Kuhlman transformed charismatic and American Christianity through the creative use of early television. By successfully exploiting the media to advantage, Kuhlman proved successful in tearing down negative stereotypes of both women in ministry and Pentecostalism in general. As a female minister, she brought charismatic experiences into American homes, making charismata, once considered extreme, to seem perfectly natural, thereby easing the movement into mainstream denominations. She brought testimonies of astonishing Pentecostal experiences into peoples’ homes in a way that made them seems perfectly normal. Historian Kate Bowler provides a window into the tightrope that many women who followed in the footsteps of Kuhlman in the ensuing American

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Prosperity Movement were forced to walk. Although carefully assigned to postWWII American wifely roles, and stinging from an ongoing religious institutional backlash against the more secularized Women’s Liberation Movement in the 1960s–1980s, these women found space to express their gifts and callings by paying homage to role assignments while commensurately operating beyond such limiting roles. While the historical discussion is largely focused in the United States, and to a lesser extent the United Kingdom, the remarkable reach of Pentecostalism is represented in a section of exemplars whose ministries helped to ignite and shape its global impact. Global Exemplars This section examines individuals and ministries that demonstrate the lived experiences of early Pentecostal and charismatic women from a representative sampling of several nations and streams. Globally, such challenges of culture and pulpit are realized in Australia’s pioneering female exemplars. Denise A. Austin and Jacqueline Grey, biblical scholars and practioners, present the untold story of female Pentecostal pioneers in Australia who addressed limitations and challenges with an indefatigable “Outback Spirit.” This ‘spirit’ is a foundational construct of the tenacious Australian psyche formed by learning to thrive in a tough, isolated desert via resourcefulness and hard work. That spirit is found in the early Pentecostal women who responded to besetting gender-based challenges through unyielding defiance. Linda Ambrose, historian, presents Canadian Pentecostal Bernice Gerard’s embrace of feminist theologies through the later twentieth century. Gerard’s tenure in ministry spanned the latter part of the mid-twentieth century when the role and place of women became hot topics of debate and Pentecostal/ charismatic women increasingly tended to withdraw from leadership positions. Ambrose’s chapter provides an enlightening subtext of biblical feminism through these decades. Reaching across cultural divides into hurting female populations sometimes requires little more than genuine human warmth and kindness. Say Hello is a ministry formed to bridge cultural distances with the balm of genuine respect and understanding. Volume co-editor and educator, Lois E. Olena, with Donna Krstulovich and Say Hello director, Lynda Hausfeld, present strategies for cross-cultural ministry to Muslim women that can be adapted both globally and domestically. Beth Grant, named in 2009 as the first female Assemblies of God executive presbyter, and overseer of Project Rescue, an international ministry that

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addresses global human trafficking, offers a discussion of human value based upon a classical Pentecostal model. Grant links her analysis with the growing global crisis of human trafficking and her missionary work in India and beyond. Often, the same women who have been raped, trafficked, imprisoned, prostituted, psychologically and physically scarred and have received ministry such as Grant’s to liberate themselves, move on to liberate others. This liberative ministry they offer to others becomes central to their concerns. With this in mind, sometimes it is the dark side of women’s experience that ultimately attracts them to the brightness of the gracious work of the Holy Spirit. Distinctive Concerns of Female Leadership and Ministry Owing to such need for authenticity and agency, the final section of the book highlights distinctive concerns of female ministry and leadership. This section includes concerns that are heavily represented by women whether due to somewhat softer points of entry based upon the neglected interest in certain areas by males, which includes church planting, or areas of sustained and ongoing concern, such as prayer ministry. Church planter Loralie Crabtree and educator Joy Qualls discuss women church planters in the Assemblies of God by offering cultural analysis and strategy formation. As a response to historical institutional strictures limiting opportunities for called women to assume leadership roles, church planting provides a circumvention around these closed doors that tended to shut more tightly through the twentieth century. An exploration of the impact of institutionalization upon women’s ministry efforts is provided. African-American women face all of the gender challenges encountered by Caucasian women with additional layers of challenge and complication due to increased measures of bias and historical and testimonial injustice. Such individuals struggle for space and voice in their own communities wherein they meet gender bias, but also are met with both racial and gender bias in the wider religious culture. So, where should their allegiances lie, with race or gender, both or neither? From a womanist perspective, Estrelda Alexander, president of William J. Seymour College, theologian and sociologist, voices in her chapter the cry of oppressed individuals. “When Liberation Becomes Survival” discusses the failures and challenges of much of the evangelical theological enterprise, which, in her perspective, involves a dichotomy between what is considered the biblical mandate for winning souls and making disciples contrasted with an inattention to the reality that circumscribes the lived situations of many believers who are victims of systemic injustice. Alexander offers poignant reflections as an African-American woman on the need to engage in liberative discourse.

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Stephanie L. Nance and Ava K. Oleson demonstrate the precipitous rise in the numbers of women in active, senior-level ministry. Against this changing climate, this chapter addresses the difficulties of co-gender ministry by offering theory and strategies for successful gender inclusion. Finally, Peter Althouse, researcher and educator, investigates a particular model of embodied charismatic prayer and healing ministry, suggesting that this traditional approach simultaneously is an empowering and disempowering praxis for women.

An Ongoing Journey

Achievements and failures of Pentecostal and charismatic women represent just a small part of their story. Throughout its ongoing metanarrative, Pentecostal and charismatic women have offered faith and service to a bourgeoning movement that has shaped Christian anthropology and inspired social change around the globe. Women’s contributions to these phenomena may one day prove to be the most significant bellwethers of contemporary religious life and experience. Their responses to untold challenges, both historic and contemporary, may become some of the most interesting and inspiring legacies of the movement. Bibliography “2008 Yearbook of American & Canadian Churches.” The Association of Religion Dada Archives. http://www.thearda.com/Denoms/D_1006.asp. “Feminist Social Epistemology.” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 2006, rev. Feb. 2013. http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/feministy-social-epistemology. 15/26. “More Working Women Than Men Have College Degrees, Census Bureau Reports.” United States Census Bureau, Newsroom Archive. http://www.census.gov/ newsroom/releases/archives/education/cb11-72.html. “Number of Female Senior Pastors in Protestant Churches Doubles in Past Decade.” Barna Group (September 14, 2009). Used by permission. “Professional Women: Vital Statistics Fact Sheet.” Department for Professional Employees AFL-CIO. http://dpeaflcio.org/programs/factsheets/fs_2010_Professional _Women.htm. “The Role of Women in Ministry.” General Council of the Assemblies of God (USA). (Official A/G Position Paper). http://ag.org/top/Beliefs/Position_Papers/pp_downloads/ PP_The_Role_of_Women_in_Ministry.pdf.

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“What Percentage of Pastors are Female?” Hartford Institute for Religion Research. http://hirr.hartsem.edu/denom/research.html. “Women in Leadership.” The Foursquare Church. https://www.foursquare.org/leaders/ women. “2015 Foursquare Annual Report.” The Foursquare Church. http://www.foursquare.org/ about/stats. “AG US Female Ministers, 1977–2014.” General Secretary’s Office, Statistics, Assemblies of God. http://agchurches.org/Sitefiles/Default/RSS/AG.org%20TOP/AG%20 Statistical%20Reports/2015%20%28year%202014%20reports%29/MinFemAn%20 2014.pdf. Anderson, Allan. An Introduction to Pentecostalism. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2004. Antony, Louise, and Witt Charlotte. A Mind of One’s Own: Feminist Essays On Reason and Objectivity. Boulder, CO: Westview Press: 1993. Archer, Kenneth. A Pentecostal Hermeneutic: Spirit, Scripture and Community. Cleveland, TN: CPT, 2009. Barfoot, Charles H., and Gerald T. Sheppard. “Prophetic vs. Priestly Religion: The Changing Role of Women Clergy in Classical Pentecostal Church.” Review of Religious Research 22, no. 1 (September): 2–17; Presented at annual meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion, Chicago, 1977. Benvenuti, Sheri R. “Pentecostal Women in Ministry: Where Do We Go from Here?” Cyberjournal for Pentecostal-Charismatic Research. Rev. January 26, 2013. http:// www.pctii.org/cyberj/cyberj1/ben.html. Bergman, Jerry. “Evolution and the Origins of the Biological Race Theory.” Creation Ex Nihilo Technical Journal 7, no. 2 (1993): 155–168. Blumhofer Edith L. The Assemblies of God, A Chapter in the Story of American Pentecostalism, Vol. 1—To 1941. Springfield, MO: Gospel Publishing House, 1989. Blumhofer Edith L. Restoring the Faith, The Assemblies of God, Pentecostalism, and American Culture. Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1993. Brink, Judy, and Mencher Joan, eds. Mixed Blessings, Gender and Religious Fundamentalism Cross Culturally. New York: Routledge, 1997. Burke, Kelsy C. “Women’s Agency in Gender-Traditional Religions: A Review of Four Approaches.” Sociology Compass 6, no. 2 (2012): 122–133. Butcher, Andy. “Foursquare President ‘Humbled’ by Second Term Ratification.” (May 27, 2014) The Foursquare Church. http://www.foursquare.org/search/results/ search&keywords=68,000.html. Clifford, Anne M. Introducing Feminist Theology. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2005. Harvey Cox. Fire from Heaven: The Rise of Pentecostal Spirituality and the Reshaping of Religion in the Twenty-first Century. London: Cassell, 1996.

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Dayton, Donald W. “Yet Another Layer of the Onion, or Opening the Ecumenical Door to Let the Riffraff in.” The Ecumenical Review 40, no. 1 (1988): 87–110. de Alminana, Margaret English. “A Biographical Survey of 20th Century Female Pentecostal Leadership and an Incipient Egalitarian Struggle.” Ph.D. diss., Glyndŵr University, U.K., 2011. Deno, Vivian. “God, Authority, and the Home, Gender, Race, and US Pentecostals, 1906–1926.” Journal of Women’s History 16, no. 3 (2004):83–105, 84. Dotson, Kristie. “Tracking Epistemic Violence, Tracking Practices of Silen Lois McNay. Gender and Agency: Reconfiguring the Subject in Feminist and Social Theory.” Malden, MA: Polity Press, 2000. Flax, Jane. “Political Philosophy and the Patriarchal Unconscious: A Psychoanalytic Perspective on Epistemology and Metaphysics.” In Discovering Reality: Feminist Perspectives on Epistemology, Metaphysics, Methodology, and Philosophy of Science, ed. Sandra Harding and Merrill B. Hintikka, 245–282. Dordrecht, Holland: D. Reidel Publishing Co., 1983. Fulkerson, Mary McClintock, and Sheila Briggs. The Oxford Handbook of Feminist Theology. Oxford University Press, 2012. Gebara, Ivone. “Women Doing Theology in Latin America.” In Feminist Theology from the Third World, ed., 47–59. Ursula King. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1994. Harding, Sandra, and Merrill B. Hintikka. Discovering Reality: Feminist Perspectives on Epistemology, Metaphysics, Methodology, and Philosophy of Science. Dordrecht, Holland: D. Reidel Publishing Co., 1983. Kyung, Chung Hyun. Struggle to Be the Sun Again: Introducing Asian Women’s Theology. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1999. Lee, Joyce, and Glenn Gohr. “History of Women in Ministry.” Network for Women in Ministry. (1999a). http://womeninministry.ag.org/history/index.cfm. Lee, Joyce, and Glenn Gohr. “Women In the Pentecostal Movement.” Enrichment Journal. Assemblies of God USA. (1999b). http://womeninministry.ag.org/history/ index.cfm. McClintock, Mary. Changing the Subject: Women’s Discourses and Feminist Theology. Minneapolis: Fortress Press: 1994. McNay, Lois. Gender and Agency: Reconfiguring the Subject in Feminist and Social Theory. Malden, MA: Polity Press, 2000. McPherson, Aimee Semple. “To the Servants and the Handmaidens: Baccalaureate Sermon.” Bridal Call Foursquare 13 (1930): 5. Medina, José, The Epistemology of Resistance: Gender and Racial Oppression, Epistemic Injustice, and Resistant Imaginations, Oxford: Oxford Press, 2013. Menzies, William W. Anointed to Serve, the Story of the Assemblies of God, Vol. 1. Springfield, MO: Gospel Publishing House, 1971. Mitchem, Stephanie Y. Womanist Theology. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2002.

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Morgan, Timothy C. “The Stained-Glass Ceiling.” Christianity Today, May 16, 1994. Poloma, Margaret M. The Assemblies of God at the Crossroads, Charisma and Institutional Dilemmas. Knoxville: The University of Tennessee Press, 1989. Riesebrodt, Martin, and Kelly H. Chong “Fundamentalisms and Patriarchal Gender Politics.” 1999 Journal of Women’s History 10, no. 4 (Winter): 55–77. Sanders, Cheryl J. “History of Women in the Pentecostal Movement.” Cyberjournal for Pentecostal-Charismatic Research 2 (1997). http://www.pctii.org/cyberj/cyberj2/ sanders.html. Selena Rezvani. Pushback: How Smart Women Ask—And Stand Up—For What They Want. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2012. Shepson, Bill. “More Female Pastors Than Ever Before, Study Finds.” Foursquare News. http://www.foursquare.org/news/article/more_female_senior_pastors_than_ever _before_study_finds. Stanley, Susie Cunningham. “Heritage of Our Call.” Stanley, Susie Cunningham, ed. Honoring God’s Call: A Celebration of Holiness Women Preachers. Kansas City: MO: Beacon Hill Press, 1996: 13–26. Stanley, Susie Cunningham, quoted by Timothy C. Morgan. “The Stained-Glass Ceiling.” Christianity Today, May 16, 1994. Warrington, Keith. Pentecostal Theology: A Theology of Encounter. London: T&T Clark, 2008. Weber, Max. On Charisma and Institution Building. Edited by S.N. Eisenstadt, ed. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1968. Wood, George O. “Why Credentials Are Important for Women Ministers.” Assemblies of God. http://ag.or/wim/0509/0509_credintials.cfm. Woodworth-Etter, Maria. A Diary of Signs and Wonders. Tulsa, OK: Harrison House, 1916, nd.

part 1 Biblical and Historical Roots

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Editor’s Note to Chapter 1 In the following essay, Melissa Archer presents a biblical reading of Scripture based upon a Pentecostal hermeneutic rooted in a normative1 reading of Acts, which was an early Pentecostal approach. In a real sense, Pentecostal praxis broke into established Christian orthodoxy and began the work of reconstructing centuries of theological tradition by creating—or more specifically according to Archer—by restoring the interpretive lens through which all other biblical texts should be read. In claiming a normative reading of Acts 1–2, Pentecostals placed its dynamic pneumatology as a precedent for the reading of all other scripture. In fact, one might consider that when the risen Christ commanded that the expectant group of female and male disciples not proceed with launching the envisioned church until the Spirit be poured out, but rather should “wait for the promise of the Father” (see Acts 1:4, kjv), that the precedent was set by Christ himself. Frank Macchia affirms the interpretive lens: “The role of the Holy Spirit in the hermeneutical process is to lead and guide the community in understanding the present meaningfulness of Scripture.”2 This precedent sets the primary Pentecostal hermeneutic at variance with centuries of male-dominated traditions, for when both females and males experienced the Spirit’s empowerment for service equally (see Acts 1:8, 14) an egalitarian explanation was offered from Joel 2:23—30: “It shall come to pass in the last days, says the Lord, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy…”(Acts 2:17) Jürgen Moltmann writes, “The first Christian experience of the Spirit was already interpreted early on as the fulfillment of Joel’s prophecy. The patriarchal and Christocentric churches face a ‘Pentecostal movement’ with feminist theology in the vanguard. The ordination of women is not a matter of adaptation to changed social conditions. It has to do with the life from the beginnings of the Christian church: life out of the fellowship of the Holy Spirit.”3 Archer presses this Pentecostal hermeneutic to the full scope of its logical conclusions by interpreting traditionally understood Pauline passages through 1 “Recent scholarship, especially, credits Luke with being a theologian in his own right, as well as a historian. He uses history as a medium for presenting his theology.” Anthony D. Palma, The Holy Spirit (Springfield, mo: Gospel Publishing House, 2001) 93. 2 Frank D. Macchia, A Pentecostal Hermeneutic: Spirit, Scripture and Community, ed. Kenneth J. Archer (Cleveland: cpt Press, 2009), 248. 3 Jürgen Moltmann, The Source of Life: The Holy Spirit and the Theology of Life (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1997) 101–102.

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the Lukan Pentecostal lens. She then employs the well-established egalitarian precedent into a further reading of other passages in the New Testament traditionally used to support female subjugation. A more primitive, less developed understanding of this hermeneutical approach first offered Pentecostal women the hope to consider themselves as the human equals of their male counterparts. The debate on women in ministry in Pentecostal circles is an ongoing issue with people on both sides arguing that their position is biblical. This essay seeks to re-examine the biblical materials pertaining to women and argues that Acts 2, which establishes that God’s Spirit is poured out on women and men without distinction, should be the lens through which Pentecostals interpret Scripture, including the scriptures pertaining to women. This essay explores the role of women in the Gospels, in Acts, and in the Pauline materials. The problematic passages of 1 Corinthians 14:34–35 and 1 Timothy 2:11–15 are examined in light of the broader Pauline context. A strong emphasis on Acts 2 as creating an egalitarian community of believers who understand themselves to be created in the imago Dei and imago Spiritus should encourage Pentecostals to fully affirm women in all levels of ministry and ecclesiastical leadership.

chapter 1

Women in Ministry: A Pentecostal Reading of New Testament Texts Melissa L. Archer Introduction As the daughter of a Pentecostal pastoral couple, I grew up in the church. My mother, who along with my father received ordination in the Foursquare Church, did not feel a call to the preaching ministry. Her ministry, although she would not have called herself a minister, revolved around playing the piano and organ, directing the choir, teaching the women’s Sunday school class, leading the women’s ministry program, and serving as church secretary. As a child and teenager, my own involvement in ministry mirrored my mother’s involvement; that is, I played the piano, sang, and, as I grew older, taught both children and adult Sunday school. It was in the area of teaching that I began to receive significant affirmation from the congregation. After I graduated high school, I attended Evangel College to prepare for a career in public school teaching. While I enjoyed learning about teaching and felt that it was certainly my calling, I did not find the same sense of satisfaction in teaching English and literature as I did when I taught the Scriptures in those Sunday school classes. When my husband began his first pastorate and enrolled in graduate courses I attended one of his classes on hermeneutics. The professor lectured on Scripture, and I felt my spirit explode within me. I knew that this was what I wanted to do with my life; I knew that this—Scripture—was what I was called to teach. Never had I been told that I could teach the Bible or pursue ministry. I enrolled in the graduate program the following semester and began an academic track that enabled me to begin a career in college and graduate teaching with students preparing for ministry. Ultimately (and many years later) I completed both a ThM and PhD in the New Testament. While this testimony sounds very positive, I discovered along the way as my husband and I served as pastors of three congregations (two of them being classical Pentecostal churches) that my calling to ministry was not always well-received or even tolerated by some congregants or fellow-ministers. The reasoning was always the same: “The Bible says that women are not to teach in the church or have authority over the men.” No amount of reasoning or examples of women serving in ministry in the New Testament or in church history would change

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their minds on the issue. They felt that the Bible proved that women must not be in ministry or church leadership. To argue against that position by suggesting that there were examples of women in ministry in the Bible was, in their minds, to argue against the inspired Scriptures. Pentecostal women who have a calling to ministry or denominational leadership find themselves looking longingly at other denominations that have opened their doors, pulpits, and denominational leadership positions to women. I personally know of Pentecostal women who have joined these denominations in order to fulfill their ministry calling, yet my heart grieves for our Pentecostal denominations that have denied them leadership positions because of their gender. Fortunately, Pentecostal scholars have published monographs and journal articles affirming women in ministry and challenging male hierarchy.1 Unfortunately, this scholarship is often largely unknown to Pentecostals outside of the (Pentecostal) academy. Organizations such as Christians for Biblical Equality International (cbe)2 work hard to educate the church on the important issues of equality and egalitarianism;3 yet many Pentecostals find an affinity with the views expressed by the Council for Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, which adheres to the ‘Danvers Statement’4 that calls for female subordination based upon an alleged biblical mandate. Is there a way forward for Pentecostals? I would suggest that key for Pentecostals should be their understanding of the Spirit and the Spirit’s working in the community. For this reason, Acts 2 can be appealed to as a paradigmatic 1 For example, see John Christopher Thomas, “Women, Pentecostals and the Bible: An Experiment in Pentecostal Hermeneutics,” in Journal of Pentecostal Theology 5 (October 1994): 41–56; Estrelda Alexander, “The Role of Women in the Azusa Street Revival,” in The Azusa Street Revival and Its Legacy, ed. Harold D. Hunter and Cecil M. Robeck, Jr. (Cleveland: Pathway Press, 2006), 61–77; Kimberly Ervin Alexander and R. Hollis Gause, Women in Leadership: A Pentecostal Perspective (Cleveland: Center for Pentecostal Leadership and Care, 2006); Deborah M. Gill and Barbara Cavaness, God’s Women Then and Now (Hyderabad, Colorado Springs, London: Authentic Books, 2007); Cheryl Bridges Johns, “Spirited Vestments: Or, Why the Anointing Is Not Enough,” in Philip’s Daughters: Women in Pentecostal-Charismatic Leadership, ed. Estrelda Alexander and Amos Yong (Eugene: Pickwick Publications, 2009), 170–184; Lisa P. Stephenson, Dismantling the Dualisms for American Pentecostal Women in Ministry: A Feminist-Pneumatological Approach, vol. 9 of Global Pentecostal and Charismatic Studies Series (Leiden, Boston: Brill, 2012). 2 See http://www.cbeinternational.org/. 3 cbe also publishes the The Priscilla Papers and Mutuality. 4 See http://cbmw.org/. See also Janet Evert Powers, “Recovering a Woman’s Head with Prophetic Authority: A Pentecostal Interpretation of 1 Corinthians 11.3-16,” Journal of Pentecostal Theology 10.1 (2001): 15–16 on the impact of this on Pentecostals.

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text affirming the responsibility of women along with men to proclaim the gospel as Spirit-anointed and empowered spokespersons for God. The crucial event of Spirit-baptism initiates women and men into the mission of God. The hermeneutical understanding of Pentecostals—that the Spirit has more to say than just Scripture—suggests an openness to the Spirit’s leading in new and different contexts.5 Thus, it is on Pentecostal hermeneutical grounds that Pentecostals should affirm women in ministry, including the full-inclusion in ordination at the highest levels of ecclesiastical offices. It is the purpose of this chapter to survey the material found in the New Testament related to women in an effort to contribute to a Pentecostal biblical theology of women in ministry and leadership.

Acts 2: A Pneumatic Paradigm

The Acts 2 narrative is certainly not new to Pentecostals; indeed, it is the text par excellence through which Pentecostals read the whole of Scripture. The outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost constitutes the fledgling followers of Jesus into “the eschatological community of the Spirit.”6 In Acts 1:14, Luke indicates that women were among those waiting to be “clothed with power from on high” (see Luke 24:49, niv). When the Holy Spirit is poured out (see Acts 2:1-4), Peter’s sermon (see Acts 2:14-36) begins with a notification that the crowd is witnessing the inauguration of God’s promise as found in Joel 2:28-32. Significantly, God’s Spirit—as promised—has indeed been poured out on men and women, since all who were waiting on the promise were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in tongues as enabled by the Spirit (see Acts 2:4). Sons and daughters, male and female servants now will be empowered by the Spirit to prophesy (see Acts 2:17-18).7 This new breath of the Spirit thus revives the egalitarian intent for humanity created in the imago Dei 5 Kenneth J. Archer, A Pentecostal Hermeneutic: Spirit, Scripture and Community (Cleveland: cpt Press, 2009), 248. 6 Stephenson, Dismantling the Dualism for American Pentecostal Women in Ministry, 107. 7 Alexander and Gause, Women in Leadership: A Pentecostal Perspective, 69, identify the Day of Pentecost as the New Testament Mt. Sinai, which signals the shift from the Old Testament church [sic] to the New Testament church. He writes, “This promise of the Holy Spirit and its fulfillment set the stage for ministry in the early Christian community. It is expected that women, young people and servants would gain a prominence in ministry they had not gained in the Old Testament church [sic].” However, see F. Scott Spencer, “Out of Mind, Out of Voice: Slave-Girls and Prophetic Daughters in Luke-Acts,” Biblical Interpretation (April 1999): 4, who argues that “the expectations raised by the Joel citation are frustrated;

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(see Gen. 1:26-27), lost in the Fall of humanity (see Gen. 3), and restored in imago Christi (see Gal. 3:28). Acts 2 provides a pneumatological foundation for an egalitarian community of believers forged and empowered by the Holy Spirit (imago Spiritus).8 Although empowerment for witness is an important aspect of Spirit baptism, Lisa Stephenson argues that the crucial event of Spirit baptism must not be disconnected from soteriology.9 She writes that “in receiving the Spirit of prophecy, one also receives the transformational soteriological ‘Spirit’ that removes the dualisms of old/young, male/female, master/servant, Jews/Samaritans, and Jews/Gentiles.”10 As such, Spirit baptism “necessitated a new way of living that transformed the anthropological assumptions” in operation.11 Connecting Spirit baptism with soteriology has profound implications for the issue of women in ministry because it provides a theological identity for women that pushes beyond mere functionalism. This theological identity for women serves as a fresh lens through which to read and interpret the New Testament scriptures pertaining to women.

Women in the Gospels

All of the Gospel writers include stories of Jesus’ ministry to and interaction with women.12 While not all of these women are named, it is likely that

the previewed inclusive scenario is never fully realized” because women are not given voice in Acts. 8 On the imago Spiritus, see Lisa Stephenson, “A Feminist Pentecostal Theological Anthropology,” in Pneuma: The Journal of the Society for Pentecostal Studies 35.1 (2013): 43. 9 Stephenson, Dismantling the Dualism for American Pentecostal Women in Ministry, 110: “Concomitant to the understanding of the Spirit as the power of Israel’s restoration is the inclusion of Spirit baptism within the process of conversion-initiation. If reception of the Spirit is the fulfillment of the promise of the community’s transforming salvation, then Spirit baptism becomes soteriologically necessary.” 10 Stephenson, Dismantling the Dualisms for American Pentecostal Women in Ministry, 113. 11 Ibid. 12 On women in the ministry of Jesus see Ben Witherington iii, Women in the Ministry of Jesus (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1984); Richard Bauckham, Gospel Women: Studies of the Named Women in the Gospels (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2002); Mercy Amba Oduyoye, “Women’s Presence in the Life and Teaching of Jesus with Particular Emphasis on His Passion,” The Ecumenical Review 60 (January/April 2008): 82–89; Dorothy Jean Weaver, ‘“Whenever This Good News is Proclaimed”: Women and God in the Gospel of Matthew,’ Interpretation (October 2010): 390–401; David E. Malick, “An Examination of Jesus’s View of Women Through Three Intercalations in the Gospel of Mark,” Priscilla Papers 27.3 (Summer 2013): 4–15.

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those who are named were women well known in the early church. Special prominence belongs to Mary, the mother of Jesus, who welcomes the working of God in her life (see Luke 1:38), issues the clarion call for all who would follow Jesus: “Whatever he says to you, do it” (John 2:5, nasb), courageously stands at the cross, and waits for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit (see Acts 1:14). The writers also introduce us to other women disciples, including Mary and Martha of Bethany13 and Mary Magdalene.14 All three of these women figure significantly in the life of Jesus. Mary breaks social and cultural boundaries by sitting at the feet of Jesus—the place and posture of a (male) disciple. Jesus breaks social and cultural boundaries by affirming her right as a woman to be a disciple: “Mary has chosen the good portion and it will not be taken from her” (Luke 10:42, author’s translation and emphasis). His pronouncement must have silenced all would-be objections to such an outrageous idea, thus freeing women from their confinement to prescribed social roles and freeing them to choose to be disciples. We are treated to another story about the sisters in John’s Gospel. In John 11, which features the raising of Lazarus from the dead, Jesus and Martha engage in a theological dialogue in which Jesus reveals himself to Martha as the Resurrection and the Life (see 11:25). When Jesus asks her if she believes this, Martha responds with a statement of the most complete understanding of Jesus’s identity and mission that is found in John’s Gospel to that point (see 11:27). Jesus accepts her proclamation—as does the writer of the fourth Gospel, thus revealing that women, indeed, proclaim the gospel. Similarly, Mary Magdalene is entrusted with a revelation of who Jesus is, and, like Martha, proclaims it. All four Gospels note Mary’s presence at the empty tomb; yet, John’s Gospel preserves the story of Mary’s encounter with the resurrected Jesus. Jesus entrusts her with announcing his resurrection to the rest of the disciples, and her proclamation reveals her understanding of who Jesus is: “I have seen the Lord” (John 20:18, nasb). As indicated by all four Gospels, the honor of being the first witnesses to and proclaimers of the resurrection belongs to women disciples.15 Mercy Amba Oduyoye writes: “Unlike the human society, the new community begun by Jesus could confide in women the most dramatic of God’s actions in history.”16

13 14 15 16

See Luke 10:38-42; John 11:1-44; 12:1-8. See Matt. 28:1; Mark 16:1; Luke 8:2, 24:10; John 20:10-18. Matt. 28:1-10; Mark. 16:1-14; Luke 24:1-10; Jn. 20:11-18. Oduyoye, “Women’s Presence in the Life and Teaching of Jesus,” 89.

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The Gospel writers also preserve stories of Jesus’s interaction with and ministry to unnamed women. They, too, are recipients of Jesus’s teaching,17 healing,18 and exorcisms.19 Jesus welcomes women as disciples20 and receives ministry from them.21 Women feature positively in Jesus’s teachings,22 even making profound theological statements about him.23 In point of fact, unlike male figures, there are no negative examples of women in the Gospels.24

Women in Acts

Following the outpouring of the Spirit at Pentecost, the early Christian community devoted itself to spreading the good news of the kingdom of God. Luke mentions numerous women, both directly and indirectly, in his narrative. Women are surely to be included among Luke’s anonymous ‘crowds’ and ‘households’ who respond to the message of salvation (see 8:6; 10:44; 11:21; 14:21; 17:4, 12). Luke specifies that women and men are targets of persecution (see 8:2; 9:2),25 are baptized by Philip (see 8:12), and prophesy (see 21:9). Named women include Sapphira (see 5:1-11), Dorcas (see 9:36-24), Mary, the mother of Mark, whose home serves as a meeting place for the church (see 12:12), Rhoda (see 12:12-15), Lydia (see 16:11-15), Damaris (see 17:34), and Priscilla (see 18:1-26). These women likely were well known to the community and active in ministry. 17 18 19 20 21

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E.g., Matt. 14.13-21; John 4:1-26; 8:1-11; 11:21-26. E.g., Matt 4:14-15 (= Mark 1:30-31; Luke 4:38-39); Matt 9:18-26 (= Mark 5:22-43; Luke 8:41-56); Luke 7:11-15; 13:10-16. E.g., Matt. 15:21-28 (= Mark 7:24-30); Luke 8:2. E.g., Matt. 12:46-50 (= Mark 3:31-35; Luke 8:19-21); Luke 8:1-3. E.g., Matt. 4:15; 26:6-13 (= Mark 14:3-9); Luke 7:36-50; John 12:1-10. Weaver, ‘“Wherever This Good News is Proclaimed”: Women and God in the Gospel of Matthew,’ 399, argues that “while Matthew does not identify women formally as ‘disciples,’ his narrative rhetoric portrays them as disciples through their deeds.” E.g., Matt. 25:1-13; Mark 12:41-44 (= Luke 21:1-4); Luke 15:8-10; 18:1-8. E.g., Matt. 15:27; John 4:30. One could argue that the woman caught in adultery (see John 7:53-8:11) is a negative example since she is obviously participating in an illicit affair; however, Jesus neither condemns nor shuns her, but, instead, grants her life and challenges her to leave her life of sin. See Camille Alice, “A Stone’s Throw from Grace,” us Catholic 69.3 (March 2004): 41–43; Lynn Casteel Harper, “Confront Victimizers, Comfort Victims: Jesus’ Response to Abuse,” Journal of Religion & Abuse 8.4 (2006): 43–50. Ben Witherington, Women in the Earliest Churches (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988), 144.

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Lydia, Priscilla, and Timothy’s mother, mentioned in 16:1, are also connected with the Pauline mission.

Women in the Pauline Epistles

Paul mentions a number of women in his letters, most notably in Romans 16. In concluding his letter to the church in Rome, Paul first commends to them “our sister” (adelphē) Phoebe, a diakonon (“deacon”) of the church in Cenchrea and a prostatis (“benefactor”) to him and others (see 16:2). Phoebe is not identified by her gender role or in relationship to a male figure but is identified in terms of her ecclesial function and standing both in the church at Cenchrea and in the mind of Paul.26 The noun diakonon is masculine27—and one that Paul uses to describe his own ministry (see 1 Cor. 3:5; 2 Cor. 6:4) as well as the ministry of Apollos (see 1 Cor. 3:5) and Timothy (see 1 Thess. 3:228). That Phoebe is “our sister” is reminiscent of how Paul labels other co-workers as “brothers,” such as Apollos (see 1 Cor. 16:12), Tychicus (see Eph. 6:21, Col. 4:7),29 Epaphroditus (see Phil. 2:25), and Timothy (see 2 Cor. 1:1; Col. 1:1; 1 Thess. 3:2). It is unnecessary to identify Phoebe in any way other than as Paul’s trusted coworker and deacon of the Cenchrean church.30 Phoebe is a leader in the church. In Romans 16:3, Paul closely associates himself and his ministry with Priscilla who is called a sunergos (‘co-worker’)—the same term assigned to Urbanus (see v. 9) and to Timothy (see v. 21) and to other male workers throughout 26

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Elizabeth Schüssler Fiorenza, “Missionaries, Apostles, Coworkers: Romans 16 and the Reconstruction of Women’s Early Christian History,” World and Word 6.4 (1986): 424. See also Susan Smith, “Women: Coworkers and Apostles with Paul,” Bible Today 46.2 (Mar-Apr 2008): 96, who states: “The fact that Phoebe is referred to as ‘deacon’ suggests a role comparable to that of male deacons, and dissimilar from later Christian deaconesses, whose role was one of caring rather than of leadership.” A feminine form (‘deaconness’) does not occur in the New Testament. The manuscripts differ in descriptors for Timothy in this verse. In some manuscripts, such as D* and 33, Paul calls Timothy sunergon (‘co-worker’), but in others, such as ‫א‬, A, P, and Ψ, Timothy is called diakonon (‘deacon’). In Eph. 6:21, Paul calls Tychicus ho agapētos adelphos kai pistos diakonos. In Colossians 4:7, Paul extends the descriptors for Tychicus by adding sundoulos en kuriō to the titles given in the Ephesians text. Since Paul sends Tychicus to various churches (see also 2 Tim. 4:12, and Tit. 3:12), it is evident that Tychicus served in a leadership role. The same understanding must then be extended to Phoebe in Romans 16:1. On the term diakonon and its use throughout the New Testament, see Barbara E. Reid, “What’s Biblical About … Women Deacons?” The Bible Today 51.1 (Jan/Feb 2013): 50–53.

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the Pauline corpus (e.g., Philemon 23). Four women: Mary (see v. 6), Tryphena and Tryphosa, and Persis (see v. 12)—are noted as working hard or laboring (kopiaō) in the Lord. In 1 Corinthians 16:15-16, Paul admonishes the Corinthians to submit to those, like Stephanas and his household (which surely included women), who are co-workers and laborers (kopionti) in the gospel (see also 1 Thess. 5:12-13). The acknowledgement of these four named women in Romans 16 reveals that women labored with Paul in the work of the ministry as leaders within the early Christian communities. In Romans 16:7, Paul greets Andronicus and Junia, whom he declares to be outstanding among the apostles (episemoi en tois apostolois).31 It is now generally accepted that Junia or Junias is a feminine Latin name based on the inscriptionary evidence of first-century names;32 thus, Andronicus and Junia are likely a husband-wife team who are apostles engaged in spreading the gospel in ways not unlike Paul himself.33 Throughout the rest of the Pauline corpus, Paul names women who served as leaders of house churches—Chloe (see 1 Cor. 1:11), Priscilla (see 1 Cor. 16:19), and Nympha (see Col. 4:16)—and as co-workers (sunergoi)–Euodia and Syntyche (see Phil. 4:2). In Philemon 2, Apphia is “our sister” (adelphē) who along with Philemon and Archippus constitute the recipients of Paul’s letter. As such, Apphia is the only female to be included among the specific recipients of a Pauline letter. Her designation as adelphē likely attests to her ministerial role within the community, analogous to Timothy, who is Paul’s “brother” (adelphos) in Philemon 1.34 All of these women served the early Christian 31

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Some argue that this phrase should be translated as ‘by the apostles’–that is, Junia and Andronicus were known by the apostles (indicating they were not apostles). The argument hinges on the preposition en and what it expresses. On this grammatical point, see Richard S. Cervin, “A Note Regarding the Name ‘Junia(s)’ in Romans 16.7,” New Testament Studies 40 (1994): 470: “The phrase ‘by the apostles’ expresses the agent of a passive verb (or, in this case adjective), but the agent of the passive is regularly expressed in Greek by the proposition upo + the genitive case, not by en + the dative case, which is used to denote impersonal instrument or means …” He goes on to argue that in using the preposition en, Paul is saying that Junia and Andronicus are esteemed apostles. On the feminine name Junia, see Richard S. Cervin, “A Note Regarding the Name ‘Junia(s)’ in Romans 16.7,” 464–470. Schüssler Fiorenza, “Missionaries, Apostles, Coworkers,” 430. She writes that for Paul “the mark of true apostleship does not consist in mighty speech and pneumatic exhibition but in the conscious acceptance and endurance of the labors and sufferings connected with missionary work. Andronicus and Junia fulfill Paul’s criteria for apostleship: They were outstanding in the circle of the apostles and like Paul had suffered prison in pursuit of their missionary activity” (430–431). Smith, “Women: Coworkers and Apostles with Paul,” 94.

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communities as ecclesial leaders.35 Given the highly patriarchal society in which Paul lived, and the general suppression of women both in Judaism and the larger Greco-Roman world, the fact that Paul acknowledged and affirmed females as ministry leaders is not without significance. He pushes up against social and cultural boundaries, norms, and prevailing attitudes concerning women.36 In addition to the texts already mentioned, there are other places in which Paul deals with issues pertaining to women. Paul liberates women, if they so choose, to remain single in order to devote themselves fully to the Lord (see 1 Cor. 7:32-35). Paul fully expects women to pray and prophesy in the church as long as their appearance is reflective of the distinctions between men and women (see 1 Cor. 11.1-10).37 35

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Smith, “Women: Coworkers and Apostles with Paul,” discusses the role female leaders might have exercised in the house churches. She concludes, “Given patriarchal culture’s practice of restricting women’s public roles, house churches in which women enjoyed leadership responsibilities also served as a bridge between the public and domestic domains” (95). See Lee A. Johnson, “Women and Glossolalia in Pauline Communities: The Relationship Between Pneumatic Gifts and Authority,” Biblical Interpretation 21-2 (2013): 196–214. Johnson argues that we cannot expect Paul in his first-century context to be a full-fledged egalitarian, but we should recognize ways in which Paul does seek to advocate for women within the Christian community even if it amounts to compartmentalization. Johnson writes, “Rather than a radical egalitarian ethic that reimagines women as ontologically equal to men, it appears that Paul accepts that women’s active participation in his communities is a pragmatic vision for an eschatological community. He advocates for the active role of women in the worship setting, but not as equal with males in all circumstances” (211–212). Whether or not Paul is talking about hair as a head covering or some sort of veil is still greatly debated among scholars. For a fuller discussion see Gordon D. Fee, The First Epistle to the Corinthians (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1987), 494–498, 508–512. Fee argues that Paul’s comments are clearly tied to first-century cultural customs (the expectation of women to have long hair and to cover it in public) and values (particularly honor/ shame). For a succinct summary see Powers, “Recovering a Woman’s Head with Prophetic Authority: A Pentecostal Interpretation of 1 Corinthians 11.3-16,” 29–30. See also L. Ann Jervis, “‘But I Want You to Know …’ Paul’s Midrashic Intertextual Response to the Corinthian Worshipers (1 Cor 11:2-16),” Journal of Biblical Literature 112.2 (1993): 231–246, who argues that Paul is correcting a Corinthian soteriological misunderstanding that freedom in Christ obliterates male–female distinctions, thus resulting in a genderless divine image (Jervis sees this as a Jewish-Hellenistic concept of salvation, as evidenced in Philo). Paul appeals to the creation stories of Genesis to affirm male–female distinctions as both are part of the divine image. Jervis further maintains that Paul’s use of kephale is not meant to create a “divine order” but rather to show “a relationship between distinct beings whose

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Many appeal to 1 Corinthians 11:3-9 in support of a ‘divine order’ of creation since here Paul seems to say that men are the image and glory of God with Christ as their kephalē while women are the glory of man, their kephalē.38 The Greek term kephalē can be translated in a variety of ways, such as “first,” “head,” “authority,” or “source.” Because of this, it is difficult to insist that one particular meaning is the only meaning.39 In 1 Corinthians 11:11-12, Paul states that in the Lord women and men are not independent of one another and both come from God. The reality of being in the Lord transcends hierarchal constructs and reaffirms the reality that all come from God.40 It is because of this—that all have their source in God—that women have the authority of God to minister. In 1 Corinthians 14:26, Paul instructs that everyone is to bring something—a hymn, a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue, an interpretation—for the edification of the church. Paul’s concern for order within the church in 1 Corinthians 14 is not gender-based but theologically based; that is, God is not a God of disorder but of peace (see 1 Cor. 14:33). Thus, prophets, tongue-speakers, and interpreters of tongues are to conduct themselves in an orderly fashion—even to the point of knowing when to be silent (see 1 Cor. 14:28, 30).41 Even in the instructions for Christian households,42 which reflect the prevailing hierarchy in relationships in Paul’s day, Paul’s rhetoric is subversive in at least two ways. First, in Ephesians, Paul places the instructions under the umbrella of mutual submission: “Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ” (Eph. 5:21, niv). In this way, all relationships within the Christian household are to be lived out in submission to one another.43 Second, in both

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difference is one which God intended from the beginning and which is fully appreciated and realized in redemption” (241). Alexander and Gause, Women in Leadership: A Pentecostal Perspective, 84–87, argue that Paul is talking specifically about husbands and wives. See Powers, “Recovering a Woman’s Head with Prophetic Authority: A Pentecostal Interpretation of 1 Corinthians 11.3-16,” 36–37, who argues that limiting kephalē to a single meaning is a “gross over-simplification.” See Fee, The First Epistle to the Corinthians, 502–504. Paul uses the verb sigao (‘to keep or be silent’) in 1 Cor. 14:28, 30, and 34. The niv chooses to translate each of these usages of this verb differently. In verse 28, the one speaking in tongues should “keep quiet” if there is no interpreter; in verse 30, the prophet should “stop” if another receives a revelation; yet, in v. 34, women should “remain silent” in the churches. “Remaining silent” seems to be the harshest translation in light of the way the other two occurrences of the verb are translated. See Eph. 5:21-6:9; Col. 3:18-4:1. Alexander and Gause, Women in Leadership: A Pentecostal Perspective, 89, believe that this reflects Paul’s understanding of order in the Christian home (based on the usage of

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Ephesians and Colossians, Paul addresses the women, children, and slaves first, thus according them unprecedented dignity and worth within the relational pairs. Paul does not call for an upheaval of the prevailing social order, but he does advocate change for Christian households. Galatians 3:28 is an emancipatory proclamation on the radical nature of the make-up of the body of Christ: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor44 female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (niv). It is this revelation that “provides the basis for a life of freedom in the Spirit for everyone— without exception.”45 Beverly Gaventa writes that this verse “radically extends Paul’s claim about the world-obliterating character of the gospel” of Jesus Christ.46 In this verse, there is no ontological distinction, hierarchy, or divine order between men and women. In Christ, positions of traditional power and prestige—Jew, free, male—should no longer matter.47 If all are one in Christ, if all who are Spirit-baptized are to prophesy to the world about Jesus, if all are to use their gifts for the edification of the body, then surely women and men must partner together as co-laborers to proclaim the word of God, as pastors, bishops, and deacons to shepherd the flock of God, and as denomination leaders to govern the church. The other side of the coin as it pertains to the teachings of Paul consists primarily of two troublesome passage that have for many become the authoritative word of God on the issue of women in ministry. The passages, 1 Corinthians 14:34-35 and 1 Timothy 2:11-15, each seem to suggest that Paul does not allow women a voice in the church. In addition to these texts, which have been dubbed by some as “texts of terror,” ordination of women is refuted on the basis of 1 Timothy 3:2. It must be stated that for many scholars, 1 Corinthians 14:34-35 and 1 Timothy 2:11-15 are not viewed as authentically Pauline. The authorship of the Pastoral Epistles is generally viewed as nonPauline and reflective of a later time when the church was becoming more

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hupotasso here and in 1 Cor. 14.34), yet cautions against applying this order to women in ministry. The Greek uses kai (‘and’) rather than oude (‘nor’). Sister Monica Cooney, “Men and Women as Equal Partners in Christian Community: A Biblical Meditation with Special Reference to Galatians 3:28,” Ecumenical Review 60 (Jan-Apr 2008): 101. Beverly Gaventa, “Is Galatians Just a ‘Guy-Thing’? A Theological Reflection,” Interpretation: A Journal of Bible and Theology 54.3 (July 2000), 272. Gaventa, “Is Galatians Just a ‘Guy-Thing’?,” 278, argues that the “malformed relationships” that exist between men and women reflect the reality of living in the present evil age. Galatians “emerges as a powerful voice articulating God’s new creation, a creation that liberates both women and men from their worlds of achievement and identity.”

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institutionalized. Even in discussions of 1 Corinthians—almost universally accepted as an undisputed Pauline letter—some scholars suggest that 1 Corinthians 14.34-35 is a later scribal addition.48 While these arguments might help on some level, the bottom line for most Pentecostals is that these texts are a part of the Bible and thereby function as Scripture regardless of authorship. What do we do with these Scriptures? We cannot ignore them, for they have become for some the canon within the biblical canon in the discussion of women in ministry. It is crucial that these texts be considered in and limited to the letters in which they appear. Powers states, “Treating the epistles as a collection of ‘propositions to be believed’ and ‘imperatives to be obeyed’ apart from the original historical and cultural setting does violence to the nature of the biblical text.”49 The occasional nature of Paul’s epistles—that they address specific situations within specific churches—warrants against pulling a section out of a particular letter and using it to interpret the rest of Paul’s writings. With this in mind, we turn to a brief examination of 1 Corinthians 14:34-35 and 1 Timothy 2:11-15.

1 Corinthians 14:34-35

In 1 Corinthians, Paul addresses a number of problems that have arisen in the young church.50 It is in the general discussion of spiritual gifts and the specific discussion of tongues, prophecy, and order within the church that our text is found. Key to the discussion of 1 Corinthians 14:34-35 is the placement of the phrase “as in all the congregations of the saints” immediately preceding verse 34. The question arises as to whether this phrase goes with what precedes it (“For God is not a God of disorder but of peace”) or what follows it (“Women should remain silent in the churches”). Perhaps a clue can be found in earlier sections of 1 Corinthians where Paul rounds off discussions with a phrase dealing with all the churches before moving on to a new topic. Consider the following:

48 Fee, The First Epistle to the Corinthians, 699–705, believes these verses to be an interpolation and likely a scribal addition perhaps to reconcile 1 Cor. 14 with 1 Tim. 2. 49 Powers, “Recovering a Woman’s Head with Prophetic Authority: A Pentecostal Interpretation of 1 Corinthians 11.3-16,” 20. 50 Paul discusses division and rivalry (see Chs. 1–4), sexual immorality (see Chs. 5; 6:12–20), lawsuits (see 6:1–11), marriage, divorce and singleness (see Ch. 7), participation in temple meals (see Chs. 8, 10), spiritual gifts (see Chs. 12–14), and the resurrection (see Ch. 15).

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1 Cor. 4:17-18: For this reason I am sending to you Timothy … He will remind you of my way of life in Christ Jesus, which agrees with what I teach everywhere in every church. Some of you have become arrogant, as if I were not coming to you … 1 Cor. 7:17-18: Nevertheless, each one should retain the place in life that the Lord assigned to him/her and to which God has called him/her. This is the rule I lay down in all the churches. Was a man already circumcised when he was called? … 1 Cor. 11:16-17: If anyone wants to be contentious about this, we have no other practice—nor do the churches of God. In the following directives I have no praise for you, for your meetings do more harm than good …51 In each of these examples, Paul calls the Corinthians to be in conformity with the other churches that adhere to Paul’s teaching. After mentioning the other churches, Paul then moves on to a new topic or facet of his argument. The structure of these texts establishes a consistent pattern within 1 Corinthians; thus, if we apply this structure to 1 Corinthans 14:33-34, the text should read like this: “For God is not a God of disorder but of peace, as in all the congregations of the saints. Women should remain silent in the churches … (emphasis mine).” Paul is calling the Corinthians to have an orderly service (complete with the manifestation of spiritual gifts) because it reflects God’s character. The apparent chaos of the Corinthian church was a bad reflection on God’s character as well as on the other churches. This perspective does not diminish Paul’s silencing of women, but it does take away the universal prohibition that occurs when the text is structured to say, “As in all the congregations of the saints, women should remain silent in the churches.” Such a prohibition is hard to reconcile with Paul’s affirmation of female co-workers, such as Priscilla and Phoebe. Where women are called upon to be silent, it must be remembered that women are not the only ones told to be silent (sigatōsan) in 1 Corinthians 14. As Paul urges the Corinthians to utilize all members of the congregation, he offers instructions for those who would speak to the congregation either in tongues or through prophecy. Tongues must be interpreted, says Paul, so that the body can be edified, but if there is no interpreter, the one who speaks in tongues must be silent in the church (sigatō en ekklēsia) (see 1 Cor. 14:28, niv). Further, if one prophet is speaking and another receives a revelation, the speaker must be silent (sigatō) (1 Cor. 14:30, niv). This does not negate Paul’s silencing of women, but it does offer a larger contextual framework—namely, Paul is really 51

Scripture references are from the niv, emphases mine.

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concerned with order within the church. Why is Paul silencing women? Most theories suggest that women were asking their husbands questions during the service. Perhaps this represented a challenge to the authority of the males or husbands.52 To discourage the apparent disorder this caused, Paul encourages them that if they desire to learn they should ask questions of their husbands in their own homes. All learning, whether by women or men, was to be done in quietness.53 This helps to make sense of Paul’s injunction, but it still does not address the statement that a woman is not allowed to speak but must be in submission as the Law states (v. 34). Where exactly in the Law is Paul referencing? Paul has no trouble appealing to Scriptures to strengthen his arguments or illustrate his points (e.g., 1 Cor. 9:8; 14:21), so one would expect him to offer an exact citation here; however, his reference to the Law is vague. Alexander and Gause argue that the verb hupotassō in this context implies being subject to order; that is, the women “were to be under authority to orderliness of conduct so that all things would be done in an elegant manner and in order.” Paul appeals to the Law because it is about “maintaining good order in all relationships, both with God and with humanity.”54 While this might be a valid way to understand the Law, it still does not provide a satisfactory answer to what law is being referenced. Gordon Fee argues that Paul never appeals to the Law in an “absolute way as binding on Christian behavior.” He indicates that nowhere is it stated in the Law that a woman is to be in submission.55 Paul’s final statement that it is shameful for a woman to speak in the church (see v. 35) seems completely out of sync with his earlier acknowledgment of women praying and prophesying in the church (see 1 Cor. 11);56 however, if Paul’s overall concern is for order then the shame of a woman speaking in church is related to the disruptive or 52 53

Johnson, “Women and Glossolalia in Pauline Communities,” 212. On learning in silence, see Craig S. Keener, “Women in Ministry,” in Two Views on Women in Ministry, ed. James R. Beck and Craig L. Blomberg (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2001), 50–52. 54 Alexander and Gause, Women in Leadership: A Pentecostal Perspective, 80. 55 Fee, The First Epistle to the Corinthians, 707. He concludes: “The author of this piece seems intent on keeping women from joining in the vocal worship of the churches. The rule he wishes to apply he sees as universal and supported by the Law. It is difficult to fit this into any kind of Pauline context” (707–708, emphasis mine). 56 However, see Johnson, “Women and Glossolalia in Pauline Communities,” 212, who argues that the apparent disparity between 1 Cor. 11 and 14 reflect Paul’s position that the women in Corinth have authority to speak only within “strictly comprised moments, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit; in all other circumstances, they are bound by society’s patriarchal structure” (p. 212). He further states that for Paul “to imagine an entirely

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argumentative speech of some women in the Corinthian community. When the community comes together for worship, men and women are to do everything in an orderly way (see v. 40).57 It is men and women operating in the orderly use of spiritual gifts under the power of the Spirit that will enable the non-believer to be convicted and declare, “God is really among you!” (1 Cor. 14:25, niv). Paul’s instructions to correct a problem in Corinth cannot be used as a universal and timeless prohibition against women in ministry.

1 Timothy 2:11-15

Like the Corinthians passage, this passage is notoriously difficult for women to read. This text not only seems to effectively silence women in the church but also places the responsibility for the Fall of humanity upon the woman. These verses are part of Paul’s instructions on worship found in 1 Timothy 2:1-15. Paul urges that prayers be offered up for all people for God desires all to be saved through Jesus Christ (see vv. 1-7). Paul instructs men (andras) in every place to pray with uplifted hands without wrath or disputing (see v. 8).58 Paul’s instructions to women (gunaikas) begin with his concern for modesty (sophrosunēs) in appearance and a reminder that good works rather than good fashion are what mark a woman of God (see vv. 9-10).59 Paul likely desires Christian women to look and behave differently from pagan women. Despite that, what Paul says next is startling. I will offer a rather wooden translation of verses 11-15:

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egalitarian existence between men and women in the context of the first century is asking a great deal from Paul, the Pharisee” (p. 213). See Alexander and Gause, Women in Leadership: A Pentecostal Perspective, 81, who argues that verse 36 is a rebuke to the men of Corinth. Paul’s first rhetorical question takes aim at them for resisting aligning themselves with the accepted practices of all the churches (v. 33b). Paul’s second rhetorical question is a warning to them not to restrain the speech of women within the assembly “as to imply that the Word can come only through men.” Paul instructions to males suggest that he is offering correction to them. See Robert W. Wall, 1 & 2 Timothy and Titus (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2012), 88: “The public gesture of raising ‘holy hands’ represents not only the worshiper’s inward purity but also his peaceful solidarity with other members of the community.” Alexander and Gause, Women in Leadership: A Pentecostal Perspective, 92, “The apostle expects appearance and behavior to reflect the conditions of the heart in both men and women.” Robert Wall, 1 & 2 Timothy and Titus, 89, suggests that a woman’s public identity was found in her dress. Good works, then, function as “evidence of Christianity’s positive effect on society—a persuasive societal standard for a newly introduced religion (cf. Acts 17:18-31) reconceived in 1 Timothy as another concrete witness to the transforming power of divine mercy.”

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Let a woman/wife (gunē) in silence/quietness (ēsuchia) learn in all submission (hupōtagē); now, I am not permitting a woman to teach or have authority over (authentein) a man/husband (andros), rather she is to be silent/quiet (en ēsuchia). For Adam first was formed, then Eve; and Adam was not deceived, but the woman having been deceived became a transgressor. But she will be saved through childbirth, if she remains in faith and love and holiness with modesty (sophrosunēs). Because of the double meaning of the Greek terms gunē and anēr, it is often suggested that Paul’s instructions here pertain to husbands and wives; that is, wives are not to teach or have authority over their husbands. Happily, this would get single women off the hook if it were not for that last verse that seemingly links childbirth with salvation.60 In most Pentecostal circles, however, these verses are not interpreted as being limited to married women, but apply to all women in the church. While Paul does not use the same verb for silence as is found in 1 Corinthians 14:34, the meaning is the same; thus, women are to learn in silence. As in 1 Corinthians 14:34, Paul advocates for women to learn. Where Judaism sought to prohibit women from studying Torah, Paul opens the door for women to learn as long as they do so properly—in silence and in submission to their teacher, as would also be expected of male students. Paul’s statement that he is not permitting a woman to teach or have authority over a man is interesting in light of the fact that Priscilla was a teacher in the Ephesus church and she taught Apollos (see Acts 18:26). Further, in Titus 2:3-4, the older women are instructed to teach what is good. In 1 Timothy 2:12, Paul’s use of the present indicative (“I am not permitting”) indicates that his statement is tied to the specific situation in Ephesus and is not Paul’s universal position on women as teachers within the church.61 The Pastorals reflect Paul’s deep concern for false teaching. This is evidenced in 1 Timothy 1:3 where Timothy’s main task is to command certain people (tisin) to stop their false teaching (heterodidaskalein). False teachers have arisen from within and brought division and confusion within the church. They even seem to have 60

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Although I take this verse to be an echo of Genesis 3:15, it also seems to show Paul’s concern for Christian women to be in order. See Kroeger and Kroeger, I Suffer Not a Woman, 171–177, who suggest that Paul is affirming the right to bear children over against gnostic claims that devalue the feminine, including childbearing. See also Robert Wall, 1 & 2 Timothy and Titus, 96–97. Gordon D. Fee, 1 & 2 Timothy, Titus (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2008), 77, suggests that the use of the present indicative “lacks any sense of universal imperative for all situations.” See also Deborah M. Gill and Barbara Cavaness, God’s Women Then and Now, 150.

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targeted women (see 2 Tim. 3:6)62 and Christian families (see Tit. 1:11). Timothy and Titus are exhorted to preach and teach sound doctrine (see 1 Tim. 4:11-16; Tit. 2:1) as well as ensure that those in leadership are able to teach and refute false teaching (see 1 Tim. 3:2; Tit. 1:9). Significant to our argument is that Paul tells Titus that the false teachers, those of the circumcision (and likely male), must be silenced (see Tit. 1:11); thus, Paul does not silence only women in the Pastorals. This also suggests that false teaching is a likely reason for Paul’s silencing of women in 1 Timothy 2:12. The verb authentein in 1 Timothy 2:12 is a hapax legomenon in the New Testament; thus, it is no surprise that its meaning is difficult to determine. Davis demonstrates that in texts outside the New Testament, the verb can have a variety of meanings such as “to be powerful,” “to murder,” or “to be the author of.”63 That Paul uses a rare word—when he had other more common words at his disposal (see the verb used for authority in 1 Tim. 3:4, 5, and 12)—suggests that Paul has a particular situation or actual false teaching in mind.64 Paul ties his injunction to the creation story and proceeds to make two points about Eve in relation to Adam: (1) Eve was formed second; and (2) Eve was the one deceived who thereby became a transgressor. It is only here and in 2 Corinthians 11:3 where Eve is used by Paul in a representative way. Elsewhere, it is Adam who is the first transgressor, the one through whom death comes to all of humanity. In 2 Corinthians 11:3, Paul is concerned that the Corinthians not be deceived by false teachers as Eve was deceived. His concern is not limited to women in the congregation; rather, the familiar story of Eve is appealed to as a warning to the entire congregation. As mentioned above, Paul expresses concern about false teaching throughout 1 Timothy (see 1:3-7; 4:1-8; 6:3-5), including the impact of false teaching on women (see 5:15).65 The Kroegers demonstrate that stories about Eve appeared in Gnostic literature, including stories that Eve was created first and, in collusion with the Serpent, deceived Adam into thinking he was the first of creation. They suggest that these types of stories were in 62 63 64

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Gill and Cavaness, God’s Women Then and Now, 146. For a concise summary see John Jefferson Davis, “First Timothy 2:12, the Ordination of Women, and Paul’s Use of Creation Narratives,” Priscilla Papers 23.2 (Spring 2009): 5. Paul also uses the verb proistemi in 1Tim. 5:17, 1 Thess. 5:12, and Rom. 12:8—all texts dealing with church leaders. The verb has the sense of “to manage,” “to care for,” “to be a leader.” Jefferson notes that the verb indicates the type of leadership expected of church leaders. The use of the unusual word authentein suggests a specific type of situation. So Davis, “First Timothy 2:12, the Ordination of Women, and Paul’s Use of Creation Narratives,” 5. For the theme of false teaching/teachers throughout the Pastoral Epistles, see also 2 Tim. 2:16-19, 23-26; 3:6-9; 4:3-4; Tit. 1:9-16; 3:9-11.

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circulation in Ephesus and were part of the false teaching Paul is speaking out against. They further suggest that authentein be translated as “source of” so that Paul is forbidding the teaching that women are the source of men. In light of this, Paul’s appeal to the creation story in verse 13 is an appeal to Genesis 2 where Eve is formed after Adam.66 This is consistent with Paul’s use of Genesis 2 in 1 Corinthians 11. Unique to 1 Timothy is Eve’s identification as a transgressor. Since Paul elsewhere consistently tags Adam as the one responsible for the first sin, his point about Eve being the transgressor is likely intended to warn the congregation of the danger of false teaching, just as in 2 Corinthians 11:3. It is probable that some women teachers in the Ephesian church were teaching falsely,67 and false teaching—whether by men or women—is something that Paul consistently condemns.68 Because of Paul’s affirmation of women leaders elsewhere, we must allow for 1 Timothy 2:11-15 to be what it is—a response to a specific problem in Ephesus. A final and very brief point in relation to 1 Timothy is that Paul immediately moves from this passage on women to instructions for the selection of episkopoi (‘bishops,’ ‘overseers’) and deakonoi (‘deacons’) in 1 Timothy 3. Of obvious significance to the argument against women in ministry is the statement that a bishop/overseer or a deacon must be the “husband of one wife” (see 1 Timothy 3.2, 12, niv).69 For those who oppose women in ministry leadership, this is proof that bishops and deacons must be men. Scholarship has demonstrated, however, that Phoebe was a deacon; thus, while it is probable (given a first century patriarchal context) that church leaders were mostly men, they were not always men.70

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Kroeger and Kroeger, I Suffer Not a Woman to Teach, 153–170. See Aida Besancon Spencer, Beyond the Curse: Women Called to Ministry (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1985), 74, highlights that Paul commands a specific female teacher (the only command in this passage) to learn so that she will no longer be in error. See Davis, “First Timothy 2:12, the Ordination of Women, and Paul’s Use of Creation Narratives,” 7. He writes, “Paul sees a parallel between the deception of Eve in Genesis 3 and the deception of women in Ephesus, just as he sees a parallel between the deception of Eve in Genesis and the deception of the congregation in Corinth. In different circumstances, where women are sound in the faith and their lives consistent with the apostolic core values of congregational unity and the harmony and good order of the family, the way would be open for their exercise of ecclesiastical leadership.” For a concise summary of the four main interpretive option for this phrase, see Fee, 1 & 2 Timothy, Titus, 80–81. It is worth noting that Paul begins his instructions on qualifications for leaders in 1 Tim. 3:1 by using an indefinite pronoun (tis), which suggests an openness to men and women. This would further give support to 3:11 listing qualifications for female deacons.

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Indeed, many scholars are now suggesting that 1 Timothy 3:11 gives instructions for female deacons.71 Conclusion Can the Bible be used to support the claims of those who argue against women in ministry? Yes. Can the Bible be used to support the claims of those who argue for women in ministry? Yes. In part, it depends on which portions of Scripture or theological position one privileges. I am arguing that there are strong trajectories in Scriptures that lead to the full redemption of women. To that end, I have offered a reading of New Testament scripture affirming that women are created imago Dei, are redeemed by Christ, and are empowered by the Spirit. Throughout the New Testament, women are entrusted by Christ to preach and teach the good news and are anointed by the Spirit to exercise leadership as house church leaders, apostles, deacons, teachers, and co-workers. The inclusion of women in leadership roles cannot be ignored any longer. The “texts of terror” must not be allowed to silence the testimony of the rest of Scripture which affirms women in leadership roles; rather, they must be viewed for what they are—responses to specific problems in specific churches. The burden of proof is increasingly falling upon those who continue to ignore the full witness of Scripture by appealing solely to 1 Corinthians 14:34-35 and 1 Timothy 2:11-15. I again appeal to Acts 2 and the outpouring of the Spirit as the theological lens through which to read and understand the scriptures pertaining to women. It is the Spirit who creates a new community—a community “with a renewed social order in which the outpouring of the Spirit has effected a status reversal.”72 It is by means of Spirit baptism that women received “the

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See Fee, 1 & 2 Timothy, Titus, 88–89. An interesting passage that is being looked to as possible support for female elders is Titus 2. In Titus 2.3, Titus is to teach older women (presbutidas) to be reverent (hieroprepeis) in the way they live. The verb, which only occurs here in the nt, appears to have reference to the conduct of a priest. Fee, 1 & 2 Timothy, Titus, p. 186, suggests “acting like a priestess” as a possible translation. This, combined with the use of presbutidas (feminine), has led some to see Paul advocating for female elders. However, others argue that the noun is in reference to older women (as in age) in light of the context where Paul is giving instructions pertaining to various age groups within the church. Whether or not it can be proven that Paul is advocating for female elders, it is significant that Paul uses a verb that has a priestly context. 72 Stephenson, Dismantling the Dualisms for American Pentecostal Women in Ministry, 131.

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same fundamental qualifications for ministry as men in the New Testament.”73 The Spirit ushers believers into new relational realities of reconciliation that restores the shalom intended for humanity in creation. The kingdom of God is not exhibited in human relationships that elevate hierarchy or domination; rather the kingdom of God is exhibited in mutuality and equality. Through Spirit baptism, the imago Dei is “transformed pneumatologically,” thus conforming “the believer into the imago Spiritus.”74 As people of the Spirit, Pentecostals must keep in step with the Spirit. The testimonies of women in ministry throughout Scripture, church history, and our own Pentecostal history75 reveal that the Spirit does not privilege one gender over the other. Let those who have ears hear what the Spirit is saying. Bibliography Alexander, Estrelda Y. “The Role of Women in the Azusa Street Revival.” In The Azusa Street Revival and Its Legacy, edited by Hunter Harold D. and Cecil M. Robeck Jr., 61–77. Cleveland: Pathway Press, 2006. Alexander, Estrelda Y. Limited Liberty: The Legacy of Four Pentecostal Women Pioneers. Cleveland, OH: The Pilgrim Press, 2008. Alexander, Kimberly, and R. Hollis Gause. Women in Leadership: A Pentecostal Perspective. Cleveland: Center for Pentecostal Leadership and Care, 2006. Alice, Camille. “A Stone’s Throw from Grace.” US Catholic 69.3 (March 2004): 41–43. Archer, Kenneth J. A Pentecostal Hermeneutic: Spirit, Scripture and Community. Cleveland: CPT Press, 2009. Bauckham, Richard. Gospel Women: Studies of the Named Women in the Gospels. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2002. Cervin, Richard S. “A Note Regarding the Name ‘Junia(s)’ in Romans 16.7.” New Testament Studies 40 (1994): 464–470. Cooney, Sister Monica. “Men and Women as Equal Partners in Christian Community: A Biblical Meditation with Special Reference to Galatians 3:28.” Ecumenical Review 60 (Jan–Apr 2008): 100–103. Davis, John Jefferson. “First Timothy 2:12, the Ordination of Women, and Paul’s Use of Creation Narratives.” In Priscilla Papers 23.2 (Spring 2009): 5–10. 73 74 75

Stanley J. Grenz and Denise Muir Kjesbo, Women in the Church: A Biblical Theology of Women in Ministry (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1995), 79. Stephenson, 134. For an excellent example of this, see Thomas, “Women, Pentecostals and the Bible: An Experiment in Pentecostal Hermeneutics,” 41–56.

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Fee, Gordon D. 1 & 2 Timothy, Titus. Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2008. Fiorenza, Elizabeth Schüssler. “Missionaries, Apostles, Coworkers: Romans 16 and the Reconstruction of Women’s Early Christian History.” World and Word 6.4 (1986): 420–433. Gaventa, Beverly. “Is Galatians Just a ‘Guy-Thing’? A Theological Reflection.” Interpretation: A Journal of Bible and Theology 54.3 (July 2000): 267–278. Gill, Deborah M., and Barbara Cavaness. God’s Women Then and Now. Hyderabad, Colorado Springs, London: Authentic Books, 2004. Grenz, Stanley J., and Denise Muir Kjesbo. Women in the Church: A Biblical Theology of Women in Ministry. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1995. Harper, Lynn Casteel. “Confront Victimizers, Comfort Victims: Jesus’ Response to Abuse.” Journal of Religion & Abuse 8.4 (2006): 43–50. Jervis, L. Ann. “‘But I Want You to Know …’ Paul’s Midrashic Intertextual Response to the Corinthian Worshipers (1 Cor 11:2-16).” Journal of Biblical Literature 112.2 (1993): 231–246. Johns, Cheryl Bridges. “Spirited Vestments: Or, Why the Anointing Is Not Enough.” In Philip’s Daughters: Women in Pentecostal-Charismatic Leadership, edited by Estrelda Alexander and Amos Yong. Eugene: Pickwick Publications, 2009. Johns, Cheryl Bridges. “Grieving, Brooding and Transforming: The Spirit, the Bible and Gender.” Journal of Pentecostal Theology 23 (2014): 141–153. Johnson, Lee A. “Women and Glossolalia in Pauline Communities: The Relationship Between Pneumatic Gifts and Authority.” Biblical Interpretation 21–2 (2013): 196–214. Keener, Craig S. “Women in Ministry.” In Two Views on Women in Ministry, edited by Beck James R. and Craig L. Blomberg, 27–73. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2001. Kroeger, Richard Clark, and Catherine Clark Kroeger. I Suffer Not a Woman: Rethinking 1 Timothy 2:11–15 in Light of Ancient Evidence. Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1992. Malick, David E. “An Examination of Jesus’s View of Women through Three Intercalations in the Gospel of Mark.” Priscilla Papers 27.3 (Summer 2013): 4–15. Oduyoye, Mercy Amba. “Women’s Presence in the Life and Teaching of Jesus with Particular Emphasis on His Passion.” The Ecumenical Review 60 (January/April 2008): 82–89. Powers, Janet Everts. “Recovering a Woman’s Head with Prophetic Authority: A Pentecostal Interpretation of 1 Corinthians 11.3-16.” In Journal of Pentecostal Theology 10.1 (October 2001): 11–37. Reid, Barbara E. “What’s Biblical About … Women Deacons?” The Bible Today 51.1 (Jan/Feb 2013): 50–53. Rosenzweig, Michael L. “A Helper Equal to Him.” Judaism 35.3 (Summer 1986): 277–280. Smith, Susan. “Women: Coworkers and Apostles with Paul.” Bible Today 46.2 (Mar–Apr 2008): 93–98.

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Spencer, Aida Besancon. Beyond the Curse: Women Called to Ministry. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1985. Spencer, F. Scott. “Out of Mind, Out of Voice: Slave-Girls and Prophetic Daughters in Luke-Acts.” Biblical Interpretation (April 1999): 133–151. Stephenson, Lisa P. Dismantling the Dualisms for American Pentecostal Women in Ministry: A Feminist-Pneumatological Approach. Vol. 9 of Global Pentecostal and Charismatic Studies Series. Leiden & Boston: Brill, 2012. Stephenson, Lisa P. “A Feminist Pentecostal Theological Anthropology.” Pneuma: The Journal of the Society for Pentecostal Studies 35.1 (2013): 35–47. Thomas, John Christopher. “Women, Pentecostals and the Bible: An Experiment in Pentecostal Hermeneutics.” Journal of Pentecostal Theology 5 (October 1994): 41–56. Wall, Robert W. 1 & 2 Timothy and Titus. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2012. Weaver, Dorothy Jean. “‘Whenever This Good News is Proclaimed’: Women and God in the Gospel of Matthew.” Interpretation (October 2010): 390–401. Witherington Ben III. Women in the Ministry of Jesus. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1984. Walton, Woodrow. “Side by Side.” Priscilla Papers 26.4 (Autumn 2012): 10–11. Young, Allison J. “In Likeness and Unity: Debunking the Creation Order Fallacy.” Priscilla Papers (Spring 2009): 12–15.

Editor’s Note to Chapter 2 Religious women have experienced an obdurate struggle to emerge from centuries of entrenched ecclesial teachings concerning their anthropological inferiority. Although early Pentecostals embraced the Joel 2:28-29 proclamation: “Your daughters shall prophesy…and upon…the handmaids in those days will I pour out my Spirit” (kjv), the Assemblies of God and other Pentecostal denominations pursued acceptance from mainstream American Protestantism by shifting away from their earlier commitment to egalitarianism. In some respects, white Pentecostal denominations gained credibility by increasingly limiting and marginalizing the role of their female ministers, by distancing themselves from African-Americans, and by repositioning themselves away from the poor and disenfranchised who initially formed their rank and file. North American fundamentalism resonated well with the conservative evangelical penchant for order that would greatly undermine the role and reception of women in the church, home, and community by arguing for a rigid hierarchal differentiation of genders. The teachings of early conservatives neatly slotted females into an inferior creational position using a complicated method of proof-texting that evangelicals may have found more traditionally comforting against the recent cultural and religious advances of egalitarianism (including gaining the vote). Women, seen as having caused the fall of humanity, were to be relegated to servant status. African-Americans, too, were often viewed by fundamentalists as sons of Ham and cursed to servitude. Such positions seemed to lend biblical justification to the era’s rising currents of racism and gender bias. James Barr created The Scofield Reference Bible, considered to be “perhaps the most important single document in all fundamentalist literature.”1 The work promoted a dark and ontologically inferior perspective of women: The notes for Genesis 3 stated that “the entrance of sin, which is disorder, makes necessary a headship, and it is vested in man (1 Tim. 2:11-14: Eph. 5:22:25; 1 Cor. 11:7-9).” The notes on the Parable of the Leaven in Matthew 13 state, “A woman, in the bad ethical sense, always symbolizes something out of place, religiously … In Thyatira it was a woman teaching.”2 cf. Rev. 2:20 with Rev. 17:1-6

1 Rosemary Radford Ruether and Rosemary Skinner Keller, eds. Women & Religion in America, Vol. 3, 1900—1968, A Documentary History (New York: Harper & Row, 1986), 233. 2 The Scofield Reference Bible, C.I. Scofield, ed. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1917 edition); Rosemary Radford Ruether and Rosemary Skinner Keller, eds. Women & Religion in America, Vol. 3, 1900—1968, A Documentary History (New York: Harper & Row, 1986), 233. © koninklijke brill nv, leiden, ���7 | doi 10.1163/9789004332546_005

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Fundamentalists opposed arguments of Wesleyan-Holiness Pentecostals regarding women, their positions in the home, and their right to preach and serve in the church as positionally equal ministry partners. Widely popular fundamentalist activist John Rice warned of the dangers of wives who would become “bossy,” and women who preach: “Pentecostalism and its vast majority of women preachers with the blight of sinless perfection doctrine, radical emotionalism, ‘speaking in tongues,’ and trances, its overemphasis on healing that leads thousands to despair after false pretenses of healing—these things surely should warn us that there is infinite harm in women preaching.”3 Pentecostal women found themselves caught in a doctrinal conundrum, believing that, on one hand, the ministry of the Spirit released them into full church membership and participation through the egalitarian inclusion of both males and females; however, on the other hand, they were unable to sufficiently respond to doctrinal interpretations that seemed to relegate them to second-class membership. The next essay is written by a widely-respected North American activist and scholar. Since 2001, Mimi Haddad has campaigned for women’s ecclesial rights as president of US-based Christians for Biblical Equality, an educational ministry that publishes three award-winning journals, and has grown to include members from over 100 denominations and 65 countries. In this chapter, Haddad provides a critique of three power and authority models promoted by fundamentalists and evangelicals—and generally embraced by Pentecostals and charismatics—to subordinate women based upon ontology and gender and evaluates each one according to alleged biblical patterns, logical coherence, and the real participation of women, both biblically and historically. She examines closely the complementarian model, which has gained increasing popularity in North America in Pentecostal, charismatic, evangelical, and fundamentalist circles, and offers a critique. This chapter considers how Old Testament narratives support an egalitarian perspective that extends equal dignity, value, leadership and authority to both males and females in the church, home, and the world. This chapter also traces the legacy of some of the earliest evangelicals whose service challenged the ontological devaluation made of their gender. Finally, attention is given to the early evangelical pioneers who developed the first systematic approach to the ontological and functional equality of males and females of all ethnic groups.

3 John, R. Rice, Bobbed Hair, bossy Wives and Women Preachers (Murfreesboro, tn: Sword of the Lord Publishers, 1941), 58.

chapter 2

Examples of Women’s Leadership in the Old Testament and Church History Mimi R. Haddad Counter to patriarchal models that find justification for female subordination in Old Testament patterns, this chapter will demonstrate how the Old Testament supports an egalitarian perspective that extends equal dignity, value, leadership, and authority to both males and females in the church, home, and the world. Second, it will survey the legacy of women leaders throughout North American and British church history whose service challenged the ontological devaluation of their gender. Finally, attention will be given to the early Holiness evangelicals who developed the first systematic approach to the ontological and functional equality of males and females. The church has, throughout its history, held three distinct positions concerning women’s value and scope of leadership. In short, the three views on gender and authority include: the patriarchal perspective: unequal in being, unequal in function; the egalitarian perspective: equal in being, equal in function, and the complementarian perspective: equal in being, unequal in function. Each position either extends or limits women’s access to positions of leadership based on an ontological evaluation of females relative to males. From the fourth century, through the 1700s, the patriarchal perspective was held unquestioningly by church leaders even though women’s leadership was prominent on many fronts. The egalitarian perspective gained prominence during the 1800s as the early evangelicals developed a biblical challenge to the ontological devaluation and functional limitations ascribed to both women and slaves. In the 1960s, a third position emerged known as the complementarian perspective. This view acknowledges the ontological equality of males and females but also insists that Scripture excludes women from positions of leadership and authority beside men in the church and home.

The Shared Leadership of Women and Men: Created in God’s Image and Recreated in the Image of Christ

Turning to Scripture, we discover that leadership and authority are not allocated to individuals because of their gender, ethnicity, or class. Rather, Scripture © koninklijke brill nv, leiden, ���7 | doi 10.1163/9789004332546_006

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illustrates how the most unlikely people held the most extraordinary positions of leadership. This is so much the case for women that it is challenging to find one celebrated female in Scripture who is consistently submissive to males.1 Unless we are acquainted with the cultural expectations of the ancient world, it is easy to overlook Scripture’s consistent challenge to patriarchy. Beginning in the early chapters, Genesis indicates that women and men are both created in God’s image—a spiritual status with a functional purpose—to care for the world with equal authority and responsibility. The stewardship of Eden requires both male and female. For this reason, Adam’s aloneness is the only “not good” in a perfect world. Thus God creates a “strong helper” or ezer in Hebrew, a word comprised of two root words, “to be strong” and “to rescue.”2 Used twenty-one times in Scripture,3 ezer most often refers to God’s rescue of Israel as in Psalm 121:1-2.4 Those who read Genesis through a patriarchal lens perceive Eve’s help as subordinate or inferior, but this is not the teaching of Scripture. Eve is Adam’s equal partner in every way. Taken from his side, Adam immediately recognizes Eve as his equal, shouting: “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh” (Gen. 2:23).5 Adam declared their shared origins in these words, “she shall be called ‘woman,’ for she was taken out of man” (Gen. 2:23). Scripture emphasizes not the differences between Adam and Eve but their unity and oneness. Man and woman share a physical body because Eve comes from Adam’s body. Most significantly, they also have the same spiritual or metaphysical substance since both are created in the imago Dei. Because they possess the same physical and spiritual being, they also share the same purpose—to exercise authority over the animals and the earth, not each other. The Bible repeats this very point for emphasis in Genesis 1:26 where God says: “Let us make human beings in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground” (Gen. 1:26). Bearing God’s image constitutes an identity that imparts a purpose—to care for the world with equal dignity and authority as male and 1 This case is made rather convincingly by Joe E. Lunceford, Biblical Women Submissive? (Eugene, or: Wipf & Stock, 2009). 2 R. David Freedman, “Woman, a Power Equal to a Man,” Biblical Archaeology Review 9 (1983): 56–58. 3 Genesis 2:18, 20; Exodus 18:4; Deuteronomy 33:7, 26, 29; Psalm 20:2; 33:20; 70:5; 89:19; 115:9, 10, 11; 121:1, 2; 124:8; 146:5; Isaiah 30:5; Ezekiel 12:14; Daniel 11:34; Hosea 13:9. 4 Psalm 121:1-2 reads, “I lift up my eyes to the mountains—where does my help come from? My help (ezer) comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth” (tniv). 5 All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise noted, are from Today’s New International Version.

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female. To tend to the world, as God’s image bearers, the ‘creation mandate’ is a vocation that requires both male and female, according to the next passage. Genesis 1:27-28 reads, “So God created human beings in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground’” (Gen. 1:27-28). The inadequacy of Adam’s aloneness in completing the mandate is further explained in the second creation account. In Genesis 2:18, “The Lord God said, ‘It is not good that the man should be alone. I will make a helper fit for him.’” To stress Adam’s need, God does not create Eve but the animals, as if to press the point that amid the glories of Eden there is a conspicuous omission— woman. The animals—who are not created in God’s image—cannot provide the strong rescue and shared dominion needed to care for the world. Apart from Eve, Adam had “no helper suitable for him” (Gen. 2:21). Adam’s strong help or rescue is found only in Eve—who is created in God’s image. The oneness and mutuality of marriage, between man and woman, is observed in that they are not identified or joined to the husband’s household—as is the custom in patriarchal cultures. Rather, the “man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh” (Gen. 2:24). Despite the bounty of Eden and the harmony and oneness between God’s image bearers, Adam and Eve rebel against God, and their disobedience results in alienation from God, self, and others. Because of their sin, the intimacy and mutuality between Adam and Eve deteriorates into male domination. Malerule thus stands against God’s design and obscures women’s identity and purpose as bearing God’s image as a strong help in the world. Though sin eclipses women’s creational identity and purpose, their deeds throughout Scripture reveal woman’s purpose as a strong rescue to their world. Consider women’s leadership throughout the Old Testament, noted significantly in women’s leadership as prophets. Priests spoke to God on behalf of the people, but prophets spoke on behalf of God to the people, especially to Israel’s leaders. Prophets were leaders of leaders, and female prophets led God’s people with enormous moral and spiritual authority.6 Miriam was the first prophet named in Scripture (see Exod. 15:20) and Israel refused to travel without her (see Num. 12:2-16). Similarly, the armies of Israel would not do battle without Deborah (see Judg. 4:4-10; 5:7). A prophet and judge, Deborah was also called a mother of Israel (see Judg. 5:7). Scripture 6 Linda L. Belleville, Women Leaders and the Church: Three Crucial Questions (Grand Rapids, mi: Baker Books, 2000), 56–58.

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states that Deborah “was leading Israel” during her day (Judg. 4:4). Like Deborah, Huldah also was a prophet. She was consulted when the book of the Law was discovered (see 2 Kings 22:14ff.). The king’s messengers turned to Huldah rather than Zephaniah or Jeremiah—both contemporaneous prophets (see 2 Chron. 34:14-33, 2 Kings 22). Huldah’s guidance resulted in enormous spiritual renewal as did that of Esther and Abigail (1 Sam. 25:28-31) who were also considered prophets. Like Deborah, Jael rescues Israel from its enemies (see Judg. 4:17-22). She invites Sisera into her tent, as one general would welcome another, first lulling him to sleep and then executing him. Sisera becomes a trophy of war at the hands of Jael.7 Like Jael, Sarah takes the initiative over a man—her husband, Abraham. After God promises them many children, Sarah gives Hagar to her husband (see Gen. 16:2). After Ishmael is born, God commands Abraham to follow Sarah’s direction (see Gen. 21:12). Similarly, Rachel gives Bilhah (Gen. 30:3-4) to her husband Jacob in order to produce offspring. Rachel also secures Jacob’s sexual services for Leah by ‘selling’ him for the night at the price of her son’s mandrakes (Gen. 30:14-15). Though Jacob is called the father of Israel, Rachel takes charge in these circumstances. Rebekah directs affairs by orchestrating an inheritance for her younger son, Jacob, rather than Esau (see Gen. 24; 25: 27-28). Likewise, Ruth initiates marital overtures with Boaz, just as the women in the Song of Songs pursue their romantic interests. To preserve their bloodline, Tamar deceives Judah, the head of her tribe. Despite her cunning, Judah admits she is more righteous than he (see Gen. 38:26). Zipporah—the wife of Moses—pleases God by circumcising their son. In doing so she performs a priestly rite (see Exod. 3-4). Five sisters—the daughters of Zelophehad—demand that Moses revise inheritance laws, and Moses submits to their request (see Num. 27:1-11). Using what influence they had in a patriarchal culture, women’s initiative reveals their authentic identity as created in God’s image as strong rescue. Scripture also acknowledges the leadership of women outside of Israel. Consider the Egyptian midwives, Shiphrah and Puah. They obey God by disobeying their king in order to save Hebrew babies (see Exod. 1:8-22). Their leadership is enshrined in Scripture as is Rahab, the Amorite (see Deut. 3:8, Josh. 2:1), who sends Israel’s spies to safety, but only after negotiating for her family’s protection.8 Rahab is incorporated into the people of Israel and included among the faithful in the book of Hebrews (see Heb. 11:31). 7 Jael’s name appears between Shamgar and Deborah, both judges of Israel. See Judges 5:6-7. 8 Joe E. Lunceford, Biblical Women Submissive? (Eugene, or: Wipf & Stock, 2009), 29–33.

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Significantly, two Old Testament books are named after women—Esther and Ruth. While this may seem unremarkable today, women’s names were rarely celebrated publically apart from the male-head of their tribe. And, when women accomplished great deeds, these were usually attributed to the male head of their clan.9 To oppose gender traditions brought shame to the male-head and the tribe he represented. Despite the honor-shame culture of the ancient world, Esther is honored for publically approaching her king and husband uninvited. Although this action might have been seen as disgracing her husband the king, the Bible indicates that Esther obeys God first (see Esther 4:4-17). Women eclipse their husbands as business leaders, like the woman praised in Proverbs 31 or in political maneuverings like Abigail’s (see 1 Sam. 25). Such women are not condemned but exonerated throughout the Old Testament, thereby revealing their creational identity as strong help even within the patriarchal culture of their day.

Women’s Leadership Defies Ontological Assumptions

Despite the teachings of Scripture, a patriarchal perspective prevailed throughout history through which women were evaluated as ontologically inferior, a view that marginalized women from positions of leadership in the church, home, and the world. Moreover, wherever a patriarchal view prevailed, daily consequences followed. In antiquity, the inferiority of females resulted in their exclusion from most male assemblies. Female autonomy was vastly limited compared to that of males. Girl babies were abandoned at birth in large numbers. Strikingly, it was the early Christians who rescued the girl babies abandoned on Roman city walls.10 Christian women participated in the agape meals (see Acts 2:42-46, 1 Cor. 11:20-34) and women served beside Christian men as apostles (see Rom. 16:7); evangelists (see Luke 2:38; John 4:26-42; Mark 16:9-11; Rom. 16:6-12); teachers (see Acts 18:26); deacons (see Rom. 16:1) and prophets

9

10

Barbara MacHaffie, Her Story: Women in Christian Tradition, 2nd ed. (Minneapolis, mn: Fortress Press, 2003), 15–17. See also Middle Eastern Belongings, ed. Diane King (New York: Routledge, 2010), 59–79. See J. Armitage Robinson, trans., ed. “Didache.” Barnabas, Hermar and the Didache. D.ii.2c. (New York: The MacMillan Co., 1920), 112. See also E.R. Dodds, Pagan and Christian in an Age of Anxiety (Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press, 1965).

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(see Luke 2:38; Acts 2:17, 21:9). Ultimately, Christian women were martyred beside men for advancing the gospel with equal influence.11 As Christianity gained cultural acceptance under the emperor Constantine (272–337 ce), martyrdom abated and men assumed positions of authority in the church.12 Many of these leaders, trained in Greek philosophy, accepted the cultural devaluation of females despite the shared authority of women noted throughout the New Testament. Representative of this trend was Augustine (354–430 ce) who said “it is more consonant with the order of nature that men should bear rule over women, than women over men.”13 Likewise, Chrysostom (347–407 ce) argued that since women should not teach because they are “weak and fickle.”14 From the early centuries through the 1700s, though women were viewed as inferior, yet they led the church with enormous skill and moral vigor thus defying the devaluations made of their sex.15 By the 1800s, the early evangelicals gave rise to one the largest missionary movement in history—the Golden Era of Missions—a movement in which women outnumbered men two to one in evangelical Bible institutes and later on mission fields globally.16 Their leadership helped shift the density of Christian faith from the West to broadly-scattered areas throughout “the Americas, Africa, and Asia.”17 As slaves and women attained prominence in advancing the gospel, their success prompted numerous biblical treatises that supported the public leadership of women and slaves.18 These publications not only advanced the emancipation of women and slaves, they also championed four theological priorities (conversionism, activism, biblicism, and crucicentrism) that challenged the ontological devaluation of women and slaves that 11 See The Acts of the Christian Martyrs, text and trans. by Herbert Musurillo (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1972). 12 Barbara MacHaffie, Her Story, 14–17. 13 Augustine, On Marriage and Concupiscence 1.10, trans. Robert Ernest Wallis, in Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, ed. Philip Schaff [hereafter NPNF1] (Grand Rapids, mi: Eerdmans, 1886), 5:267. 14 Chrysostom, “Homily ix,” in Homilies on 1 Timothy (NPNF1 13:436). 15 For examples of women leaders from the early centuries to the modern era, see Mimi Haddad, “Egalitarian Pioneers: Betty Friedan or Catherine Booth?” Priscilla Papers 20 (2006): 53–59. 16 Dana L. Robert, American Women in Mission: A Social History of Their Thought and Practice (Macon, ga: Mercer University Press, 2005), ix. 17 Ibid. 18 Charles O. Knowles, Let Her Be: Right Relationships and the Southern Baptist Conundrum Over Women’s Role (Columbia, mo: KnoWell Publishing, 2002), 85.

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denied them equal dignity and public leadership.19 The early evangelicals promoted an egalitarian formulation of equal in being and equal in function—an egalitarian worldview used to emancipate slaves and women. For the early evangelicals, their egalitarian worldview embraced conversionism as a theological priority because it represented life’s most significant event. The “line between those who had undergone the experience and those who had not is the sharpest in the world.”20 A commitment to conversionism challenged gender and ethnic bias and opened ministry opportunities to women and slaves whose own conversions enlisted them as evangelists. Founding mission organizations, funding their work, and serving in all levels, women were the driving force behind one the most robust missionary endeavors of all time. This was the direct result of the emphasis evangelicals placed on conversionism. Many examples of renowned evangelical missionaries exist, including Lottie Moon (1840–1912), Amanda Smith (1837–1915), Amy Carmichael (1868– 1951) and Mary Slessor (1848–1915).21 What is more, Christian women in the nineteenth century believed they “had a special calling or sanction to aid the helpless and the oppressed.”22 Therefore, women’s missionary endeavors differed from those of their male colleagues in that they often addressed social issues that were oppressive to women and children. Their activism—an expression of the gospel through effort—was a theological priority for the early evangelical missionaries—a movement led by women, many of whom were part of the Wesleyan tradition. Two prominent examples include Frances Willard (1839–98), one of the most popular women in the us in her day. Willard was president of the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union (wctu), the largest nineteenth-century women’s organizations with two million members south and north of the Mason Dixon Line. The wctu had a global impact by advancing evangelism, abolition, suffrage, and Temperance. Like Willard, Catherine Booth (1829–1890) was a tenacious evangelist who spent much of her life rescuing girls from forced prostitution in London’s 19

20 21 22

David W. Bebbington, Evangelicalism in Modern Britain: A History from the 1730s–1980s (Grand Rapids, mi: Baker, 1979), 2–17. See also Mark A. Noll, The Rise of Evangelicalism: The Age of Edwards, Whitefield and the Wesleys (Downers Grove, il: InterVarsity Press, 2003), 16–19. Bebbington, 5. Ruth Tucker, Guardians of the Great Commission: The Story of Women in Modern Missions (Grand Rapids, mi: Zondervan, 1994). Diana Magnuson, “Swedish Baptist Women in America, 1850–1914: The ‘High Calling’ of Serving Christ in the Life of the Church,” The Baptist Pietist Clarion 8, no. 1 (March 2009): 20.

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East End. As a Christian activist, Booth begged Christian women in England to transfer their affections from animals and pets to the destitute and dying. Committed to liberating women, Booth was cofounder of the Salvation Army—a denomination that supported the leadership of both men and women. Booth believed that Scripture itself challenged the ontological devaluation of females, and her biblical views were published in Female Ministry, or Women’s Right to Preach the Gospel.23 Booth’s whole-Bible approach to women’s public ministry was shared by other prominent evangelicals,24 especially Katharine Bushnell (1856–1946), a medical doctor, Bible scholar, missionary, and activist. Bushnell published the most extensive treatment of gender and Scripture in her day. After years of emptying brothels in the us and India, Bushnell concluded that until Christians perceive that God does not endorse a gender-caste system, the church would remain complicit in the destruction of girls and women.25 After mastering Hebrew and Greek, as well as the historical and cultural background to Scripture, Bushnell assessed the 300 biblical passages that addressed gender. She published her findings in God’s Word to Women in 1918, a whole-Bible approach that exposes the numerous ways Christians have misinterpreted the teachings of Scripture in order to subjugate women. Too often, she observed, Christians embrace the consequences of sin—the “he will rule over you” of Genesis 3:16—as if it were part of the moral teachings of the Bible. The biblicism of Bushnell and others, though essential in shaping the egalitarian worldview of the early evangelicals, was inadequate apart from the crucicentrism of leaders like Jessie Penn-Lewis (1861–1927). A prolific writer, preacher, Penn-Lewis asserted that God, through the cross, recreated humankind in Christ’s image. Only the cross had the power to restore humanity to God and thereby end divisions and oppression between factions such as Jew and Greek, slave and free, male and female. Through union with Christ’s death 23

Catherine M. Booth, Female Ministry or Women’s Right to Preach the Gospel (London: The Salvation Army Printing and Publishing Offices, 1975). 24 See also Fredrik Franson, “Prophesying Daughters: A Few Words Concerning Women’s Position in Regard to Evangelism,” Christians for Biblical Equality, http://www .cbeinternational.org/resources/prophesying-daughters; See also A.J. Gordon, “The Ministry of Women,” The Missionary Review of the World 17 (1894): 910–921. See the Gordon College Archives, http://www.biblesnet.com/AJ%20Gordon%20The%20Ministry%20 of%20Women.pdf. See also Frances Willard, Woman in the Pulpit (Chicago: Woman’s Temperance Publication Society, 1978). 25 Katharine Bushnell, A Brief Sketch of her Life Work (Hertford, England: Rose and Sons, Salisbury Square, 1932), 14. God’s Word to Women, http://godswordtowomen.org/bushnell _brief_sketch.pdf.

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and resurrection, Christians might expect to become “a new creation ‘after the image of Him’ that created them.”26 To die with Christ on Calvary is to be united to Christ’s power over sin where the prejudice and hostilities that had formerly separated Christians are overcome. Therefore, Calvary equips each member of Christ’s body to participate equally in service to God because the redeeming and sanctifying power of Calvary is as personal as it is corporate.27 The cross does not eliminate distinctions due to gender and ethnicity, but, rather, overcomes the domination arising from these differences. Conclusion Early evangelicals offered a systematic biblical challenge to the presumed inferiority of women and slaves by establishing the priority of Christian conversion, and the unique capacity of those marginalized by culture to advance the gospel, while imparting the power of Calvary to overcome human prejudice and domination because of gender, ethnic, and class distinctions. The crucicentrists of the early evangelicals cast biblical and metaphysical vision for newness of life in Christ, overcoming the longstanding ontological devaluation that marginalized women from their teleological purpose as created in God’s image and recreated in Christ for shared dominion beside men. Some evangelicals now suggest that although women and men are equal, men and women are called to “different roles.” By “roles” they mean one thing: that men hold authority over women, but can such a position be argued biblically? Authority in marriage and ministry is shared by those created in God’s image and recreated in the image of Christ in order that both male and female may serve as Christ’s representatives. For this reason, Paul tells all Christians to submit to one another (see Eph. 5:21). Wives have authority over their husbands, just as husbands have authority over their wives (see 1 Cor. 7:4; Eph. 5:21). Paul acknowledges the leadership of Junia—a female apostle (see Rom. 16:7) and female prophets (see Acts 2:17; 21:9; 1 Cor. 11:3-5; 1 Cor. 14:31); house church leaders (see Acts 16:14-15, 40; Rom. 16:3-15; 1 Cor. 1:11; 1 Cor. 16:19; Philem. 1:2; and 2 John 1:1); deacons (see Rom. 16:1); teachers of the gospel (see Acts 18:26); evangelists (see Phil 4:3; Philem. 1:2; Rom. 16:3); and those who do the very heaviest 26 27

Jessie Penn-Lewis, The Climax of the Risen Life (Bournemouth: The Overcomer Book Room, originally published in 1909), 37. Jessie Penn-Lewis, The Cross of Calvary and Its Message (London: Marshall Brothers, 1909), 61.

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of gospel-labor (see Rom. 16:12). Paul asks the Christians in Corinth to submit to Stephanas’ entire household—a household that included women and slaves (see 1 Cor. 16:15-16). Greeks, Jews, slaves, men, and women together shared spiritual authority—as they shared in the risen life of Christ (see Gal. 3:27-29). Being equal must always and everywhere include shared authority. If that is not what is intended, then a word other than ‘equal’ will have to be found. If men and women are equal, then they will hold equal authority as joint-heirs of Christ’s kingdom. To be Christ’s heir is to participate in Christ’s authority and power, which, unlike the power of secular rulers, is the authority to serve, submit, and love one another as Christ loved us, laying down our lives if needed. Jesus said “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. It will not be so among you; but whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be your slave; just as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many” (Matt. 20:25-27, nrsv). Bibliography Augustine. On Marriage and Concupiscence. Book 1. Chapter 10. Trans. Robert Ernest Walls. In Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, ed. Philip Schaff. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1886. Bebbington, David W. Evangelicalism in Modern Britain: A History from the 1730s–1980s. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 1979. Belleville, Linda L. Women Leaders and the Church: Three Crucial Questions. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2000. Booth, Catherine M. Female Ministry or Women’s Right to Preach the Gospel. London: The Salvation Army Printing and Publishing Offices, 1975. Bushnell, Katharine. A Brief Sketch of Her Life Work. Hertford, England: Rose and Sons, Salisbury Square, 1932. Dodds, E.R. Pagan and Christian in an Age of Anxiety. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press, 1965. Franson, Fredrik. “Prophesying Daughters: A Few Words Concerning Women’s Position in Regard to Evangelism.” Christians for Biblical Equality. http://www .cbeinternational.org/resources/prophesying-daughters. Freedman, R. David. “Woman, a Power Equal to a Man.” Biblical Archaeology Review 9 (1983): 56–58. Gordon, A.J. “The Ministry of Women.” The Missionary Review of the World, 17 (1894): 910– 921. The Gordon College Archives. http://www.biblesnet.com/AJ%20Gordon%20 The%20Ministry%20of%20Women.pdf.

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Haddad, Mimi. “Egalitarian Pioneers: Betty Friedan or Catherine Booth?” Priscilla Papers 20 (2006): 53–59. King, Diane, ed. Middle Eastern Belongings. New York: Routledge, 2010. Knowles, Charles O. Let Her Be: Right Relationships and the Southern Baptist Conundrum over Women’s Role. Columbia, MO: KnoWell Publishing, 2002. Lunceford, Joe E. Biblical Women Submissive? Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2009. MacHaffie, Barbara. Her Story: Women in Christian Tradition. 2nd ed. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2003. Magnuson, Diana G. “Swedish Baptist Women in America, 1850–1914: The ‘High Calling’ of Serving Christ in the Life of the Church.” The Baptist Pietist Clarion 8, no. 1 (March 2009): 15–20. Musurillo, Herbert. The Acts of the Christian Martyrs. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1972. Noll, Mark A. The Rise of Evangelicalism: The Age of Edwards, Whitefield and the Wesleys. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2003. Payne, Philip. Man and Woman, One in Christ: An Exegetical and Theological Study of Paul’s Letters. Grand Rapids: MI: Zondervan, 2009. Penn-Lewis, Jessie, The Cross of Calvary and Its Message. London: Marshall Brothers, 1909. Penn-Lewis, Jessie. The Climax of the Risen Life. Bournemouth: The Overcomer Book Room, originally published in 1909. Robert, Dana L. American Women in Mission: A Social History of Their Thought and Practice. Macon, GA: Mercer University Press, 2005. Robinson, J. Armitage. Trans., ed. “Didache.” Barnabas, Hermar and the Didache. D.ii.2c. New York: The MacMillan Co., 1920. Tucker, Ruth. Guardians of the Great Commission: The Story of Women in Modern Missions. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1994. Willard, Frances. Woman in the Pulpit. Chicago: Woman’s Temperance Publication Society, 1978. Wright, N.T. The Challenge of Easter. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2009.

Editor’s Note to Chapter 3 At the time of its formation in 1914, a third of the Assemblies of God’s ministers and two-thirds of its missionaries were women.1 In 1944, women accounted for 67 percent of the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel’s ordained clergy.2 While initially Pentecostalism was theologically rooted in the eschatological Pentecost Proclamation Joel 2 proclaimed in Acts 2, the praxis was a radical, egalitarian gospel that offered the possibility of sweeping aside centuries of silencing, which is an act of epistemic violence, according to Gayatri Spivak.3 Such implications would test the movement’s mettle, where in many participants came from more traditional denominations accustomed to patriarchal hierarchies. Male leaders entered into a complicated dance of stepping in and out of traditional assumptions, clumsily attempting to coordinate disparate positions, swinging back and forth from extreme postures, and sometimes promising to partner with one ‘truth’ while devoting the dance to its rival. Testimonial quieting or silencing is a type of oppression experienced, according to Patricia Hill Collins, by African-American women when an audience fails to identify the speaker as a knower based upon a stereotype which impedes her ability to offer testimony.4 Pentecostal women, both black and white, have encountered this same oppression in their struggle to fully embrace the Pentecost Proclamation: “Your sons and daughters will prophesy.” To women leaders, the silencing and duplicity became increasingly challenging, and many, confused and frustrated, gave up the quest to be heard altogether, turning over their positions to males. Others seemed passively content to let their male partners take the lead. Some held onto power and attempted to press through, but their efforts would increasingly pale against bourgeoning cultural and religious forces rising up to silence them from both within and outside of the movement. By the end of the wwii, the numbers of 1 Cheryl J Sanders, “History of Women in the Pentecostal Movement,” Cyberjournal for Penecostal-Charismatic Research, #2 (July 1997), Pentecostal-Charismatic Theological Inquiry International, http://www.pctii.org/cyberj/cyberj2sanders.html, 1. 2 Sheri R. Benvenuti, “Pentecostal Women in Ministry: Where Do We Go from Here?” Cyberjournal for Pentecostal-Charismatic Research, http://www.pctii.org/cyberj/cyberj1/ben.html. 3 Because of Spivak’s work and the work of other philosophers, the reality that members of oppressed groups can be silenced by virtue of group membership is widely recognized. See Kristie Dotson, “Tracking Epistemic Violence, Tracking Practices of Silencing,” Hypatia 26, no. 2 (Spring 2011): 236. 4 Kristie Dotson, ibid., 242.

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women in Pentecostal leadership had declined precipitously.5 Assemblies of God assistant superintendent Gayle Lewis “portrayed the ideal ag woman as ‘Unnamed—Yet Serving,’ saying their women were selfless and nonassertive. E.S. Williams voiced concern, reminding Evangel readers that the place of the wife had always been in the home.”6 Eventually, Pentecostal organizations, exemplified by the Assemblies of God, resembled little more than conservative fundamentalist denominations, except for their distinctive embrace of glossolalia. Nevertheless, following wwii, the distant, uncomfortable memory of large numbers of women testifying from the pulpit had been nearly forgotten. It was not until other traditional denominations began to reassess their own patriarchalism and seek after historical models that the institutional memory was jogged. More recently, great strides have been achieved, but ones not led by Pentecostal/charismatic women. A decade-long, landmark Barna study concluded in 2010 found that the number of senior female pastors in denominational churches had doubled, and from 2010 to 2015 indicators have continued to suggest an upward surge that has not begun to plateau. From 1999 to 2009 women senior pastors increased from 5 to 10 percent, but 58 percent of these women came from traditional denominational churches. Overall, where the numbers of senior female clergy had increased to 12 percent for all congregations, these gains were not directly reflected in more conservative evangelical churches where just 9 percent of clergy were women. Pentecostal and charismatic churches would be represented in this 9 percent.7 However, 8 percent of female senior pastors in the Assemblies of God places it near the bottom of all churches that were measured, with only the Southern Baptist Convention, which voted to rescind and prohibit all female leadership in 2000, lower at 4 percent.8 5 The Pentecost Proclamation argued that the same Holy Spirit at work in males was also at work in females, which leveled the field of participation. However, when the anticipated soon return of the Lord seemed delayed, and the immediate relevance of the passage was diminished, the need for an adequate anthropological response to the theological objections by more baptistic gender hierarchalists surfaced. Such objections were based upon Pauline passages. 6 Barbara Liddle Cavaness, Factors Influencing the Decrease in the Number of Single Women in the Assemblies of God World Missions (Ph.D. diss., Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, ca, 2002), 324. 7 “Number of Female Senior Pastors in Protestant Churches Doubles in Past Decade,” Barna Group (September 14, 2009). Used by permission. 8 “What Percentage of Pastors Are Female?” Hartford Institute for Religion Research, http://hirr .hartsem.edu/denom/research.html.

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Today, in the Assemblies of God, a woman has an extremely rare prospect of being placed into a senior pastorate by the denomination or by a thriving church whether large or small. The women who operate as senior pastors generally have planted their own churches. Nevertheless, in much of its material and embedded within its position papers is a firm affirmation of women in ministry, both historically and contemporarily. One might conclude that the phenomenon of women in leadership is a significant characteristic of Pentecostalism’s ethos while at the same time it is only begrudgingly expressed as praxis. In this chapter, Zachary Tackett examines the duplicity of Pentecostal organizations with respect to their historic tradition of female leadership and the egalitarian promise of the Pentecost Proclamation. This quandary is addressed in this chapter in three parts. The first part provides an historical analysis of the development of American Pentecostals’ praxis relating to the personhood and roles of women, with particular emphasis upon women as ‘proclaimers of gospel.’ The second part engages interpretive grids for understanding the theological dynamics that are reflected in the historical developments. The first grid is that of institutionalization. The second is radicalization followed by embourgeoisement. The third consideration is the nature of the Pentecostals’ eschatology as it relates to egalitarianism.

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Callings, Giftings, and Empowerment: Preaching Women and American Pentecostalism in Historical and Theological Perspective Zachary Michael Tackett Introduction Pentecostal women serve as pastors, missionaries, evangelists, presbyters, ecclesial executives, professors of theological studies, and leaders within social justice communities. In that all persons may experience the present work of the Holy Spirit expressed through the charismata, Pentecostals historically have contended that all may be called, gifted, and empowered to preach, without regard to gender, ethnicity, social location, educational background, or disability. Pentecostals have followed the tradition of evangelicals and holiness advocates of the nineteenth century. Social justice endeavors were engaged alongside evangelistic commitments within many nineteenth-century evangelical communities. This characteristic was adopted by many Pentecostals. The theological foundation rests on the eschatological Pentecost Proclamation, in which the apostle Peter on the Day of Pentecost interpreted the prophet Joel: “In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and daughters shall prophesy” (Acts 2:27, nrsv). The implication of the eschatological Pentecost Proclamation for praxis is a radical, egalitarian gospel. Yet, Pentecostals have struggled with the limits of such an expression. The challenge of the Pentecostal communities, in relation to gender dynamics, has been to engage a message of inclusion with practices that have been influenced by the patriarchal expectations of the larger cultural frames. On the one hand, Pentecostals have challenged the marginalizing expectations of the dominant culture. On the other hand, women within the Pentecostal tradition have not been encouraged in the same manner as men and often have been denied access to the same pulpits. Pentecostals have a tradition of advocating for their prophesying daughters. At the same time, American Pentecostals struggle with the fullness of the implications of the egalitarian gospel for which they advocate. The present essay will analyze the development of American Pentecostals’ praxis relating to the personhood and roles of women, with particular emphasis

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upon women as proclaimers of gospel. A variety of Pentecostal communities in the United States will be addressed, though Pentecostals in the Assemblies of God (ag) will receive the most treatment. When the ag is identified, however, it is not presented as representing the whole of Pentecostalism in the United States. Early Pentecostals will be shown as having provided a critique to society at large for women’s voices to be heard. At the same time, recognition will be given that Pentecostals have been slow to confront the expansiveness of patriarchal dynamics within culture at large. Pentecostals’ endorsement of prophesying daughters, built upon their eschatological commitment, provides an opportunity for challenge to an American church and society that has marginalized women. Yet, Pentecostals have struggled with the implications that such a commitment requires. Three theories will be posited to help provide interpretive grids for evaluating the theological and cultural juxtaposition of an eschatological commitment to Pentecostals’ prophesying daughters. The first is that of institutionalization. The second is radicalization followed by embourgeoisement. The third consideration is the nature of the Pentecostals’ eschatology as it relates to egalitarianism as expressed within Pentecostalism.

Framing Pentecostal Praxis

Early Pentecostals worked toward what they saw as a radical eschatological message. Since the Spirit was falling upon all, the calling of the Spirit was available to all. The result was an eschatological community that challenged the dynamics of a society that often marginalized the masses based upon gender, ethnicity, and social location. D. William Faupel has identified “Everlasting Gospel” and “Gospel of the Kingdom” as the two most common expressions of early Pentecostals in their identification of eschatology. This eschatological commitment, within Faupel’s analysis, provided the foundation for Pentecostal praxis.1 Cheryl Bridges Johns reflects upon this prophetic community: A radical countercultural identity characterized the early Pentecostal movement. In the era of the war to end all wars, Pentecostals were pacifists. In an era when women were excluded from public voice, Pentecostals were ordaining women as ministers. In an era of the kkk, Pentecostal blacks and whites were worshiping together. This subversive 1 D. William Faupel, The Everlasting Gospel: The Significance of Eschatology in the Development of Pentecostal Thought (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1996), 20.

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and revolutionary movement … had a dual prophetic role: denouncing the dominant patterns of the status quo and announcing the patterns of God’s order.2 The eschatological Spirit provided the foundation for a new community. Pentecostals saw this, Johns states, as laying the foundation for a new society that challenges the status quo, a new ordering based upon what Faupel has identified as their understanding of the eschatological gospel of the kingdom. Yet, Pentecostals did not break free from the bonds of a status quo that marginalized the many. Building upon Johns’s analysis of Pentecostals’ critique of society, the struggle for Pentecostals was in crossing the chasm from the patterns of the status quo to the patterns of God’s new, egalitarian order. Pentecostalism emerged globally at the beginning of the twentieth century, with centers in such places as Mukti, India, Topeka, Toronto, and Chicago. Perhaps the most influential American community within early Pentecostalism was the revival at the Apostolic Faith Mission at Azusa Street in Los Angeles from 1906 to 1909. Azusa served “as an example for its outreach to the marginalized—the poor, women, and people of color,”3 states Cecil M. Robeck, Jr., historian of the revival. Estrelda Alexander, in her analysis of the work of women at Azusa, states, “Within the revival, white women from various walks of life ministered alongside black washerwomen and household servants who had no formal training.” Both were given free rein “to speak in tongues, interpret glossolalic messages, prophesy, intercede and lead worship.”4 A writer for the Azusa mission newspaper described the significance of this new order: “No instrument that God can use is rejected on account of color or dress or lack of education. This is why God has so built up the work.”5 The qualification for work, dignity, and leadership in the eschatological kingdom, early Pentecostals contended, was the calling and anointing of the Holy Spirit. Moreover, Pentecostals saw their marginalized status as an advantage to ministry. God “is picking up pebble stones from the street and polishing them for

2 Cheryl Bridges Johns, “The Adolescence of Pentecostalism: In Search of a Legitimate Sectarian Identity,” Pneuma: The Journal of the Society for Pentecostal Studies 17.1 (Spring 1995): 4–5. 3 Cecil M. Robeck, Jr. The Azusa Street Mission and Revival: The Birth of the Global Pentecostal Movement (Nashville: Nelson Reference and Electronic, 2006), 13. 4 Estrelda Alexander, “The Role of Women in the Azusa Street Revival,” in The Azusa Street Revival and Its Legacy, ed. Harold D. Hunter and Cecil M. Robeck, Jr. (Eugene, or: Wipf & Stock, [2006] 2009), 66. 5 “Bible Pentecost,” Apostolic Faith (Los Angeles) (November 1906): 1.

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His work,”6 stated one writer. The writer was referencing a fourteen-year-old girl who had led a revival meeting “in which one hundred and ninety souls were saved.”7 Pentecostals struggled, however, with the implications of challenging gender expectations within the larger society.8 The Pentecostals’ hermeneutic and praxis challenged cultural expectations, but did not do away with gender differences. Women at Azusa, for example, assumed unprecedented latitude, but the church continued to reflect many gender-specific roles that were dictated by American cultural expectations. “No woman that has the Spirit of Jesus wants to usurp authority over the man,”9 stated an unidentified writer for the mission’s newspaper. Robeck observes that the mission’s pastor, William Seymour, set the stage for the inclusion of women in all aspects of church life. For a time, states Robeck, “Pastor Seymour surrounded himself with this very capable, interracial staff of women and men.”10 Alexander observes, however, that eventually Seymour limited the authority of women. “Women may be ministers but [they are] not to baptize and [are not to] ordain [ministers] in this work,” stated the mission’s discipline.11 The exception was Jennie Evans Moore Seymour, the spouse of Seymour. She served on the board of the church and succeeded Seymour as pastor at his death during the waning days of the mission. Alexander opines, “The gender line was strongly bent, but not broken.”12 Significant to the Pentecostals’ theological development in regard to gender inclusion was the North American evangelical tradition of the nineteenth century that engaged the Pentecost Proclamation. Via this theological foundation, women had become major players in missionary work and in social justice expressions. Janette Hassey points out that nineteenth-century feminists were commonly “deeply rooted in Evangelical revivalism,” and had been champions for reform, such as abolition and temperance. Many of the Bible institutes that emerged from late nineteenth century evangelicalism supported women and even boasted about the inclusion of women in the ministerial preparation 6 7 8

“Back to Pentecost,” Apostolic Faith (Los Angeles) (October 1906): 3. Ibid., 3. See Edith Blumhofer, Restoring the Faith: The Assemblies of God, Pentecostalism, and American Culture (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1993), 172. 9 “Who May Prophesy?” Apostolic Faith (Los Angeles) (January 1908): 2. 10 Robeck, Azusa Street Mission and Revival, 99. 11 William J. Seymour, The Doctrines and Disciplines of the Azusa Street Apostolic Faith Mission of Los Angeles (Los Angeles: W.J. Seymour, 1915), 91, cited by Alexander, “The Role of Women in the Azusa Street Revival,” 68. 12 Alexander, “The Role of Women in the Azusa Street Revival,” 68.

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programs.13 A primary theological support for these actions and roles came from the Pentecost Proclamation. The Baptist pastor from Boston, Adoniram Judson Gordon, in 1894 identified the proclamation as the hermeneutical Magna Carta for understanding biblical admonitions on the work of women, including interpreting scriptures that may seem to limit the roles of women. “As in civil legislation, no law can be enacted which conflicts with the constitution,” argued Gordon, “so in Scripture we shall expect to find no text which denies to woman her divinely appointed rights in the New Dispensation.”14 Pentecostals have committed themselves to an eschatological argument by engaging the Pentecostal Proclamation for women’s access to the pulpit. Pentecostals have given little attention, however, to the ontological implications of the proclamation. Correspondingly, Pentecostals have advocated for preaching women, but have not implemented equality within ecclesial structures, have not been quick to dismantle patriarchal commitments within their homes, and have not worked to dismantle the patriarchal framing of American culture at large. Rosemary Radford Ruether indicates that communities that have emphasized eschatological concerns regarding gender inclusion typically have tended to challenge inequity within the church, but have failed to address patriarchal expectations within the home and society. Further, communities that have engaged what Ruether identifies as “eschatological feminism” have tended to isolate themselves from the broader culture, seeing the leveling of society as an expression of the transcendent, eschatological future. Equality in society, eschatological feminism commonly contends, is to be realized in the eschaton. Reuther does note, however, that some eschatological feminist communities, such as the Quakers, see the eschatological order of equality anticipated in the present, but not finding completion in the present. As a result, such eschatological communities have anticipated equality in society at large.15 Reuther does not address Pentecostalism, nor does she engage the broader nineteenth-century evangelical and holiness communities. Yet, her analysis is valuable to understanding the commitments of Pentecostals as an eschatological community. Pentecostals have highlighted their prophesying daughters. At the same time, in the home and in society at large, Pentecostals commonly have emphasized hierarchical gender roles. Nonetheless, a few Pentecostals 13 14 15

Janette Hassey, No Time for Silence: Evangelical Women in Public Ministry around the Turn of the Century (Grand Rapids, mi: Academie Books, 1986), 7. Adoniram Judson Gordon, “The Ministry of Women,” Missionary Review of the World 7 (December 1894): 911. Rosemary Radford Ruether, Sexism and God-Talk: Toward a Feminist Theology (Boston: Beacon Press, 1983), 99–104.

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in the tradition of some of their evangelical forebears have extended egalitarianism beyond the church to contend for full equality in the home and society. Reuther’s analysis is valuable to understanding Pentecostals, but it has limitations. In contrast to the eschatological communities that Reuther identifies, early Pentecostals did not retreat from society, but challenged an American culture that marginalized the masses. Grant Wacker, in his analysis of early American Pentecostalism, states that Pentecostals were typical Americans of the era. These were not persons who rejected society, but were ones who reflected the working classes and lower middle classes of America.16 The Pentecostals’ challenge to society came from their location among the common peoples. Further, in Pentecostals’ advocacy of a new order based upon the eschatological kingdom of God, the Pentecostals’ inclusion of women’s voices was not an expression of a community that retreated from society at large, but reflected the Pentecostals’ broader participatory critique of an American culture that marginalized the poor, persons of color, and women. This challenge was framed by an eschatology that saw the kingdom of God as having been inaugurated in the work of Christ, with the events of Pentecost highlighting that the eschatological kingdom had broken into their midst. The Pentecost Proclamation speaks to the eschaton breaking into the present. The last days of which Peter identifies, calling for prophesying daughters and sons, have begun. The fulfillment of the eschaton remains a future expectation. Thus, the new order that Pentecostals proclaimed was not limited to a future expectation, but had been realized in part in the present, in the falling of the Spirit at Pentecost. Walter Hollenweger identifies the first decade of Pentecostalism as the heart of Pentecostal spirituality.17 In most Pentecostal communities, the prophetic voice of women could be heard the loudest during these early years. Pentecostals struggled in generations that followed to listen to the prophetic voice that called for the uplifting of the marginalized. In the process of upward mobility and in the process of institutionalization, Pentecostals established ecclesial practices that often solidified hierarchical gender dynamics. This process of increasing the limitations on women’s voices began shortly after the flames of revival at the first of the century had begun to fade. 16 17

Grant Wacker, Heaven Below: Early Pentecostals and American Culture (Cambridge, ma: Harvard University Press, 2001), 4–5. Walter J. Hollenweger, “Pentecostals and the Charismatic Movement,” in The Study of Spirituality, ed. Cheslyn Jones, Geoffrey Wainwright, and Edward Yarnold (New York: Oxford University Press, 1986), 551.

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Activities of Inclusion and Exclusion

“We know of no Movement [sic] where women of ability and filled with the Holy Ghost, have been more highly honored or given much more freedom than among us,” contended E.N. Bell in 1915, who as editor of The Christian Evangel and as chair of the recently founded Assemblies of God, was attempting to address questions concerning limitations that the young Pentecostal denomination had placed upon women ministers. “She is given the right to be ordained, to preach, witness, give advice, act as evangelist, missionary, etc. The only thing not thrown unscripturally upon her weak shoulders is the making of her a Ruling Elder.”18 Bell explained that this limitation had not been implemented as a matter of inferiority, but that there were certain roles that men were more physically capable of doing than women.19 The young ag was ordaining women based upon the Pentecost Proclamation. This limited ordination failed to recognize roles that would give women ecclesial authority over men. Women could speak from the floor of the council, but men alone were to cast votes. Women could preach and evangelize; men were to pastor churches and hold ecclesial offices of authority. Women could pastor when they founded churches and could pastor when they served in missionary capacities. Women could plow the hard, fallow ground and plant the seed, but they were expected to give over the role of harvesting the grain to men.20 Women could and did serve as pastors of churches 18 E.N. Bell, “We Fellowship All,” Christian Evangel, February 13, 1915, 2. 19 Ibid. 20 At an early formational stage of organizational development of the Assemblies of God, Bell initiated what would become a strong philosophical perspective within the organization toward women who had founded and led ministries. He began to advance the idea that the works begun by women, often achieved through the most difficult phases of ministry development, were waiting for a male leader to come and to take them over. It was a smacking delegitimizing of the hard work and gifting these women brought to Pentecostalism. Bell became outspoken in his effort to see men come in and divest women of their achievements. One way in which he did this was by advancing the notion that the women were not created for such heavy labor, and that men should come in and lift the burden from their shoulders. Bell insisted that “men are better adapted … to rule and govern assemblies” and that God had wanted men to “take these heavy responsibilities off [women’s] shoulders.” Few pointed out that the heaviest labors had already been accomplished in most of these situations by women. Men were being encouraged to move in and oust women founders after their works had developed to a stage at which a salary was in place and the heavy sacrifices had been largely rendered. See E.N. Bell, “Women Elders,” The Christian Evangel, 15 August 1914, 2. See also, Edith L. Blumhofer, The Assemblies of God, 207. See also, Margaret English de Alminana, “A Biographical Survey of 20th

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that they founded, but were not authorized to pastor established churches. Women could serve as missionaries, pastoring foreign nationals and administering service organizations. The racial and ethnic bias of this policy seemed to elude American Pentecostals. Women could pastor in missionary settings, but could not pastor in the United States. Women’s limited ordination was a positive alternative, Bell contended, to those who on the one hand would “silence the women totally and give them no place in the ministry of the Lord” and those on the other who would give women “every office, position and place of authority for the women which God has given to men.”21 Bell was not alone in conceding that women could be recognized as preachers and leaders, but not as leaders of men. Wesley Myland stated, “Women may be deaconesses, but not elders; they may be evangelists; they may proclaim the Word; they may prophesy, but they cannot be pastors and never should be.”22 Some male leaders recognized the value of women as preachers, but questioned the wisdom of women serving alone, asserting that a woman should be accompanied by a man. “It seems to me unwise and not according to the word for women to go out alone,” stated an unidentified missionary.23 The concerns expressed by Bell and Myland were similarly employed by the leader of the Church of God, A.J. Tomlinson. Women were not to participate in the hierarchy of the church. Women could be recognized as having received a call to proclaim the gospel, their having been empowered by the eschatological Spirit. Yet, women were to be excluded from roles of authority over men, particularly roles in church government. Tomlinson interpreted the early church model of the apostles as providing for this distinction. “There were no women speaking in the council at Jerusalem,”24 observed Tomlinson. Yet, similarly to Bell, Tomlinson contended that Pentecostals were extending unprecedented freedom to women. “Let the good sisters feel at perfect liberty to preach the gospel, pray for the sick or well, testify, exhort, etc., but humbly hold themselves aloof from taking charge of the governmental affairs.”25

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Century Female Pentecostal Leadership and an Incipient Egalitarian Struggle” (PhD diss., Glyndŵr University, u.k., 2011). E.N. Bell, “Women Elders,” Christian Evangel, August 15, 1914, 2. D. Wesley Myland, The Revelation of Jesus Christ (Chicago: Evangel Publishing House, 1911), 86. “As Viewed by a Missionary,” Word and Witness, November 20, 1913, 1. A.J. Tomlinson, “Christ Our Law-Giver and King,” The Evening Light and Church of God Evangel, November 1, 1910, 2, cited by David Grant Roebuck, “Limiting Liberty: The Church of God and Women Ministers, 1996–1996” (Ph.D. diss., Vanderbilt University, 1997), 80. A.J. Tomlinson, “Paul’s Statements Considered,” Church of God Evangel, September 18, 1915, 4, cited by Roebuck, “Limiting Liberty,” 69.

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Some Pentecostal communities advocated the full equality of women, including leadership roles that gave women authority over men. Often women established these inclusive ecclesial communities. Ida Robinson pastored Mt. Sinai Holy Church. Robinson and Mt. Sinai departed from the United Holy Church (uhc) and started an association of churches when the uhc discontinued ordaining women and restricted previously ordained women.26 Significant to Robinson’s theology was her anthropology. Robinson advocated an ontological equality of women and men. Women’s ecclesial authority, contended Robinson, was based upon imago Dei as well as the Pentecost Proclamation.27 Florence Crawford had been one of six women who served on the leadership board of the Apostolic Faith Mission (Azusa mission) in Los Angeles. Crawford left Los Angeles in 1907 for Portland, Oregon, where she established an Apostolic Faith Mission and an association of churches affiliated with the mission, which fully included women. Alexander contends that Crawford left Azusa in part because of restrictions that increasingly had been placed upon women at the church in Los Angeles: “[Seymour] made a clear distinction in the roles of men and women in vital areas of worship and minister leadership, insisting that ‘all ordination must be done by men not women. Women may be ministers but not to baptize or ordain in this work.’”28 Yet, even though Crawford established the association of Apostolic Faith churches in the Portland area, this did not alleviate hierarchical organizational concerns among Crawford’s network of churches. By 1919 a group of pastors separated from Crawford, establishing an organization in which women were recognized as preachers, but not as leaders.29 Perhaps the most recognizable denomination that included women as fully ordained is the Church of the Foursquare Gospel, established in Los Angeles by Aimee Semple McPherson. The high-profile evangelist had been affiliated with the Assemblies of God and was a featured speaker at the 1920 General Council.30 She also worked simultaneously with other ecclesial communities. In 1923 McPherson dedicated Angeles Temple, a 5300-seat church 26 27

28 29 30

Estrelda Alexander, Black Fire: One Hundred Years of African American Pentecostalism (Downers Grove, il: ivp Academic, 2011), 166. H.D. Trulear, “Ida Robinson,” in The New International Dictionary of Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements, rev. and exp., ed. Stanley M. Burgess and Eduard M. van der Maas (Grand Rapids, mi: Zondervan, 2002), 1028. Estrelda Alexander, The Women of Azusa Street (Cleveland, oh: The Pilgrim Press, 2005), 66. Ibid., 59–70. Aimee Semple McPherson, “The Preparation of the Bride,” Pentecostal Evangel, November 13, 1920, 1–2.

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in Los Angeles. From there she established the Foursquare denomination and a Bible college where women would be encouraged for ministry in an equal manner as men.31 Yet, even in this denomination, in which women were intentionally recognized from the origins, women’s roles waned. Edith Blumhofer indicates that between 1927 and 1940 the percentage of women as Foursquare ministers declined by fifty percent. Jack Hamilton, the president of the denomination’s Bible college, notes a distinct decline of women at the Bible college after McPherson’s death.32 Ernest Swing Williams, the General Superintendent of the ag from 1929 to 1949, identified the limiting argument that was developing within much of the ag. Williams recognized the eschatological commitment to prophesying daughters, while contending that patriarchal headship should govern the family and the church. Philip had four daughters who prophesied. … They spoke under the anointing of the Spirit, but recognized that headship was not in them, but in their father. Women are not to disturb a service by talking to each other, but women may speak or expound truth under the guidance of the elders, “those that have the rule over them.”33 The limitations placed upon women by the ag are emphasized by a resolution that was brought before the 1931 General Council. The resolution was written to further restrict women in the performance of sacerdotal functions. Some women objected; they pastored churches that required them to perform the ordinances of the church. Most of the ministers at the meeting, women and men, recognized that women were pastoring churches; the discussion surrounded the authority of women, which was placed within the framing of sacerdotal rites.34 Robert Brown of New York spoke for the enhanced limitations, stating that his wife was an excellent preacher, but that she did not assume the role of priest. Women in the Scriptures had not been ordained into the priesthood, he stated. Nor had women enjoyed apostolic ministry. Brown stated that 31 32

33 34

Cecil M. Robeck, Jr. “Aimee Semple McPherson,” in The New International Dictionary of Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements, 856–859. Roebuck, “Limiting Liberty,” 61, citing his interview of Jack Hamilton, March 13, 1991, notes held by Roebuck and citing Edith L. Blumhofer, Aimee Semple McPherson: Everybody’s Sister (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans, 1993), 361. E.S. Williams, “May Women Preach?” (unpublished, in Pentecostal Evangel files, Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center, n.d.). “Editor’s General Council Notes,” Pentecostal Evangel, October 10, 1931, 5.

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he “hated to see women put on a white garment and try to look like angels, and go into the baptismal pool to baptize converts.”35 Ironically, Brown’s wife, Marie Burgess Brown, prior to their marriage, had founded the church of which Brown was pastoring, Glad Tidings Assembly of God. Did these women resist the ongoing efforts to marginalize them? It might seem so, at least in the case of Marie Burgess Brown, for following Robert Brown’s death, she resumed her role as pastor of the church. Women, as a result of the 1931 action, were no longer recognized by the ag as having authority to baptize, serve communion, marry, or bury.36 Many women simply ignored the edict and continued to perform these rites, as their work as home missionaries, foreign missionaries, and evangelists often required these functions. The next General Council, in 1933, demonstrated the apparent failure of the previous council’s attempt to sanction women. Marie Burgess Brown preached the memorial service sermon at the council, a service in which Holy Communion was administered, which might indicate the possibility of a backlash from women.37 The ensuing events suggest a significant degree of protest from women, for two years later, at the 1935 council, the ag voted to extend full ordination to women.38 Myer Pearlman, toward the end of World War ii, lamented that the American women’s movement had produced “an overbalanced emphasis upon woman’s rights which, while claiming equality with man, demands an absolute independence contrary to the Scriptural standard regarding the relationship of the sexes.”39 Pearlman reflects an increasing emphasis after World War ii upon limiting women’s voices. Frank Boyd provides the most forthright example of such an emphasis via an undated pamphlet that was published on the ag presses.40 He set aside Pentecostals’ historic commitment to prophesying daughters. Boyd did not reject the prophesying daughters, but submitted them to the Pauline limitations. Women had been officially recognized as authorized

35

“Editor’s General Council Notes,” 5. These words are the ones summarized by the reporter for the Pentecostal Evangel. 36 “Constitution and By-Laws of the General Council of the Assemblies of God Including Essential Resolutions Revised and Adopted September 8–13, 1931 [General Council Minutes],” 18, Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center, http://www.ifphc.org, accessed 7 October 2014. 37 “The Fifteenth General Council,” Pentecostal Evangel, October 13, 1933, 1. 38 Blumhofer, Restoring the Faith, 174. 39 Myer Pearlman, “The Christian Ideal of Marriage,” Adult and Young People’s Teachers’ Quarterly, August 20, 1944, 46. 40 Frank Boyd, Woman’s Ministry (Springfield, mo: Gospel Publishing House, n.d.).

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for full ordination by the 1935 council, but Boyd seemed to be challenging, or at least attempting to limit again, the very ecclesial roles of women which the 1935 council authorized. A few women in the years after World War ii and into the later years of the century continued to found churches, serving as pastors of the churches that they founded. Some in the ag continued to advocate for women in positions of authority. The later years of the century also saw a slight uptick in the number of women moving toward ordination. One of the most significant affirmations of women’s authority is an unpublished, but well circulated paper by Joseph R. Flower, who served as General Secretary of the ag from 1975 to 1993. Paul’s letter to the Galatians, contended Flower, calls for the abolition of “sex discrimination and racial and social distinctions.”41 Flower argued for the rights of women to pastor, but simultaneously contended for the authority of the husband in marriage. Flower did not see the authority of men in the homes as extending to the role of women as leaders of men within the churches. The ag reaffirmed the official authority of women via an Executive Presbytery position paper in 1990,42 and positively revisited that affirmation in 2010.43 Consistent with the argument of early Pentecostals and their holiness heritage, the preamble of the position paper appeals to the eschatological commitment of the Pentecost Proclamation. Also, at the beginning at the twenty-first century the ag has begun to show some intentionality in placing women in roles of leadership, including roles that would give women leadership over men. An increase may be seen in the number of women who are being credentialed in the ag. In 2015, 23.5% of ministers in the ag were women.44 Yet, this figure must be mediated by noting that most of these women ministers are not ordained, but licensed ministers.45 The effect is that women are being recognized as authorized to preach, but they are not advancing

41

Joseph R. Flower, “Does God Deny Spiritual Manifestations and Ministry Gifts to Women?” unpublished paper held by Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center. An abridged version is published as “The Ministry of Women,” The Network: A Called Community of Women http://ag.org/wim/roleofwim/0306_MinistryofWomen.cfm. 42 “The Role of Women in Ministry as Described in Holy Scripture,” in Where We Stand (Springfield, mo: Gospel Publishing House, 1993), 195–204. 43 “The Role of Women in Ministry as Described in Holy Scripture,” Assemblies of God General Presbytery (2010), http://ag.org/top/Beliefs/Position_Papers/index.cfm. 44 “ag us Female Ministers, 2015,” Assemblies of God Statistics, http://ag.org/top/About/ statistics/index.cfm. 45 “Ministers by Class, 2013,” Assemblies of God Statistics, http://ag.org/top/About/ statistics/index.cfm.

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in ways that would lead them into pastoral roles and other roles of authority. A positive exception is the election of Beth Grant in 2009 to serve as an Executive Presbyter. That Dr. Carol Taylor was called to serve as president of Evangel University in 2013, in Springfield, Missouri, at the hub of the Assemblies of God, is significant to the advancement of the whole of the ag. Women are among the prophesying ones of the church. Yet, this has not come to be interpreted and implemented as recognizing the full equality of women and men, nor has American Pentecostalism as a whole come to value women as equals with men in all roles. Pentecostals continue to struggle with the implications of a radical eschatological gospel of inclusion in which the daughters shall prophesy.

Interpretive Grids

Three interrelated dynamics will be used in the balance of this chapter to reflect upon the significance of the shifts in the roles of women in the church and society. The first to be considered is the significance of institutionalization, with particular attention given to what Gerald Sheppard and Charles Barfoot identified as Pentecostals’ engagement of the prophetic-priestly paradigm. The second is the nature of Pentecostalism as a prophetic community of action, which results in Pentecostals finding themselves in the middle years of the twentieth century marginalized from society at large. This is followed by a series of actions that returns Pentecostals to embrace middle class perspectives. Donald Dayton identifies this as distinct from deprivation theory, but incorporating embourgeoisement. The third observation considers the role of Spirit baptism as an expression of eschatology. Engaging the works of Janet Everts, Cheryl Bridges Johns, and Murray W. Dempster, consideration is given to the nature of Spirit baptism as providing prophetic voice, while also evaluating the need for ontological fullness. Institutionalization Gerald Sheppard and Charles Barfoot in 1980 provided the first significant analysis of the roles of women in American Pentecostalism, attempting to explain the apparent shift from the inclusion of women in the early years to the limitation of women in the middle and later years of the twentieth century. Sheppard and Barfoot divided Pentecostalism into two eras. The prophetic period began with the emergence of Pentecostalism at the turn-of-the-century

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and extended through the 1920s; the priestly period extended from the 1920s forward.46 Ministerial authority in the first decades was recognized as a result of having been gifted by the Spirit to fulfill the call to ministry. Women as well as men were being called and gifted, participating in the eschatological work of the Spirit. A significant shift began taking place in the 1920s. Proven ministry began to displace a call to ministry as the foundation for ministerial recognition and authority. Without access to the pulpit that is required for verifying proven ministry, women’s giftings for ministry could not be affirmed. As a result, women were increasingly limited.47 Sherilyn Benvenuti, building on the concept developed by Barfoot and Sheppard, sees institutionalization as increasingly limiting women’s roles, noting a shift from what she identifies as servanthood as the focus of ministry to authority becoming the focus. Over time, states Benvenuti, the expectations for ministry changed. “The entire issue of women in ministry [came to rest] upon the whole question of authority. That is, should women in ministry have positions of authority over men?”48 The prophetic-priestly paradigm provides a valuable model for evaluating shifts in roles of women within American Pentecostalism, particularly as relates to the ministerial functions. Yet, there are limitations to the model. The paradigm appropriately recognizes limitations that were increasingly placed upon women in most Pentecostal communities as Pentecostal institutionalization solidified. Problematic to the model is the assumption of a golden age of women’s freedom in ministry. David Grant Roebuck, in his analysis of roles of women ministers in the Church of God, questions the existence of such a golden age. Women from early on have been “welcome to worship, preach, and evangelize,” but women have not participated “in any business of the Church of God.”49 Roebuck concludes that while women participated as ministers in the life of the cg, their limitations negate the concept of a golden age.50 Latina Pentecostals, from the perspective of Gastón Espinosa, also challenge the evidence of a golden age within the Latino Assemblies of God: “While the 46

47 48 49 50

Charles H. Barfoot and Gerald T. Sheppard, “Prophetic vs. Priestly Religion: The Changing Role of Women Clergy in Classical Pentecostal Churches,” Review of Religious Research 22 (September 1980): 2–17. Barfoot and Sheppard, “Prophetic vs. Priestly Religion,” ibid., 4. Sherilyn Benvenuti, “Anointed, Gifted and Called: Pentecostal Women in Ministry,” Pneuma: The Journal of the Society for Pentecostal Studies, 17 (Fall 1995): 231. Roebuck, “Limiting Liberty,” 53. Ibid., 62–63.

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ag has licensed and/or ordained Latinas since at least 1916,” notes Espinosa, “it never witnessed the kind of ‘Golden Age’ of women in ministry that Charles Barfoot and Gerald Sheppard describe in their article.”51 To the contrary, contends Espinosa, rather than a retrenchment against women in ministry in the middle and later part of the twentieth century, “the Latino Pentecostal movement adopted an increasingly prophetic and open attitude toward women in ministry52 during the same time.”53 It must be noted, however, that while the Latino Pentecostal movement may have become increasingly receptive to the ministries of women, this response never approached the egalitarian participation envisioned in the Pentecost Proclamation. Barfoot and Sheppard’s paradigm has value to the analysis of transitions in the roles of Pentecostalism. It was the first significant attempt to explain these transitions. Their analysis helps in understanding the role institutionalism played on the development of women’s contributions. Pentecostal women have always played significant roles in Pentecostalism, including serving as pastors of both men and women. Further, Barfoot and Sheppard have shown that in the early years of Pentecostalism women as pastors can be identified in higher percentages than in the middle years of the twentieth century. Yet, if this is translated into the notion of a golden age of gender inclusion, that interpretation is problematic. Women like Marie Burgess, Ida Robinson, Florence Crawford, and Aimee Semple McPherson in the early years pastored the churches they founded; Robinson, McPherson, and Crawford established the denominations which they supervised. Yet, even in these communities, gender inclusion was a struggle. Further, Espinosa has contended that Latinas received increased recognition toward the later years of the twentieth century. Perhaps the most significant contribution of the prophetic-priestly model is the recognition, expressed by Benvenuti, that Pentecostals shifted from prioritizing the call of God, in which servanthood is engaged via the giftings of the Spirit, to an emphasis upon proven work in ministry, expressed through ministerial authority. The shift or development in Pentecostals’ perspectives and women’s access to ministerial roles also reflects Pentecostals’ changing social location, or the movement of Pentecostalism toward the center of American life.54 51

Gastón Espinosa, Latino Pentecostals in America: Faith and Politics in Action (Cambridge, ma: Harvard University Press, 2014), 283. 52 It must be noted, however, that any alleged openness towards the inclusion of ministering women never approached equality in the pulpit or within organizational structures. 53 Espinosa, Latino Pentecostals, 284. 54 Benvenuti, ibid.

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Radicalization Followed by Embourgeoisement

Despite their many flaws, inconsistencies, and falling prey to the same excesses themselves, Pentecostals of the first generation nevertheless did offer a critique to an American society that denied the human rights and full humanity of women and African-Americans, discriminated against other ethnic minorities, demonstrated little concern for the poor, and considered war as an appropriate means for resolving international disputes. Within this context, as Johns notes, the Pentecostals’ prophetic role consisted of “denouncing the dominant patterns of the status quo and announcing the patterns of God’s order.”55 Had they fully embraced or risen to the possibilities, Pentecostals might have found a clear voice with which to offer a challenge to society at large as well as to specific practices of the church. Such a challenge was one of their stated goals: “We are not fighting men or churches,” according to the Azusa Street mission’s newspaper, “but seeking to displace dead forms and creeds and wild fanaticism with living, practical Christianity.”56 Since the middle of the twentieth century, Pentecostalism has arisen from relative obscurity to a place of acceptance within American culture, and a place of prominence in Christianity globally. Martin Marty notes that in the late 1950s, “Pentecostalists were dismissed as hillbillies, ‘holy rollers,’ and even as snake-handlers.”57 For Pentecostals to be accepted in the larger culture, states Marty, two things had to happen: “The older churches in the [Pentecostal] movement had to make some compromises and accommodations to the culture, and some people in the mainstream churches had to produce some advocates themselves.” Marty succinctly declared, “Both occurred.”58 Nevertheless, some might say this occurred at too great a price, at the cost of surrendering its most precious distinctives, i.e., the early egalitarianism of genders, races, and cultures, as well as its dynamic pneumatology and celebration of charisms. Although acceptance by the larger Christian context is applauded by many, others might consider that, at least in some respects, the movement sold its birthright for pottage. The movement of Pentecostals toward social respectability is consistent with Richard Niebuhr’s observation that Protestant groups have a history of developing from poor, outcast minorities who are without effective representation in the mainstream. During succeeding generations, the membership of upstart

55 56 57 58

Johns, “The Adolescence of Pentecostalism,” 5. “The Apostolic Faith Mission,” Apostolic Faith (Los Angeles) (September 1906), 2. Martin E. Marty, A Nation of Behavers (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1976), 106. Ibid. 107.

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groups moves toward the cultural center. Isolation tends to decrease; wealth increases; and the ethics of isolationism diminish.59 The prophetic challenges of Pentecostalism diminished during the middle years of the twentieth century. Pentecostals increasingly engaged cultural expressions that were seen as appropriate to the American ideal. Immediately after World War ii, respectability included abandoning its promotion of women even further and advocating America’s idealization of women’s roles in the home. Pentecostals, Donald Dayton contends, reflect a type of community which is “formed in the lower classes and gradually moves up the social ladder into the middle classes,”60 expressing the dynamic of embourgeoisement. This concept is similar to deprivation theory, in that Pentecostals in the second and third generation experienced embourgeoisement. Yet, in contrast to communities that are representative of deprivation, Pentecostals in their origins did not retreat from American society, but engaged in a prophetic challenge that resulted in their marginalization.61 In contrast, Peter Althouse has shown that deprivation theory, with regard to Pentecostalism, is flawed, in that it assumes that Pentecostals were among the uneducated, lower classes. Althouse builds off the work of Grant Wacker, showing that early Pentecostals represented the full spectrum of society, including the socio-economic middle of American culture.62 Further, Pentecostals did not retreat from society, but challenged an American culture that marginalized the poor, women, and persons of color. Althouse points to Harvey Cox’s explanation of Pentecostalism as representing, in Althouse’s words, “a protest against modernity’s myths and values, which ultimately called into question racial segregation, female subordination, and socioeconomic differences.”63 59 60

61

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H. Richard Niebuhr, The Social Sources of Denominationalism (New York: Henry Holt and Co., 1929; reprint, New York: World Publishing Co., 1957), 17–21. Donald W. Dayton, “‘The Search for the Historical Evangelicalism’: George Marsden’s History of Fuller Theological Seminary as a Case Study,” Christian Scholars Review 23, no 1 (1993): 18. Donald W. Dayton, “Preliminary Statement of Issues” (preliminary paper for the Wesleyan/Holiness Studies Center Conference, Asbury Theological Seminary, Wilmore, Kentucky, September 29–30, 1995), 5; Zachary Michael Tackett, “As a Prophetic Voice: Liberationism as a Matrix for Interpreting American Pentecostal Thought and Praxis,” Journal of the European Pentecostal Theological Association 33.1 (2013): 46–47. Peter Althouse, “Waxing and Waning of Social Deprivation as a Model for Understanding the Class Composition of Early American Pentecostalism: A Theological Assessment,” in A Liberating Spirit: Pentecostals and Social Action in North America, ed. Michael Wilkinson and Steven M. Studebaker (Eugene, or: Pickwick Publications, 2010), 115. Althouse, “Waxing and Waning of Social Deprivation,” 126–127, citing Harvey Cox, Fire from Heaven: The Rise of Pentecostal Spirituality and the Reshaping of Religion in the Twenty-first Century (Reading, ma: Addison-Wesley Publishing, 1995), 120.

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A significant shift toward middle class concerns may be seen in Pentecostals after World War ii following cultural expectations of middle class families. This had a deteriorating effect upon women’s authority. During the war, men were away in Europe and in the Pacific; women assumed the roles of factory workers, farm workers, and leaders within the home. After the war, men returned home, displacing women. Men’s place was in the workforce; women’s place was in the home. Rosie the Riveter left the factory and became a housewife in the suburbs. Barbara Cavaness laments how this limited women missionaries in the ag, “Women missionaries could still preach in ag churches, but as men came home from the war to take over jobs and pulpits, even tolerant partnership attitudes toward women in leadership deteriorated.”64 Regrettably, women appear to have acquiesced to these changes possibly quite willingly, seemingly giving up all too casually the many breakthroughs their mothers and grandmothers fought throughout their lives to achieve. The mythos of the nuclear family in which father was to be the breadwinner, decision maker, and driver of the family car was being formed. The family consisted of mother, father, and children only. The father traveled from the suburbs to work in the city; the mother cared for the home.65 Pentecostals responded by identifying women’s place as in the home. The Christian ideal of marriage, stated the ag leader Myer Pearlman, included wives submitting to their husbands, because this denotes a wife’s reverence for her husband. This was not to imply, he contended, “an essential inferiority to the man.”66 A century of progress, Pearlman stated, included “the prominence to which womanhood has steadily climbed.” Yet, this progress has also led to “an overbalanced emphasis upon woman’s rights which, while claiming equality with 64

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Barbara Cavaness, “Leadership Attitudes and the Ministry of Single Women in Assemblies of God Missions,” in Phillip’s Daughters: Women in Pentecostal-Charismatic Leadership, ed. Estrelda Alexander and Amos Yong (Eugene or: Pickwick Publications, 2009), 125. Cavaness cites Roberta Hestenes, “Women in Leadership: Finding Ways to Serve the Church,” Christianity Today, October 3, 1986, 4–10; and Cavaness, “Factors Influencing the Decrease in the Number of Single Women in Assemblies of God World Missions” (Ph.D. diss., Fuller Theological Seminary, 2002), 159–180 and 322–323. During the prosperous baby boom years, housewifery was widely marketed to women through women’s magazines, books, advertisements, movies, and popular media. Betty Friedan wrote: “In the fifteen years after World War ii, this mystique of feminine fulfillment became the cherished and self-perpetuating core of contemporary American culture. Millions of women lived their lives in the image of those pretty pictures of the American suburban housewife, kissing their husbands goodbye at the picture window, depositing their stationwagonsful of children at school, and smiling as they ran the new electric waxer over the spotless kitchen floor.” See Betty Friedan, The Feminine Mystique (New York: Dell Publishing Co., Inc., 1963), 14. Pearlman, 45.

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the man, demands an absolute independence contrary to the Scriptural standard regarding the relationship of the sexes.”67 Lured by “the feminine mystique” of the 1940s through 1950s, American women soon discovered that they had exchanged the hard won personal liberties and freedoms their mothers had fought to give them for the promises of material comfort and familial love. What they hadn’t anticipated was that by embracing the “mystique” they had bargained away their human need for liberty, growth, and personal achievement in a vacuous attempt to find identity and worth vicariously through others, namely husband and children.68 A gradual shift from the 1960s to the 1990s developed in which women’s role in the home expanded toward encouraging women in a multiplicity of social roles. This shift included challenging churches to reconsider their attitudes toward women who work outside the home. By the years after the Vietnam War, which also included the American Civil Rights Movement, Women’s Movement, and Charismatic Movement, Pentecostals began accepting women who took roles outside of the home. Economic necessity was commonly cited as an appropriate reason for women who were expanding their horizons. In the early eighties, for example, the Pentecostal Evangel highlighted “Christian mothers who have to be employed outside the home. Sometimes the church seems to frown on those who ‘forsake their children to grub for more money.’”69 The changing roles of women over time within Pentecostalism reflects a movement from radical challenge of the cultural status quo, primarily during the early years of Pentecostalism, to a process of embourgeoisement wherein Pentecostals came to identify with middle class American expectations. During the 1920s through 1940s, Pentecostals began to emphasize restrictions on women. Pentecostal women continued to serve as evangelists, missionaries, and directors of social justice organizations, but Pentecostal theology and praxis called for ever increasing limitations on them. After World War ii, when men began returning from the war, Pentecostals followed the model of middle class America. Men’s place was in the workforce; women’s place was in the home. As women’s roles in the whole of society began to be accepted in various roles in the later years of the twentieth century, Pentecostals began reemphasizing a multiplicity of women’s ministerial roles. Yet, in the twenty-first century, over a hundred years after the origins of Pentecostalism, women continue in the struggle to participate fully in the eschatological kingdom of God. 67 Ibid., 45–46. 68 Friedan, The Feminine Mystique. 69 E.S. Caldwell, “Let Us Honor Our Job-Holding Mothers,” Pentecostal Evangel, May 10, 1981, 12.

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Eschatological Egalitarianism

Early Pentecostals looked to the eschatological imperative of the Pentecost Proclamation as recognizing the gifting of the Spirit for service for all persons. The giftings of the Spirit were seen as giving evidence that the Spirit is working in a person’s life. Building off the work of David Grant Roebuck, Janet Everts contends that Pentecostals’ understanding of Spirit baptism, as it is related to ministerial service, emerged primarily from the thought and praxis of the holiness leader from the late nineteenth century, Phoebe Palmer.70 “The early Pentecostals,” states Everts, “essentially adopted Phoebe Palmer’s Spiritbaptism theology and used it to champion the ministries of women as well as their own understanding of Spirit-baptism as empowering for ministry. They believed that whoever received this empowering baptism of the Holy Spirit had an extraordinary call to minister.”71 Everts summarizes Palmer’s identification of Spirit baptism with the authority of women to preach, “Because women as well as men received the mighty baptism of the Holy Spirit, women as well as men are empowered to preach and prophesy in the Christian dispensation.”72 Therefore, in that Spirit baptism is available for all, the call is available to all. Palmer’s theology, however, did not extend beyond the authority for proclamation; it did not call for the social equality of men and women. Palmer saw women and men as inherently, ontologically different. Everts quotes Palmer: “‘For Adam was first formed and then Eve. And though the condition of woman is improved, and her privileges enlarged, she is not raised to a position of superiority, where she may usurp authority and teach dictatorially, for the law still remains as at the beginning.’”73 Further, Everts shows that Palmer insisted that 1 Timothy 2:18–15 called for the subordination of women as part of the creation principle. Within Palmer’s understanding of Spirit baptism, “Women were empowered by the Spirit as ministers,” observes Everts, “but they were 70

71 72 73

Everts Powers is now known as Janet Everts. Thus in this writing, she will be cited as Everts in the text. In the footnotes and bibliography, she will be noted as Evert Powers, to remain consistent with her pen name at the time of the present referenced writing. Janet Everts Powers, “Pentecostalism 101: Your Daughters Shall Prophesy,” in Phillip’s Daughters: Women in Pentecostal-Charismatic Leadership, ed. Estrelda Alexander and Amos Yong (Eugene, or: Pickwick Publications, 2009): 133–151. See Roebuck, “Limiting Liberty,” 4–5. Powers, “Pentecostalism 101,” 139. Ibid., 136. Ibid., 140, citing Phoebe Palmer, The Promise of the Father: A Neglected Specialty of the Last Days (Boston: Degen, 1859), 59.

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not empowered as women.”74 Ontological wholeness and equality is not found within Palmer’s theology. Palmer’s perspective reflects Reuther’s identification of eschatological communities. In those communities, equality tends to be limited to activities of the church, but does not extend into the home or society. This perspective, in which Spirit baptism empowers women for proclamation but not ecclesial authority, is seen in the views of Myland, Bell, and Tomlinson. They recognize women’s role in the proclamation of gospel, but do not acknowledge women in roles of leadership over men. Exceptions are identified in Reuther’s analysis. Reuther identifies some eschatological communities as anticipating equality in all aspects of society. Certain holiness and Pentecostal communities are consistent with such an anticipation of equality. The leader in the Higher Life Movement, A.J. Gordon, contended that the Pentecost Proclamation not only called for the inclusion of women in the prophetic community, but also called for the equality of women. Gordon’s hermeneutic insisted that the Pauline limitations on women must be considered in light of the broader eschatological commitment to an egalitarian gospel.75 In essence, the Pentecost Proclamation within such a perspective engages an ontological dynamic as well as the right to be heard. Ida Robinson, for example, addressed women’s authority for leadership via both the gifts expressed in the Pentecost Proclamation and the ontological dynamics of imago Dei. “Pentecostals have failed to clearly enunciate the ontological and soteriological implications of the liberation power of the full gospel,”76 Cheryl Bridges Johns laments. She concludes that as a result of not engaging ontological and soteriological dynamics of gospel, “Women are ghettoized into the prophetic while men are free to be both prophetic and priestly.” The dehumanizing actions of Pentecostals that are the result of engaging prophethood, but not ontological significance, must be addressed. “Personhood cannot be denied in favor of prophethood. Women are in need of full humanization, clothing them in an ontological identity that is grounded in the Triune life of God and that frees them to be full persons in Christ.”77 Murray Dempster has made one of the most significant arguments for the relationship of an inaugurated eschatology to social justice. Spirit baptism, 74 75 76

77

Everts Powers, “Pentecostalism 101,” 140. Gordon, “The Ministry of Women,” 911. Cheryl Bridges Johns, “Spirited Vestments: Or, Why the Anointing Is Not Enough,” in Philip’s Daughters: Women in Pentecostal-Charismatic Leadership, ed. Estrelda Alexander and Amos Yong (Eugene, or: Pickwick Publications, 2009), 170. Ibid., 171.

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for Dempster, extends beyond vocalized expressions of witness. The Spirit empowers “the church in its corporate life to witness to the moral dynamic of the gospel to transform people.”78 The Spirit becomes an expression of the eschatological community that transforms society. The Spirit in community reflects the present work of the eschatological kingdom of God, bringing ontological wholeness. God’s future order is realized in part, including the Spirit’s call for social justice, looking forward to the fullness of the eschaton.79 From this perspective, the Pentecostals’ call for the inclusion of women’s voices, that “daughters may prophesy,” is to extend beyond proclamation expectations. Johns’ recognition of the dual prophetic role within Pentecostalism—that of “denouncing the dominant patterns of the status quo and announcing the patterns of God’s order”80—finds fullness in this eschatological kingdom of God that is breaking into the present. This challenge to the status quo and the announcement of God’s order extends beyond the authority to provide vocalized prophetic statements, but expects the prophetic action of the Spirit to be realized in the enabling of the community to model ontological wholeness. This is to be an egalitarian community that practices equality and wholeness in the church, home, and society at large. Trajectories Pentecostals look to their heritage within the holiness movements, seeing preaching women as foundational to their heritage. Moreover, in the central theme of Pentecostalism, the prophetic voices of the Spirit baptized are vocalized. The fullness and wholeness of the community, which engages a genderinclusive, ethnic-inclusive community that values persons from all walks of life, speaks to the present in-breaking of the eschatological kingdom of God. The presence of the kingdom recognizes and values the wholeness of humanity, including ontological wholeness, giving dignity to all persons. The kingdom to come is experienced through the work of the Spirit, “denouncing the dominant patterns of the status quo and announcing the patterns of God’s order.”81 78

Murray W. Dempster, “Eschatology, Spirit Baptism, and Inclusiveness: An Exploration into the Hallmarks of a Pentecostal Social Ethic,” in Perspectives in Pentecostal Eschatologies: World Without End, ed. Peter Althouse and Robby Waddell (Eugene, or: Pickwick Publications, 2010), 187. 79 Dempster, “Eschatology, Spirit Baptism, and Inclusiveness,” 176–177. 80 Johns, “The Adolescence of Pentecostalism,” 5. 81 Ibid.

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Three theories have been considered for evaluating the advancements and limitations placed upon women within American Pentecostalism. Early Pentecostals called for the radical inclusion of women in the proclamation of the gospel. This provided women with a prophetic voice that challenged the American cultural status quo. This prophetic challenge was built upon the Pentecost Proclamation. In that the Spirit was extended to all, the call is extended to all. Following the tradition of Phoebe Palmer, many recognized women as being called to pulpit ministry, but did not address ontological wholeness. Yet others, in the tradition of A.J. Gordon, called for the equality of men and women. The prophetic-priestly paradigm identifies a shift, from emphasizing the servanthood of the minister to emphasizing the authority of the minister.82 Concurrent with this paradigm, the desire for respectability tended to move Pentecostals away from engaging a prophetic challenge to working toward cultural adaptation. As a result, over time the call of the Spirit to challenge the status quo became limited. In moving forward, the question should be raised as to how Pentecostals will recognize the Spirit’s callings and giftings of all persons and how the Spirit brings ontological wholeness. Significant is the engagement of the eschatological Spirit of Pentecost, seeing the Pentecost Proclamation as calling for a challenge to the status quo. This challenge, however, should not be limited to giving women voice, but demands gender wholeness and inclusion. The Pentecostal Proclamation speaks to the Spirit of the eschaton breaking into our churches, homes, and cultures, looking forward to eschatological fulfillment. The giftings of the Spirit empower women and men to challenge societies that fail to incorporate the fullness of humanity, including gender equality. The Pentecost Proclamation speaks to announcing the inauguration of God’s order in the present, looking forward to the eschatological fulfillment of that wholeness. Bibliography “AG US Female Ministers, 2015.” Assemblies of God Statistics. http://ag.org/top/About/ statistics/index.cfm. Alexander, Estrelda. The Women of Azusa Street. Cleveland, OH: The Pilgrim Press, 2005. Alexander, Estrelda. “The Role of Women in the Azusa Street Revival.” In The Azusa Street Revival and Its Legacy, edited by Hunter Harold D. and Cecil M. Robeck, Jr., 61–77. 2006. Reprint, Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2009. 82

Benvenuti, “Anointed, Gifted and Called,” 231.

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Alexander, Estrelda. Black Fire: One Hundred Years of African American Pentecostalism. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2011. Althouse, Peter. “Waxing and Waning of Social Deprivation as a Model for Understanding the Class Composition of Early American Pentecostalism: A Theological Assessment.” In A Liberating Spirit: Pentecostals and Social Action in North America, edited by Michael Wilkinson and Steven M. Studebaker, 113–135. Eugene, OR: Pickwick Publications, 2010. “As Viewed by a Missionary.” Word and Witness, November 20, 1913, 1. “Back to Pentecost.” Apostolic Faith (Los Angeles) (October 1906): 3. Barfoot, Charles H., and Gerald T. Sheppard. “Prophetic vs. Priestly Religion: The Changing Role of Women Clergy in Classical Pentecostal Churches.” Review of Religious Research 22 (1980): 2–17. Bell, E.N. “Women Elders.” Christian Evangel, August 15, 1914, 2. Bell, E.N. “We Fellowship All.” Christian Evangel, February 13, 1915, 2. Benvenuti, Sherilyn. “Anointed, Gifted and Called: Pentecostal Women in Ministry.” Pneuma: The Journal of the Society for Pentecostal Studies 17 (1995): 229–235. “Bible Pentecost,” Apostolic Faith (Los Angeles) (November 1906): 1. Blumhofer, Edith. Restoring the Faith: The Assemblies of God, Pentecostalism, and American Culture. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1993. Boyd, Frank. Woman’s Ministry. Springfield, MO: Gospel Publishing House, n.d. Caldwell, E.S. “Let Us Honor Our Job-Holding Mothers.” Pentecostal Evangel, May 10, 1981, 12–13. Cavaness, Barbara. “Leadership Attitudes and the Ministry of Single Women in Assemblies of God Missions.” In Philip’s Daughters: Women in Pentecostal-Charismatic Leadership, edited by Estrelda Alexander and Amos Yong, 112–130. Eugene OR: Pickwick Publications, 2009. Dayton, Donald W. “Preliminary Statement of Issues.” Preliminary paper for the Wesleyan/Holiness Studies Center Conference. Asbury Theological Seminary, Wilmore, Kentucky, September 29–30, 1995. Dayton, Donald W. “‘The Search for the Historical Evangelicalism’: George Marsden’s History of Fuller Theological Seminary as a Case Study.” Christian Scholars Review 23, no. 1 (1993): 12–47. de Alminana, Margaret English. “A Biographical Survey of 20th Century Female Pentecostal Leadership and an Incipient Egalitarian Struggle.” Ph.D. diss., Glyndŵr University, U.K., 2011. Dempster, Murray W. “Eschatology, Spirit Baptism, and Inclusiveness: An Exploration into the Hallmarks of a Pentecostal Social Ethic.” In Perspectives in Pentecostal Eschatologies: World Without End, edited by Peter Althouse and Robby Waddell, 155– 188. Eugene, OR: Pickwick Publications, 2010. “Editor’s General Council Notes.” Pentecostal Evangel, October 10, 1931, 4–5, 14.

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Espinosa, Gastón. Latino Pentecostals in America: Faith and Politics in Action. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2014. Everts Powers, Janet. “Pentecostalism 101: Your Daughters Shall Prophesy.” In Philip’s Daughters: Women in Pentecostal-Charismatic Leadership, edited by Estrelda Alexander and Amos Yong, 133–151. Eugene, OR: Pickwick Publications, 2009. Faupel, D. William. The Everlasting Gospel: The Significance of Eschatology in the Development of Pentecostal Thought. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1996. Flower, Joseph R. “Does God Deny Spiritual Manifestations and Ministry Gifts to Women?” Unpublished paper (November 7, 1979). Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center, Springfield, Missouri. Friedan, Betty. The Feminine Mystique. New York: Dell Publishing Co., Inc., 1963. Frodsham, Stanley H. “Dear Evangel Reader.” Pentecostal Evangel, April 5, 1924, 15. “General Council Minutes.” “Constitution and By-Laws of the General Council of the Assemblies of God Including Essential Resolutions Revised and Adopted” (Sep 8–13, 1931). Held by Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center. https://ifphc.org/index.cfm ?fuseaction=publicationsGuide.generalcouncilminutes. Gordon, Adoniram Judson. “The Ministry of Women.” Missionary Review of the World 7 (1894): 910–921. Hassey, Janette. No Time for Silence: Evangelical Women in Public Ministry around the Turn of the Century. Grand Rapids: Academie Books, 1986. Hollenweger, Walter J. “Pentecostals and the Charismatic Movement.” In The Study of Spirituality, edited by Cheslyn Jones, Geoffrey Wainwright, and Edward Yarnold, 549–554. New York: Oxford University Press, 1986. Johns, Cheryl Bridges. “The Adolescence of Pentecostalism: In Search of a Legitimate Sectarian Identity.” Pneuma: Journal of the Society for Pentecostal Studies 17 (1995): 3–17. Johns, Cheryl Bridges. “Spirited Vestments: Or, Why the Anointing Is Not Enough.” In Philip’s Daughters: Women in Pentecostal-Charismatic Leadership, edited by Estrelda Alexander and Amos Yong, 170–184. Eugene, OR: Pickwick Publications, 2009. Marty, Martin E. A Nation of Behavers. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1976. McPherson, Aimee Semple. “The Preparation of the Bride.” Pentecostal Evangel, November 13, 1920, 1–2. “Ministers by Class, 2013.” Assemblies of God Statistics. http://ag.org/top/About/ statistics/index.cfm. Myland, D. Wesley. The Revelation of Jesus Christ. Chicago: Evangel Publishing House, 1911. Niebuhr, H. Richard. The Social Sources of Denominationalism. 1929. Reprint, New York: World Publishing Co., 1957. Pearlman, Myer. “The Christian Ideal of Marriage.” Adult and Young People’s Teachers’ Quarterly, August 20, 1944, 44–50.

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“Report of the Tenth Annual Convention of the World’s Christian Fundamentalist Association.” The Christian Fundamentalist 1 (June 1928): 3–10. Robeck, Cecil M. Jr. “Aimee Semple McPherson.” In The New International Dictionary of Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements, edited by Stanley M. Burgess, and Eduard M. van der Maas, associate editor. Rev. ed., 856–858. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2002. Robeck, Cecil M. Jr. The Azusa Street Mission and Revival: The Birth of the Global Pentecostal Movement. Nashville: Nelson Reference and Electronic, 2006. Roebuck, David Grant. “Limiting Liberty: The Church of God and Women Ministers, 1886–1996.” PhD diss., Vanderbilt University, 1997. Ruether, Rosemary Radford. Sexism and God-Talk: Toward a Feminist Theology. Boston: Beacon Press, 1983. Stephenson, Lisa P. “A Feminist Pentecostal Theological Anthropology: North America and Beyond.” Pneuma: The Journal of the Society for Pentecostal Studies 35.1 (2013): 35–47. Tackett, Zachary Michael. “As a Prophetic Voice: Liberationism as a Matrix for Interpreting American Pentecostal Thought and Praxis.” Journal of the European Pentecostal Theological Association 33.1 (2013): 42–57. “The Apostolic Faith Movement.” Apostolic Faith (Los Angeles) (September 1906): 2. “The Fifteenth General Council.” Pentecostal Evangel, October 14, 1933, 1–7, 10–11. “The Role of Women in Ministry as Described in Holy Scripture,” Assemblies of God General Presbytery, Last modified 2010. http://ag.org/top/Beliefs/Position_Papers/ index.cfm. “The Role of Women in Ministry as Described in Holy Scripture.” In Where We Stand. Springfield, MO: Gospel Publishing House, 1993. Tomlinson, A.J. “Christ Our Law-Giver and King.” The Evening Light and Church of God Evangel, November 1, 1910, 2. Tomlinson, A.J. “Paul’s Statements Considered,” Church of God Evangel, September 18, 1915, 4. Trulear, H.D. “Ida Robinson.” In The New International Dictionary of Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements, edited by Stanley M. Burgess, and Eduard M. van der Maas, associate editor. Rev. ed., 1028. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2002. Wacker, Grant. Heaven Below: Early Pentecostals and American Culture. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2001. “Who May Prophesy?” Apostolic Faith (Los Angeles) (January 1908): 2. Williams, E.S. “May Women Preach?” Unpublished paper. Pentecostal Evangel files. Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center. Springfield, Missouri.

part 2 Historical Exemplars

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Editor’s Note to Chapter 4 This chapter offers a fresh reading to the Pentecostal narrative of egalitarianism that has seemed elusive and even doubtful. It demonstrates that this aspect of female participation has been under appreciated and misunderstood. Few early Pentecostal pioneering women’s reputations have experienced the level of ongoing epistemic violence and testimonial injustice1 as has Florence Louise Crawford’s (1871–1936). As one of six original female members of the Azusa Street Mission administrative board, she was largely responsible, with senior pastor William J. Seymour, for the egalitarianism for which the revival is celebrated. Although often overlooked and misunderstood, she played key roles both in shaping and propagating this theological aspect of the Pentecostal message as a leader, evangelist, and publisher. As the former Los Angeles president of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union under the leadership of Francis Willard—a group firmly rooted in the egalitarian theology of Katharine Bushnell and others—Crawford joined the mission, which consisted of only a handful of African-Americans, about twenty, as one of the first Caucasians to cross the racial divide. She was the only pioneer, white or black, who came into the mission with a fully-developed, trenchant biblical defense of gender egalitarianism. The placing of Crawford within the context of this egalitarian theological stream has been underappreciated when seeking to understand her contribution to early Pentecostalism. It is likely that her gender egalitarianism provided a bridge for expanding egalitarianism in all forms, including the racial, socio-political, and cultural egalitarianism that would become a trademark of the early revival. According to Vivian Deno, “Strongwilled and fiercely independent, Crawford in many ways challenges our understanding of Pentecostal or fundamentalist women.”2 Nevertheless, as with other early Pentecostals women, her egalitarianism was complicated by an inability to translate the new ecclesial freedoms women expected based upon the Pentecost Declaration back into the practical relationships of the home. Crawford offers a unique window into the 1 “Testimonial injustice occurs when a speaker is given less credibility than deserved because of an identity bias or prejudice held by the hearer based upon her gender;” See Miranda Fricker, Epistemic Injustice: Power and the Ethics of Knowing (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007), 1. See also: “Feminist Social Epistemology,” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Nov. 2006, rev. Feb. 2013, http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/feministy-social-epistemology. 15/26. 2 Vivian Deno, “God, Authority, and the Home, Gender, Race, and us Pentecostals, 1906–1926,” Journal of Women’s History, 16, no. 3 (2005): 1.

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conflicting impulses of traditional family relationality—wherein the husband was considered the head of the family—and the social radicalism offered to women. Her story provides one of the most notable examples of the need for the standpoint approach offered in this volume as a means by which to fill narrational gaps and as a corrective to begin addressing more than a century of gender bias. Such narrational gaps have contributed to the hermeneutical injustice3 experienced by so many Pentecostal and charismatic women. Largely remembered as a domineering and difficult woman, who was also vindictive and petty enough to ‘steal’ materials from the revival mission that resulted in its culmination, her treatment by mostly male historians upon close inspection seems notably biased.4 Upon thorough reexamination of primary materials, one finds the work of historians to be unacceptably speculative and evidentially flawed. This chapter offers readers the opportunity to reconsider common perceptions about this woman and her role and place in Pentecostal history based upon revisiting primary materials. Although by no means overly sympathetic to this character, this chapter intends to give readers a fuller, more objective encounter with this character with the possibility of liberating her reputation from the gender bias that has been written into her story.

3 This epistemic injustice stems from a gap in collective hermeneutical resources—a gap, that is, in our shared tools of social interpretation—where it is no accident that the cognitive disadvantage created by this gap impinges unequally on different social groups. Rather, the unequal disadvantage derives from the fact that members of the group that is most disadvantaged by the gap are, in some degree, hermeneutically marginalized—that is, they participate unequally in the practices through which social meanings are generated. See Miranda Fricker, Epistemic Injustice: Power and the Ethics of Knowing (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007), 6. 4 “Hermeneutical injustices are rooted in forms of meta-blindness that are both individual and collective: the social imaginary renders certain things (experiences, events, problems, etc.) unintelligible and, as a result, subjects become meta-blind to their lack of empathy and inability to trust when it comes to those things. Hermeneutical injustices seem to be such that, for as long as they persist, testimonial justice becomes impossible for the hermeneutically disadvantaged subject.” See José Medina, The Epistemology of Resistance: Gender and Racial Oppression, Epistemic Injustice, and Resistant Imaginations, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013), 82.

chapter 4

Florence Crawford and Egalitarian Precedents in Early Pentecostalism Margaret English de Alminana Introduction Florence Louise Crawford, (1871–1936), one of six original female members of the Azusa Street Mission administrative board, was largely responsible, with senior pastor William J. Seymour, for the egalitarianism for which the revival is celebrated.1 Although often overlooked and misunderstood, she played a key role both in shaping and propagating this aspect of the Pentecostal message as a leader, evangelist, and publisher.2 Crawford arrived at the Apostolic Faith Mission’s launch possibly as the only original pioneer with proven leadership accomplishments at a national level. Before her experience of being baptized in the Holy Spirit there, she had served as president of the Los Angeles and California state chapters of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union (wctu), a nationwide association devoted to multiple social, gender-related, and religious issues, but largely remembered for its commitment to abolishing the sale and use of alcohol. In 1902 she also served as the first president of the Los Angeles chapter of the National Congress of Mothers, an organization later renamed the pta, ParentTeacher Association.3 The importance of the wctu as an agent for coalescing women into a united front for women’s rights is largely underestimated. Although the wctu was

1 “Early Pentecostalism momentarily challenged prevailing social hierarchies and offered new ones in their place that valued individual differences while imposing stricter regulations on personal conduct, both of which attracted Crawford and others to the new faith.” See Vivian Deno, “God, Authority, and the Home, Gender, Race, and us Pentecostals, 1906–1926,” Journal of Women’s History, 16, no. 3 (2005): 85. 2 Estrelda Y. Alexander, Limited Liberty: The Legacy of Four Pentecostal Women Pioneers (Cleveland, oh: The Pilgrim Press, 2008), ix. Estrelda Y. Alexander, The Women of Azusa Street: Women from a Variety of Racial and Cultural Backgrounds Were Instrumental in Bringing About, Sustaining and Spreading the Spiritual Movement that Fanned Across America and the World (Cleveland, oh: The Pilgrim Press, 2005), 29. 3 Ibid., 30.

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launched as a movement that opposed alcohol, and although it continued to focus much of its energy and attention on the drinking of alcoholic beverages, the issue was in no sense gender neutral. The wctu was not a movement committed to curtailing the sale and use of alcohol by both males and females, but might more accurately be described as a movement exclusively comprised of women committed to halting certain behaviors associated with the drinking of alcohol and alcoholism in men, abusive behaviors experienced by females at the hands of males. At its inception in 1874 it proclaimed its unwavering goal as the “protection of the home.”4 Charles Finney’s disciple, Frances Willard, a Holiness Methodist, became the president of the wctu in 1879 and broadened the scope of the organization’s officially stated agenda which would come to include issues such as the promotion of protections for women at home and work, women’s right to vote, shelters for abused women and children, equal pay for equal work, eight-hour work days, the founding of kindergartens, assistance for the founding of the pta, federal aid for education, stiffer penalties for sex crimes against women and girls, uniform marriage and divorce laws, dress reform, prison reform, the promotion of women police officers and police matrons, the creation of homes and educational opportunities for wayward girls, and more. The organization worked to oppose human trafficking, army brothels, child labor, and drug and alcohol trafficking and use.5 In 1895, Susan B. Anthony introduced Willard to the us Congress as “a general with an army of 250,000.”6 The wctu possessed a well-developed, fully egalitarian theology largely attributed to Katharine C. Bushnell, a brilliant Hebrew and Greek scholar, theologian, medical doctor, and missionary, whose trenchant biblical defense of unqualified egalitarianism helped to form the movement’s core. Her work, God’s Word to Women, largely contributed to the rising swell of female Holiness leaders during the era, and provided a widely-embraced exegesis for unqualified egalitarianism in church leadership and in the home. A classic, it continues to be circulated among Christian egalitarian scholars. As a medical missionary and wctu member, Bushnell investigated and wrote position papers regarding the sexual exploitation and enslavement of females in India and in the United States.7 4 “The National Woman’s Christian Temperance Union (wctu),” Women’s Christian Temperance Union, http://wctu.org/history.html. 5 Ibid. 6 “Frances Elizabeth Caroline Willard (1839–1898),” Woman’s Christian Temperance Union, 1–2, http://wctu.org/history.html. 7 Katharine Bushnell spent most of her life traveling the world to research and report on the injustices women were facing. Through her work, the state of Wisconsin passed a law making

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To argue for gender equality as a biblical construct, Bushnell went back to the original languages and demonstrated how centuries of extra-biblical syncretism had found its way into all-male translation committees with respect to teachings about the natural inferiority of females, an argument still championed by third-wave biblical feminists.8 In her groundbreaking work, Bushnell provided the wctu with a comprehensive reexamination of all of the biblical passages traditionally taught to subordinate women. The wctu’s influence was unparalleled by any other feminine organization in the us before or since, and it was instrumental in helping women to gain the vote. Today the wctu boasts that “for almost 125 years the wctu has trained women to think on their feet, speak in public, and run an organization.”9 Ranked among those early trainees was Florence Crawford.

Florence Crawford’s Prerequisite Commitment to Egalitarianism

The placing of Crawford within the context of this egalitarian theological stream has been underappreciated when seeking to understand her contribution to early Pentecostalism. As Los Angeles president of the wctu under the leadership of Willard and Bushnell, Crawford would have been deeply committed to a fully-developed, trenchant biblical defense of gender egalitarianism long before her arrival at the Azusa Street mission. It is very likely that her gender egalitarianism provided a theological bridge for expanding egalitarianism in all forms, including the racial, socio-political, and cultural egalitarianism that would sweep the Apostolic Faith Mission at Azusa Street. In fact, the women’s movement of the preceding generation had been strongly associated with abolitionism.10 Had Crawford lacked such an uncompromising egalitarian theological foundation, she might have had greater difficulty rejecting the deeply-ingrained racial attitudes of her time in order to embrace an initially predominantly African-American congregation and pastor. As with many kairotic moments in human events, recollections can tend to be spun, in part, into novel narratives inculcated by individuals of ancillary

8 9 10

it illegal to buy and sell sex slaves, and the British Parliament ended the military practice of prostituting Indian girls to serve British soldiers. Mimi Haddad, Christians for Biblical Equality, email dated February 1, 2011. Julia M. O’Brien, editor in chief, The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Bible and Gender Studies (Oxford University Press, 2014), 254. “The National Woman’s Christian Temperance Union (wctu),” 2. Elizabeth Cady Stanton, et al., History of Woman Suffrage (New York: Fowler & Wells, 1881), 53.

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participation through the hindsight of history based upon their own felt needs and desires and not, necessarily, upon a fully objective record of events. This may prove, at least in part, to be the case with respect to reports by observers of a sense of a burgeoning Pentecostal egalitarianism. One such recollection is the egalitarianism assigned to William Seymour. Ithiel C. Clemmons writes: “Seymour championed one doctrine above all others: there must be no color line or any other division of the Church of Jesus Christ because God is no respecter of persons.”11 Cecil Robeck writes: The inclusive, egalitarian character of Seymour’s leadership style suggests that Seymour’s personality was well suited to those he led at the mission. They were one of the most racially inclusive, culturally diverse groups to gather in the city of Los Angeles at the time. The mission included people from many classes, male and female, black, white, Hispanic and Asian, the highly educated and the illiterate, new converts, and highly trained longtime professionals in ministry.12 The eyewitness account of the Azusa revival by Frank Bartleman has been a frequently cited source in support of this view. He describes the services as demonstrating perfect egalitarianism: We had no pope or hierarchy. We were ‘brethren.’ We had no human program; the Lord Himself was leading. We had no priest class, nor priest craft. These things have come in later, with the apostasizing of the movement. We did not even have a platform or a pulpit in the beginning. All were on a level. … We did not honor men [people] for their advantage in means or education, but rather for their God-given ‘gifts.’13 With respect to gender, the phenomenon is explained in an article that appeared in the Apostolic Faith in 1908—two years into the revival—entitled “Who May Prophesy?”

11

12 13

Marion Millner, “We’ve Come This Far by Faith: Pentecostalism and Political and Social Upward Mobility among African-Americans,” cpcr 9 (2001), http://www.pctii.org/cyberj/ cyber9.html, quoted in Amos Yong, The Spirit Poured Out on All Flesh (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2005), 72. Cecil M. Robeck, Jr., “William J. Seymour: An Early Model of Pentecostal Leadership,” Enrichment (Spring, 2006): 51. Frank Bartleman, Another Wave Rolls In (Northridge: Voice Publications, 1962), 58–59.

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Before Pentecost, the woman could only go into the ‘court of women’ and not into the inner court. The anointing oil was never poured on a woman’s head but only on the heads of kings, prophets, and priests. But when our Lord poured out Pentecost, He brought all those faithful women with the other disciples into the upper room, and God baptized them all in the same room and made no difference. All the women received the anointed oil of the Holy Ghost and were able to preach the same as men. The woman is the weaker vessel and represents the tenderness of Christ, while the man represents the firmness of Christ. They both were co-workers in Eden and both fell into sin; so they both have to come together and work in the Gospel. … No woman that has the Spirit of Jesus wants to usurp authority over the man. The more God uses you in the Spirit, the more humble and tender you are and the more filled with the blessed Holy Spirit. It is contrary to the Scriptures that woman should not have her part in the salvation work to which God has called her. We have no right to lay a straw in her way, but to be men of holiness, purity, and virtue, to hold up the standard and encourage the woman in her work, and God will honor and bless us as never before. It is the same Holy Spirit in the woman as in the man.14 This teaching seems to denote a measure of early ambivalence over the granting of ‘unqualified’ egalitarianism of gender. This anonymous writer (possibly Seymour or Glenn Cook) suggests that women could take their part in the work of the ministry as long as they did not ‘usurp’ authority over men. By 1908, the much-celebrated egalitarianism attributed to Seymour would become increasingly modified and restricted. It is the observation of this author that much of the early, incipient egalitarianism of the mission was initiated by and rested in, not Seymour alone, but was largely brought into the mission by the female leaders, most notably Crawford. Having arrived with a defensible theology of gender egalitarianism, she had been pressed to expand her understanding further in order to join what was at first a primarily African-American organization. A powerful leader, her views asserted a shaping influence on the others, an influence that would gradually diminish as a direct correlate to the withdrawal of her presence. That same egalitarianism would go with her when she left and would become the theological bedrock of her own work in Portland and beyond. 14

“Who May Prophesy?” The Apostolic Faith, January 1908, 2.

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Early Organizational Leadership and Activism

Early in her life, Crawford advocated for women, children, the poor, and the incarcerated as an expression of her conversion. An historical account provided by the Apostolic Faith Headquarters in Portland, Oregon, records: “Mrs. Crawford sought to be of service to God and to humanity. She became active in the Women’s Christian Temperance Union in California, and at one time was president of that organization. She also served in an official capacity in the early days of the Congress of Mothers in Los Angeles (later known as the Congress of Parents and Teachers) [today it is called the pta, Parents and Teachers Association] and aided in the advancement of that work.”15 The ‘advancement’ of that organization involved helping to take it from a small, grassroots organization to a national one. Today the pta has millions of members and is represented in all fifty us states.16 The Congress of Mothers began as a children’s advocacy organization during a time when children’s lives were being negatively impacted by the Industrial Revolution. “... National pta is a powerful voice for all children ...”17 The organization’s advocacy was successful in improving the lives of children in a number of ways through the development of a juvenile justice system, the implementation of child labor laws, and, later, in the creation of kindergarten classes, a public health service, and a system for mandatory immunizations.18 During this era, immigrants were arriving in waves and often children worked in factories, in mines, and in the streets of the cities. Some could not attend school or obtain enough food to eat.19

15

The Apostolic Faith, compiled, edited and printed by veteran members of the headquarters staff, (Portland: The Apostolic Faith Publishing House, 1965), 56. 16 The National Congress of Parents and Teachers (founded as the National Congress of Mothers in 1897) is active in disseminating literature, promoting discussion groups, and lobbying for educational funding. The organization is reported to have 6.6 million members, in 26,000 local parent-teacher associations (ptas) located in all fifty states, the District of Columbia, the us Virgin Islands, and overseas Defense Dept. schools. 17 “National pta History,” www.pta.org/about/content.cfm?ItemNumber=3465. 18 Ibid. 19 “Childhood Lost: Child Labor During the Industrial Revolution,” www.eiu.edu/eiutps/ childhood.php.

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The Holiness Movement and the Doctrine of Sanctification

Although active in ministry pursuits, Crawford says she craved increased spiritual empowerment to become more effective. She visited pastors and attended evangelistic meetings, but went away discouraged. “I had read of sanctification in John Wesley’s teachings and heard of others who had received that second work of grace for which I was seeking.”20 Crawford bemoaned to a friend that she could find none who seemed to preach the Word of God in its entirety, including salvation and sanctification. Her friend announced that she had found the place Crawford had been seeking, a little mission in the slums of Los Angeles. The friend wondered if Crawford would hesitate, for although she had gone into the slums to minister, and to “rescue women,” she had never attended a church there. But without hesitation, Crawford said, “I do not care where this place is, I want to go. Take me there!”21 She arrived in the early weeks of the mission’s launch when only about twenty people were in attendance.22 “How I thank God that when I heard of the outpouring of the Holy Ghost, He led me to a little mission. It was not a fine hall, but just an old, barn-like building with an old board laid on two chairs for an altar. I had found a people who had the experience I wanted.” She prayed all week, and at a Friday afternoon service, the preacher—possibly Seymour—stopped in his sermon and announced: “Somebody in this place wants something from God.”23 She recalls that she went to the altar and experienced ‘sanctification,’ which became a pillar of Crawford’s theology from which she would never deviate. “As I went home on the streetcar that night, I didn’t know whether I was walking on the earth or in the air—and it did not matter. I went home, and I just threw up my hands and cried out, ‘He sanctified me! It seemed that all I could say for days was, He sanctified me!’ I had sought it everywhere—and at last God gave that glorious experience to me.”24 20 21 22 23

24

Ibid. “Childhood Lost: Child Labor During the Industrial Revolution”. www.eiu.edu/ eiutps/childhood.php. Ibid., 57. Amos Morgan, Mother Crawford, A Profile of the Reverend Florence Crawford (Amos Morgan, 2004), 4, http://www.azusabooks.com/profile.shtml. Florence Crawford, “A Witness of the Power of God,” Apostolic Faith, http://www .apostolicfaith.org/Library/Index.aspx?xsq=+Crawford%2c+Florence+a+witness+to+the +power+of+god+2008, 2. Called, Chosen, Faithful, A Brief Sketch of the Life and Labors of Florence L. [Mother] Crawford (Portland: Apostolic Faith Publishing House) (1936; repr. Jublilee Commemorative Edition, 1955), 10.

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Breaking through Racial Barriers

Crawford’s spiritual hunger had brought her to the Azusa mission and the collection of African-American congregants recently moved from Bonnie Brae Street. Crawford’s racial prejudice presented an initial obstacle. She and her husband had “looked down on any one who even spoke to a colored person, unless he was a servant.”25 Yet, her desire for more meaningful devotional expression compelled her to reach beyond her initial prejudice, although she hid from her family that she was attending services with African-Americans.26 “I did not care whether anyone in that place was well dressed or poorly dressed. I did not care whether any of them were colored [sic] or white.”27 Crawford’s involvement in the fledgling work grew rapidly. Apparently, her first job was in the correspondence office. As news of the revival spread, despite negative depictions by the press, curious and spiritually hungry observers responded by writing letters. Crawford helped to capitalize upon this phenomenon, quickly turning it into a channel for publicity, which resulted in immediate growth at the mission. “As news of the revival spread, many letters of inquiry poured into the church, so an office was opened on the second floor to handle the mail. An ‘upper room’ prayer room was also located upstairs.”28 Soon Crawford became one of six women who served on the administrative board.29 During the worship services she worked the altar, praying with those who sought healing, salvation, sanctification, and the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Crawford’s next role at the mission has been disputed by several leading historians. Vinson Synan considers her the editor of the newspaper, The Apostolic Faith.30 Amos Morgan agrees, and writes: “With the help of Clara Lum and Glenn Cook, and perhaps others, she began publishing a church paper, the first issue bore the date of September 1906, and was called ‘The Apostolic Faith.’”31 Morgan addresses the confusion over the question of her role in the following way: 25

Florence Crawford, Greater Than Solomon: Sermons and Scriptural Studies, Book One (Portland, or: Apostolic Faith Mission, n.d.), 53–54, quoted in Estrelda Y. Alexander, Limited Liberty: The Legacy from Pentecostal Women Pioneers (Cleveland, oh: The Pilgrim Press, 2008), 32–33. 26 Ibid. 27 Apostolic Faith, 58. 28 Ibid., 4, http://www.azusabooks.com/profiles.html. 29 Alexander, Women of Azusa Street, 62. 30 Frank Bartleman, Azusa Street (South Plainfield, nj: Bridge Publishing, Inc., 1980), xix. 31 Morgan, Mother Crawford, 4.

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Sis. Florence Crawford had been a very active Christian as a Methodist. One of her interests was prison work. She not only visited those in jail, she opened a harness repair shop so that she could hire those being released from prison in order to rehabilitate them. She was an entrepreneur, but her interests were always limited to Gospel related work. Clara Lum knew shorthand, and in those days before electronic recording was invented, about the only way to make a record of what was being said was to take it down in shorthand. Remembering that Glenn Cook was a newspaperman, that Clara Lum knew shorthand, and that Florence Crawford was an entrepreneur, what would happen when they got together? A church newspaper, of course! Their first rule was that no editorial credits would be given. That makes it difficult for us to go back and give editorial credits, just as they hoped it would. Seymour was the unquestioned leader as well as pastor, but it appears he was not directly involved in the project other than his sermons and admonitions were used in the paper along with testimonies and news about the spread of the revival. Without knowing, we would guess Glenn Cook wrote editorials, Clara Lum collected sermons and testimonies in the meetings, and Florence Crawford was copy editor and publisher. … A lot of people disagree. They say that Seymour was the editor, but nothing seems to support that opinion.32 Alexander describes Crawford’s role as co-editor with Seymour and notes her scope of influence: “The extent of her influence among the revival’s constituents can be attested to by the fact that in later editions of the newsletter, she, like Seymour, had resorted to using only her initials to sign articles. The assumption is that everyone knew who f.l.c. was.”33 Within months of her initial involvement at the Azusa Street Mission, Crawford launched her own ministry as an evangelist under Seymour’s leadership, making her among the very first to spread the message abroad through evangelism.34 Seymour appointed Crawford as state overseer of California four months after her arrival at the mission. In this role, she oversaw evangelism and missionary efforts throughout the state and was responsible for opening new works throughout California in the name of the Apostolic Faith Mission.35 Crawford ventured out to the Northwest, and in time would become one of 32

Amos Morgan, What Happened in April of 1906? (Amos Morgan, 1996), 19, http://www .azusabooks.com/profiles.html. 33 Alexander, Limited Liberty, 34. 34 Ibid., 29. 35 Ibid., 34.

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the earliest original pioneers to start a denomination. In so doing, “Crawford became the most influential female from the Azusa Street Revival with the widest influence beyond the initial period of the Pentecostal movement.”36 In fact, her influence was eclipsed only by Seymour’s.

Launching Out

The first missionary venture involved taking a team to the San Francisco Bay area, and following a few months in Oakland and San Francisco and other cities, Crawford began to make her way back to her home state in Oregon. “It was on Christmas, 1906, that she arrived in Portland. Later, while holding evangelistic meetings in Minneapolis, Minnesota, God spoke to her and revealed that He wanted her to establish a headquarters in Portland.”37 Crawford recorded her arrival in Portland in The Apostolic Faith, January 1907 edition. She would remain in Portland for the following thirty years. Vivian Deno considers that the move is an example of her rejection of patriarchy. “Her decision to leave the city, mission, and her family was grounded not only in her own spiritual authority but also was cloaked in divine authority. It exemplified her defiance of male power and negotiation of patriarchal social and religious expectations.”38 Nevertheless, the column expresses good will and genuine affection toward Seymour and the Azusa mission:39 I stay in the mission. It’s humble quarters, but Jesus is here. Every minute of my time is given to God. I get tired sometimes. … Oh, I am learning the wondrous secret: It is letting Jesus do the work and carry all of the load. Oh I am so happy in His love and service. People from all over are coming. … How glad I am I ever found my way into the dear old mission on Azusa St. Love to all the saints—Florence Crawford.40

36 Ibid. 37 Called, Chosen, Faithful, 16. 38 Vivian Deno, God, Authority, and the Home, 88. 39 Although years later Ray Crawford, Florence’s son, would suggest that Seymour was reluctant to see her go, the column lacks any sense that there had been a breach between the two leaders. 40 The Apostolic Faith, vol. 1, no. 5, January 1907, Los Angeles, ca.; repr.: The Azusa Street Papers (Foley, al: Together in the Harvest Publications, 1997).

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Some of the early meetings in Portland41 were held in a remodeled blacksmith shop. One attendee described the experience: That hall was not a fancy-looking place. What windows there were in front were soon broken out by the rowdy element, and were boarded up. During one meeting an egg was thrown in. It struck the organ and broke, but made little disturbance, as we seemed to expect such things in those days. Rocks and vegetables were hurled through the windows. Sister Crawford had a deep scar on her forehead, from a gash she received in Santa Rosa, California, when a glass bottle was thrown through a window. The crowds were so large that the people would fill the hall and jam the aisles and be standing way out into the street.42 By the June to September 1907 edition of The Apostolic Faith the Portland mission was in full swing and reporting a robust revival. In a front-page story of the paper, the movement boasts under the headline: “The Revival in Portland,” that “one of the mightiest revivals that Portland ever knew has taken place in that city. The devil raged, shots were fired, some were arrested and brought up before the judges, but the Lord worked on and healed all manner of diseases … and saved many precious souls.”43 The momentum created by the Portland revival launched a new mission church and eventually launched a denomination with global impact. As one of the initial auxiliary outreaches of Azusa, the mission at Portland continued sharing the name, ‘Apostolic Faith,’ with the original work, and continues to succeed the work by more than one hundred years. In part, it was the early lessons of egalitarianism that Crawford brought with her to the Northwest that ignited much of what the ministry called ‘serious’ persecution: The free mixing of races scandalized many. Portland’s Evening Telegram published articles mocking the meetings and bringing absurd accusations. Sometimes antagonists resorted to violent means to disrupt the meetings. … Persecutions were terrible. They would throw snowballs, bottles, tin cans, and rotten eggs. Every window in the mission front

41 42 43

In a straight line the distance between Los Angeles, ca, and Portland, or, is 820 miles (1319 km). Driving distance today is 962 miles or about 14 hours 38 minutes. Called, Chosen, Faithful, 17. The Apostolic Faith, vol. 1, no. 9, June to September 1907, Los Angeles, ca; repr.: The Azusa Street Papers (Foley, al: Together in the Harvest Publications, 1997), 46.

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was broken out and the glass in the doors and transoms. It was a regular battlefield.44 Crowds packed the old blacksmith’s shop that had been cleaned and swept with many being turned away. Special nights were reserved for preaching to various ethnic groups in their native languages. Eventually the persecution subsided as the law enforcement community began to observe positive changes occurring in the behavior of many of its most intractable offenders. Workers often preached on street corners to spread the message, which further increased attendance. In 1907, the first camp meeting was held at Southeast Twelfth and Division Streets. Mission services were shut down for the summer, and everyone who could left the city for a rented campground, which became an enduring tradition. The large congregation created a tent city; new believers were taught, and children were instructed. Everyone shared meals together, spending the precious, warm Northwestern summer days devoting themselves to prayer, teaching, preaching, and to one another. The camp meetings ended in singing at the water’s edge while hundreds were baptized. The first camp meetings lasted for three solid months. In time, a campsite was purchased and missionaries from around the world traveled to spend several weeks together with the entire church body. “Many were added to the congregation during the camp meetings, as people from various walks of life assembled to hear the preaching of the old-time religion.”45 The long summers together had a democratizing effect on those who gathered. Here old and young, poor and rich, white and black, and a mosaic of cultures and ethnic groups lived together, side by side in the same quarters, sharing meals and stories, songs, and prayers.

Crawford and Seymour Part Ways

Of the year 1908, an eyewitness said, “In the spring of the month of May, something went wrong. God only knows, but nearly all the people, colored and white, left Bro. Seymour and started up an upper room on South Spring Street.”46 The 44 45 46

The Apostolic Faith, History, Doctrine, and Purpose, (Canada: Pediment Publishing, 2000), 41. Ibid., 46. Fred Anderson to Crayne, November 13, 1959, as quoted in Richard Crayne, “The Mailing List Controversy” (Morristown, tn: Richard Crayne, 2004), 7, Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center Collection. Richard Crayne is an independent historian who compiled a unique

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Upper Room Mission was founded in 1906 by Elmer Fisher, former pastor of the First Baptist Church, Glendale, ca, who was once an associate pastor at the Azusa mission. Initially, the associate pastor left in good stead. “Loyce Carver said, ‘I’m sure confusion reigned when the people began to split up and go different directions. Brother Ray Crawford told me that Sister Crawford went back down there to try and settle the confusion but that she could do nothing so she came back and decided to take care of her own affairs.”47 Frank Bartleman blamed Seymour’s efforts to ‘organize’ for driving his people away. “The truth must be told. Azusa began to fail the Lord also early in her history. God showed me one day that they were going to organize, though not a word had been said in my hearing about it.”48 By ‘organize’ Bartleman seems to mean that Seymour was beginning to establish a hierarchy of leadership, abandoning the egalitarianism of the initial services, which would have been met with strong objections from many early Pentecostals. E.S. Williams, an early attendee at Azusa mission who went on to become a superintendent of the Assemblies of God, suggested that the division that would eventually drive away the white congregants, who by this time formed half of the early membership, may have begun over racial issues. Seymour left a white man in charge of the mission in his absence, and the congregation’s African-Americans, still chaffing from recent memories of slavery, resented it. In 1907 or 1908 Seymour took a trip east. He put up a white man, a letter carrier, in charge while he was gone. He asked me if I would take the noonday meetings. During then, when a white man was at the head, it made a disruption among the black people. It was all right as long as a black man was head. That was when the breakdown began. They were oppressed for so long, you know.49 Williams recalls the much-discussed visit of C.H. Mason and J.O. Jeter. Mason was baptized in the Holy Spirit at Azusa and went on to launch the Church of God in Christ (cogic) denomination. The two ministry leaders had formed a close and lasting bond. Seymour may have visited Mason in the winter array of unpublished letters from several individuals who participated in the Azusa mission and the early Pentecostal revival as well as their associates and descendants. 47 Carver to Crayne, January 17, 1993, as quoted in Crayne, 7; Loyce Carver became General Overseer of the Apostolic Faith denomination headquartered in Portland in 1965. 48 Bartleman, Azusa Street, 68. 49 Oral History: E.S. Williams Interview Concerning Black Involvement in Azusa Street Revival, audio interview by J.C. Tinney, 1978, Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center Collection.

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of 1904–1905,50 and it may have been Mason’s influence upon Seymour that caused him to begin backpedalling upon his earlier stand regarding the ordination of women. The cogic official position states that women are important to the Christian ministry “but nowhere can we find a mandate to ordain women to be an Elder, Bishop, or Pastor.”51 According to Delrio Ligons-Berry, Mason believed that he had received his doctrine limiting the participation of women in ministry through special revelation.52 The Church of God in Christ considers its founding to have occurred in 1907.53 Mason was well known for what he considered to be special powers of revelation that he associated with ‘slave-religion.’54 In fact, Clemmons presents Mason as so passionate in his desire to prevent the assimilation of slave religion into the culture at large that he left college in 1894 out of fear of it.55 If the dynamics of the relationship are such that the more educated and seasoned Mason begins to exert increasing influence upon the humble, relative neophyte Seymour, then it is quite possible that the changes in Seymour started to occur as he began to absorb Mason’s theological views. Another increasingly influential force in Seymour’s life was his wife, Jennie Evans Moore Seymour. Alexander writes: “With the marriage, Jennie played and ever-widening role in the leadership of the mission. She regularly preached in the worship services, filled in for Seymour as pastor when he was away, and occasionally traveled on his behalf.”56 Jennie Evans Moore Seymour never shared her husband’s egalitarian views, as Alexander notes: “Sources suggested that from the beginning Jennie Seymour was less trusting of white people and less optimistic about the prospect of true racial harmony within the movement than was her husband. Some suggest that she was the source of agitation among the members of the congregation, and that this led to further decline in the membership of the mission.”57 Williams remembers her as instigating Seymour’s press for increasing levels of authority. “He married a colored

50

Cecil M. Robeck, Jr., Azusa Street, Mission & Revival (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2006), 35–36. 51 Cornelius Range and Clyde Young, eds., Church of God in Christ Manual (Memphis: cogic Pub., 1973), 146; Delrio Antoinette Ligons-Berry, “The Few That God Through,” Paper presented at the 40th Annual Meeting of the Society for Pentecostal Studies, March, 2011. 52 Delrio Antoinette Ligons-Berry presentation. 53 C. Clemmons, Bishop C.H. Mason, (Bakersfield, CA: Pneuma Life Publishing, 1996), 19. 54 Robeck, Azusa Street, 36–37. 55 Clemmons, Bishop C.H. Mason, 6. 56 Alexander, Women of Azusa Street, 159. 57 Ibid., 160.

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woman [sic], well educated. She was the backbone of him trying to push himself forward. She wanted Brother Seymour in his place.”58

Rescinding the Early Egalitarian Commitment

Striking subsequent changes may seem to confirm this theory. Alexander writes: By this time, Seymour had begun to institute a number of small, but significant, changes to the government of the Azusa Street Mission that would limit the level of leadership to which Crawford, as a woman, could rise. At some point in developing a doctrinal statement for the mission, Seymour clearly distinguished the roles men and women were to play in worship and ministry leadership. He insisted that “all ordination must be done by men—not women. Women [could] be ministers but not … baptize or ordain in this work.”59 When considered in light of these women’s commitment to egalitarianism, drawing such sweeping limitations upon their ministerial role may well have presented an insurmountable challenge to their newly-acquired freedom. Eventually Seymour would tighten the reigns of liberty and equality further by declaring that no woman could be on the steering board, and no white person could sit as leader, only an African-American man. Nine years after the mission’s launch “in 1915 he published a long tome, The Doctrines and Discipline of the Azusa Street Apostolic Faith Mission of Los Angeles, Cal., a rambling attack on his antagonists that hardly anyone read. Furthermore, he made sure the church’s constitution stipulated that any successor to his office should be a ‘man’ of color,’”60 and by fiat he ended the egalitarian distinctive that would become his enduring legacy. In this writing, Seymour codified his ultimate rejection of the egalitarian ‘miracle’—with respect to gender, race, and culture: Article F.: “The founder and organizer of the mission shall be the bishop. He shall be a colored person, thoroughly converted and sanctified.” 58 Oral History: E.S. Williams Interview. 59 Alexander, Limited Liberty, 38. 60 Harvey Cox, Fire from Heaven: The Rise of Pentecostal Spirituality and the Reshaping of Religion in the Twenty-First Century (Reading, ma: Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, 1995), 64.

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Article G: … The vice bishop shall be appointed by the bishop and he shall be a colored man who has served the mission faithfully and well. Under “Rules for Ministry: Women in the Ministry, All ordination must be done by men not women. Women may be ministers but not baptize and ordain in this work.”61 Ultimately, Seymour’s position regarding females became strikingly similar to Mason’s. And although we do not see Mason codifying the placement of only African-Americans in the highest ranking organizational positions, we witness the philosophy enacted throughout cogic history. Seymour’s increasing connection to Mason, who was forming a movement that would ensure the survival of African slave religion distinctives, may have caused whites and Latinos/as to feel disenfranchised or excluded. Seymour’s ecclesiology, by graduated degrees, had become Mason’s, and the non-blacks at Azusa did not understand and largely rejected it. The influence of Crawford, a white woman, was overarching, and the strength of her preaching and leadership abilities may have seemed intimidating to the humble Seymour. When Mason codified the subordination of women in his organization, Seymour followed suit at Azusa.

Crawford, Durham, and a Final Break with Azusa

In 1910, William H. Durham, pastor of the North Avenue Mission in Chicago, began making waves throughout Pentecostal circles when he rejected sanctification as a separate work of grace. “I began to write against the doctrine that it takes two works of grace to save and cleanse a man,” he later wrote. “I denied and still deny that God does not deal with the nature of sin at conversion. I deny that a man who is converted or born again is outwardly washed and cleansed but that his heart is left unclean with enmity against God in it.” This wouldn’t be salvation, he argued, because salvation “means that all the old man, or old nature, which was sinful and depraved and which was the very thing in us that was condemned, is crucified with Christ.”62 61 62

William J. Seymour, The Doctrines and Disciplines of the Azusa Street Apostolic Faith Mission of Los Angeles, California (1915; repr., Joplin, mo: Christian Life Books, 2000), 38–39, 110. James R. Goff, “Sanctification Scuffles: The Finished Work Controversy Was Pentecostalism’s First Split,” Christianity Today, April 1, 1998, http://www.ctlibrary.com/ch/1998/ Issue58/58h018.html.

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He dubbed his position the “finished work at Calvary” because he believed the work of Christ on the cross was sufficient for both salvation and sanctification.63 Durham arrived in Portland in 1911 preaching his new doctrine, and Crawford flatly rejected it. The ministry recalls the event: “In the years that followed the establishing of the Apostolic Faith work in Portland, there arose men in different parts of the country who had claimed like-doctrinal heritage but now were presenting supposed ‘new light.’ Man-made theories and reasonings, presented from time to time, sidetracked people in some groups from the truth they once upheld.”64 Crawford saw it as a matter of conscience to stand against Durham’s teachings. When Durham showed up at Crawford’s church wanting to teach his new doctrine, she refused to let him preach. “A struggle did take place in 1911,” according to Crayne. “Sister Crawford did not allow Wm. Durham to preach his new doctrine of finished work sanctification to the Portland congregation. As a result, he went three blocks away and started another church, threatening to take all of her members away.65 His efforts had little or no effect on her work. He later journeyed to Los Angeles and was refused the pulpit at the Upper Room Mission, where Elmer Fisher was pastor.”66 Finally, Durham went to the Azusa Street mission where he was permitted to preach his new doctrine. Bartleman saw Durham’s arrival differently and became a follower and enthusiast. He considered that Durham’s presence at Azusa reinvigorated it: Just about one week before I arrived home Brother Durham began meetings at the old Azusa Mission. Brother Seymour was absent in the east. He started meetings and the saints flocked back to the old place and filled it again with the high praises of God. God had gathered many of the old Azusa workers back, from many parts of the world, to Los Angeles again evidently for this. It was called by many the second shower of the Latter Rain.67 A.C. Valdez called the experience a “Second Azusa outpouring.”68 63 Ibid. 64 Compiled and Edited by Veteran Members of the Headquarters Staff; The Apostolic Faith, Trinitarian Fundamental Evangelistic, Historical Account (Portland: The Apostolic Faith Publishing House, 1965), 69. 65 Ibid., 70; Crawford views the severance of ties with the Azusa Street Mission as occurring much later than elsewhere reported, over the doctrinal disagreement regarding sanctification, and not over the theft of mailing lists as has been asserted. 66 Crayne, “Mailing List,” 14. 67 Bartleman, Azusa Street, 150. 68 Valdez, A.C. Sr., Fire on Azusa Street, An Eye Witness Account (Costa Mesa, ca: Gift Publications, 1980), 26.

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Seymour returned to Los Angeles and summarily padlocked the doors. Bartleman describes the event: “May 2, I went to Azusa Street in the afternoon, as usual. But to our surprise we found the doors all locked, with chain and padlock. Brother Seymour had hastened back from the east and with his trustees decided to lock Brother Durham out.”69 The miracle at Azusa breathed its final gasp as Seymour reacted to Durham’s naked challenge to his leadership position. He would entrench himself in increasing degrees of racial, ethnic, and gender division, ultimately leading to his remarkable retreat from his earlier egalitarianism in The Doctrines and Disciplines of the Azusa Street Apostolic Mission of Los Angeles, California. Unfazed by the resistance, Durham quickly moved on. Bartleman describes the events that followed: “In a few days Brother Durham rented a large building at the corner of Seventh and Los Angles streets. A thousand people attended the meetings there on Sundays. We had an ordinary congregation of four hundred on week nights. … Azusa became deserted.”70 Bartleman’s account of events, filtered for his sometimes questionable comments, indicate that the end of the Azusa revival occurred after Seymour locked out Durham. With Azusa’s congregation plundered by Durham, Seymour turned his attention to Portland to salvage his work. “This division left Azusa devastated,” according to Crayne. “Seymour then went to Portland in 1911 and tried to assume leadership from Sister Crawford who, by then, had a sizable congregation.”71 According to Morgan, “Florence Crawford saw no merit or right to surrender her congregation to Seymour. She had withstood Durham while Seymour lost most of his congregation to him. She believed that Seymour’s loss had its roots in his own back-peddling on the issue of sanctification, so she firmly withstood his efforts to assume control.”72 That he even went to Portland when Azusa faltered under his leadership in 1911 suggests some semblance of an ongoing relationship between the two leaders, which certainly would not have been the case had she actually stolen mailing lists years earlier and left following a relational breach of some kind. That breach occurred in 1911 during this visit when Seymour attempted to assume control of the Portland mission from Crawford following the loss of his own congregation. Williams remembers it well. He had been asked to preach in Portland and met Seymour on the steps. “They were wonderful meetings. I came to the foot of the stairs and met Seymour. He asked, ‘Are you coming to 69 Bartleman, Azusa Street, 151. 70 Ibid. 71 Crayne, “Mailing List,” 14. 72 Ibid.

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preach here?’” When Williams affirmed that he was, Seymour responded by revoking his ministry license. Seymour answered, “If that is true then I will have the railroad take away your clergy fare.”73 The clergy fare was a discount traveling evangelists could receive from the railroads. Williams recalls that Seymour, at this point, had been frustrated in his attempt to consolidate his hold over all of the Apostolic Faith outreaches, especially Portland’s. Morgan recounts that “Sister Crawford held Seymour responsible for failure to hold the original teachings on sanctification there in Azusa. So, it was not the mailing list controversy (so called) which brought about the demise of the Azusa mission, but the real climax was the division Durham brought in 1911, assisted by Bartleman and others, and possibly Cook.”74 Glenn Cook was Seymour’s business manager who also left with Durham. Harvey Cox suggests that Durham became openly antagonistic against Seymour and the Azusa Street mission. “Durham persisted; he seemed to feel a special calling to oppose Seymour, and wherever he went he fiercely pressed his case against Azusa Street. Many fledgling Pentecostal congregations followed him. Seymour suspected that the dispute was as much a matter of race as theology.”75

Crawford’s Reputation

Crawford’s own egalitarian commitment was bitterly challenged in January 1907 when the city of Portland charged her in court as an unfit mother and threatened to seize custody of her daughter, Mildred. Local papers noted that she was accused of not properly caring for her daughter and allowing the child to “indulge in the improper practices of the hysterical cult,” including “mingling with negroes and whites of both sexes.”76 Although the child was not removed from her care, this incident as well as years of attacks involving domesticity and her failed marriage—she had left her second marriage following a decree against divorce and remarriage by Seymour—seems to have placed her on the defensive. Crawford began positioning herself as strongly supportive of the traditional family, including male leadership of the home—a concession she never required of herself. Nevertheless, she was quick to qualify her support by framing it within women’s 73 Oral History: E.S. Williams Interview. 74 Morgan quoted in Crayne, “Mailing List,” 15. 75 Cox, Fire from Heaven, 62. 76 “Fanatics Must Go into Court. Little Girl May Be Taken from Mother by Judge Frazier,” The (Portland) Evening Telegram, January 2, 1907, 7. See also, Vivian Deno, 91.

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spiritual autonomy: “No man has any right to tell his wife where she shall worship or how she will worship. When your husband tells you that you can’t worship God, and you can’t go to a certain place to worship God, he has overstepped his bounds of the law of the United States. We have tried it out in court, and we know what we are talking about.”77 Interestingly, Crawford bases her appeal not on biblical texts, which one might expect, but upon us law. As with other early Pentecostal women, this bold egalitarian appears tentative and conflicted regarding the translation of egalitarianism from church leadership back into the home. Crawford is widely remembered by historians as domineering, dictatorial, and one of the early participants who brought the Azusa revival to a halt. However, finding compelling primary evidence for this reputation, beyond what might be easily dismissed as arising from detractors, is surprisingly difficult. One pastor broke with the denomination claiming that Crawford’s leadership style was “heavy-handed,” that she was intractable regarding questions of divorce, and that she was sectarian, opposing associations with other Pentecostals who viewed sanctification differently. Voiced separately, the same individual objected to female leadership.78 Insider and denominational historian Morgan says, “Was she heavy handed? Yes, if you are referring to her insistence that sanctification was still just as important as it was in the beginning … ”79 She did seem rigid and intractable regarding her theological views and resisted any ongoing shaping of her perspectives. “She was a strong woman,” says Morgan.80 Nevertheless, her people seemed quite loyal for the most part. She is widely remembered for ‘stealing’ newspaper mailing lists from Los Angeles and moving them to Portland. The Apostolic Faith newspaper provided a forum for the early Pentecostal message, where, like Facebook, all who wanted to could post their stories, reflections, and share their perceptions and prophetic visions. The early promotional genius of the movement was embodied in the newspaper, providing a vehicle that would take its message from the slums of Los Angeles to the world, although it is unclear whether Seymour or any of the other early participants fully understood or appreciated its significance. Vinson Synan reported in Christianity Today that a “rumor circulated in the black community that Crawford may have left [the mission and moved to 77

Florence Louise Crawford, Sermon, “The Soul that Will Make the Goal” (Portland: Apostolic Faith Headquarters, December 30, 1924), 5. See also, Vivian Deno, 92. 78 Amos Morgan, correspondence dated May 5, 2011. 79 Amos Morgan, correspondence dated April 23, 2011. 80 Ibid.

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Portland] in a fit of jealousy.”81 Initially Synan theorized that Crawford wanted to marry Seymour, and when he announced his intention to marry Jennie Evans Moore, Crawford cloaked her true feelings behind an eschatological veneer and left the ministry. When Crayne and Smith Haley both wrote letters to Christianity Today in defense of Crawford, the magazine retracted its earlier statement that accused Crawford of a fit of jealous rage, now suggesting it was Clara Lum, and not Crawford, who harbored romantic feelings towards Seymour.82 Neither ‘love interest’ account offered evidence to support the narrative and was purely speculative. It appears to have initially arisen from Douglas Nelson. In his 1981 doctoral dissertation, Douglas Nelson argued that Clara Lum, a fellow-mission pioneer with Crawford and Seymour, stole the international mailing lists and fled to Portland, or, to join Crawford.83 Noted Pentecostal historian Allan Anderson agreed: “ … in 1908 Seymour’s workers Clara Lum and Florence Crawford left Azusa Street with the mailing list of The Apostolic Faith, objecting to Seymour’s marriage; and Crawford commenced the Apostolic Faith in Portland, Oregon.”84 It is commonly held that this transference of the newspaper was a watershed event leading to the conclusion of the Azusa Street revival and the ultimate failure of the mission.85 Historians have accused Crawford of two 81

82 83 84 85

“Perhaps the most damaging challenge to Seymour came in 1909 when white female coworkers Florence Crawford and Clara Lum moved to Portland, Oregon, carrying with them the mailing list for The Apostolic Faith magazine. This cut off Seymour from his followers and effectively ended his leadership of the emerging movement. Rumors circulated in the black community that Crawford may have left in a fit of jealousy. It was said that she had wanted to marry Seymour but was discouraged from doing so by C.H. Mason because the world was not prepared for interracial marriages. When Seymour decided to marry Jennie Moore, a black leader at Azusa Street, Crawford opposed it ‘because of the shortness of time before the rapture of the church.’” Vinson Synan, “Pentecostalism: William Seymour,” Christianity Today, Issue 65, Jan. 1, 2000. See also, Vinson Synan, “William Seymour,” Christian History, Vol. 19, Issue 1, (2000), 3. See also Crayne, 8. Ibid. See also Crayne, 8. Douglas Nelson, For Such a Time As This: The Story of Bishop William J. Seymour and the Azusa Revival (Ph.D. diss., University of Birmingham, England, 1981), 39. Allan Anderson, An Introduction to Pentecostalism (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004), 41. Although this theory was first espoused by Nelson, it went on to form a generally accepted narrative of events “Without the newspaper the influence of Seymour and Azusa begins a long, slow decline from the crest;” and note: “The abrupt, decisive nature of this crisis is evident in both oral and written sources. It marks the main negative turning point in the life of Seymour and the Azusa Mission, if not the entire movement; its importance can scarcely be exaggerated,” Douglas Nelson, 39. See also, Vinson Synan, “The Lasting

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offenses: First, that she stole the Azusa Mission mailing list, allowing both she and co-worker Clara Lum to remove the mission’s newspaper, illegitimately, which brought about the end of the revival and the failure of the mission. The second accusation is more grievous, that the alleged theft was based upon corrupt motives on the part of both of these women. The motives attributed to both of these women are those commonly considered to be strictly feminine, i.e., the rejection of a love interest, a woman scorned, with the subtle corresponding implication that in allowing women to operate in ministerial organizational leadership at this level one subjects it to the pettiness of female predilections, which may eventuate its ultimate undoing. Nelson writes: Seymour’s wedding brings on a damaging crisis to Azusa Mission. A hornet’s nest of criticism stirs around Seymour from a small but influential group at the Mission. Clara Lum, Mission Secretary and administrative helper for the newspaper, disapproves of the marriage, quits her post immediately, and moves to Portland, Oregon where she joins the growing ministry of her Azusa associate, Rev. Florence Crawford. Lum, over the objection of the Azusa Trustees, carries in her possession all newspaper mailing lists except those of the local Los Angeles area. She begins issuing the paper from her new location without explaining the change to readers. Contributions for the paper, largely received by mail, are directed to Portland. Seymour and his wife travel to Portland to secure the return of the newspaper mailing lists but Lum refuses to release them.86 Anderson writes: “ … in 1908 Seymour’s workers Clara Lum and Florence Crawford left Azusa Street with the mailing list of The Apostolic Faith, objecting to Seymour’s marriage; and Crawford commenced the Apostolic Faith in Portland, Oregon.”87 Historian Harvey Cox sympathizes with Seymour, while excoriating the females: When Seymour married Jennie Moore, one of the black leaders of the church, two of the white women who had helped steer the mission through its earliest storm jumped ship. Contending, at least for public

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Legacies of the Azusa Street Revival,” Enrichment (Spring 2006)150. See also, Harvey Cox; Fire from Heaven: The Rise of Pentecostal Spirituality and the Reshaping of Religion in the Twenty-first Century (London: Cassell, 1996), 63. Douglas Nelson, 67. Allan Anderson, An Introduction to Pentecostalism, 41.

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consumption, that they opposed the marriage because Christ was coming again so soon, Clara Lum and Florence Crawford not only left town but took the address list of Seymour’s popular journal The Apostolic Faith with them to Portland, Oregon, where they started their own mission, which is still flourishing today. Seymour soldiered on … while followers who chafed under black leadership all combined to weaken his influence. It also nearly broke his heart.88 This heavy editorial narrative seems to ignore a score of conflicting evidence regarding this account of events. The first troublesome matter is the theory greatly relies on the suspect evidence of a known detractor, J.C. Vanzant, who references documents that either never existed or have been lost as well as advancing a number of facts that have since been disproven.89 The second obvious gap in the account is found in the element of time. The theory’s timeline does not fit into the record of actual events. For in some instances, the ‘theft/ woman scorned’ narrative presents Lum as removing the mailing lists after the newspaper already was in full-production in Portland, leaving the reader to wonder how the newspapers could have been dispersed using mailing addresses that it did not yet hold. In Vanzant’s version of the narrative, Lum is presented as leaving Azusa with Crawford, long before the marriage between Seymour and Moore takes place. Richard Crayne writes that the first accusations arose from statements originating from Nelson, who was among the first to make a detailed study of the mission and its pastor.90 Crayne91 contends that Nelson’s conclusions relied heavily upon one source alone: J.C. Vanzant’s self-published book, Speaking in Tongues, written as attack against the doctrine of speaking in tongues and the Azusa Street revival in its entirely. Vanzant is described by Crayne as a former Crawford ministry attendee who became something of an antagonist, devoting a great deal of energy to attempting to prove the errancy of the doctrine of speaking in tongues by working to discredit her. Crayne notes that edition #13 of the Apostolic Faith carried an official announcement, constituting proper 88 Cox, Fire from Heaven, 63. 89 J.C. Vanzant, Speaking in Tongues (Portland, or: Vanzant Publications, 1926), 32–38. 90 Richard Crayne, The Mailing List Controversy (Morristown, tn: Richard Crayne, 2004), 3. 91 Richard Crayne is an independent historian from the Holiness tradition who has compiled a unique array of letters from several individuals who participated in the Azusa Mission and the early Pentecostal revival as well as their associates and descendants. His letters are listed amongst those used by Nelson in his research. He asserts that Nelson depended too heavily upon detractor Vanzant for his information with respect to Crawford and Lum.

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legal notification, of the organization’s future intention to change the paper’s production venue: “For the next issue of this paper, address The Apostolic Faith Campmeeting, Portland, or.”92 Later, in the fall of 1909, incorporation papers transferring the right to the paper to Crawford in Portland were signed by trustees from Azusa: Jennie E. Seymour, Malinda A. Mitchell, and Edward W. Doak dated October 11, 1909. The document was registered in a courthouse in the state of Oregon, Multnomah County, one year and four months after the alleged theft of the mailing lists, officially granting to Crawford the legal right to publish the paper in Portland. The legal documents incorporate the Portland mission as an auxiliary of the Azusa Mission and formally establish that Portland was authorized to publish the paper. The document stated: ii. The object, business and pursuit of this corporation shall be to conduct religious services, apostolic, unsectarian and upon evangelic ideas in a manner temporal in any way that it may be to it convenient and in accordance with the established laws of the place and Spiritual to be founded on Matthew 28:19, 20 and Mark 16:15–18 as interpreted by the Board of Elders of the Apostolic Faith Mission of Los Angeles, ca, to which body this organization is auxiliary and vested by said mission with authority to publish at various times, issues of the official organ, Apostolic Faith, a paper devoted to the principles of the doctrine of said cause and distributed without charge.93 Alexander suggests that the larger issue involved in the controversy was the exiting of those who held the expertise required to create and distribute a newspaper. “Perhaps more important than movement of the mailing list was the relocation of the expertise for editing and publishing a newsletter, largely lodged with Clara Lum and Florence Crawford, who were among the few Azusa Street faithful able to pull off such an operation.”94 Before coming to Azusa, Lum had edited The Firebrand, the newspaper of Charles Hanley’s World’s Faith Missionary Association.95 According to Morgan, 92

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Fred T. Corum, Wilmington, ma. Corum was an attorney at law and had in early years served as the editor of a Pentecostal paper: Word and Work. His aunt, Rachel Sizelove, sent him these thirteen original Azusa Street papers, which he republished for the glory of God; as recorded in Crayne, 3. Crayne, 13. Estrelda Y. Alexander, Limited Liberty, The Legacy of Four Pentecostal Women Pioneers (Cleveland, oh: The Pilgrim Press, 2008), 41. Ibid., 45.

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It is true that at least one, or perhaps two, people in Los Angeles wanted publishing to continue unbroken from there, including issue 14. But one look at their work quickly tells us they were not at all qualified for such a task. This indicates that it was a lack of competent staff and editor rather than lack of a mailing list (as some have supposed) that prevented Azusa from continuing with a paper from there. A Los Angeles #14 does exist: Vol. ii, Issue 14, dated June 1908, has no masthead. In its place is the handwritten title “The Apostolic Faith,” and handwritten date, city, volume index number, and the words Subscription Free.96 In fact, two edition #14s surfaced in Los Angeles. “Unknown persons in Los Angeles decided to continue to publish a paper in that city. With no masthead, they had to hand-write the date (June, 1908), address, number (14), page number, and subscription free information.97 Curiously, it included favorable news about Portland, but directed its readers to write to Los Angeles for the next issue. “This was a contradiction of information in issue #13, and along with the missing masthead, showed an obvious lack of professionalism.”98 The second version of issue 14 that surfaced was also dated June 1908 from Los Angeles and contained all of the articles and features identical to issue 13, dated May 1908. “Aside from the date and issue number, the only noted changes occurred on page two. There, the instructions to ‘write to the Portland Campmeeting for the next issues’ was changed to ‘write to 312 Azusa for the next issues.’ And a terse note was added: ‘If offerings would come in more promptly the paper would come out more regularly. We have no finance society. No one draws a salary: everything is free, as the Lord provides.’”99 Morgan observes that the implication was they were asking for finances and not addresses. This number 14 has a unique distinction, according to Morgan, in that no other Apostolic Faith newspaper from Los Angeles or Portland ever requested offerings.100 Regarding the second #14 published in Los Angeles in June 1908 by retypesetting #13 as new #14,101 Crayne questions: “If Clara Lum stole the mailing lists, why did issue #14, [the crude rendition], though telling the reader to 96

The Apostolic Faith, vol. ii, no. 14, June 1908, Los Angeles, ca, websource: http://www .azusabooks.com. 97 Crayne, ibid., 11. 98 Ibid. 99 Amos Morgan, Choosing Separate Ways (Rio Linda, ca: Azusa Books, 2006); http://www .azusabooks.com/choose.shtml. 100 Ibid. 101 Crayne, ibid., 5.

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address Los Angeles for the next issue, still speak highly of Portland, if Portland had just stolen their mailing lists?”102 The timing surrounding this conundrum presents further complications. When was Lum alleged to have left Los Angeles with the mailing lists? Robeck dates the events as follows: “May 13, 1908: William J. Seymour and Jennie Evans Moore are married in a private ceremony performed by Edward S. Lee. … Following the wedding, Clara Lum leaves the Azusa Street Mission and moves to Portland, Oregon, taking The Apostolic Faith newspaper subscriber list with her.”103 Crayne corroborates the date of her exit: “Lewis Wilson says the date was May, 1908.”104 “This is very significant, for issue #14 was not published in until June, 1908. If Lum had stolen the mailing lists a month earlier, then how could Azusa still publish and mail issue #14 [from Los Angeles] within a month, and subsequently report of testimonies from so many distant places when, according to Vanzant’s allegation, they only had the lists of subscribers within the Los Angeles area?”105 The basis of Vanzant’s argument rests with his claim that yet another newspaper was published from Azusa in October/November 1908, which would have been number #15. Although copies of all other editions have been obtained, no copy of #15 has ever been produced. This edition remains elusive and the allegation is impossible to verify. Vanzant purports that this edition announces that a worker attempted to take the paper belonging to Azusa Street Mission to another city without consent after being warned by the elders not to do so.106 Vanzant claims the statement read as follows: I must for the salvation of souls let it be known that the editor is still in Los Angeles and will not remove The Apostolic Faith from Los Angeles, without letting subscribers and field workers know. This is a sad thing to our hearts for a worker to attempt to take the paper which is the property of the Azusa Street Mission to another city without consent after being told not to do so.107 102 Ibid. 103 Cecil M. Robeck, Jr., “Azusa Street Revival Timeline,” Enrichment Journal 11, no. 2 (Spring 2006): 107. 104 Wilson to Smith Haley, January 28, 1993, quoted in Richard Crayne, The Mailing List Controversy (Morristown, tn: Richard Crayne, 2004), 5. 105 Ibid. 106 Crayne, ibid., 6. 107 Vanzant, Speaking in Tongues, 37.

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Crayne says, To our knowledge, no one has yet come up with a copy of this particular paper. If such a paper did exist, how did Azusa mail a copy to Vanzant who lived hundreds of miles away in Portland, if the mailing lists had been stolen and no copy of the list remained in Los Angeles?108 Crayne also points out that the unverifiable statement nevertheless still does not complain that the mailing lists have been stolen, but merely that the paper was moved away from Los Angeles. Ithiel Clemmons further confuses the issue by suggesting that the May issue was published in Portland and not Los Angeles, despite the masthead’s indication that it was a Los Angeles version. He also accuses Lum of stealing both the national and international mailing lists, increasing the scope of Nelson’s original statement. “The first issue for Portland still had Los Angeles on the main heading but noted the change of address on the second page. Seymour’s sermons no longer appeared as had been customary in the past. Clara Lum had taken all twenty-two national and international mailing lists with her. The irreplaceable information, carefully collected over the past four years, prevented the Azusa Street Mission from expressing its voice to its supporters around the world.”109 Nelson claimed Seymour made a trip to Portland during the summer or fall of 1908 to retrieve the mailing lists. Clemmons, who refers to Crawford as “Frances” and not Florence, similarly claims that both the Seymours traveled to Portland, and also erroneously suggests that Lum continued to produce the paper on her own and that the newspaper ceased to exist in 1909. “Seymour and his wife, in desperation, traveled to Portland and sought to obtain the mailing lists. Lum refused. Without offering any explanation, Lum continued to publish The Apostolic Faith on her own until 1909, when it finally ceased to exist.”110 Crayne argues that a cordial relationship remained between the two organizations until much later: “Even after Seymour’s unsuccessful attempt, as Nelson says, to retrieve the mailing lists in the summer or fall of 1908, there still existed some relationship of a cordial nature between Azusa and Portland. The incorporation papers in 1909 make this point clear. No final break in

108 Crayne, 6. 109 Ithiel C. Clemmons, Bishop C.H. Mason (Bakersfield, ca: Pneuma Life Publishing, 1996), 49. 110 Ibid.

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fellowship came between the two churches until 1911.”111 Following an interview, Nelson told Crayne, “There was much more involved, which I discovered later, but am regretfully not at liberty to discuss, presently.”112 However, Morgan disputes the sequencing of events, insisting that Seymour did not go to Portland and ask for the mailing lists until his own work at Azusa began to fail. Seymour did, indeed, ask for the mailing list. He also went to the post office and put in a change of address notice—all mail addressed to the Apostolic Faith, Portland, Oregon was to be forwarded to the Apostolic Faith, 312 Azusa Street, Los Angeles. This confrontation occurred because Seymour had lost most of his congregation in March of 1911 and Crawford was emerging as the leader in the fight against the doctrine that led to his losses … Seymour said, “We cannot both be the leader of this work.”113 Morgan bases his sequencing of events on a recorded interview of Ernest S. Williams114 conducted by J.C. Tinney in 1978.115 Williams attended Azusa in 1907 where he was baptized in the Holy Spirit and later was ordained by the mission and sent out as a missionary. He served as General Superintendent of the Assemblies of God from 1929 to 1949, wrote several books, and taught at Central Bible Institute in Springfield, mo. He is remembered with affection by the denomination. According to Morgan, Seymour revoked Williams’s ministerial license as they were passing on the stairway at the Portland church.116 “The much debated visit to Portland by Seymour (who revoked Ernest S. Williams’s ministerial license as they were passing on a stairway at the Portland church) occurred in 1911, not 1908.”117 Alexander118 confirms that the trip took place in 1911. “In 1911, Seymour and his wife visited Crawford to request that the newsletter mailing list be returned to them. It was not.”119 111 112 113 114

Crayne, 6–7. Nelson to Crayne, December 8, 1993, as quoted in Crayne, 6. Interview with Amos Morgan, written response dated April 27, 2011. Ernest S. Williams served as General Superintendent of the Assemblies of God from 1929 to 1949. He also wrote several books and taught at Central Bible Institute in Springfield, Missouri. His testimony was published in the Pentecostal Evangel on April 4, 1966. 115 Oral History: E.S. Williams Interview Concerning Black Involvement in Azusa Street Revival, audio interview by J.C. Tinney, 1978, Flower Center Collection. 116 Interview with Amos Morgan, written response dated April 27, 2011. 117 Ibid. 118 Alexander, a contributor to this collection, is President of William Seymour College. One might anticipate a favorable analysis from Alexander towards Seymour as she is involved in the process of launching an educational facility in his name. 119 Alexander, The Women of Azusa Street, 160.

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In summary, it appears that the entire ‘scorned lover/stolen mailing list’ narrative rested upon Vanzant, a known antagonist’s accusation and a #15 version of the newspaper for which there is no corroborating evidence that it ever existed, and several credible sources that suggest it did not. Yet, upon this shaky evidence first Nelson, and then a score of others, many fine, predominantly male scholars, disparaged the reputation of Crawford and Lum.

Sexualization and Testimonial Injustice

These circumstances illustrate a remarkable and ongoing example of epistemic violence and testimonial injustice visited upon female ministers by male ministers and historians. Janet Meyers Everts asserts that the opposition erected against female ministers and the marginalization of their efforts has three pillars: emotionalization, sexualization and maternalization.120 These factors, which erect a wall of objectification and other forms of gender bias and discrimination, present so painful an experience in the lives of female ministers that the resultant brokenness, experienced by those few hearty souls who push through the wall, constitutes a dimension and raison d’ête of ministry not found amongst their male counterparts. Crawford continues to be marginalized in the dearth of credit she has received for her key, formational role in the Azusa movement, as well as for her efforts in spreading the Pentecostal message beyond the mission to California and Northwestern regions through evangelistic outreach and globally through publishing efforts. Historians have been quick to blame her, to sexualize her motives, and they have been equally slow to acknowledge her contributions. In the case of a still-ongoing controversy over the mailing lists associated with the Apostolic Faith newspaper, Crawford, as a female, continues to receive greater scrutiny and less objectivity in historical analysis. As asserted by Everts’s statement regarding female ministers, Crawford has been marginalized in the historical debate in a way that other male characters in the series of events typically have not. Everts asserts that female ministers and their contributions have been marginalized by way of sexualization.121 It is precisely this method of marginalization that appears to have driven accusations against Crawford with respect to the ongoing mailing list debate. Accusations have been directed at Crawford 120 Janet Meyer Everts, “Brokenness as the Center of a Woman’s Ministry,” pneuma, The Journal of the Society for Pentecostal Studies, 17, no. 2 (Fall 1995): 238–242. 121 Ibid.

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without the requisite investigation required to affirm their veracity. Ongoing analytical treatment of events has continued to present Crawford in an uncharitable light. For example, when challenged by Durham regarding her beliefs, Crawford stood her ground. A male presenting the same response might have been remembered as courageous, but her actions have earned her a reputation for being rigid, harsh, and difficult. Yet, an investigation into the historical record finds her often conciliatory. Although she has been largely marginalized by historians, nowhere did this researcher find any record of her actions towards Seymour, Azusa, and other ministers to be anything but forbearing. Had Crawford been male, she might have been credited with the successful continuation of the Apostolic Faith movement and its publications. As a female, her legacy has been marginalized and her reputation has fallen into obscurity.

Conclusion: Egalitarianism—A Theology of Ecclesiastical Justice

On Seymour’s part, although he embraced egalitarianism early on, he was quickly dissuaded from this commitment and began limiting liberty by degrees and eventually ending by codifying both racial and gender division. In contrast, Crawford’s understanding and embrace of egalitarianism and its implication for Christendom are demonstrated in her legacy. The early personal challenge she experienced in joining a primarily African-American church from the Los Angeles ‘slums’ was as important in her early theological formation as was her investment in the Women’s Christian Temperance Union and her experience of sanctification and the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Over the years, the heartbeat of Crawford’s denomination has continued to be evangelism, launching 122 churches around the world. While there are fifty congregations in the United States, there are fifteen congregations in Nigeria, eleven in Canada, nineteen in Asia, eight in Europe, seventeen in the West Indies, and two in Australia.122 The congregations have held true to Crawford’s original egalitarian vision. Many of the churches both in the United States and abroad are led by African-Americans as well as indigenous cultures. “To this day, the commitment of the Apostolic Faith Church to diversity amongst its constituents and leadership is unprecedented among Pentecostal denominations.”123 Although under the direction of Crawford’s son, Raymond, much of the top tier of leadership would become increasingly governed by males through the 122 Alexander, The Women of Azusa Street, 70. 123 Alexander, Limited Liberty, 40.

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later mid-century, females never lost the constitutional right to serve in any capacity and continued to be heavily represented. According to Alexander, “Females dominated the organization from the very beginning.”124 Deno characterizes Crawford’s position in this way: “As other Pentecostals urged women to return home and submit themselves to the authority of their husband and pastor, she refused to relinquish her spiritual autonomy or to defer to the authority of men, be they her pastor, local magistrates, fellow Pentecostals, or even her husband. Strong willed and fiercely independent, Crawford in many ways challenges our understanding of Pentecostal … women.”125 Despite her toughness, we see another side of Crawford. She is a woman loved and respected by her congregations, and her role and service is not forgotten. Although celibate from the time Seymour laid down a dictum against remarriage,126 Crawford went on to raise more than twenty foster children in her home and adopted one more child as her own. She rigidly maintained the legalisms commonly held by both Holiness and Pentecostal believers of the time, which included women’s refusal to cut their hair or wear makeup and a rejection of ‘worldly’ entertainments such as movies, card games, and the theater. In fact, today the denomination’s teachings remain as one of the purest expressions of the original beliefs held by early Azusa Street pioneers. Crawford’s most notable theological contribution was her enduring commitment to egalitarianism. The ecclesial commitment to egalitarianism of gender, race, class, and culture that distinguished the early Azusa movement was modeled in her enormous presence and infused through her overarching influence. That it was her core belief is demonstrated in her unwavering adherence to its principles throughout her long tenure. Bibliography

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“Young Girl Given Gift of Tongues.” Los Angeles Express, July 20, 1906. 1850 United States Federal Census record for Mary Lehnherr. Ancestry.com. http:// www.ancestry.com/. 1870 Census. Ancestry.com, http://www.ancestry.com/. 1880 United States Federal Census record for Florence L. Reed. Ancestry.com. http:// www.ancestry.com/. 1880 United States Federal Census record for Jennie Williams, Ancestry.com. http:// www.ancestry.com/. 1900 United States Federal Census record for Jennie Williams, Ancestry.com. http:// www.ancestry.com/. 1900 United States Federal Census record for William Seymour, Ancestry.com. http:// www.ancestry.com/. 1900 United States Federal Census, Ancestry.com, http://www.ancestry.com/. 1910 United States Federal Census for Milliam Crawford, Ancestry.com. http://www .ancestry.com/. 1910 United States Federal Census record for Jennie Evans Seymore, [sic] Ancestry.com. http://www.ancestry.com/. Andrew, Elizabeth W., and Katharine C. Bushnell. The Queen’s Daughters in India. London: Morgan and Scott, 1899. To be obtained from the British Committee of the Federation for the Abolition of State Regulation of Vice and from the American Purity Alliance. Bartleman, Frank. “Not of This World.” Word and Work (1915): 296–297. Personal Papers F. Barleman. Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center, Assemblies of God National Leadership and Resource Center, Springfield, MO. Bartleman, Frank. Another Wave Rolls In. Northridge: Voice Publications, 1962. Bartleman, Frank. Azusa Street. South Plainfield, NJ: Bridge Publishing, Inc., 1980. Bartleman, Frank. Flapper Evangelism: Fashion’s Fools Headed for Hell. Privately printed, c. 1920. Booth, Catherine. Female Ministry: Or Woman’s Right to Preach the Gospel. London: Morgan & Chase, 1859. Bushnell, Katharine C. A Brief Sketch of Her Life Work. Herford: Rose and Sons, 1930. Bushnell, a[sic] Katharine C. God’s Word to Women, Woman’s Place in the Divine Economy. North Collins, NY: Ray Munson, 1923. Crayne, Richard. “The Mailing List Controversy.” Morristown, TN, 2004. Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center Collection. Death Certificate of Jennie Evans Seymour. July 2, 1936. Enrichment Magazine (Spring 2006): 108. Cecil Robeck collection. Death Certificate of William J. Seymour, September 28, 1922. Enrichment Magazine (Spring 2006), 28. Cecil Robeck collection.

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The Apostolic Faith. Los Angeles. Vol. I, 4. December 1906. The Apostolic Faith. Los Angeles. Vol. I, 5. January 1907. The Apostolic Faith. Los Angeles. Vol. I, 6. February-March 1907. The Apostolic Faith. Los Angeles Vol. I, 7. April 1907. The Apostolic Faith. Los Angeles. Vol. I, 8. May 1907. The Apostolic Faith. Los Angeles. Vol. I, 9. June-September 1907. The Apostolic Faith. Los Angeles. Vol. I, 10. September 1907. The Apostolic Faith. Los Angeles. Vol. I, 11. October 1907–January 1908. The Apostolic Faith. Los Angeles. Vol. I, 12. January 1908. The Apostolic Faith. Los Angeles. Vol. II, 13. May 1908. The Apostolic Faith. Los Angeles. Vol. 2, 14. June 1908. Azusabooks.com. The Apostolic Faith. Portland, OR. Vol. II, 15. July and August 1908. Azusabooks.com. Valdez, A.C. Sr. Fire on Azusa Street: An Eye Witness Account. Costa Mesa, CA: Gift Publications, 1980. Vanzant, J.C. Speaking in Tongues. Portland, OR: Vanzant Publications, 1926. Waco, Texas Directory. 1890. Ancestry.com, http://www.ancestry.com/. Waite, Mary. A Warning to All Friends, 1688. The Augustinian Reprint Society. Pub. no. 94, 1979. Waite, Mary. Epistle from the Women’s Yearly Meeting at York, 1688. The Augustinian Reprint Society. Pub. no. 94, 1979. Wakeley, J.B. “Susanna Wesley and the Unauthorized Meetings.” Anecdotes of the Wesleys: Illustrative of Their Character and Personal History. New York: Nelson & Phillips, 1869. Williams, E.S. “Black Involvement in Azusa Street Revival: Interview with E.S. Williams.” By J.C. Tinney. Oral History (1978). Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center Collection. Assemblies of God, Springfield, MO. Williams, Ernest S. “Azusa Street Testimonies.” Azusa Street. http://www.azusastreet .org/AzusaStreetWilliams.htm.



Secondary Sources

“Azusa to Portland: A Moment in History Revisited.” HigherWay 89, no. 6 (NovemberDecember, 1996): 4–7. “Florence Louise Crawford 1872–1936.” Revival Library. http://www.revival-library.org/ pensketches/am_pentecostals/crawford.html. “Frances Elizabeth Caroline Willard (1839–1898).” Woman’s Christian Temperance Union. http://www.wctu.org/history.html. “The History of Our Church.” The Apostolic Faith Church. http://www.apostolicfaith churchportlandoregon.org/our-faith.html. “The National Woman’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU).” Woman’s Christian Temperance Union. http://wctu.org/history.html.

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“The People of Azusa.” Azusa Books. http://www.azusabooks.com/study.shtml. “The Role of Women in Ministry.” General Council of the Assemblies of God (USA). Position Paper. http://ag.org/top/Beliefs/Position_Papers/pp_downloads/PP_The_ Role_of_Women_in_Ministry.pdf. “Timeline.” The Apostolic Faith Church. http://www.apostolicfaith.org/aboutus/ Timeline.asp. “Women Who Fought for the Vote.” History.com. http://history.com/topics/print/ women-who-fought-for-the-vote. Alexander, Estrelda Y. The Women of Azusa Street: Women from a Variety of Racial and Cultural Backgrounds Were Instrumental in Bringing About, Sustaining and Spreading the Spiritual Movement that Fanned Across America and the World. Cleveland, OH: The Pilgrim Press, 2005. Alexander, Estrelda Y. Limited Liberty: The Legacy of Four Pentecostal Women Pioneers. Cleveland, OH: The Pilgrim Press, 2008. Anderson, Allan. “To All Points of the Compass: The Azusa Street Revival and Global Pentecostalism.” Enrichment Journal (Spring, 2006). http://enrichmentjournal. ag.org/ 200602/200602_164_AllPoints.cfm. Anderson, Allan. An Introduction to Pentecostalism. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2004. Barber, E. Susan. “One Hundred Years Towards Suffrage: An Overview.” National American Woman Suffrage Association Collection. http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/naw/ nawstime.html. Bay, Bonjour. “The Current Tendencies of the Wesleyan-Holiness Movement and the Growth of Pentecostal Charismatic Christianity.” AJPS 7:2 (2004): 255–264. Called, Chosen, Faithful: A Brief Sketch of the Life and Labors of Florence L. [Mother] Crawford. Portland, OR: Apostolic Faith Publishing House, 1936, 1955. Clemmons, Ithiel C. Bishop C.H. Mason, and the Roots of the Church of God in Christ. Bakersfield, CA: Pneuma Life Publishing, 1996. Cox, Harvey. Fire from Heaven: The Rise of Pentecostal Spirituality and the Reshaping of Religion in the Twenty-First Century. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, 1995. Crawford, Florence. “A Witness of the Power of God, and Other Articles.” Apostolic Faith, 2008. http://www.apostolicfaith.org/Library/Index.aspx?xsq=+Crawford%2c +Florence+a+witness+to+the+power+of+god+2008. Crawford, Florence. Greater Than Solomon: Sermons and Scriptural Studies, Book One. Portland, OR: Apostolic Faith Mission, n.d. Crawford, Raymond Robert. Florence Crawford; The Light Of Life Brought Triumph; A Brief Sketch Of The Life And Labors Of Florence L. (Mother) Crawford 1872–1936. Portland, OR: Apostolic Faith Publishing House, 1955.

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Dayton, Donald, W. Theological Roots of Pentecostalism. Metuchen: New Jersey, 1987. Deno, Vivian, “God, Authority, and the Home, Gender, Race, and US Pentecostals, 1906–1926,” Journal of Women’s History, Vol. 16, no. 3, 2005, 83–105. Goff, James R. “Sanctification Scuffles.” Christianity Today Library (April 1, 1998). http:// www.ctlibrary.com/ch/1998/Issue58/58h018.html. Hyatt, Eddie L. “Across the Lines: Charles Parham’s Contribution to the Inter-Racial Character of Early Pentecostalism.” The Pneuma Foundation. http://www.pneumafoundation.org/article.jsp?article=EHyatt-AcrossTheLines.xml. Hyatt, Susan C. In the Spirit We’re All Equal, The Spirit, The Bible, and Women, A Revival Perspective. Tulsa: Hyatt International Ministries, Inc., 1998. Jacobsen, Douglas. “The Gracious Theology of William J. Seymour and the Azusa Street Mission.” Enrichment (2006): 56–62. Jacoby, Susan. Freethinkers, A History of American Secularism. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 2004. Ligons-Berry, Delrio Antoinette. “The Few That God Through.” Paper presented at the 40th Annual Meeting of the Society for Pentecostal Studies, Memphis, TN, March, 2011. Menzies, William W. Anointed to Serve: The Story of the Assemblies of God. Springfield: Gospel Publishing House, 1971. Menzies, William W. “The Non-Wesleyan Origins of the Pentecostal Movement.” In Aspects of Pentecostal-Charismatic Origins, edited by Vinson Synan, 81–98. Plainfield, NJ: Logos International, 1975. Morgan, Amos. “Choosing Separate Ways.” AzusaBooks.com. Rio Linda, CA, 2006. http://www.azusabooks.com/index.shtml. Morgan, Amos. “Florence L. Crawford.” AzusaBooks.com. Rio Linda, CA, 2004. http:// www.azusabooks.com/index.shtml. Morgan, Amos. “Mother Crawford, A Profile, The Reverend Florence Louise Crawford, September 1, 1872—June 20, 1936.” Rio Linda, CA: Amos Morgan, 2004. Morgan, Amos. “The People of Azusa.” AzusaBooks.com. Rio Linda, CA, 1906–1908. http://www.azusabooks.com/index.shtml. Morgan, Amos. “Time-Line,” AzusaBooks.com. Rio Linda, CA, 2007. http://www.azusab ooks.com/index.shtml. Morgan, Amos. “What Happened in April 1906?” AzusaBooks.com. Rio Linda, CA, 1996. http://www.azusabooks.com/index.shtml. Robeck, David. “From Extraordinary Call to Spirit Baptism: Phoebe Palmer’s Use of Pentecostal Language to Justify Women in Ministry.” Presented to the Society for Pentecostal Studies at the 18th Annual Meeting. Asbury Theological Seminary. Wilmore, KY, November 10–12, 1988. Robeck, Cecil M Jr. “Azusa Street 100 Years Later.” Enrichment (Spring, 2006). Robeck, Cecil M Jr. “Azusa Street Revival Timeline.” Enrichment (Spring, 2006): 65–108. Robeck, Cecil M Jr. “William J. Seymour: An Early Model of Pentecostal Leadership.” Enrichment 1, no. 2 (Spring, 2006): 50–51.

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Robeck, Cecil M Jr. The Azusa Street Mission and Revival. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2006. Rodgers, Darrin J. “The Assemblies of God and the Long Journey toward Racial Reconciliation.” Assemblies of God Heritage 28 (2008): 50–59. Stanley, Susie Cunningham, ed. Honoring God’s Call, A Celebration of Holiness Women Preachers. Kansas City, MO: Beacon Hill Press, 1996. Stanley, Susie. “Laying a Straw in Her Way: Tracing the Theology of Pentecostalism That Guided Women In Ministries.” Enrichment Journal. Assemblies of God USA (2006): 110–116. Synan, Vinson, ed. Aspects of Pentecostal—Charismatic Origins. Plainfield, NJ: Logos International, 1975. The Apostolic Faith, A Trinitarian-Fundamental Evangelistic Organization: Its Origin, Functions, Doctrinal Heritage and Departmental Activities of Evangelism. Compiled, edited and printed by veteran members of the headquarters staff. Portland: The Apostolic Faith Publishing House, 1965.

Editor’s Note to Chapter 5 The following chapter on Carrie Judd Montgomery (1858–1946) presents a case study on feminine agency, both historically and contemporarily, offering illustrative explanations of why Pentecostal and charismatic women embrace patriarchal systems. Possibly one of the most regrettable aspects of the early twentieth-century spectre of Pentecostal female leadership is that the hard-won gains in opportunity and egalitarian vision were not passed to the following generations of females. To some extent, the era of ministering women represented but a blip on the screen. How incumbent upon these early leaders was it to pass their legacy of liberty to their daughters and granddaughters is a matter of debate. Some, like Florence Crawford and Aimee Semple McPherson, challenged prevailing gender norms—albeit imperfectly—meeting opposition with resistance agency.1 Such individuals worked to pave new paths for other women, despite the terrible toll exacted upon themselves.2 They took the battle on directly by launching their own denominations in order to offer to women opportunities traditionally denied them by patriarchal structures. But in the storms of cultural backlash that ensued, such efforts were largely forgotten or successfully neutralized. In some respects, Carrie Judd Montgomery lived in a golden age of female ecclesial opportunity. Holiness women like Catherine Booth, Frances Willard and others had worked hard to change the public’s opinion of preaching women. Montgomery’s ministry bridged the gap between the North American Holiness and Pentecostal Movements, as she enjoyed acceptance from both camps. Unlike Crawford, she chose not to advocate for feminine ecclesial leadership, although the platform and ‘voice’ provided by her popular magazine offered a tremendous opportunity to do so. Author Jennifer Miskov considers that the very spectacle of Montgomery as a speaker and writer created ‘space’ for other 1 “Resistance agency focuses on the agency of women participating in gender-traditional religions who attempt to challenge or change some aspect of religion.” See Kelsy C. Burke, “Women’s Agency in Gender-Traditional Religions: A Review of Four Approaches,” Sociology Compass 6/2 (2012): 123. 2 It is possible to consider that the ongoing persecution experienced by both McPherson and Crawford had a lasting effect of tarnishing their reputations and marginalizing their legacies. While Crawford’s contributions to Pentecostalism were summarily dismissed and forgotten, McPherson, worn out and discouraged from going it alone under relentless attacks from the media and religious leaders, died of an overdose of sleeping pills.

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women. Montgomery gave her ‘testimony’ but did not ‘preach.’ She interacted primarily with other women, unless the presence of male attendees pressed her to do otherwise. Miskov also indicates that Montgomery’s notoriety came largely as a result of her relationship with a celebrated male leader, A.B. Simpson,3 who ‘gave’ her the pulpit. Here again we see Montgomery affirming patriarchal structures in a way that brought her significant personal benefits. We do not see Montgomery actively addressing the matter of feminine ecclesial rights either theologically or organizationally, except at one instance where in the writings of Katharine Bushnell were published in her magazine. Even in the selection of this particular article, Bushnell affirms women’s preaching to an audience that had come to accept it, but does not call for ecclesial structural changes. In many respects, Montgomery’s approach to personal agency might best be identified as ‘compliant’4 and ‘accommodational.’ She operated within patriarchal structures by affirming them and thereby receiving benefits. Nevertheless, we must consider the radical nature of some of her actions within the Victorian context of her time. Beyond the Holiness and Pentecostal streams, much of North America continued to assign males and females to separate spheres, and the prospect of a woman assuming a public posture was still quite new, especially to more privileged classes. Miskov concludes her chapter by offering a contemporary illustration where a male leader opens a ministerial door for a woman, which she parallels to Montgomery’s experience with A.B. Simpson, offering it as a model for contemporary women seeking ecclesial opportunities. Readers might consider the illustration to be flawed on several levels, but still it is offered as a window through which the reader might engage with the events described as well as the interpretation of them. Nevertheless, complications arise from anachronistically using a Victorian woman as a model for contemporary women. Montgomery’s relational interactions with Simpson are offered as a model for the uplift of women who continue to feel oppressed and marginalized by patriarchal structures. Despite that all ecclesial leaders have benefitted from the support of others in advancing up the ranks—especially male ministers whose callings are nurtured and mentored by other males—Miskov shows us an accommodational model that would tend to benefit women individualistically 3 Albert Benjamin Simpson (1844–1919) was a Canadian Holiness pastor of Scottish descent who founded the Christian Missionary Alliance denomination in North America. He was considered to be one of the most respected Christian figures in American evangelicalism, and was a much sought after speaker, pastor, and writer. 4 “Compliant agency seeks to identify the multiple ways in which religious women comply with religious instruction in their everyday lives.” See Burke, “Women’s Agency,” 128.

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while commensurately reinforcing patriarchal structures that ultimately control and undermine their participation. Through her historical portrait of Montgomery, Miskov demonstrates that compliance to patriarchal structures—a response widely reflected in the lives of many religious women—does not correlate to an absence of personal agency. Kelsy Burke suggests that “the ways women understand their world—what they are capable of—may lead to intentional actions of conformity or resistance, both of which should be considered agency.”5 The illustrative model offered to called women by Montgomery presented an unspoken contract whose terms included personal benefits, such as ministerial opportunities, based upon compliance with patriarchal values. The benefits accrued both ways. To patriarchs, women would continue to fill the rank and file, pay tithes, volunteer for menial tasks, and not oppose the system. Women were offered the promise of increasing ministry opportunities to use their gifts, and to rise up the carefully limited ranks in order to fill the few gender-specific positions available to them. The fact that too few or even no real positions existed was not problematic, as it tended to increase competition between the women, which operated as a mechanism to defuse possible attempts to coalesce. In a sense, the patriarchal authority and privilege could be dangled before the women like a carrot on a stick and metered out to them in ways that would control them. The women would weary themselves by seeking holy ‘perfection’ through prayer and acts of charity, through endless Bible reading and study, through ongoing efforts at self-improvement, and through service acts, often in an effort to fulfil their side of the contract and ‘get noticed.’ Over time, the women would weary of such unproductive feats and fall into hopeless compliance, continue paying their tithes and serving in the kitchen, but would eventually stop threatening the men with their abilities and gifts. Some women would redirect their sense of callings beyond the church, seeking positions in social services or education. This chapter offers readers an opportunity to understand the HolinessPentecostal context in which the early movement was formed and the temporary interconnectedness that existed between the two movements. It also allows readers to witness a very common female operation of agency that both accommodates male authority, even oppressive male authority, while it also accrues to women the promise of privileges and benefits that minimize personal risk and maximize personal opportunity. Regrettably, however, such operations of agency do little to effect real or lasting change upon patriarchal structures. 5 Ibid.

chapter 5

Giving Room to the Anointing: Carrie Judd Montgomery’s Influence on Women in Ministry Jennifer A. Miskov Introduction Carrie Judd Montgomery (1858–1946) was a leader in her generation who created space to launch many powerful women into ministry. By regularly ­celebrating and imparting her testimonies to others, she became an early ­pioneer in the Divine Healing Movement in North America1 as well as played an important role for the Holiness Movement.2 Additionally, Montgomery’s 1 “The Divine Healing Movement roughly spans from 1870 to the early twentieth century. Faith Cure, Faith Healing, and Divine Healing were all used to refer to the same American movement of which Carrie was a part.” This movement was birthed out of the Holiness Movement and was ecumenical in nature. For a more in-depth overview of the Divine Healing Movement, see Jennifer A. Miskov, Life on Wings: The Forgotten Life and Theology of Carrie Judd Montgomery (1858–1946) (Cleveland, tn: cpt Press, 2012), 57–69. See also www.Silvertogold. com to access some of Carrie Judd Montgomery’s writings or see how her legacy is being restored. See also Paul Gale Chappell, “The Divine Healing Movement in America” (Ph.D. diss., Drew University, 1983). 2 Some of the themes of the Holiness Movement were absolute surrender, purity, and holiness. See Hannah Whitall Smith, The Christian’s Secret of a Happy Life (Chicago: F.H. Revell, 1883. Reprint, usa: Kessinger Publishing, n.d.) for one example of Holiness literature. Phoebe Palmer, Charles Cullis and others were advocates and leaders within the Holiness Movement. The Keswick Higher Life Movement and Wesleyan-Holiness were different streams within the Holiness Movement that Carrie regularly associated with. “The Holiness Movement’s terminology was filled with words such as ‘total,’ ‘full,’ ‘entire,’ ‘wholly,’ ‘all,’ and ‘surrender’ that widely influenced leaders later in the Divine Healing Movement as well as saturated Carrie’s articles in Triumphs of Faith. Additionally, some of the roots of these terms may be found in the religious idealism of Pietism.” Miskov, Life on Wings, n 20, 148. See also pages 13–14, 32, 54–55, 146–148, 232–235. See also Donald D. Dayton, “The American Holiness Movement: A Bibliographic Introduction,” in The Higher Christian Life: A Biographical Overview, ed. Donald W. Dayton (New York and London: Garland Publishing, 1985), 1–56; Donald D. Dayton, Theological Roots of Pentecostalism (Metuchen: Scarecrow Press, 1987). Reprint (Peabody, ma: Hendrickson Publishers, 2000), and Melvin Easterday Dieter, The Holiness Revival of the Nineteenth Century: Studies in Evangelicalism (Metuchen and London: The Scarecrow Press, Inc, 1980).

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life, ministry, and writing transcended geographic, denominational, genderrelated, and racial borders to have both a national and global impact for early Pentecostalism3 and beyond. Montgomery was originally from Buffalo, New York, and grew up with aspirations to be a teacher. In 1876 at the age of seventeen, her dreams were crushed when she had an accident that left her bedridden and near death for two years. In response to a letter from Sarah Mix, an African-American woman who claimed she had been divinely healed, Montgomery says that she prayed ‘the prayer of faith’ influenced by James 5:14–15, got up from her bed, and was healed.4 This 1879 experience catapulted her into a life-long ministry where many were healed through her prayers and her writings. In 1880, at only twenty-two years old, Montgomery wrote one of the early theological books on divine healing, The Prayer of Faith, which was translated and distributed throughout Europe.5 She also launched a holiness periodical called Triumphs of Faith in 1881 that she published throughout her entire life. This later became a vehicle to spread healing and Pentecostal themes throughout the world. Additionally, she was one of the early people to initiate healing homes in North America in April of 1882. Soon after her healing she participated in the formation of the Christian and Missionary Alliance and became close friends with its founder, A.B. Simpson. In 1890, she married a successful businessman, George Montgomery, and relocated from New York to California. As a result of the move, she became one of the first to spread divine healing themes to the other side of the country.6 In 1893, she also founded the first healing home on the West Coast in Oakland, 3 For more on this see Jennifer A. Miskov, Spirit Flood: Rebirth of Spirit Baptism for the 21st Century (In Light of the Azusa Street Revival and the Life of Carrie Judd Montgomery) (Silver to Gold: Birmingham, uk, 2010), Miskov, Life on Wings, 110–117, Allan Anderson, An Introduction to Pentecostalism: Global Charismatic Christianity (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004) along with his Spreading Fires: The Missionary Nature of Early Pentecostalism (London: scm Press, 2007), and Cecil M. Robeck, Jr., The Azusa Street Mission and Revival: The Birthplace of the Pentecostal Movement (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, Inc., 2006). 4 The prayer derived from James 5 emerged as a prominent method and model to release healing during Montgomery’s day. James 5:14–15 (nkjv) says, “Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. If he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.” 5 Carrie F. Judd, The Prayer of Faith (Chicago: F.H. Revell, 1880; repr., New York and London: Garland Publishing, Inc, 1985). 6 Maria Woodworth-Etter and John Alexander Dowie preceded her to the West Coast in spreading healing themes.

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California, called The Home of Peace, which preceded John G. Lake’s 1913 healing homes by nearly twenty years.7 In 1908, at the age of fifty, Montgomery claims to have experienced the Pentecostal Spirit baptism and to have “spoken in tongues.”8 Then in 1909, she embarked on a missionary tour to China, India, and Britain taking her new Pentecostal experience with her. On her journey, she introduced many to Pentecostal experiences. Her radical evangelicalism, mixed with moderate Pentecostalism, gave her a voice within both movements.9 The network she created in the Divine Healing Movement through her periodical, healing homes, camp meetings, and speaking tours provided her with a platform from which to further introduce Pentecostal themes. Montgomery eventually joined the Assemblies of God in its earliest stages of formation. While her influence continued to transcend denominational barriers, she never abandoned her previous connections. Her association with groups such as the Salvation Army, Christian and Missionary Alliance, and then later the Assemblies of God never limited her from sharing with people outside of these groups. This was possible because she joined these movements in their initial phases before their structures were formalized. Montgomery’s influence in the formation of the doctrine of healing in the atonement is one of her most significant theological contributions—not only for the Divine Healing Movement but also for Pentecostalism. Diana Chapman recognizes Montgomery’s impact on British Pentecostalism and says that her “main contribution was to provide a theology of divine healing for the emerging movement.”10 Through her writings, Montgomery was among some of the earliest proponents of ‘healing in the atonement,’ teaching it as early 7

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J.R. Zeigler, “John Graham Lake,” in The New International Dictionary of Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements: Revised and Expanded Version, ed. Stanley M. Burgess and Ed van der Maas (Grand Rapids, mi: Zondervan, 2002), 828. Many early Pentecostals believed that speaking in tongues marked whether or not one had experienced a Pentecostal Spirit baptism. All references in this chapter to ‘Pentecostal Spirit baptism’ will refer to an encounter or experience with God followed by the speaking of tongues. Spirit baptism and speaking in tongues are highly debated topics in which this chapter does not engage. This note is used only for definition of the term in this chapter. Daniel E. Albrecht, “The Life and Ministry of Carrie Judd Montgomery” (Master’s thesis, Western Evangelical Seminary [Now George Fox Evangelical Seminary], 1984) discusses Montgomery’s role as a bridge builder as his main emphasis in his thesis. Diana Chapman, “The Rise and Demise of Women’s Ministry in the Origins and Early Years of Pentecostalism in Britain,” Journal of Pentecostal Theology 2, no. 2 (2004): 220. This was in reference to Dayton, Theological Roots of Pentecostalism, 126.

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as 1880.11 Though she did not originate the doctrine exclusively, she popularized it through her networks.12 Montgomery planted both Christian and Missionary Alliance and Assembly of God churches as well ‘Cazadero Camp Meetings,’ orphanages, and rescue homes. Furthermore, she provided support to existing Pentecostal structures and leaders, even acting as a ‘spiritual mother’ to some, including the influential Hispanic evangelist Francisco Olazábal.13 While Maria Woodworth-Etter and many other female healing evangelists struggled for many years before stepping into their calling to preach, Montgomery launched her ministry immediately after her own healing. As a result of her move to the West Coast, Montgomery became one of the earliest female itinerant preachers to travel across North America. Her life span (1858–1946) and ecumenical platform bridge a gap between generations and movements.14 11 12

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Judd, “Faith Reckonings,” Triumphs of Faith 1:1, January 1881, 1–4. She also writes about this throughout The Prayer of Faith. Others who also contributed to the early formation of the doctrine in the 1880s were Sarah Mix, A.J. Gordon, The Ministry of Healing: Miracles of Cure in All Ages (New York: Christian Alliance, 1882), A.B. Simpson, The Gospel of Healing (New York, ny: Christian Alliance Publishing Co., 4th ed., 1890), and Robert Kelso Carter, The Atonement for Sin and Sickness; or, A Full Salvation for Soul and Body, 1884, as well as Otto Stockmayer’s earlier 1878 Sickness and the Gospel. See also David Petts, “Healing and the Atonement” (Ph.D. diss., University of Nottingham, 1993), 14–15 and Paul G. Chappell, “The Divine Healing Movement in America” (Ph.D. diss., Drew University, Madison, New Jersey, 1983). Homer A. Tomlinson, Miracles of Healing in the Ministry of Rev. Francisco Olazábal (Queens Village, ny: Homer A. Tomlinson, 1939), 7. Mrs. E.J. Fulton, “Not Under a Bushel Now!” Bible Standard Overcomer, 15:11 (Nov 1934): 13. Mrs. Everett J. Fulton, also referred to Carrie as “our dear little ‘spiritual mother.’” This journal comes from Oregon. The Fultons spent some time working with Carrie in Oakland before later becoming affiliated with Bible Standard Churches. Fulton took a huge pay cut to work with Carrie, going from a $500 a month job to only getting $60 a month with Carrie. For more information on this, see “Introducing E.J. Fulton, Pastor of Lighthouse Temple,” The Open Standard Overcomer 15:10 (Oct 1934): 2 and Robert Bryant Mitchell, The History of Open Bible Standard Churches (Des Moines, Iowa: Open Bible Publishers, 1982), 93. The Bible Standard Churches reprinted several of her articles and poems in their periodical. Carrie Judd Montgomery, “Willows by the Water Courses,” Bible Standard 8:5 (Nov 1927): 11 and “The Trial of Faith,” Bible Standard 9:7 (July 1928) are a few examples of this. Special thanks to Jan Kent who is family to Fred Hornshuh, for her help in obtaining materials in relation to Open Bible Standard Churches. Aimee Semple McPherson and Kathryn Kuhlman are regularly included in conversations in conjunction with other Holiness leaders such as Maria Woodworth-Etter or Phoebe Palmer, while Montgomery regularly gets overlooked from these conversations. See Stanley James Grenz and Denise Muir Kjesbo, Women in the Church: A Biblical Theology

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She was able to bring an amalgamation of early holiness themes and influences far into the later Pentecostal Movement.15

Montgomery the Preacher16

One of the sharpest tensions of religious life in the late 1800s concerned the issue of women behind the pulpit.17 Although Quakers and some strands of Methodism permitted and even celebrated women preachers, most Protestant churches found the subject controversial.18 Women were allowed to fundraise, go onto the mission field, and even lead Sunday school, but preaching from the pulpit was rare in many circles.19 Charles G. Finney not only worked toward revival and social reform in America, but also for ‘unpopular’ causes like

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of Women in Ministry (Downers Grove, il: InterVarsity Press, 1995), 54 and R. Marie Griffith, “Kathryn Johanna Kuhlman,” Notable American Women: A Biographical Dictionary Completing the Twentieth Century. Notable American Women Series, vol. 5 of Notable American Women: A Biographical Dictionary, ed. Susan Ware, Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study (Cambridge, ma: Harvard University Press, 2004), 354–356. Some of the things she bought with her were desire for absolute surrender, core spiritual disciplines, and the priesthood of all believers. She had roots in or was influenced by many of the early Holiness movement leaders. This section on women in ministry is used with permission by the publishers and based off of Miskov, Life on Wings, 52–54. See Maria Woodworth-Etter, Acts of the Holy Ghost, or The Life, Work, and Experience of Mrs. M.B. Woodworth-Etter Evangelist (Dallas, tx: John F. Worley Printing Co., 1912) and Wayne Warner, Maria Woodworth-Etter: For Such a Time as This (Gainesville: Bridge-Logos, 2004) to see discussions on Woodworth-Etter’s struggle to be a woman and a preacher. See also Nigel Scotland, Apostles of the Spirit and Fire: American Revivalists and Victorian Britain (Milton Keynes, uk: Paternoster, 2009) and Laceye C. Warner, Saving Women: Retrieving Evangelistic Theology and Practice (Waco: Baylor University Press, 2007) for discussion in relation to other women in ministry during this time and before. George M. Marsden, Religion and American Culture (New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Publishers, 1990), 22–23. Quakers were revolutionary in inviting and allowing women to preach. Anne Hutchinson (1591–1643) preceded this as she was an early woman who challenged the clergy’s authority by preaching in her own home and in 1637 was exiled from Puritan Massachusetts “for claiming to hear a direct voice from God’s spirit, a doctrine that challenged Puritan reliance on the Bible alone.” She was exiled and in 1643 and died “at the hands of Indians.” David W. Bebbington, A History of Evangelicalism: People, Movements and Ideas in the English-Speaking World, vol. 3 in The Dominance of Evangelicalism: The Age of Spurgeon and Moody (Downers Grove, il: InterVarsity Press, 2005), 224.

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women’s equal rights.20 Women preaching and mixing with men in ministry did not come easily or without controversy in many environments in the late 1800s. Historian David Bebbington suggests that evangelicals in Montgomery’s time were “the group most responsible for the Victorian ideal of separate spheres where men would be free to roam in public life but where women were confined to their limited and private sphere of home.”21 A study of the letters and diaries of American women from thirty-five different families between the 1760s and 1880s reveals this separation of spheres.22 It was accepted for women to mix with other women but seemed unnatural for a woman to address an audience of men. Montgomery experienced resistance in her ministry firsthand in 1889 when some churches shut their doors to her first because she was a woman preacher and also because she preached to African Americans.23 Nevertheless, while her Bible studies were consistently comprised of women, she also spoke at conventions, churches, or at her healing home where the audiences included men. Not only was Montgomery a female preacher who also preached to African Americans, her message of divine healing was considered radical at that time. As she set out to share this message, she discovered that it was “exceedingly unpopular with most of the ministers and laymen.”24

Montgomery and Women in Ministry

Throughout the early years of her ministry, Montgomery did not record her thoughts regarding women ministers in her periodical. In Triumphs of Faith between the years 1881–1920, no writings by Montgomery on the topic of women in ministry can be found.25 She did, however, include a few other authors who 20

Marsden says that Finney “and other evangelists with whom he worked closely were leaders in the often unpopular causes of the abolition of slavery and greater equality for women. Oberlin College in Ohio, Finney’s base after 1835, was the Americas’ first coeducational college,” in Marsden, Religion and American Culture, 62–63. 21 Bebbington, 216. 22 Carrol Smith-Rosenberg, “The Female World of Love and Ritual: Relations between Women in Nineteenth-Century America,” in Women’s America, 3rd ed., ed. Linda K. Kerber and Jane Sherron De Hart (New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991), 189–190. 23 Carrie F. Judd, “The Work and the Workers,” Triumphs of Faith 9:5, May 1889, 118. 24 Carrie Judd Montgomery, Under His Wings: The Story of My Life (Los Angeles, ca: Stationers Corporation, 1936), 70. 25 Miskov, Life on Wings, 54. See also Diane Chapman, “Carrie Judd Montgomery: Faith and Healing Homes” in Searching the Source of the River: Forgotten Women of the Pentecostal Revival in Britain 1907–1914 (London: Push Publishing, 2007), 66.

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wrote about this subject. In 1886, in Triumphs of Faith, she printed a favorable article by her father entitled, “Should Women Prophesy?”26 In 1904, she also printed Katharine Bushnell’s article taken from Peniel Herald entitled, “Women Preachers; Why Obscure the True Reading?” In this article, Bushnell uses Psalms 68:11–12 to demonstrate that women can preach.27 While Montgomery did not directly and publically address this issue, her example helped to open the doors for other women to follow.28

Some of the Women Montgomery Impacted29

Montgomery claimed to have played a key role in the healing of Emma Whittemore, who later went on to establish a network of ninety-seven rehabilitation homes for destitute girls called Door of Hope.30 Carrie Bates, who later went to India as a missionary, claimed she was healed while at Montgomery’s Buffalo, New York, home.31 Montgomery’s one-time assistant editor, Elizabeth Sisson, went on to facilitate her own revival campaigns as well as preach alongside Maria Woodworth-Etter and Aimee Semple McPherson.32

26 27 28

29 30

31

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Mr. Judd [Note: This is the author’s name as written in this 1886 source], “Should Women Prophesy?” Triumphs of Faith 6:12, December 1886, 270–273. Katharine Bushnell, “Women Preachers; Why Obscure the True Reading?” taken from Peniel Herald in Triumphs of Faith 24:11, November 1904, 259–261. While education for women in ministry has its foundational place of importance, once that foundation has been laid and solidified, the next step should be moving beyond debate and into action. Many women have been empowered because of those who have engaged in healthy debate in this area. If one is called to engage in this arena of dialogue, it is important that that person remain careful not to get sidetracked into dogmatic and circular arguments if doing so becomes a distraction from actually doing the work of ministry. Rather than debating with society for permission, some women might do well to step out into their ministry callings despite what others believe. This section on women in ministry is used with permission by the publishers and based off of Miskov, Life on Wings, 287–294. Barbara Cavaness, “Spiritual Chain Reactions: Women Used by God,” ag Heritage (Winter 2005–06): 24. Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center, http://ifphc.org/pdf/Heritage/2005_04. pdf. Carrie Judd Montgomery, “Poor India/Return to India,” Triumphs of Faith 17:3, March 1898, 70–72. See also The Christian Alliance 16:7, February 14, 1896. Bates was said to have been healed from dyspepsia in March 25, 1883 while staying with Carrie there. Sisson was also one of the only women invited to deliver the main address for the Assemblies of God General Council in 1917. See Nancy A. Hardesty, Faith Cure: Divine Healing in the Holiness and Pentecostal Movements (Peabody, ma: Hendrickson Publishers, 2003), 63.

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Mina Ross Brawner spent a short time working with Montgomery in Oakland before going to Australia as a Bible Standard missionary and planting fourteen churches.33 Mexican-American Concepción Morgan Howard (1898–1983) was “marvelously filled with the Spirit, in Pentecostal fullness” during Montgomery’s trip to Mexico in 1913 and was inspired to begin evangelistic work.34 Her ministry lasted more than fifty years and impacted many Hispanic women in the us and Mexico, where she helped to establish work with the Assemblies of God.35 Montgomery’s friendship with British born Elizabeth Baxter allowed her teachings to spread further within Great Britain and beyond.36 She also associated with Canadian Pentecostal leader Zelma Argue who spent some time at her Home of Peace.37 Additionally, Montgomery’s support of Pandita 33

34

35

36

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Robert Bryant Mitchell, The History of Open Bible Standard Churches (Des Moines, ia: Open Bible Publishers, 1982), 106. It was Fred Hornshuh who called Brawner to come work with him. Carrie Judd Montgomery, “Recent Trip to Mexico,” Triumphs of Faith 33:12, December 1913, 270–271, “A Trip into Mexico,” Triumphs of Faith 36:3, March 1916, 65, and her “A Trip into Mexico, Etc.,” Triumphs of Faith 37:7, July 1917, 157. In 1917, Carrie visited her again and they did ministry together. See Jennifer Stock, “George S. Montgomery: Businessman for the Gospel,” Assemblies of God Heritage 9:2 (Summer 1989): 12–14, 20 where there are photographs of Howard with the Montgomerys. See also Gastón Espinosa, “Liberated and Empowered: The Uphill History of Hispanic Assemblies of God Women in Ministry, 1915– 1950,” ag Heritage (2008): 44–48. Howard’s father was connected to George in relation to business. She also went on to become a “pioneer Latina Pentecostal evangelist, pastor, and women’s leader in the us and Mexico.” Gastón Espinosa, “Liberated and Empowered,” 44–48. By 1928, Howard was recognized and ordained by the Assemblies of God and sent out to work with Mexicans living near the border. She also served as the second president (after Sunshine Marshall Ball) of the Concilio Misionero Femenil (Women’s Missionary Council) from 1941 to 1962. Alexander A. Boddy, a British leader influenced by Pentecostalism, also subscribed to Triumphs of Faith and encouraged his readers to do so as well. When he came out to California, he made sure to attend Carrie’s camp meetings and stay at her Home of Peace. One of the last articles of Carrie’s in the early English Pentecostal periodical, Confidence, was entitled “A Message to the Sick” printed in May 1915. Carrie’s reputation helped remove fanaticism tied to the Pentecostal Movement. Carrie also connected with Baxter and the Boardmans who were in London as well as many others involved in the Keswick conventions. Home of Peace Guest Book (Aug. 14, 1928–1938), July 8, 1931, 87, comment left by Bro. A.H. Argue. See also 1931, 85 comment left by Zelma Argue: “The refreshment, perfume, and inspiration of this happy visit will accompany me to far fields.”

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Ramabai’s ministry in India was important for dispersing Ramabai’s revival stories around the world.38

Giving Women Voice

Possibly the most effective vehicle Montgomery offered to other women ministers was the opportunity to write on theological themes in her periodical Triumphs of Faith. This platform acted as a catalyst for many women to initiate and advance their ministries. In her periodical, Montgomery publicly promoted the voices of women, which in turn helped to strengthen and celebrate the somewhat controversial role of women in ministry. Some of the women she regularly chose to highlight were Sarah Mix, Maria Woodworth-Etter, Elizabeth Sisson, Aimee Semple McPherson, Anna Prosser, and Mary Baxter.

Men Who Helped Launch Montgomery

Several men played a key role in helping to advance Montgomery’s ministry. Even before his first introduction with her, A.B. Simpson championed Montgomery when he reprinted her article “Faith Reckonings” in his periodical.39 Simpson regularly shared his platform with Montgomery, even if that meant inviting her to the stage to share her testimony during a meeting already in session. He also planned extra sessions in his conventions just to include her. One must wonder how much her ministry was accelerated by having people like Simpson open doors to create space for her. Their longstanding friendship proved an important source of encouragement for both of them in their ministries and personal lives. Their mutual respect and support helped to widen their influence, which shaped the movement even further. Montgomery played such an important role in Simpson’s life that it magnified her impact within the Divine Healing Movement as a whole.40 38

Montgomery published “early reports from Azusa Street, Pandita Ramabai’s ministry in India, and other emerging Pentecostal revival centers in her periodical” [Jennifer A. Miskov, “Carrie Judd Montgomery: A Passion for Healing and the Fullness of the Spirit,” ag Heritage (2012): 9.] The editors of Confidence, Pentecostal Evangel, Assemblies of God Heritage, The Overcomer, Bible Standard, and other periodicals with an international reach chose to reproduce many of Carrie’s writings over the years. 39 Carrie Judd Montgomery, “Faith Reckonings,” The Word, Work and World 1:6, July 1882, 251–252. 40 Miskov, Life on Wings, 68–69.

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Montgomery’s husband, George, also helped to expand her ministry. The Home of Peace was much larger than her previous Buffalo, New York, healing homes because of his backing. It must also be noted that she was already established and successful in ministry before she met and married George. He helped to increase the scope of her ministry, but he was not the one to initiate it. Both Carrie and George partnered together in ministry. When Carrie and George got married and set off on their honeymoon they traveled from the East Coast to the West Coast and held evangelistic meetings all along the way. When she was out late in the bars ministering with the Salvation Army “slum sisters,”41 George was at home on his knees interceding for her. The Montgomerys also partnered together in directly impacting Pentecostal leader Francisco Olazábal. After meeting him in San Francisco, George introduced him to conversion to Christianity. A few years later, Carrie prayed for his wife’s healing and claimed she had received it. Years later, Olazábal visited this couple in Oakland once again where they prayed for him to experience the Pentecostal Spirit baptism. Previous to this, he had openly spoken out against Pentecostalism from the pulpit.42

Making Space for the others Today

While Montgomery could have used her influence primarily to promote the cause of women in ministry, she instead created space in her periodical, camp meetings, and other arenas to make room for both males and females. One present-day example of ‘making space for others,’ which parallels what A.B. Simpson regularly did for Montgomery, happened at the 43rd Annual Meeting for the Society for Pentecostal Studies in Springfield, Missouri. On Friday, March 7, 2014, the Society was forever marked. It all began when presenter 41

42

General William Booth, “A Slum Crusade—Our Slum Sisters,” in In Darkest England and the Way Out, 1890, 1st ed. (London: The Salvation Army); scanned by Armybarmy 2001 with minor corrections to spelling, Jesus Army, http://jesus.org.uk/christian-classics/ william-booth; See also Montgomery, “Salvation Army Work in the New York Slums,” Triumphs of Faith 12:5, May 1892, 108. See Carrie’s article entitled “Pentecostal Blessing,” in Triumphs of Faith 15:3, March 1895, 60–61 to read the tender letter by George she included in the text. Another time while Carrie was out preaching in another town, George held a meeting at the Home of Peace at the same time. He sent Carrie a letter filled with testimonies about how powerful God showed up while she was away. In his letter, he also encouraged her to stay humble and to go low, allowing God to do the work through her powerfully.

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Kimberly E. Alexander had to switch sessions to do a plenary address alongside Cheryl Bridges Johns. Bridges Johns was the first woman to join sps years previous. After her plenary address, Alexander followed it up with a talk based on the research from her latest book, What Women Want: Pentecostal Women Ministers Speak for Themselves. Kenneth J. Archer, the sps first vice president at the time, changed the original program schedule and asked Bridges Johns to close with a prayer instead of doing so himself. Bridges Johns transparently admitted that she was tired of having to continually contend over the issue of women in ministry, and then prayed over the entire community of scholars. Within minutes, the sound of one who was weeping could be heard in the audience. Women who had fought so long to have a voice and who were tired of being put on the sidelines because of their gender experienced a release of pain. Archer invited the young women who felt called to academics or to church work to stand. It was at the moment that Archer stepped back to share his platform that these events began to cascade. The men in that room loved, honored, and gave space to the women. This act alone brought tremendous healing. It reminded each one of what it was like to be family again. Is it possible that what happened at that meeting could be a sign for the church today?43

Bound Together in Love

Montgomery demonstrated the importance of creating space for others regardless of gender. As more and more opportunities are created for women in ministry to shine in the coming age, Montgomery’s example can help lead them. Now, who is going to trust God for the winged life? You can crawl instead if you wish. God will even bless you if you crawl; He will do the best He can for you, but oh how much better to avail ourselves of our wonderful privileges in Christ and to “mount up with wings as eagles, run and not be weary, walk and not faint.” O beloved friends, there is a life on wings. I feel the streams of His life fill me and permeate my mortal frame from my head to my feet, until no words are adequate to describe it. I can only

43

Jennifer A. Miskov, “Coloring Outside the Lines: Pentecostal Parallels with Expressionism. The Work of the Spirit in Place, Time, and Secular Society?” Journal of Pentecostal Theology 19 (2010): 94–117.

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make a few bungling attempts to tell you what it is like and ask the Lord to reveal to you the rest. May He reveal to you your inheritance in Christ Jesus so that you will press on and get all that He has for you.44 Bibliography

Primary Sources

Booth, William. “A Slum Crusade—Our Slum Sisters.” In In Darkest England and the Way Out, 1890. 1st ed. London: The Salvation Army. Scanned by Armybarmy 2001 with minor corrections to spelling, Jesus Army, http://jesus.org.uk/christian-classics/ william-booth. Bushnell, Katharine. “Women Preachers; Why Obscure the True Reading?” Peniel Herald in Triumphs of Faith 24:11, November 1904, 259–261. Fulton, E.J. Mrs. “Not Under a Bushel Now!” Bible Standard Overcomer 15:11 (Nov 1934): 13. Gordon, A.J. The Ministry of Healing: Miracles of Cure in All Ages. New York: Christian Alliance, 1882. Judd Mr.. “Should Women Prophesy?” Triumphs of Faith 6:12, 1886, 270–273. Judd, Carrie F. The Prayer of Faith. Chicago: F.H. Revell, 1880; repr., New York and London: Garland Publishing, Inc, 1985. Judd, Carrie F. “Faith Reckonings.” Triumphs of Faith 1:1, 1881, 1–4. Judd, Carrie F. “Faith Reckonings.” The Word, Work and World 1:6, July 1882, 251–252. Judd, Carrie F. “The Work and the Workers.” Triumphs of Faith 9:5, May 1889, 118. Montgomery, Carrie Judd. “Salvation Army Work in the New York Slums.” Triumphs of Faith 12:5, May 1892, 108. Montgomery, Carrie Judd. “Pentecostal Blessing.” In Triumphs of Faith 15:3, 1895, 60–61. Montgomery, Carrie Judd. “Poor India/Return to India.” Triumphs of Faith 17:3, 1898, 70–72. Montgomery, Carrie Judd. “A New Faith Home in Los Angeles.” Triumphs of Faith 31:6, June 1911, 143. Montgomery, Carrie Judd. “Life on Wings: The Possibilities of Pentecost.” Triumphs of Faith 32:8 (1912): 171–174. Montgomery, Carrie Judd. “Recent Trip to Mexico.” Triumphs of Faith 33:12, 1913, 270–271. Montgomery, Carrie Judd. “A Trip into Mexico.” Triumphs of Faith 36:3, March 1916, 65. 44

Carrie Judd Montgomery, “Life on Wings: The Possibilities of Pentecost,” Triumphs of Faith 32:8 (August 1912): 171–174. The article was taken from an address Carrie delivered at the Stone Church in Chicago in 1910 that was first printed in The Latter Rain Evangel 3:3 (December 1910): 19–24.

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Montgomery, Carrie Judd. “A Trip into Mexico, Etc.” Triumphs of Faith 37:7, July 1917, 157. Montgomery, Carrie Judd. “Willows by the Water Courses.” Bible Standard 8:5, November 1927, 11. Montgomery, Carrie Judd. “The Trial of Faith.” Bible Standard 9:7, July 1928. Montgomery, Carrie Judd. Under His Wings: The Story of My Life. Los Angeles, CA: Stationers Corporation, 1936. No author. Home of Peace Guest Book (Aug. 14, 1928–1938). No author. “Introducing E.J. Fulton, Pastor of Lighthouse Temple.” The Open Standard Overcomer 15:10 (Oct 1934). Prosser, Anna W. “Faith Home and Missionary Training School in Buffalo.” Triumphs of Faith 16:12, December 1896, 277. Shappee, W.A. Mrs. “A Glimpse of the Past and the Present.” Triumphs of Faith 17:8, August 1897, 179–182. Shepherd, W.E. “Mission and Rescue Work in Texas.” Triumphs of Faith 16:1, 1896, 16. Simpson, A.B. The Gospel of Healing. New York, NY: Christian Alliance Publishing Co., 4th ed., 1890. Tomlinson, Homer A. Miracles of Healing in the Ministry of Rev. Francisco Olazábal. Queens Village, NY: Homer A. Tomlinson, 1939. Whitall Smith, Hannah. The Christian’s Secret of a Happy Life. Chicago: F.H. Revell, 1883. Reprint, USA: Kessinger Publishing, no date. Willard, Frances E., and Mary A. Livermore, eds. A Woman of the Century: Fourteen Hundred- Seventy Biographical Sketches Accompanied by Portraits of Leading American Women in All Walks of Life. Buffalo: Charles Wells Moulton, 1893. Wood, N. Mrs. “Personal Testimonies, The Lord My Healer.” The Christian Alliance and Missionary Weekly 7:11, September 11, 1891. Woodworth-Etter, Maria. Acts of the Holy Ghost, or The Life, Work, and Experience of Mrs. M.B. Woodworth-Etter Evangelist. Dallas, TX: John F. Worley Printing Co., 1912.



Secondary Sources

Albrecht, Daniel E. “The Life and Ministry of Carrie Judd Montgomery.” Masters thesis., Western Evangelical Seminary [Now George Fox Evangelical Seminary], 1984. Alexander, Kimberly Ervin. Pentecostal Healing: Models in Theology and Practice. Journal of Pentecostal Supplement Series. Dorset, UK: Deo Publishing, 2006. Anderson, Allan. An Introduction to Pentecostalism: Global Charismatic Christianity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004. Anderson, Allan. Spreading Fires: The Missionary Nature of Early Pentecostalism. London: SCM Press, 2007.

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Bebbington, David W. A History of Evangelicalism: People, Movements and Ideas in the English-Speaking World. Vol. 3 in The Dominance of Evangelicalism: The Age of Spurgeon and Moody. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2005. Bryant Mitchell, Robert. The History of Open Bible Standard Churches. Des Moines, IA: Open Bible Publishers, 1982. Cavaness, Barbara “Spiritual Chain Reactions: Women Used By God.” AG Heritage (Winter 2005–06): 24–29. Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center, http://ifphc.org/pdf/ Heritage/2005_04.pdf. Chappell, Paul Gale. “The Divine Healing Movement in America.” PhD diss., Drew University, 1983. Chapman, Diana. “The Rise and Demise of Women’s Ministry in the Origins and Early Years of Pentecostalism in Britain.” Journal of Pentecostal Theology 2.2 (2004): 217–246. Chapman, Diana. “Carrie Judd Montgomery: Faith and Healing Homes.” In Searching the Source of the River: Forgotten Women of the Pentecostal Revival in Britain 1907– 1914. London: Push Publishing, 2007. Dayton, Donald D. “The American Holiness Movement: A Bibliographic Introduction.” In The Higher Christian Life: A Biographical Overview, edited by Donald D. Dayton, 1–56. New York and London: Garland Publishing, 1985. Dayton, Donald D. Theological Roots of Pentecostalism. Metuchen: Scarecrow Press, 1987. Reprint Peabody: Hendrickson Publishers, 2000. Dieter, Melvin Easterday. The Holiness Revival of the Nineteenth Century: Studies in Evangelicalism. Metuchen and London: The Scarecrow Press, Inc., 1980. Espinosa, Gastón. “Liberated and Empowered: The Uphill History of Hispanic Assemblies of God Women in Ministry, 1915–1950.” AG Heritage (2008): 44–48. Grenz, Stanley James, and Denise Muir Kjesbo, Women in the Church: A Biblical Theology of Women in Ministry. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1995: 54. Griffith, R. Marie. “Kathryn Johanna Kuhlman.” Notable American Women: A Biographical Dictionary Completing the Twentieth Century. Notable American Women Series. Vol. 5 of Notable American Women: A Biographical Dictionary, edited by Susan Ware, Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2004. Hardesty, Nancy A. Faith Cure: Divine Healing in the Holiness and Pentecostal Movements. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 2003. Knight III, Henry H. “God’s Faithfulness and God’s Freedom: A Comparison of Contemporary Theologies of Healing.” Journal of Pentecostal Theology 2 (1993): 65–89. Marsden, George M. Religion and American Culture. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Publishers, 1990. McIntyre, Joe. E.W. Kenyon and His Message of Faith: The True Story. Lake Mary, FL: Charisma House, 1997.

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Miskov, Jennifer A. Spirit Flood: Rebirth of Spirit Baptism for the 21st Century (In Light of the Azusa Street Revival and the Life of Carrie Judd Montgomery). Silver to Gold: Birmingham, UK, 2010. Miskov, Jennifer A. “Coloring Outside the Lines: Pentecostal Parallels with Expressionism. The Work of the Spirit in Place, Time, and Secular Society?” Journal of Pentecostal Theology 19 (2010): 94–117. Miskov, Jennifer A. “Kindred Spirits.” Alliance Life, 2011, http://www.cmalliance.org/ alife/kindred-spirits/. Miskov, Jennifer A. “Missing Links: Phoebe Palmer, Carrie Judd Montgomery, and Holiness Roots within Pentecostalism.” PentecoStudies: An Interdisciplinary Journal for Research on the Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements 10:1 (2011): 8–28. Miskov, Jennifer A. “Carrie Judd Montgomery: A Passion for Healing and the Fullness of the Spirit.” AG Heritage (2012): 4–13, 59. Miskov, Jennifer A. Life on Wings: The Forgotten Life and Theology of Carrie Judd Montgomery (1858–1946). Cleveland, TN: CPT Press, 2012. Miskov, Jennifer A. “There’s a Tidal Wave of Revival on the Horizon.” Charisma Magazine. February 17, 2014. http://www.charismamag.com/spirit/revival/19794-there-s -a-tidal-wave-of-revival-on-the-horizon. Miskov, Jennifer A. “Spirit Break Out: Unexpectantly Encountering God at an Academic Conference.” Ministry Today. March 31, 2014. http://ministrytodaymag.com/ ministry-life/women/20788-spirit-break-out-unexpectedly-encountering-god -at-an-academic-conference. Petts, David. “Healing and the Atonement.” PhD diss., University of Nottingham, 1993. Robeck, Cecil M. Jr., The Azusa Street Mission and Revival: The Birthplace of the Pentecostal Movement. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, Inc., 2006. Scotland, Nigel. Apostles of the Spirit and Fire: American Revivalists and Victorian Britain. Milton Keynes, UK: Paternoster, 2009. Shattuck, Gardiner H. “Ambrose Jessup Tomlinson (1865–1943).” Encyclopedia of American Religious History. 3rd ed., edited by Edward L. Queen, Stephen R. Prothero, and Gardiner H. Shattuck, 991. New York, NY: Facts on File, Inc., 2009. Smith-Rosenberg, Carroll. “The Female World of Love and Ritual: Relations between Women in Nineteenth-Century America.” In Women’s America. 3rd ed. Edited by Linda K. Kerber, and Jane Sherron De Hart, 189–190. New York: Oxford University Press, 1991. Stock, Jennifer. “George S. Montgomery: Businessman for the Gospel.” Assemblies of God Heritage 9:2 (Summer 1989): 12–14, 20. Warner, Wayne. Maria Woodworth-Etter: For Such a Time as This. Gainesville: BridgeLogos, 2004. Warner, Laceye C. Saving Women: Retrieving Evangelistic Theology and Practice. Waco: Baylor University Press, 2007.

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Waterman, Carla C. “Montgomery Carrie Judd (1858–1946).” Twentieth-Century Dictionary of Christian Biography, edited by J.D. Douglas, 258. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1995. Zeigler, J.R. “John Graham Lake.” In The New International Dictionary of Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements: Revised and Expanded Version, edited by Stanley M. Burgess and Ed van der Maas, 828. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2002.

Editor’s Note to Chapter 6 Kathryn Kuhlman was born in 1907 near Concordia, mo, in the same year that 36-year-old Florence Crawford would leave the year-old Azusa revival to launch her own Apostolic Faith Church in Portland. Although Kuhlman worked as an itinerant evangelist from the age of 17 within the Pentecostal tradition, her ministry rose to national and international prominence following wwii as a second wave of interest swept North America that brought the Pentecostal experience into traditional denominational churches. It was known as the Charismatic Movement. Fundamentalism continued to increase in influence throughout the firsthalf of the century. The National Association of Evangelicals rose into prominence in the us in an attempt to unite conservative Protestants and tone down some of the vitriolic rhetoric and harsh legalisms associated with the movement. The door of opportunity that had opened to Pentecostal women was virtually closed. Within the Assemblies of God denomination “accommodation to prevailing nae preferences started to be evidenced. The percentage of women in the total [of female missionaries in the Assemblies of God] gradually declined from 25.4 percent in 1950 to 9 percent in 1980.”1 Nevertheless, fundamentalists and evangelicals saw in this era’s restricting of female roles a return to biblical values. “The ‘feminine mystique’ ideals increasingly promulgated in the larger society during the 1940s and 1950s were given divine legitimation by the insistence that ‘God’s order’ decreed that woman’s place was in the home.”2 In fact, the entire us conservative Protestant community would recoil in a number of significant respects. The Women’s Movement, counterculture, legalization of abortion, and the era brought an anti-feminist and anti-women backlash among pastors in the 1960s and 1970s.3 Teachings of headship and patriarchalism increasingly would form the core of fundamentalist values. Historian Bendroth wrote that “evangelicals failed to adjust to the rapid social changes of the day after wwii … A cultural paralysis gripped them along with anxiety regarding the family and suspicion that the root of all the perplexing problems was the old question of ‘woman’s place.’ 1 Barbara Liddle Cavaness, “Factors Influencing the Decrease in the Number of Single Women in the Assemblies of God World Missions” (Ph.D. diss., Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, ca, 2002), 336. 2 Rosemary Radford Ruether and Rosemary Skinner Keller, eds. Women & Religion in America, Vol. 3, 1900–1968, A Documentary History (New York: Harper & Row, 1986), 232. 3 Cavaness, “Factors,” 329.

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So they began to draw in her boundaries using strange theological forces, and tried to ‘reassert traditional notions of social order’ which no longer fit the times.”4 Although the Kuhlman ministry rose to prominence during this Post-WWII era, few other female ministers were able to follow. In using the media to advantage, she was able to bypass the limitations many female ministers were experiencing in ecclesiastical settings and take her message and ministry directly to the people in their homes. The television show I Believe in Miracles helped to spread the charismatic message to North Americans, bringing it into the mainstream of American life, and normalizing the followers who had hitherto been considered extreme. Televising Christianity did more than simply offer a new field for revival and evangelism; it changed the way the Christian message was presented and received. I Believe in Miracles was a talk show, and in 1965 it was a new and innovative format.5 The success of the show’s format would inspire a generation of American Christian talk shows, including the widely popular ptl Club with Jim and Tammy Bakker, the 700 Club, with Pat Robertson, Praise the Lord with Paul and Jan Crouch and many others. Did Kuhlman advocate for the rights of other religious women? She did not. She circumvented patriarchal structures by simply refusing to engage with them in numerous ways. She refused to call herself a minister, healer, preacher, pastor, or even leader, or to accept any title for herself. In so doing, she shielded herself from the criticism she might have aroused as a female in ministry simply by not presenting herself as one. She chose not to start a church or build any facility, although she certainly brought in the funds to do. Again, with respect to the topic of female leadership, she simply skirted the issue. In some respects, Kuhlman found creative ways to negotiate for authority using ‘empowerment agency,’ wherein she resisted the religious quo but in ways that did not necessarily challenge or change it. According to Burke, ‘empowerment agency’ “assumes that the basic elements of gender traditional religions are harmful to women. Unlike ‘resistance agency,’ the empowerment model does not require that women challenge or attempt to change religious beliefs or practices, but rather that women change their response to beliefs or practices.”6 Regrettably, she modeled ‘empowerment agency’ to other women 4 Margaret Lambert Bendroth, “The Search for Women’s Role in American Evangelicalism, 1930–1980,” in Evangelicalism and Modern America, ed. George Marsden, (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1984), 122–134. See also, Cavaness, diss., 323. 5 See page 177. 6 Kelsy Burke, “Women’s Agency in Gender-Traditional Religions: A Review of Four Approaches,” Sociology Compass 6/2 (2012): 125.

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in ways that supported anomalism. Her presence inspired hope in women and many attempted to follow her example, but she gave them no concrete pathway or tools with which to do so. While it is the perspective of this volume that some measure of dissent to oppressive patriarchal structures was demonstrated by all of the female leaders presented in its pages, Kuhlman found creative and novel approaches of dissent. She surrounded herself with men, often speaking about males in the most respectful and generous terms. She illustrated her sermons with stories about men who were particularly hardworking and self-sacrificing and often noted how much she adored her father. She praised veterans and exalted fatherhood, using such verbal incentives as relational tokens in an ongoing exchange. She disarmed audiences with self-negation seldom heard from pulpits, often sharing that she told God that if he could use nothing, then he could take her. She joked about being unattractive, and even insisted that she herself would not walk across the street to hear Kathryn Kuhlman speak.7 “I’m not pretty, I haven’t got any talent, and I wouldn’t cross the street to hear myself speak. I wasn’t even born with hair on my head, just red fuzz. I told God if you want nothing, here’s nothing. All I have to give you is my love.”8 Her self-negation had the effect of defusing any of the vitriol regularly directed at female leaders in her era long enough to get herself heard. She sometimes told audiences that she believed she was God’s second or third choice, and that he would have preferred a man do the job. This response resonated well with traditional Pentecostals whose positions on women in leadership had morphed into seeing them as placeholders who were waiting for ‘God’s man’ to obey God and rise up take ‘his’ place. Did Kuhlman really believe this line of reasoning? It is doubtful when one considers how hard she fought to guard her ministry against male encroachers and challengers. The one junction at which her ministry hotly clashed with the subordinationist currents of the time was over the 1976 World Conference of the Holy Spirit in Jerusalem. She was scheduled as the keynote speaker, and Logos International president, Dan Malachuck, who organized the event, also invited Bob Mumford, a noted Shepherding9 teacher, to speak, as well. In a move that 7 Kathryn Kuhlman, “Dry Land, Living Water,” Las Vegas Welcomes Kathryn Kuhlman, May 3, 1975, video recording. 8 Kathryn Kuhlman, “Beginning of Miracles,” Kathryn Kuhlman Foundation, K832, n.d., audio cassette. 9 The Charismatic Movement shifted towards authoritarianism and strict gender hierarchalism as leaders such as Larry Christenson reinterpreted the movement in authoritarian terms. Books including The Christian Family became standard fodder and an exaggerated

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was completely out of character for her, she threatened to cancel her appearance if the minister was not disinvited. Kuhlman was reported as announcing, “If Bob Mumford goes to Israel, I shall not go. That man is a heretic … I shall not appear on the same platform with him.”10 Apparently, she suspected that he would have used the event to publically challenge her right to speak as a female, which doubtless would have occurred.11 Although in this instance one notes that Kuhlman was capable of ‘Resistance Agency’ she failed to offer an explanation to her throngs of female followers, which might have spared them from the rising tide of spiritual abuse that followed at the hands of the Shepherders. At the time of her death in 1976, Kuhlman was at the center of a charismatic ministry known throughout the world. Attracting capacity crowds throughout her fifty-five years of ministry, Kuhlman preached to hundreds of thousands of people. In the last ten years of her life, she preached at services every month to capacity crowds in the 7,000-seat Los Angeles Shrine Auditorium. It was not unusual for crowds to camp outside the doors for hours and days before a service. Kuhlman also hosted a radio show. Between 1965 and 1975, during the height of the Charismatic Renewal Movement, she also authored several best-selling books, including a collection of healing testimonies entitled I Believe in Miracles that sold more than a million copies. Despite her successful career and remarkable popularity, Kuhlman is largely forgotten in the history

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authoritarianism reached a crescendo as leaders emerged teaching a slavish subjugation to spiritual leaders called the Shepherding Movement. “Covering” teachings proliferated in a kind of Ponzi pyramid structure that introduced significant spiritual abuse into a young Christian community predominated by new converts. “Each layperson was submitted to another pastor in a kind of chain of command with a senior or presiding pastor overseeing a local church network of pastors.” Estimates of as many as 50,000 adherents were directly related to the movement at its peak in 1982 with 500 associated churches. Its monthly magazine “New Wine,” was distributed to more than 110,000 subscribers reaching 140 nations. The male-centric, power and domination-driven movement sought to shore up male authority against what it perceived was the emasculating influence of the bourgeoning feminist movement. S. David. Moore, Shepherding Movement: Controversy and Charismatic Ecclesiology (Journal of Pentecostal Theology Supplement) (London: T&T Clark International, 2003), 111. “It was in November, 1976 …,” said Viola Malachuk, wife of the late Dan Malachuk. “She [Kuhlman] said she wouldn’t go on with Bob Mumford. They were against everything she was doing, and she was very adamant that she wouldn’t be there with that. Dan had already planned to have a film done of her, and it was all lined up.” Comments from a phone interview with Viola Malachuk, 1/29/11. Malachuk was one of the few close personal friends of Kathryn Kuhlman. She was married to Dan Malachuk, and the couple were owners of Logos International; see http://ministrytodaymag.com/news/19478-a-visit-in-exile.

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of American Christianity, due in part to the efforts of male leaders such as Oral Roberts and Benny Hinn to claim her posthumous authority as their own. She has become a cipher emptied of her own character and story, re-interpreted by others to serve their own purposes. In this chapter, Amy Artman offers a portrait of Kuhlman and her popular us television show, I Believe in Miracles, and reflects on how it changed the national perception of Pentecostal and charismatic religious expression.

chapter 6

Producing Change: Kathryn Kuhlman and Modern Media Amy Collier Artman Introduction Never before had a religious leader hosted a television talk show like I Believe in Miracles. Between 1965 and 1975, during the height of the Charismatic Renewal Movement, healing evangelist and renewal superstar Kathryn Kuhlman hosted a syndicated television show that broke new ground and transformed the practice of Christianity in America. On September 12, 1973, Kathryn Kuhlman welcomed her guest Arlene Strackbein to I Believe in Miracles with these words: “My guest today has never seen one of our telecasts. That seems almost impossible when you consider the millions who have.”1 Kuhlman had a propensity for hyperbole, but by 1973 it was safe to say that millions had indeed been exposed to her syndicated television show. During its ten-year run, Kuhlman recorded over 500 episodes of I Believe in Miracles, which were broadcast throughout the United States and Canada.2 I Believe in Miracles worked in concert with Kuhlman’s best-selling books, popular radio shows, and sold-out Miracle Services to provide the viewing public access to charismatic Christianity on a scale not seen before. As Kuhlman noted in a conversation with her Miracles guest Edna Wilder, “You had never read I Believe in Miracles, never seen a telecast, never heard a radio program?” Wilder said no. Kuhlman then exclaimed, “Where in the world have ya been?”3

1 “Arlene Strackbein,” I Believe in Miracles, September 12, 1973, vhs, V31, Collection 212, the Kathryn Kuhlman Collection, Archives of the Billy Graham Center, Wheaton, IL. 2 Miracles was not produced by cbs, but rather was a production of the Kathryn Kuhlman Foundation. Ray Faiola, Director, cbs Audience Services, explains, “While I Believe in Miracles was taped at cbs in Hollywood, it was done so merely on the basis of rented space. The program was neither broadcast by cbs nor syndicated by cbs or its subsidiaries.” Ray Faiola, email message to author, June 22, 2006. 3 “Mrs. Edna Wilder,” I Believe in Miracles, November 27, 1973, vhs, V51, Collection 212, Kathryn Kuhlman Collection.

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I Believe in Miracles

Kuhlman’s use of the talk show format was part of a larger, deeper change in American Christianity influenced by television itself. Televising Christianity did more than simply offer a new field for revival and evangelism; it changed the way the Christian message was presented and received. At the forefront, I Believe in Miracles contributed to the transformation of charismatic Christianity and American Christianity overall, a transformation produced through the medium of television. I Believe in Miracles presented charismatic Christianity through a collection of narratives told by those who had experienced it. The great majority of the shows featured common people telling uncommon stories that contained within them the markers of charismatic Christianity as it developed in the Charismatic Renewal Movement of the mid-1960s to 1970s. People curious about charismatic Christianity were able to watch others who looked remarkably average speak about dramatically exceptional manifestations of the Spirit. If someone wanted to know about divine healing, Kuhlman’s show was there to watch. It was a non-threatening format, easily available due to Kuhlman’s broad syndication, and possessed the powerful option for the viewer of choice. If you didn’t like it, you could switch it off, and no one need ever know you ‘experimented’ with charismatic Christianity. The new accessibility of charismatic Christianity, with the accompanying anonymity provided by television, significantly benefited what had been considered by many mainstream Christians a suspect form of religiosity on the fringes of American Christianity. Television viewers could now experiment with new forms of Christianity in the privacy of their own homes without the risk of public exposure. This was an important component in the transformation of the image of charismatic Christianity, since many in the popular culture, the press, and mainstream Christianity historically regarded charismatics as freakish. Pentecostal evangelist Oral Roberts,4 a contemporary of Kuhlman, became a lightning rod for national discomfort with the charismatic emphasis on faith healing. In 1955, The Christian Century cautioned against “this Oral Roberts sort of thing” and declared that charismatic forms of Christianity “can do the cause of vital religion … harm.” A year later, proponents of divine healing were dubbed “racketeers” and “practitioners of religious quackery” by the National 4 Oral Roberts (1918–2009) was the first American Pentecostal evangelist to lead large televised revivals in which worshipers claimed to be miraculously healed. Early in his ministry career he held revivals in tents seating as many as 18,000 that he began filming for television. He was known for inviting viewers to put their hands on their tv sets for his closing prayer in order to receive healing power. In 1965 he launched Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

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Council of Churches.5 As late as 1963, during the peak of Kuhlman’s career, the Right Reverend James A. Pike, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of California, issued a pastoral letter instructing clergy to avoid participating in the charismatic practice of glossolalia, or speaking in tongues. Pike warned that tongues speech, “in its most extreme forms,” was “associated with schizophrenia.”6 In contrast to these dire warnings, as audiences tuned in to Kuhlman’s show they entered a world where charismatic Christianity was unexceptional. In each episode they were exposed to the testimonies of charismatic experiences of ‘normal’ Americans. The viewer of the show was able to identify with the appearance of the guests, to recognize this was a person who was “just like me,” except that this average Joe had experienced some aspect of charismatic Christianity. The non-threatening space of television combined with the everyday appearance and behavior of the guests on I Believe in Miracles brought about a positive transformation in the public image of charismatic Christianity.

Television Talk

I Believe in Miracles was a talk show.7 Although this seems less than striking in the talk-show-inundated society of the present, in 1965 it was a form that had not been seen before. There had been radio interview shows and television shows that included discussion, but a show centered exclusively on conversation was new.8 Televised talk was on the upswing when Kuhlman launched I Believe in Miracles. Like game shows, they were inexpensive to tape, had the 5 David Edwin Harrell, Jr., All Things Are Possible: The Healing and Charismatic Revivals in Modern America (Bloomington, in: Indiana University Press, 1975), 99–100. 6 Lawrence E. Davies, “Bishop Pike Warns Clergymen About ‘Speaking with Tongues,’” New York Times, May 7, 1963. 7 Considering the use of the talk show as important to the history of American Christianity requires taking the format seriously as a repository of historical information. Within the world of television itself, talk shows have historically garnered little respect. The recordings of Johnny Carson and Jack Paar’s first shows were erased so the film could be re-used, since the shows were considered to be disposable due to their “intense topicality.” Media scholars such as Bernard Timberg note the “dismissive attitude” toward television talk shows found in media scholarship itself. Over the last half of the twentieth century, the television talk show began to take over the roles traditionally held by television journalism. With a new status in politics and society, talk shows are no longer considered a disposable medium but instead a depository of historically significant matters. Bernard M. Timberg, Television Talk: A History of the tv Talk Show (Austin: University of Texas Press, 2002), 3. 8 Ibid., 3.

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allure of celebrity glamour, and many were flexible enough to schedule any hour of the day.9 In 1969 alone, twenty new talk shows went on the air, sixteen of which were produced for syndication.10 No other form of television was like a talk show—not soap operas, or game shows, or news broadcasts. The television talk show was “entirely structured around the act of conversation itself.”11 Television talk shows were established upon the coordinated foundations of “fresh talk” and “television talk.” Sociologist Erving Goffman defines “fresh talk” as “talk that appears to be spontaneous, no matter how planned or formatted it actually may be.”12 “Television talk,” therefore, was simply “fresh talk” on television. It drew upon the background of ‘talk’ as experienced on radio, and was “unscripted yet highly planned and invariably anchored by an announcer, host, or team of hosts.” Within this highly defined space were even more guiding principles.13 The role of the host was crucial. The host controlled the guests’ use of the air time, guided the ‘talk,’ and with a “brand-name” host, even defined the show itself. Talk shows were also “always experienced in the present tense as ‘conversation.’ Live, taped, or shown in reruns, talk shows always maintain the illusion of the present tense.” Closely linked with this was the sense of intimacy created by the talk show format. “The host speaks to millions as if to each alone.”14 Television talk shows addressed a limited audience within a television studio, yet simultaneously communicated to a larger viewing audience. Even the name “talk show” held within it the tensions created by the new format. Media scholar Wayne Munson explains: “The name itself epitomizes its promiscuous inclusiveness.” Munson asks, “Is it ‘talk’ or ‘show’? Conversation or spectacle? Both? Neither?”15 Talk shows were spontaneous yet highly structured, immediate yet virtual, and conversational yet host-controlled. Kuhlman entered her television career with a background in ‘fresh talk’ developed in radio and early television. Miracles took advantage of her experience, and she moved smoothly and successfully into the new world of the television talk show. As television came into its own, and Americans bought sets at a rapid pace, a significant section of evangelicalism engaged the new 9

Hal Erickson, Syndicated Television: The First Forty Years 1947–1987 (Jefferson, nc: McFarland and Company, Inc., Publishers, 1989), 158. 10 Timberg, Television Talk, 66. 11 Ibid. 12 Ibid. 13 Ibid., 3. 14 Ibid., 3–4. 15 Wayne Munson, All Talk: The Talk Show in Media Culture (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1993), 15.

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media with gusto. For leaders such as Kuhlman, television was seen as an entrée point into homes, just as radio had been before. Fuller Seminary professor Edward Carnell advised, “tv, while it may threaten to turn every home into a theater, can also turn every parlor into a church.”16 Carnell encouraged religious broadcasters to “be courageous, remembering that by overtaking man in his solitude tv enjoys an access into hearts which the organized church does not.”17 Evangelicals such as Kuhlman saw television as a reality of modern life. Its power could be used for good or evil, they reasoned; every effort should be made to access its potential to evangelize. Kuhlman recruited the talented and experienced producer Dick Ross to advise her as she developed her own television ministry. Ross quickly had seen the evangelism potential of commercial television, forming Great Commission Films in the early 1950s. Working first for World Vision, he also spent fourteen productive years with Billy Graham,18 from 1952–1966. He then decided to pursue an independent producing career, forming the company Production Associates. Soon after launching his independent business, he began a nine-year partnership with Kuhlman, helping her create the first television program that combined the talk show format with Christian content.19 Ross and Kuhlman began I Believe in Miracles following the publication of the best-selling book of testimonies of the same title, published in 1963. The combination was a success. Dick Ross explains: “Television became her medium. It went hand-in-glove with her platform services. The platform services were where the miracles happened; the television series became the means of sharing with millions across the country.”20 In addition, the relative economy of the format was a major reason why the talk show appealed to independent producers like Kuhlman and Ross. In comparison to other formats, talk, literally, was cheap.

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Daniel A. Stout and Judith M. Buddenbaum, eds., Religion and Mass Media: Audiences and Adaptations (Thousand Oaks, ca: sage Publications, 1996), 81. Ibid., 81. William Franklin “Billy” Graham, Jr., (1918 -) is an American evangelical Christian evangelist, ordained as a Southern Baptist minister, who rose to celebrity status by hosting annual ‘Billy Graham Crusades’ that were widely broadcast on television. Ross also produced seven quarterly specials for Oral Roberts during the late 1960s and was the producer of the feature film “The Cross and the Switchblade” in 1970. “Interview with Mr. Dick Ross by Dr. Lois Ferm,” May 1976, Billy Graham Oral History Program, Collection 151, 29–11, Archives of the Billy Graham Center, Wheaton, il. Helen Kooiman Hosier, Kathryn Kuhlman: The Life She Led, The Legacy She Left (Old Tappan, nj: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1976), 146, 151.

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Not everyone was as enthusiastic as Kuhlman about television talk shows. Television talk, with its ability to exist in the private and public world simultaneously, disturbed some early critics. Munson explains: “The first significant study … accused television talkshows [sic] of fostering a dangerous ‘illusion of intimacy’ for lonely spectators.”21 Talk shows generated the effect of simultaneity, where the viewer/listener experienced an event distant in space and time as happening in the present tense. Even though a syndicated show such as Miracles was taped days previously, the audience felt a sense of present tense.22 The simultaneity already present in broadcast media such as radio took on an eerie amplification through television. Television was “unnervingly immediate.”23 This was due in part to the newness of the experience of electronic vision, which “brought with it intriguing new ambiguities of space, time and substance: the paradox of visible, seemingly material worlds trapped in a box in the living room and yet conjured out of nothing more than electricity and air.”24 Because of this ambiguity, talk shows seemed dangerously capable of creating the impossibility of “intimacy at a distance,” in the critics’ own words. As early as 1956, observers noted television’s ability to blur the line between reality and fiction. The talk show’s first critics pointed with concern to its “‘designed informality,’ its double game of contrived spontaneity.” The ability of television to cross the fourth wall between audience and show also led to concern.25 This boundary became fluid, allowing the television program to engage audiences in new ways. Critics pointed to the hybrid nature of talk shows, their “textual position somewhere between the theatrical-fictional and the documentary or journalistic.”26 Was a talk show journalism or entertainment? Disturbingly for some, it was both. Into this ambiguous space came the smiling hostess, Kathryn Kuhlman, welcoming the audience into her world of ‘talk.’

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The study was Donald Horton and R. Richard Wohl, “Mass Communication and ParaSocial Interaction: Observations on Intimacy at a Distance,” Psychiatry 19 (1956): 215–229, quoted in Munson, All Talk, 16. 22 Timberg, Television Talk, 3–4. 23 Jeffrey Sconce, Haunted Media: Electronic Presence from Telegraphy to Television (Durham, nc: Duke University Press, 2000), 126. 24 Ibid., 126. 25 Munson defined the “fourth wall” as “the defining either-or aesthetic boundaries between performer and text and spectator … the clear distinction between public and private.” All Talk, 117. 26 Ibid., 115.

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Kathryn Kuhlman: Talk Show Host

When I Believe in Miracles began production, the focus of the program was in-depth interviews with a variety of people who had experienced some aspect of charismatic Christianity. Each episode helped establish Kuhlman as a serious talk show host and develop her relationship with her viewing audience. The show began with a time of direct interaction between Kuhlman and the viewer. At first she sometimes used the opening statement from her daily radio show, “Hello! And have you been waiting for me?” Soon, however, she settled into a standard opening line, “I believe in miracles … because I believe in God.” In these earlier shows, Kuhlman dressed quite conservatively in attractive but plain suit dresses of demure colors. Kuhlman and Ross chose to present Kuhlman as a professional woman rather than a female evangelist. Her jewelry was restrained, consisting primarily of rings and a gold cuff bracelet. Her image suited a businesswoman of the mid-1960s perfectly. By the 1970s, Kuhlman was competing for the same daytime female audience as other female emcees, or ‘femcees,’ such as Dinah Shore.27 Over time, she chose to present herself along the same nostalgic domestic lines as her competitors in the burgeoning talk show market. As I Believe in Miracles developed over the first five years, the studio environment and Kuhlman’s wardrobe became increasingly elaborate as she replaced her simple business dresses with ornate gowns. Columns surrounded by artificial trees, flowers, and various plants gave the impression on camera of a verdant plastic garden.28 Kuhlman seated her guests in large wicker chairs or white metal patio furniture inside the representation of a garden courtyard. On some episodes the leaves on the false trees fluttered, blown by an offstage fan. Fountains gurgled and occasionally hosted baby ducklings. Kuhlman even shared the stage with a large white cockatoo for one (and only one) opening vignette.29 As Miracles gained in popularity, Kuhlman worked to transform her studio into a fashionable television destination and herself into a chic hostess. 27 Timberg, Television Talk, 39–40. 28 Producer Dick Ross stated, “The garden setting which we gradually evolved was geared to her personality and love for flowers.” Hosier, Kathryn Kuhlman, 148. 29 The bird was uncooperative, bobbing and flapping its wings in Kuhlman’s face. She became very amused as she tried to handle the animal with some sort of panache. “I believe in miracles,” she said wryly as she finally deposited the bird in its cage. “It’s a miracle I ever got that bird off my arm!” Offstage laughter from the crew was audible as Kuhlman turned from the bird to the introduction of her guest. The cockatoo never returned to the show. “David King,” I Believe in Miracles, February 15, 1974, vhs, V49, Collection 212, Kathryn Kuhlman Collection.

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Kuhlman’s welcoming words and the ushering of guests into her studio ‘home’ were a part of what scholars of talk shows call the ‘hospitality ritual.’ In the ritual, the host is portrayed as inviting the guest into her home, the decorated sound stage, for a nice visit together. Timberg explains, “The hospitality rituals are even more consciously enacted when the studio mimes a home, as it did on the Dinah Shore30 talk show.”31 Unlike Shore, Kuhlman did not offer her guests a cup of tea or usher them onto a communal couch, but she still relied on the hospitality ritual with its powerful domestic imagery. On an episode taped February 14, 1973, Kuhlman told her audience that there would be no guests on the show that day. The show would be ‘just her.’ “And certainly I’m not a guest—I want you to feel I’m a part of your family,” Kuhlman said with a smile.32 Her style created a comfortable give-and-take with her guests. Kuhlman would often lean in to the guest and make the statement, “Let me ask you confidentially …” as the cameras broadcasted the conversation to homes across America. Statements like these, absurd on the surface, were part of creating the illusion of intimacy vital to the effectiveness of the talk show format. The format of I Believe in Miracles combined direct address of the audience with guest interviews, which created an interesting experience for the viewer. At the beginning of every episode, Kuhlman addressed the camera/audience directly and often chatted in a casual way about the subject of the show or her own delight at the healings taking place in her ministry. Following this conversation with the viewers, she would often introduce the musical interlude. At the end of the music, the cameras switched to a scene of Kuhlman seated across from her guest or guests for the day. During the musical segment and guest interview, the viewer retreated into the position of observer, but at the end, sometimes abruptly, Kuhlman would turn and again engage the viewer directly with a call to faith. The experience was similar to watching a play from the front row when suddenly a character turns and addresses the audience from the stage. At the end of her plea to the viewers, Kuhlman prayed, and at the established words “for Jesus’ sake we ask it,” the lights dimmed, the music

30

The Dinah Shore Show ran on American television for more than twelve seasons from 1951– 1963. Dinah’s guests included Nat “King” Cole, Bing Crosby, Jack Lemmon, and a young Barbra Streisand. The glamorous host always ended her televised programs by throwing an enthusiastic kiss directly to the cameras (and viewers) and exclaiming “MWAH!” to the audience. 31 Timberg, Television Talk, 201. 32 “Heart-To-Heart: Filling of the Holy Spirit,” I Believe in Miracles, February 14, 1973, vhs, V9, Collection 212, Kathryn Kuhlman Collection.

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began to play, the camera swept up and back from the scene and continued to look down upon Kuhlman and the guest(s) as the end credits ran. The direct address at the end of I Believe in Miracles was a form of ‘altar call’ found in many evangelistic services, and, therefore, it took on even more significance. At this point in the program the viewer was asked to step out of the position of neutral observer and engage the Christian message advocated on the show. In this, Kuhlman combined the talk show format with her revivalist past, and through her innovation managed to capture the attention of bemused and detached viewers along with the admiring faithful, right in their very own living rooms.

I Believe in Miracles: A New Kind of Talk Show

The conversations about charismatic Christianity presented on Miracles took place between Kuhlman and one or more guests in a small studio. These exchanges were then broadcast around the nation and even the world. This resulted in what Timberg called the “dual consciousness” of the talk show, “because talk shows address an immediate and public audience at the same time … they are a form of rhetoric that is both private and public, personal and mass.”33 Like a tent revival,34 Christianity on television was offered in a public space where people could hear and see Christian narratives enacted before them. Onlookers had the choice to engage as believers or skeptics, or to remain as simple observers. The difference between tv and the tent was in the duality of the private and public nature of the talk show. Television enabled a sort of religious voyeurism, where the viewer could watch in privacy. As the viewer encountered the private/public world of conversation as talk show, there were opportunities privately to observe and even learn about charismatic Christianity, a subject often deemed suspect if engaged within the public space of a church or a tent. Kuhlman’s guests served to demonstrate the unexceptional face of charismatic Christianity. They often spoke about the characteristic charismatic experiences of divine healing, being slain in the Spirit, and experiencing the gift of a ‘Word of Knowledge’ with a breeziness and calm that belied their cultural

33 Timberg, Television Talk, 15. 34 Throughout the American landscape in the twentieth century, Pentecostal itinerant evangelists used large tents to gather in a town or city centers for protracted meetings before moving on. Tent meetings were a common staple of North American Pentecostalism.

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and theological radicalness.35 These casual references to charismatic experiences by average people reinforced the normalcy of these manifestations of the Spirit in these people’s lives and the availability of these experiences to the people in the viewing audience. Or, as Miracles guest Harry Stephenson put it, “What God done for me, he can do for anybody.”36 Divine healing was present in the great majority of episodes of I Believe in Miracles. On one episode taped January 16, 1973, Kuhlman welcomed Richard Wolf as her guest. Wolf was a handsome man somewhere in his fifties, with stylishly longer grey hair and a fairly rakish appearance. Wolf told of experiencing two strokes, which paralyzed 40 percent of his left side. His face bore traces of hard living, with the ruddy complexion and broken veins typical of an alcoholic. But he was well spoken, obviously educated, and quite charming as he recounted his story. Wolf: I was hospitalized due to excessive use of alcohol. It had caused brain damage. I drank twenty-five years, three years even after I was told of brain damage. I half-heartedly tried to stop. I stopped in 1967, and in 1969 I had an aneurysm. I had violent headaches. In November of 1972 I had a stroke with an aneurysm. I had facial drop. I was in the hospital for a coupla months. I had violent headaches. I took one hundred aspirin a week and codeine. Last September I went to church at the Church of Christ. I believed in God, but I was a skeptic. If things were going well for me, [God] and I were good buddies for a while. A woman from the church suggested you [and] gave us a copy of [your book] God Can Do It Again.37 My wife began to read the book on a trip to Florida. As she prayed, I got worse. She began to pray thanks for my healing. I went to an aa meeting, and I felt the pain—bam! in my head. I began to throw up blood. I had vowed I would not go back to the hospital. Monday morning October 2, I sat up in bed, and I didn’t have a headache. I felt very, very strange. Kuhlman: Were you amazed? 35

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The phrase “Word of Knowledge” refers to the second gift of the Holy Spirit listed in 1 Corinthians 12: 7–10. Within the Pentecostal and Charismatic communities, a Word of Knowledge is “a very special gift, that of knowing what God is doing at this moment in another’s soul or body, or of knowing the secrets of another’s heart.” Stanley M. Burgess and van der Maas, eds. The New International Dictionary of Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements, s.v. “Knowledge, Word of” (Grand Rapids, mi: Zondervan, 2002). “Harry Stephenson, cancer,” I Believe in Miracles, April 22, 1966, vhs, V138, Collection 212, The Kathryn Kuhlman Collection. Kuhlman’s second book of healing testimonies, which was a best seller.

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Wolf: I was scared. I was waiting for the headache to come. I went to work, spent all day waiting for the pain to come; it never did.38 Wolf credited Kuhlman’s book, God Can Do It Again, for bringing about a divine healing. As he began to realize he had been healed, his wife determined they were going to find a Kathryn Kuhlman service to attend, “No matter how far we have to go.” They found a service in Youngstown, Ohio, at the Stambaugh Auditorium, only ninety miles from their home. At the service, Wolf was slain in the Spirit and describes the experience: I had such a warm glow. You called people up for a spiritual healing. I went up. You said something to me, and next thing I knew I was on the floor. You placed your hand right on my head where I’d had the aneurysm. I was standing upright, trying to hold on. It didn’t work, I got zapped again. And then I knew, I knew that my sins had now been forgiven. It’s just been so glorious. Now I am doing things like staying in church seven hours, and missing a Brown’s game!39 Richard Wolf’s appearance was strikingly average. He seemed like the sort of man you would see in offices—and bars—in any city in America. His reference to missing football games for church as a sign of his transformation was endearing. He seemed unaffected and natural, even as he spoke of divine healing and the slaying power of the Holy Spirit, manifestations considered radical by most Christians of his time. The ‘slaying power of the Spirit’ was a particularly dramatic charismatic experience. Kuhlman’s show affirmed this phenomenon through the quiet words of a young Catholic priest. On April 17, 1975, Kuhlman interviewed Father J. Bertolucci; they discussed their shared experiences at the World Conference of The Holy Spirit, which occurred in Jerusalem in 1974:

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“Richard Wolf, stroke,” I Believe in Miracles, January 16, 1973, vhs, V460, Collection 212, The Kathryn Kuhlman Collection. Kuhlman touched Wolf and prayed for him, but the touch was not a “point of contact” for healing. Wolf was already healed when he came to the service, and Kuhlman’s invitation had been for those who desired prayer for “spiritual healing.” Kuhlman was clear that her touch was not necessary for healing. Her touch during prayer instead was commonly associated with the phenomenon of being “slain in the Spirit.” Point of contact healing was closely associated with Kuhlman contemporary Oral Roberts. “Richard Wolf, stroke.”

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I was at Jerusalem at the same time you were in Congress Hall, Bertolucci said with a smile. It was a beautiful experience. You came out, and the power of God was just so real. The Lord started giving you the Word of Knowledge, I believe we call it. You started calling out healings, people would come up, be [slain.] … I wanted you to pray for me. I thought, ‘Every Catholic priest and minister in the auditorium should come up so she can pray for you.’ You began praying for me, I went down, I went down two times. The second time, you did something. You left the stage and began walking through the people. It was like walking through high grass. People were just falling as you walked.40 Although Kuhlman herself spent several episodes of Miracles carefully explaining the purpose of the slaying power of the Spirit, the number and variety of testimonies about it were invaluable for making this charismatic experience more palatable to the American public. In his exchange with Kuhlman, Father Bertolucci spoke hesitantly of “the Word of Knowledge, I believe we call it.” The gift of Words of Knowledge was the third marker of charismatic Christianity discussed with equanimity on I Believe in Miracles. This particular gift became characteristic of charismatic Christianity during the time of the charismatic renewal movement. Kuhlman became a celebrity in the movement due in large part to the manifestation of the ‘Word of Knowledge’ in her miracle services. On May 13, 1970, Ruby Haff visited with Kuhlman about her healing from arthritis. Haff was a lovely woman in her late fifties, raised Southern Baptist and a practicing American Baptist. She was invited to a healing service. “I came into the service as an arthritic,” Haff stated. “My problem was stupidity. I never thought it could be me. You called out a healing of the spine. I thought, ‘Why won’t that person say something?’ You walked down the aisle, pointed at me and said, ‘It’s you.’ My jaw dropped. I thought people were being rewarded. I thought they had earned these healings. It was as though electricity went through my hands and arms. I looked down expecting to see them sparking!” Kuhlman added, “I had to call you out, or you might still be sitting there.”41 Charming Ruby Haff laughingly told of her own ignorance as divine healing almost passed her by. Kuhlman spoke a ‘Word of Knowledge,’ singling out Haff as the one receiving healing. Haff seemed genuinely astonished by her charismatic experience. This type of 40 41

“Father J. Bertolucci,” I Believe in Miracles, April 17, 1975, vhs, V480, Collection 212, The Kathryn Kuhlman Collection. “Ruby Haff, arthritis,” I Believe in Miracles, May 13, 1970, vhs, V192, Collection 212, The Kathryn Kuhlman Collection.

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testimony to the gift of ‘Words of Knowledge’ was effective in presenting the image of charismatic Christians as regular people surprised by the miraculous acts of God. Meanwhile, another set of guests highlighted the entrée of charismatic Christianity into social and educational circles previously considered beyond the reach of such a suspect form of religiosity. They were notable, not for being average, but for being elite. Through their stories, charismatic Christianity was presented as not just normal, but as culturally desirable. One guest who made repeat appearances on the Kuhlman show was Colonel Tom Lewis. Lewis demonstrated the new status of charismatic Christianity in America. He was a television producer intimately involved in the development of the Armed Forces Radio Network during World War ii. Educated and well-known, he was a respected figure in television production as well as in the Los Angeles community. He told the story of first watching Kuhlman in action, “I was researching you. I was not hostile. I am Roman Catholic, and I found you doctrinally pure. I read about you, watched you on tv. [At the service at the Los Angeles Shrine Auditorium], I saw people raising their hands, and I thought, ‘Oh, that’s too bad.’” Lewis’ story offered an example for the socially elite interested in charismatic Christianity: he came simply to research the phenomenon. Lewis continued, “An addict grabbed you—you didn’t cringe, you just said ‘All right, honey,’ and held her … I had thought of myself as stylishly sinful. It was all new to me. Soon I raised my hands and I was saying ‘Praise the Lord.’ After Holy Communion [at Mass] the next day, I felt the Real Presence of God in a staggering way. I was shaking.” Lewis’s initial experience was one of discomfort and awkwardness, but soon he found himself drawn into the charismatic experience. He concluded, “I felt bewildered when I left the Shrine. I was terribly happy going home in the car.”42 Viewers watching guests like Lewis saw a refined image of charismatic Christianity that was appealing. Kuhlman spoke once with Mrs. Penny Rohrer and her son, John. Kuhlman asked, “How did you get to the Shrine?” Penny Rohrer answered, “I began watching your program on tv. I didn’t like it at first, but I kept watching. And then I turned on one day and Tom Lewis was on with you … and he was telling about his spiritual healing. And I was so impressed with that I thought, someone so sophisticated and so well known, it would have to be true. It just would have to be. Uh, this would be nation-wide tv and he wouldn’t be on here [unless it was true.] I kept trying to rationalize

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“Colonel Tom Lewis,” I Believe in Miracles, June 14, 1972, vhs, V1, Collection 212, The Kathryn Kuhlman Collection.

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it.”43 Rohrer’s testimony contained several of the components that made Kuhlman’s television show important to the cultural acceptance of charismatic Christianity. The availability of the unique I Believe in Miracles allowed a skeptical viewer to watch several episodes over time even though the viewer “didn’t like it at first.” The experience of watching a respected, sophisticated figure like Lewis claim a charismatic experience made the difference for viewers like Penny Rohrer, and in her case led to a conversion to charismatic Christianity. Colonel Tom Lewis was willing to substantiate charismatic Christianity on television, and this public witness led Rohrer to accept his story as true. Kuhlman interviewed a wide assortment of guests who contributed to the changes in the image of charismatic Christianity in America. She welcomed an Apollo 15 astronaut, and also politicians, such as Herbert Ellingwood, the legal affairs secretary for California governor, Ronald Reagan. Kuhlman chatted with current and former United States senators as well as professional football players. Catholic priests and nuns testified to charismatic experiences, along with clergy from Lutheran, Episcopal, and Baptist backgrounds, among others. Celebrities like the expected Pat Boone and the unexpected “LuLu” from HeeHaw gave their witness to their participation in charismatic Christianity. Revered missionary, Holocaust survivor, and best-selling author Corrie Ten Boom visited with Kuhlman over the course of several episodes, as did Houston police captain, John LeVrier. The presence of so many respected, professional people on Kuhlman’s show over its ten years both testified to and fostered a growing cultural acceptance of charismatic Christianity in America.

I Believe in Miracles and the Transformation of Charismatic Christianity

The decision to produce a Christian talk show had far-ranging consequences for Kuhlman’s ministry and celebrity as well as for charismatic Christianity in America. The innovative talk show I Believe in Miracles provided a place on the tv dial for gentrified charismatic Christianity, a new concept for most of the American viewing public. The guests on Miracles were able to present themselves and their experiences in a natural way, through the sharing of stories and seemingly casual conversation. Every day, average charismatics were able to talk about their alternative experiences without the need to defend themselves against cultural predispositions. In the world of Miracles, they were 43

“Mrs. Penny Rohrer and John,” I Believe in Miracles, vhs, V109, Collection 212, The Kathryn Kuhlman Collection, n.d., internal evidence suggests 1975.

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normal. In such a welcoming environment, those who had charismatic experiences to share were able to do so without fear of being challenged or marginalized. Miracles did not even have a live studio audience to respond to guests. On that sound stage, the charismatic practices that seemed esoteric, fringe, and frightening in the ‘real world’ were transformed into narratives that seemed, after hundreds of repetitions, quite normal. Kuhlman said it often enough; “I have to believe in miracles; I see them every day.” Hundreds and hundreds of images of charismatic Christians came into the homes of Americans all over the country as Kuhlman’s show increased in syndication and the number of people buying television sets exploded. The background chatter of divine healing, slayings in the Spirit, and ‘Words of Knowledge’ was now welcome in homes where charismatic Christianity was previously unknown. Television’s presence in the home brought new images into the midtwentieth century American living room in ways that were mind-altering. New knowledge streamed into American homes through television sets. Religion was now mediated through the disorienting means of television. The ability to self-identify as a charismatic became based, not so much on membership in a church, but membership in a movement largely defined by the media. Inside the charismatic neighborhood created by Miracles, the elite and average mingled comfortably in the imagery projected by the talk show, all sharing the common denominator of charismatic experience. Linked by their appearance on separate episodes of Miracles, the quietly charismatic Episcopalian comfortably co-existed with the boisterous Vegas showgirl convert, their connectedness existing not in church membership, but in the fluid, permissive space of television. Father Bertolucci did not have to know the former barhopping Richard Wolf personally; they were brothers in Spirit and in television. Charismatics of strikingly different types found on Miracles a stage from which to share their stories. As the viewing audience watched and learned, “old lines were erased and new ones drawn,” in Munson’s words. The television talk show I Believe in Miracles, with its recombinatory ability, took charismatic Christianity in all its diverse forms and helped produce a vision of a charismatic movement.44 The immediacy and flow of television produced 44

“As the exemplary mode of contemporary cultural expression, television significantly rewrites and transforms the cultural and social practices that it references and recombines.” Mimi White, Tele-Advising: Therapeutic Discourse in American Television (Chapel Hill, nc: The University of North Carolina Press, 1992), 180. Timberg agreed: “The talk show is a porous genre in a porous medium, absorbing everything that comes its way: the economic climate, commercial trends and fashions, political and social movements. The talk show establishes new social rituals.” Timberg, Television Talk, 194.

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in both form and content a more fluid charismatic Christianity that became a legitimate option for the American public. Kuhlman’s career as a television talk show host literally changed the way Americans ‘saw’ charismatic Christianity, and contributed to the movement of charismatic Christianity from periphery to center in twentieth-century America. Bibliography “Arlene Strackbein.” I Believe in Miracles, September 12, 1973. VHS, V31. Collection 212. The Kathryn Kuhlman Collection. Archives of the Billy Graham Center, Wheaton, IL. Burgess, Stanley M., and Eduard van der Maas, eds. The New International Dictionary of Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2002. “Colonel Tom Lewis.” I Believe in Miracles, June 14, 1972. VHS, V1. Collection 212, The Kathryn Kuhlman Collection. Archives of the Billy Graham Center, Wheaton, IL. “David King.” I Believe in Miracles, February 15, 1974. VHS, V49. Collection 212, Kathryn Kuhlman Collection. Archives of the Billy Graham Center, Wheaton, IL. Davies, Lawrence E. “Bishop Pike Warns Clergymen About ‘Speaking with Tongues.’” New York Times, May 7, 1963. Erickson, Hal. Syndicated Television: The First Forty Years 1947–1987. Jefferson, NC: McFarland and Company, Inc., Publishers, 1989. “Father J. Bertolucci.” I Believe in Miracles, April 17, 1975. VHS, V480. Collection 212, The Kathryn Kuhlman Collection. Archives of the Billy Graham Center, Wheaton, IL. Harrell, David Edwin Jr., All Things Are Possible: The Healing and Charismatic Revivals in Modern America. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1975. “Harry Stephenson, cancer.” I Believe in Miracles, April 22, 1966. VHS, V138. Collection 212, The Kathryn Kuhlman Collection. Archives of the Billy Graham Center, Wheaton, IL. “Heart-To-Heart: Filling of the Holy Spirit.” I Believe in Miracles, February 14, 1973. VHS, V9. Collection 212, Kathryn Kuhlman Collection. Archives of the Billy Graham Center, Wheaton, IL. Hosier, Helen Kooiman. Kathryn Kuhlman: The Life She Led, the Legacy She Left. Old Tappan, NJ: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1976. “Interview with Mr. Dick Ross by Dr. Lois Ferm.” 1976. Billy Graham Oral History Program, Collection 151, 29–11. Archives of the Billy Graham Center, Wheaton, IL. “Mrs. Edna Wilder.” I Believe in Miracles, November 27, 1973. VHS, V51. Collection 212, Kathryn Kuhlman Collection. Archives of the Billy Graham Center, Wheaton, IL. “Mrs. Penny Rohrer and John.” I Believe in Miracles, n.d. VHS, V109. Collection 212, The Kathryn Kuhlman Collection. Archives of the Billy Graham Center, Wheaton, IL.

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Munson, Wayne. All Talk: The Talk Show in Media Culture. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1993. “Richard Wolf, stroke.” I Believe in Miracles, January 16, 1973. VHS, V460. Collection 212. The Kathryn Kuhlman Collection. “Ruby Haff, arthritis.” I Believe in Miracles, May 13, 1970. VHS, V192. Collection 212, The Kathryn Kuhlman Collection. Archives of the Billy Graham Center, Wheaton, IL. Sconce, Jeffrey. Haunted Media: Electronic Presence from Telegraphy to Television. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2000. Stout, Daniel A., and Judith M. Buddenbaum, eds. Religion and Mass Media: Audiences and Adaptations. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, 1996. Timberg, Bernard M. Television Talk: A History of the TV Talk Show. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2002. White, Mimi. Tele-Advising: Therapeutic Discourse in American Television. Chapel Hill, NC: The University of North Carolina Press, 1992.

Editor’s Note to Chapter 7 The popularity of American televangelism increased precipitously in the later twentieth century, and popularized a diverse cast of women, some of whom rose to celebrity status, including Marilyn Hickey, Tammy Faye Bakker, and Jan Crouch. Over the next two decades, the women of the prosperity gospel became household names and mainstays of television. Their faces were seen standing behind megachurch pulpits and on albums and book covers. The movement’s egalitarian emphasis on the significance of spirituals laws—accessible by anyone with a little faith—opened up theological space for women who claimed such agency. But these women remained fraught symbols in a broader cultural war over the proper place for women in work, church, and the home. This chapter examines the evolving role of female evangelists of the American prosperity movement. In the 1940s and 1950s, women such as Freda Lindsay and Evelyn Roberts served as the secretaries and behind-the-scenes organizers of their husbands’ famous tent revivals. But as the revivals cooled into settled ministries and new headquarters had to be staffed, more women took on semi-public jobs as administrators of these family-run institutions. Famous wives, like Daisy Osborn, quickly made waves as preachers in their own right, while others only took the mantle after their spouse passed away. By the 1970s, a cadre of female celebrities began to build their own national reputations and emerge from their husbands’ shadows. The female leaders of the prosperity gospel defended their spiritual authority in an evangelical and Pentecostal world dominated by the language of male headship. As they learned to lead, they spoke a language of spiritual equality and domestic submission in the same breath as complimentary and conflicting explanations for why their preaching, teaching, and leadership could be considered a divine calling. Nevertheless, the leadership of such women was modeled and presented as existing in some degree of relationship to males. Were such women dissenters of patriarchal structures in any respect? Were they attempting to seek non-confrontational methods of dissent in ways similar to the style of Kathryn Kuhlman? Or, was a more nuanced operation being demonstrated in the agency of these women? Where Kuhlman largely ignored and circumvented gender strictures, this wave of charismatic women affirmed them intentionally and continually while commensurately exhibiting behaviors that were diametrically opposed to them. Such women demonstrated ‘instrumental agency’ which tends to be more utilitarian than other expressions and “assumes women want to free themselves from patriarchal culture and particularly stifling aspects of their lives. Unlike © koninklijke brill nv, leiden, ���7 | doi 10.1163/9789004332546_015

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empowerment agency’s emphasis on the internal feelings of power that may result from religious participation, instrumental agency emphasizes external advantages (either material or relational) that may result from religious participation.”1 This generation of female charismatic leaders went to great lengths to position themselves publically as submissive wives within the complementarian patriarchal model by discussing female submission at every opportunity; yet, they accrued to themselves benefits that enabled them to operate beyond the limitations of the same roles they advocated for other women. In some sense, they became women leaders by teaching other women not to lead. (Yet, many women followed the example of their duplicitous behavior rather than the literal message of their words.) In this respect, they became agents of a patriarchal system in ways that allowed them to benefit by living beyond the system they affirmed. We see such examples of agency in the era’s politics of the Far Right where women like Phyllis Schlafly,2 who privileged to herself benefits denied by the system to other women by becoming a spokesperson to women on behalf of it, and whose membership within that system as a woman lent it legitimatization. “Critics of the instrumental approach to women’s agency argue that such a perspective can ‘blind us … to the fact that “agents” who act to combat one form of oppression may at the same time be preserving and validating another.’”3 Examples of instrumental agency are plentiful within all unjust and dysfunctional systems. Yet, with respect to conservative religious women the more nuanced nature of agency and participation seem more difficult to identify. “The approach suggests that religion is a means to reach an end goal that is unrelated to religious faith itself. As John Barkowski and Jen’nan Ghazal Read argue, ‘even the most traditional elements of … conservative religions often end up serving progressive ends.’”4 This is certainly the case with Prosperity Gospel women who teach female submission while operating as ministry heads, and

1 Kelsy C. Burke, “Women’s Agency in Gender-Traditional Religions: A Review of Four Approaches,” Sociology Compass 6/2 (2012): 126–127. 2 Phyllis Stewart Schlafly (1924 -) is a retired American constitutional lawyer, conservative activist, author, and speaker and founder of the Eagle Forum. Schlafly is an outspoken advocate of the Far Right’s demand that women function solely as full-time mothers and wives. She rose to prominence in American culture by playing a key role in helping to defeat the Equal Rights Amendment during the 1970s. Gloria Steinem and others consider Schlafly’s role as an advocate of traditional female roles, while being herself a lawyer, editor of a monthly newsletter, regular speaker at anti-liberal rallies, and political activist, to be a contradiction. 3 Ibid., 127. 4 Kelsy Burke, 127.

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with Schlafly who fought to maintain a separate sphere for women while operating autonomously outside of it. This chapter by Kate Bowler presents a unique portrait of charismatic women who operated in a Janus-faced contradiction that effectively affirmed patriarchal structures in the conservative American landscape. Their contradictions did not escape the notice of the following generations of conservative young women as divorces among conservatives increased and church attendance declined.5 5 Although statistics have been hotly disputed, divorce rates among conservative Christians were significantly higher than for other faith groups, and much higher than Atheists and Agnostics experience during this era 1960–1980s. George Barna, president and founder of Barna Research Group, commented: “While it may be alarming to discover that born again Christians are more likely than others to experience a divorce, that pattern has been in place for quite some time.” Of all religious groups, divorce rates among non-denominational, conservative groups were by far the highest. See, http://www.religioustolerance.org/chr_dira .htm.

chapter 7

A Successful Calling: Women, Power, and the Rise of the American Prosperity Gospel Kate Bowler Introduction Evangelist Gordon Lindsay, the great publicist of the postwar healing revival, died suddenly in 1973 at the age of sixty-six with an enormous ministry to his name. His organization encompassed a far-flung international network of church plants, Bible schools, and a worldwide tape and book ministry that had made Gordon synonymous with faith for healing, prosperity, and the miraculous.1 It was only when Gordon died that anyone realized Freda, his stalwart wife, had been carrying so much of the load—and a flood of angry letters arrived attempting to convince her that the Lord surely disapproved.2 As Freda’s steady hand guided the ministry with impressive skill over the coming decades from financial hardship to solid ground, she grappled with conflicting expectations for leading women in a rapidly changing Pentecostal/charismatic world. She modeled an expanding list of the feminine ideals of wife, secretary, and widow, then author, fundraiser, administrator, and president. This chapter argues that, from its early days in traveling tent ministries to its latter years of megachurch dominance, women have become recognized leaders in the making of the American prosperity gospel as they embodied evolving roles. First, in the 1940s and 1950s, the movement’s first female leaders were the little-known wives and secretaries of tireless pastors. Second, as the postwar revivals settled into established ministries and congregations, a cluster of pastors’ wives in the emerging prosperity movement earned their place in the spotlight and, in some cases, eclipsed their leading men. Third, powerful female luminaries of the 1970s and 1980s such as Daisy Osborn, Freda Lindsay, and Evelyn Roberts each emerged from their husband’s shadows. Each was still 1 For more on the significance of Gordon Lindsay to the healing revival, see David Edwin Harrell, All Things Are Possible: The Healing and Charismatic Revivals in Modern America (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1979). For the specific contributions of Freda, see Scott Billingsley, It’s a New Day: Race and Gender in the Modern Charismatic Movement (Tuscaloosa, al: University of Alabama Press, 2008). 2 “Biography,” Freda Lindsay Ministry, http://www.fredalindsay.com/bio.php.

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a wife, either still married to a well-known pastor or a widow serving as caretaker to her husband’s legacy, but also a pioneer whose growing sense of independent authority challenged the gentle roles she was assigned. And, lastly, the triumph of the prosperity gospel on the television screen transformed a diverse cast of women like Marilyn Hickey, Tammy Faye Bakker, and Jan Crouch into American celebrities. Over the next two decades, female evangelists of the prosperity gospel would become many of the most famous faces on television, church platforms, and on the covers of inspirational bestsellers. In part it was because of the movement’s emphasis on spiritual laws3— accessible by anyone with a little faith—that women claimed such agency in the prosperity movement. Just as the Holy Spirit fell on all people, so, too, women could expect that their lives would be testimonies to the power of faith to prove God’s abundant blessings. Yet, so often these women were forced to grapple with their symbolic identities in a broader cultural and political tugof-war over what constituted their rightful place in American society. These leaders faced many obstacles in justifying their authority in an evangelical and Pentecostal world dominated by the language of male headship. As they learned to lead, the women of the prosperity gospel spoke a language of spiritual equality and domestic submission in the same breath as complimentary and conflicting explanations for why their preaching, teaching, and leadership could be considered a true calling from God.

Wives and Secretaries: The 1940s and 1950s

After World War ii, hundreds of ministers broke with their Pentecostal denominations, left their homes, and picked up their tents to travel the United States and Canada as healers, preachers, and miracle workers. They were the nightly attractions to which thousands flocked to see men of God restore a bygone era of signs and wonders where the lame threw away their crutches and the blind looked again with astonishment at the world.4 With the clear light of day, however, it was easier to see that these newly formed evangelistic associations were often shoestring operations driven by the bold examples of charismatic founders and carried on the backs of tireless families. Men like Oral Roberts, T.L. Osborn, and Gordon Lindsay were the headliners of a national revival of healing, prophecy, and, by the late 1950s, prosperity. It was 3 Kate Bowler, “Daily Grind: The Spiritual Workday of the American Prosperity Gospel,” Journal of Cultural Economy 8, no 5 (2015): 632–33, doi: 10.1080/17530350.2014.982150. 4 Harrell, All Things Are Possible, 6.

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the punishing campaign schedules and demanding callings that made faithful wives into faithful assistants. Revivalists and their families lived like traveling circuses, featuring a flurry of fliers, small towns, canvas big tops, and teaser campaigns, with the added apocalyptic urgency of doing God’s work. They moved from city to city, motel to motel, in the daily grind of constant organization, improvisation, and promotion. While father penned a breathless account of their last crusade for a magazine, children might tidy the chairs while mother picked out the opening tune for that night. Men contemplating the bonds of marriage understood that they were choosing not only wives but also jacks-of-all-trades who needed talent and stamina. As Evelyn Roberts, wife of the rising star Oral Roberts, said wryly of their courtship: “Old practical Oral. He was not going to marry someone who could not play the piano.”5 Some women were not content to be accompanists, but felt a call of their own. Daisy Osborn toured beside her husband (and the biggest names in the revival) as a popular authority on healing and a powerful evangelist in her own right. As early as 1948, she called the work that many wives silently performed by another name: ‘ministry.’ “My husband and I have walked together, prayed, fasted and read together, taught and preached together,” she recounted, “enjoying the supreme privilege of leading broken, bleeding, and suffering humanity to the feet of Jesus.”6 The much-hyped international Osborn crusades were advertised as family events, with the couple arm in arm beside their two precocious children.7 But most women who sought a ministerial life on the main stage had to put their dreams aside. Lexie Allen, wife of the controversial healer, A.A. Allen, had planned to go to Bible school herself before an emergency derailed their plans and the momentum of his solo ministry moved them in another direction. Instead, she would wear many hats as her husband’s secretary, manager, and publicist, authoring books like God’s Man of Faith and Power: The Life Story of A. A. Allen that helped make Allen one of the most recognized revivalists in America.8 5 David Edwin Harrell, Jr., Oral Roberts: An American Life (San Francisco, ca: Harpercollins, 1987), 46. 6 Billingsley, It’s a New Day, 51. 7 T.L. Osborn, “Divine Healing Through Confession,” The Voice of Healing, July 1950, 12. For “expect a blessing,” see T. L. Osborn, “Faith,” Faith Digest, May 1956, 14. He repeated variations of this sermon often throughout Faith Digest. 8 Lexie E. Allen, God’s Man of Faith and Power: The Life Story of A. A. Allen (Dallas: A. A. Allen, 1954). For more on Lexie Allen’s early life, see “The Miracle Man,” God’s Generals in Christian History, http://www.godsgenerals.com/person_a_allen.htm.

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The emerging prosperity gospel would immediately recognize the significance of the family home, presided over by a loving wife, as one of the most important symbols of its theology. These postwar boom years were flooding the country with unimagined wealth and the possibility of a place in the new American middle class, settled in newly-erected suburban neighborhoods with a family car in the driveway and a television set in the living room. The comfortable homogeneity and affluence of white suburbia had no greater icon than the housewife, whose husband could afford to keep her out of the workforce and at home with the children. Evangelist LeRoy Jenkins’s Three Easy Steps to Prosperity advertised the results of faith with photographs of his ranch-style suburban home featuring the evangelist playing ball with his four children on the front lawn. The caption read, “Our New Home Affords Us Many Happy Hours of Inspiration and Relaxation.” An added cutout showed the preacher with his arm around his smiling wife: “Ruby and I gave up all our earthly possessions when we accepted Jesus as our Saviour. Since that time God has given us more material blessings than we ever had before. We have learned that you can’t outgive God … it pays to be a partner with him.”9 Preachers wanting to drive home the economic advantages of faith could simply point to their smiling wives tending to hearth and home. As itinerants, however, most lived without the sweet comforts of domestic bliss and paid the steep price of restless evangelism. Preaching favorites like evangelist Velmer Gardner and his family were forced to abandon revivalism altogether owing to exhaustion.10 Others simply kept their wives and children at home and lived with the strain of distant marriages rather than subject them to life on the road. But the turn toward settled, domesticated ministries was around the bend, for by the early 1960s the revival had slowed, and its preachers began to establish permanent headquarters and new media platforms in their stead. One after another, the leading lights of the movement traded tents for churches, itinerancy for institutions, and, significantly, healing for prosperity as the new focus of their message. The institutionalization of the movement proved to be an unexpected boon for women in ministry, for with administrative burdens came a greater official role for wives whose editorial, promotional, and organizational talents previously kept the spotlight on the man onstage. Settled ministries were quieter creatures with accepted roles for women as support staff and office workers. A photo essay unveiling the new Christ for the Nations headquarters showed 9

LeRoy Jenkins, Three Easy Steps to Prosperity (Tampa, fl: Leroy Jenkins Evangelistic Association, 1965), 2. 10 Harrell, All Things Are Possible, 174.

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Freda Lindsay at her writing desk with pen in hand, a portrait of an impassive but watchful administrator approaching her later years over the caption: “Mrs. Gordon Lindsay, Secretary of Christ For The Nations.” She was easy to overlook stacked beside similar photos of other women, an office manager and an assistant editor, but Freda’s role—and that of other women like her—would not go unheeded for much longer.

Legacies and Pioneers: 1960s and 1970s

Freda Lindsay considered her ministerial gifts as the “mite of a widow,” a small act of faithfulness that only God could multiply in the wake of her husband’s death. It was as a widow, however, that Freda wanted to be remembered, and conservative audiences, in turn, legitimated her authority as a caretaker of her husband’s legacy. In the aftermath of his sudden passing, Freda launched a massive pledge campaign to rescue the school from debt and to christen a new building, ‘Gordon Lindsay Hall.’ In later years she would organize entire women’s conferences devoted to the spiritual power of the bereaved wife, a gathering of other famous ministerial widows billed as “The Greatest Gathering of Widows Ever!” She unveiled the organization’s upcoming goals not with firm declarations but in the guise of shopping lists—scribbled notes cataloguing building repair items or missionary needs instead of milk and bread.11 In this religious atmosphere hostile to encroaching feminism, she portrayed herself as a busy mom and a reluctant leader whose assumption of her husband’s presidential office still subjected her to the supervision of an all-male advisory board. As women such as Freda Lindsay took on public roles in the feminist powder keg of 1960s and 1970s counterculture, these female evangelists’ leadership often required constant acknowledgment of the men who stood beside them or in the wings. The prosperity gospel was settling down and growing up. Ministries, churches, schools, and conferences devoted to an increasingly financial message of miraculous faith were popping up across the country and, in particular, the urban Sunbelt. As audiences sought out a new generation of institution builders and conference speakers, many women found a place on this expanding conference circuit. Evelyn Wyatt, radio co-host and fellow evangelist with her husband, Thomas, until his sudden passing in 1964, took over the leadership. She penned numerous spiritual manuals, including her Keys of Prosperity Pact 11

Freda Lindsay, “Christmas Shopping List,” Christ for the Nations, December 1976, vol. xxix, no. 9, n.p.

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that guaranteed hidden riches as recompense for donations to world evangelism—and their ministry.12 Sylva Iverson, founding pastor of what would become City Bible Church, a Portland megachurch, wrote one of the earliest theological defenses of the workings of faith entitled Releasing the Power Within.13 Financial pleas from the surge of ministers with a message of divine wealth pictured more and more wives at their husbands’ sides, smiling through a short sermonette about the importance of generosity.14 Yet the rising profile of women tested the limits of Pentecostalism’s desire to join the ecumenical trend toward female ordination and the wider political and social maelstrom that surrounded women’s pay, voting, reproductive rights, divorce proceedings, and primary occupation as wife and mother. Though famous Pentecostal women in public ministry like Aimee Semple McPherson and Maria Woodworth-Etter had paved the way, female leaders of the counterculture era had to learn to navigate their roles as religious symbols in the heated cultural battles against encroaching feminism. Daisy and T.L. Osborn returned from their successful international crusades to discover that conservative audiences did not accept the functional egalitarianism that characterized their ministry. Though Daisy was a seasoned speaker, American churches sat her in the front row rather than onstage with her husband. Daisy vowed that she would not attend speaking engagements for her husband that did not specifically include her and defended her worldwide ministry as an extension of her marital commitments.15 A 1970 article called “Portrait of a Lady” for the ministry’s magazine showed Daisy as the consummate anti-feminist, 12

Evelyn Wyatt, “Prosperity’s Hidden Secrets … Revealed,” Wings of Healing, March 1977, 10–11. 13 A parallel healing revival dubbed the Latter Rain included many more female leaders, including Iverson and Myrtle Beall. The Latter Rain revivalists operated, for the most part, in a separate ministerial network led by preachers like Myrtle Beall and her Bethesda Missionary Temple in Detroit. Thomas Wyatt, a leader in both worlds, hosted a 1955 conference in his own Wings of Healing Temple to bring the revivalists and Latter Rain folks together. See D. William Faupel, “The New Order of the Latter Rain: Restoration or Renewal?” in Winds from the North: Canadian Contributions to the Pentecostal Movement, ed. Michael Wilkinson and Peter Althouse (Leiden: Brill, 2010), 239–64; Mark Hutchinson, “The Latter Rain Movement and the Phenomenon of Global Return,” in Winds From the North, 265–84. 14 See T.L. Osborn, “Put God to the Test,” Faith Digest, March 1970, 8–13. Requests for donations were never complete without Daisy. Here Daisy joins her husband in laying her hands on a table of financial donations as she joined her husband and unseen supporters in spiritual agreement for these “pacts of plenty.” 15 Billingsley, It’s A New Day, 49–55.

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leading out of an explicitly feminine complementarity. “A wife’s place is by the side of her husband,” she argued, having chosen to accept pastoral ministry as a calling governed by her “duties as a wife.”16 The magazine’s account of Daisy’s manner, habits, and dress revealed the delicate dance that female leadership required: dynamic not aggressive, compelling not commanding, firm but gracious.17 The ministry was quick to assure readers that Daisy knew her place: “the commanding presence is God’s messenger, T.L. Osborn, man of faith and action. Daisy knows this and is the perfect foil for her life partner.”18 While women marched in the streets for the Equal Rights Amendment or signed petitions for the National Organization of Women, women in Pentecostal leadership walked the fine line between partnership and submission. Progress came inch-by-inch. Far more books written by women for women hit the shelves in these turbulent years, though they dripped with feminine flourishes such as covers decorated with flower petals or written in the gushing tones of a faux-diary.19 Women like Frances Hunter (of the ministerial duo the Happy Hunters) and Marilyn Hickey (of the unrelated but similarly titled The Happy Church) were eclipsing their husbands’ celebrity in their own right. Meanwhile, the Full Gospel Business Men’s Fellowship International still churned out pink instruction manuals for wives, asking Pentecostal women to play a supporting role with a smile on their faces and an eye on whether their husband’s clothes had been neatly pressed. The prosperity movement brimmed with ministerial wives whose potential was yet unrealized—and unasked for. The future televangelist Gloria Copeland spent these years as the lovely but unknown shadow of her charismatic husband, Kenneth Copeland, a former pop singer with looks, charm, and the attention of some of the biggest names in the movement. But it had been Gloria who had made the spiritual discoveries that brought them to the prosperity gospel in the first place. The early years of their marriage brought nothing but poverty, she explained, and she sought the Bible for a solution. Jesus’s imperative to “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added unto you,” struck her as significant. “Things!” she exclaimed, “I was ‘very’ 16 17

Drew Graham, “dmo: Portrait of a Lady,” Faith Digest, 15, no. 2 (February 1970): 1, 4–7. An early photo essay about Daisy Osborn entitled “How to Stay Young and Grow More Beautiful,” Faith Digest (August 1964): 20, explained to American women that ministry itself was the key to her youthful attractiveness. 18 Ibid. 19 Freda Lindsay, My Diary Secrets (Dallas: Christ for the Nations, 1979).

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interested … I needed some ‘things!’”20 In 1962, she converted to Christianity, with her husband soon to follow, as she anchored her faith in innovative teachings about spoken words and God’s blessings. Gloria’s exuberant belief transformed their youthful poverty and brought them to the Oral Roberts University campus in the fall of 1966 to begin new lives as evangelists of a little known gospel. Much like Freda Lindsay and Daisy Osborn, whose full partnership in their husband’s work often went unnoticed, Gloria took on spiritual responsibilities with limited public exposure. She was, after all, a founding member of Kenneth Copeland Ministries. In the dawning 1980s era of political and cultural rhetoric of family values, the women of the prosperity gospel would take on even greater roles as standalone celebrities dependent on public faith that, at heart, their calling depended on the Lord’s will and their husbands’ approval.

Celebrities and Therapists: 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s

Tammy Faye Bakker hosted a daily marathon of shows on one of the nation’s most-watched television networks of the 1980s, Praise The Lord (ptl). She sang, danced, cajoled, and preached on the verge of tears, laughter, or another song before an endless stream of live studio audiences. The silver-haired crowd clucked about Bakker’s heavy makeup, billowing outfits of satin and silk, and gleaming costume jewelry as she sweetly thumbed her nose at the customary plain clothes of sanctified women. The daughter of poor Pentecostal preachers had become the glamorous icon of Middle America. The golden age of Christian televangelism opened up new roles and new audiences for the women evangelists of the prosperity gospel. No longer the invisible pastor’s wife, these women were emcees, singers, teachers, interviewers, entertainers, and preachers. The creation of televangelist superstars like Tammy Faye Bakker was the culmination of a number of factors, from the pioneering role that the prosperity preachers had in launching major television networks21 to the economic confidence driving Wall Street and the flamboyant 20 21

Gloria Copeland, “Branson Victory Campaign, March 6–8 2008,” Kenneth Copeland Ministries, http://www.bvov.tv/branson_m4v.xml. Many pioneers of Christian televangelism were also prosperity preachers in their own right, and, by the late 1970s, they had electronic empires to their name: Lester Sumrall (World Harvest), Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker (Praise the Lord), Paul and Jan Crouch (Trinity Broadcasting Network), and Pat Robertson (Christian Broadcasting Network).

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romanticism that transfixed popular music, art, and fashion. The promise of ‘more’ in the prosperity gospel sanctified the country’s desires and called them blessed. When Daisy Osborn advertised the lifestyles of the rich and famous Christians in the pages of The National Enquirer,22 and Jan Crouch strutted the stage of must-see Christian programming with a mountainous pink beehive hairdo, two things were clear: the women of the prosperity gospel now stood center stage, and there was no better advertisement of the prosperity gospel than its leading ladies. Their opulence remained a theological argument writ miniature.23 Tammy’s beliefs in a material salvation was synonymous with her mascara just as later evangelists like Paula White and Joyce Meyer would be equated with high heels and blazers respectively. As televangelism boomed, they embodied a confident modern Pentecostalism for the dawning decade of excess. Female leaders in the prosperity gospel grew in number and stature in the 1980s. What had once been a handful of women was now a small army of female leaders who claimed top billing on the largest stages. The American public tuned in to see familiar faces such as Marilyn Hickey, Vicki Jamison Peterson, Tammy Faye Bakker, Jan Crouch, Evelyn Roberts, Freda Lindsay, Gloria Copeland, Dodie Osteen, Sandy Brown, and Marte Tilton. Up-and-coming evangelists hoping to capitalize on this growing industry specialized in the needs of the Christian wife and mother. Wendy Treat, future co-pastor of one of the largest churches in the Pacific Northwest, made her early reputation as a theological expert on the needs of harried women: “The roles of today’s woman can seem overwhelming: wife, mother, single woman … can one woman do it all?”24 Kenneth Hagin protégés David and Roxanne Swann got their start as child-rearing coaches in the principles of prosperity theology with books entitled Guarantee Your Child’s Success. From pink paperbacks to dress-for-success beauty seminars to theological manuals papered with budding tulips, every effort was drenched in a feminine aesthetic.25 Audiences still wanted their leaders to be a woman first and a leader second. 22 23

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T.L. Osborn and Daisy Osborn, Go For It!: She & He Photo-Book (Tulsa, ok: Osborn Foundation, 1983). Women were an advertisement for the theological meaning of the prosperity gospel. Their demonstrable prosperity is the very theological proof that the prosperity gospel demands. Wendy Treat, The Fulfilled Woman: You Can Live a Happy Christian Life (Seattle: Casey Treat Ministries, 1989). See, for example, the feminine gardening aesthetic of this theological treatise: Roxanne Brant, The Growing Power of Faith: How to Increase Your Faith (Tulsa: Harrison House, 1980).

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Spiritual conferences devoted to cultivating women’s leadership sprung up by the mid-1980s as a fixture of the largest ministries.26 A rising leader like Daisy Osborn took the title of “Dr.” and launched her hugely successful “International Women’s Conferences” by preaching on the main stage while her husband taught the accompanying workshop: “How to Assist a Woman in Ministry.” She even penned a trilogy of books—The Woman Believer, Woman Without Limits, and 5 Choices for Women Who Win—to awaken women to their status as equal and equipped as any man for pastoral roles.27 These conferences were, in part, a theological response to growing attention across economic sectors that working women possessed limited access to positions of real authority—captured in the newly coined term “glass ceiling.” Now, sanctified women donning power suits—a deliberate feminization of boardroom menswear—and cropped feathered bobs preached before hundreds of women about their God-given right to the pulpit. The ascent of female prosperity pastors also signaled a shift in the popular discourse around what constituted religious language. In the medium of twenty-four-hour (often live) programming, Christian television personalities spoke with a language of the heart that suited the emotional rollercoaster of improvisational preaching.28 Televangelism’s heightened spiritualization of feeling, typically cast as a feminine trait, was expressed in two ways: first, sentimentality and its performance became an expectation for both sexes (recall Jim Bakker’s weeping over missed telethon goals);29 second, women could lead, preach, and instruct in this emotive tone without being perceived as straying into activities (informally or formally) reserved for men.30 In the campy

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For example, Anne Gimenez founded the International Women in Leadership conference with famous evangelical, charismatic, and Pentecostal speakers crowding the advisory board. Daisy Osborn, 5 Choices for Women Who Win (Tulsa: Harrison House Publishers, 1986); Daisy Osborn, The Woman Believer (Tulsa: Harrison House Publishers, 1990); Daisy Osborn, Woman Without Limits (Tulsa: Harrison House Publishers, 1990). For more on contemporary evangelical uses of sentimentality, see Todd Brenneman, Homespun Gospel: The Triumph of Sentimentality in Contemporary American Evangelicalism (Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 2013). See Kate Bowler, Blessed: A History of the American Prosperity Gospel (New York: Oxford University Press, 2013), 105. Televangelism, as the institutionalization of American revivalism, exhibited many of the traits of social leveling—including moments of functional egalitarianism between the sexes—present in the heat of the first and second great awakenings. The literature on American revivalism is vast, but for the most direct relationship between gender and

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theatricality of televangelism, Tammy Faye’s mascara tears and Dodie Osteen’s tender voice captivated audiences as much as any thundering sermon. The scandals of televangelism in the late 1980s and the cultural swing toward a darker, more cynical, postmodernism brought that maudlin era to a close but did not close the door on women’s leadership in an expanding prosperity gospel. The movement had far exceeded the theological orbit of Kenneth Hagin, Kenneth and Gloria Copeland, and the largely white and heavily Pentecostal network often called “Word of Faith,” after Kenneth Hagin’s magazine of the same name, as the message spilled across denominational and racial lines. The theological language of the prosperity gospel was also changing. “Hard prosperity,” a term I use to describe a heavily instrumental language of instantaneous results, was giving way to the predominance of “soft prosperity,” a gentler and often therapeutic account of how faith turns words into material blessings.31 Hard prosperity ruled the 1980s, but soft prosperity was better suited for the 1990s and its therapeutic turn toward the spiritual significance of psychology. The growing acceptance of psychology, not only as a health intervention but as an explanation for reality, had filtered its way into casual chit chat and religious needs. Pastors were becoming one of many professional or semiprofessional mental experts providing solutions that calmed the mind and healed the soul.32 Popular Christianity learned to speak about dysfunction rather than sin, addiction rather than vice, and to see the spiritual benefits of rightly-ordered thoughts.33 The 1990s proved to be a coming-of-age for its female evangelists of the prosperity gospel, as the therapeutic turn toward the spiritual significance of psychology opened up new possibilities for women. As the culturally appointed guardians of the interior thought world, women leaders in the prosperity gospel earned national fame for being spiritual guides of emotion. Megachurch pastor Paula White was doubled as a “life coach” with appearances on The Tyra Banks Show and Dr. Phil, weaving together biblical

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revivalism, see Nancy Hardesty’s book, Your Daughters Shall Prophesy: Revivalism and Feminism in the Age of Finney (Brooklyn, ny: Carlson, 1991). For the distinction between “hard” and “soft” prosperity, see Bowler, Blessed, 97–98, 125–27. Sam Binkley, Happiness as Enterprise: An Essay on Neoliberal Life (Albany: State University of New York Press, 2014), 167. See, for example, Juanita Bynum’s testimony in The Planted Seed: The Immutable Laws of Sowing and Reaping (Lanham, md: Pneuma Life Publishing, 1997), vii. “I sat there— broken in spirit—before the Lord. I began to see how I had gone from divorce, welfare, anorexia and broken relationships to become a spiritually secure young woman in God.”

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lessons on themes of transformation from the wounds of her childhood.34 For women, in particular, the psychological paradigm blurred the lines between testimony, preaching, and therapist’s couch. Joyce Meyer, one of the world’s most famous televangelists, turned her life story of sexual abuse at the hands of her father into a fictionalized novel, The Penny.35 These accounts were intimate and confessional, making emotional topics not simply acceptable but significant avenues of spiritual growth. Likewise, men seeking audiences zeroed in on the rich emotional lives of churchgoing women. T.D. Jakes was famed for his attention to women’s spiritual healing, a theme that struck market gold with his series, Woman, Thou Art Loosed! His book and his 1993 conferences of the same name that addressed the hushed issues of domestic violence, discrimination, rape, and divorce resulted in a play, movie, gospel album, recordbreaking conference attendance, and two million copies sold.36 Though it was not uncommon to see a woman in the prosperity pulpit, most major ministries still felt that the best of both worlds lay in husband-and-wife teams. Women might be preachers, but they were most likely ‘co-pastors.’ In the 1980s, viewers could usually find Marte Tilton with her pearls, blond bouncy bob, and cheerful smile, beside her square-jawed husband, Robert, as his co-author and co-anchor for his Success-N-Life franchise.37 In the 1990s and 2000s, the country’s largest church loved their own Victoria Osteen, her blond hair falling loosely around her face, smiling triumphantly as she preached a sermonette about tithing before her husband, Joel, took the stage.38 With its obvious advantages, co-pastors became the ministry’s new gold standard. Married leaders typically duplicated the traditional model of conservative households, upholding the husband’s spiritual oversight and pulpit preaching while circumscribing the wife’s authority to stereotypically feminine domains such as marriage, relationships, child rearing, and emotional turbulence. At World Changer’s Church in Atlanta, for example, Creflo Dollar headlined national tours while Taffi Dollar focused on her own women’s conferences. These married teams assured audiences that the ministry reflected masculine oversight, even when wives outshone their husbands. The colossal fame of 34 35 36 37 38

Shayne Lee and Phillip Luke Sinitiere, Holy Mavericks: Evangelical Innovators and the Spiritual Marketplace (New York: nyu Press, 2009), 107–128. Joyce Meyer and Deborah Bedford, The Penny: A Novel (New York: Faith Words, 2008). See Shayne Lee, T. D. Jakes: America’s New Preacher (New York: nyu Press, 2007). Robert and Marte Tilton, Dare to Be a Success (Kingwood, tx: Hunter Books, 1982). See for example, Victoria’s controversial comments about the relationship between selfinterest and God’s divine will. Victoria Osteen, “Victoria Osteen ‘Do Good for Your Own Self,’ Not for God,” YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLWm48fhCGQ.

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Joyce Meyer, whose program Enjoying Everyday Life aired to a potential audience of three billion, led her to take great pains to demonstrate her submission to her husband, Dave. Though Joyce was quick to advertise herself foremost as a wife, Dave was virtually unknown despite his many attempts to attract her conference crowds to his breakfast speeches on patriotism.39 Paula White was always dogged by concerned viewers who watched her eclipse her husband, Randy, a thorny problem that only worsened when the two divorced and Randy was not able to keep their megachurch afloat on his own. These women balanced their hard-won gains against widespread suspicion in Pentecostal, charismatic, and evangelical circles of wives who seemed to rule their husbands. Many struggled to maintain their images as both authoritative leaders and submissive wives. When a reader questioned the 1980s evangelist Marilyn Hickey on this issue, Hickey assured audiences that she unflinchingly obeyed her husband. If her husband forbade her traveling ministry, she would stop immediately because “he clearly hears the voice of the Spirit.”40 When their marriages failed, female evangelists often faced stronger punishment than males. After Paula White’s marriage to her co-pastor, Randy fell apart, outraged followers took to the airwaves. During her interview with Larry King, an e-mail question from a San Antonio viewer stated it bluntly: “How can you preach from the pulpit regarding marriage when yours failed?” White replied that she was committed “never to waste my trials in life, to find purpose in all things.” Critics were not convinced.41 Even when the public blame for divorce fell on the husband, it was the wife’s ministry that suffered. Juanita Bynum received heated criticism for divorcing her husband and fellow prosperity pastor, Thomas Weeks iii, even after he was convicted on charges that he had assaulted her in an Atlanta parking lot.42 The ministerial duo, Zachary and Riva Tims, parted ways after reports surfaced that he maintained a yearlong affair with an exotic dancer. Even so, it was Zachary who retained the bulk of their spiritual assets and the leadership of their 7,500-member New Destiny Christian Center. It was Riva who had to begin again.43 39 40 41 42 43

Conference visit, Joyce Meyer Conference, Lawrence Coliseum, Winston Salem, nc, March 13, 2008. Ask Marilyn, “What Comes First?” Charisma, January 1985, 1. Paula White, Interview by Larry King, Larry King Live, cnn, November 26, 2007, http:// transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0711/26/lkl.01.html. “Bishop Weeks Pleads Guilty to Felony Assault,” Charisma, March 13, 2008, http://www .charismamag.com/site-archives/570-news/featured-news/3624. Kristi Watts, “Riva Tims: When It All Falls Apart,” The 700 Club, http://www.cbn .com/700club/features/amazing/kw100_riva_tims.aspx.

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Famous women ministers without a strong man at their side often sought “spiritual fathers” as a way to place themselves under male oversight. The largely non-denominational and elastic connections that bound the prosperity gospel into a single theological orbit relied on the voluntary and flexible relationships that preachers made with each other, one of which was an informal mentoring of famous senior pastors with junior (often lesser known) pastors. The power of the anointing was said to flow through this relationship, as spiritual ‘children’ who served as the legacies of their ‘parents.’ For stand-alone women, this relationship had the potential to shield them from the accusation of upending patriarchy and also grant them the benefits of their mentor’s endorsement. It was a rich pageantry of submission. Paula White paid obeisance to a benefactor in her rise to stardom by referring to the preaching powerhouse, T.D. Jakes, as her spiritual ‘daddy.’ Her rhetoric highlighted not only her gratitude but her inequality.44 The ministerial career of Juanita Bynum placed the competing expectations for a twenty-first-century woman in the prosperity movement in stark relief. She catapulted to stardom after her frank preaching about her sexual past captivated the tens of thousands gathered for T.D. Jakes’s Woman Thou Art Loosed conference. Her growing celebrity centered on her raw and emotional teachings on the needs and desires of single black women, a confessional style that she dramatized by wearing loose, white robes symbolic of her abandonment of the sins of her bed sheets. To many, she was a therapist who understood the spiritual burdens of singleness. To those who watched the broadcast of her million-dollar wedding to Bishop Thomas Weeks iii, the bride in the crystalladen gown with an eighty-person wedding party represented the heights to which a Pentecostal minister could climb.45 Even in her fall from grace—their dramatic divorce, his conviction for domestic violence, and her row with her former mentor, T.D. Jakes—she was the disarmingly vulnerable woman who was part life-coach, part entrepreneur, and part Holy Ghost revivalist. She could be strikingly independent and shockingly meek. When Bynum atoned for her fight with Jakes, she did not simply apologize at the “Woman Thou Art Loosed” conference that had launched her career. Rather, she wept at his feet, barefoot and begging for his forgiveness declaring, “You are my spiritual father.

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Stephen Hubbard and Lisa Ryan, “Turning Trash Into Treasure: The Testimony of Paula White,” The 700 Club, http://www.cbn.com/700club/guests/interviews/paula _white063005.aspx. Joy Bennett Kinnon, “Weddings of the Year,” Ebony, February 2004, 56–64.

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I submit to you.”46 Jakes, for his part, anointed her head with oil, laid hands on her, and officially restored her into a renewed covenant with him. “Will you welcome my daughter back home?” he cried out to the cheering crowd as she clutched his chest, overcome. In the dawn of the twenty-first century, the modern women at the helm of the prosperity gospel balanced power with weakness, independence with submission in each public act. Conclusion In the lean years of 1940s and 1950s tent revivals, hundreds of faithful women crisscrossed the country with their preaching husbands and an experimental theology of how faith-filled words would produce the greatest miracles the country had ever seen. They prayed, testified, sang, played instruments, penned biographies and sermons, and, on occasion, hoisted the canvas above their heads. Some like Daisy Osborn challenged the idealization of the satisfied housewife by traveling the world with her husband as the multilingual preacher of healing and prosperity. Many others simply shouldered the invisible burdens of full-time itinerancy. But the wives and secretaries of one decade were the pioneers of the next, pushed out on their own by courage or circumstances to run a national headquarters and step into the limelight of a growing movement. The dawn of televangelism secured their place in the sun and created a generation of bona fide celebrities, glamorous enough to interview television stars and spiritual enough to capture the hearts of conservative America. By the close of the twentieth century, the women of the prosperity gospel appeared on television and church platforms across the nation and around the world. The prosperity movement, as an offshoot of Pentecostalism, had inherited a long memory of women with a call to lead, whose whispers became shouts about a God who poured out the Holy Spirit on daughters as well as sons. But women could also claim an authority that sprang from the nature of the prosperity gospel itself. Their theology turned on the importance of spiritual certainty, for faith functioned as a perfect law as predictable and uniform as gravity. Prosperity theology trumpeted that the laws of faith should work for women no less than for anyone else because, as they repeated again and again, “God is no respecter of persons.” (Acts 10:34)47 46 47

Juanita Bynum, “A Renewed Covenant,” Youtube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v =BCH_6zin2WU. All scripture quotations, unless otherwise noted, are from the King James Version. “Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, ‘Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons’” (Acts 10:34).

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Nonetheless, women aspiring to leadership continued to run aground against the limitations of sanctified custom. Kenneth Hagin, a gentle giant of the prosperity movement whose wife always served at his side, addressed the controversy directly with his treatise, The Woman Question.48 He agreed that it was “usually best” to keep gifted men at the helm of churches, but if they could not be found, then “let us call the sisters into action.”49 Those women laboring as pastors and evangelists must endeavor to “be content with whatever place the Lord opens” and remain humble, sweet, and faithful.50 Anne Gimenez, copastor of Virginia’s Rock Church and author of the book The Emerging Christian Woman, deplored Christian women’s aggression, “arguing for their ‘rights,’ displacing men, grasping for leadership.”51 Audiences wanted women to be anointed but not aggressive, experienced but not proud. It was a tall order. Women with a divine mandate for the victorious life wrestled with the competing and complementary expectations of wives, mothers, and working women in the changing political and cultural maelstrom of modern America. As leaders, they juggled the functional equality of their teachings on faith with the thick male hierarchy of evangelical and Pentecostal church life. From their public lives as preachers and teachers to their private lives as wives and mothers, they stubbornly clung to the belief that they too had been called. Bibliography Bendroth, Margaret, and Virginia Brereton. Women and Twentieth-Century Protestantism. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2001. Billingsley, Scott. It’s a New Day: Race and Gender in the Modern Charismatic Movement. Tuscaloosa, AL: University of Alabama Press, 2008. Binkley, Sam. Happiness as Enterprise: An Essay on Neoliberal Life. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2014. Bowler, Kate. Blessed: A History of the American Prosperity Gospel. New York: Oxford University Press, 2013. Bowler, Kate. “Daily Grind: The Spiritual Workday of the American Prosperity Gospel.” Journal of Cultural Economy 8, no 5 (2015): 630–636. DOI: 10.1080/17530350.2014.982150. Brown, Candy Gunther. Global Pentecostal and Charismatic Healing. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011.

48 Kenneth Hagin, The Woman Question (Tulsa, ok: Faith Library Publications, 1983), 65–66. 49 Ibid. 50 Ibid. 51 Anne Gimenez, “Taking the Lead From Esther,” Charisma, June 1986, 30–34.

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Brant, Roxanne. The Growing Power of Faith: How to Increase Your Faith. Tulsa: Harrison House, 1980. Bynum, Juanita. The Planted Seed: The Immutable Laws of Sowing and Reaping. Lanham, MD: Pneuma Life Publishing, 1997. Bynum, Juanita. No More Sheets. Lanham, MD: Pneuma Life Publishing, 2001. Gimenez, Anne. “Taking the Lead from Esther.” Charisma, June 1986, 30–34. Graham, Drew. “DMO: Portrait of a Lady,” Faith Digest 15, no. 2 (1970): 1, 4–7. Hagin, Kenneth. The Woman Question. Tulsa, OK: Faith Library Publications, 1983. Harrell, David Edwin. All Things Are Possible: The Healing and Charismatic Revivals in Modern America. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1979. Harrell, David Edwin, Jr. Oral Roberts: An American Life. San Francisco, CA: Harpercollins, 1987. Lee, Shayne. T.D. Jakes: America’s New Preacher. New York: NYU Press, 2007. Lee, Shayne, and Phillip Luke Sinitiere. Holy Mavericks: Evangelical Innovators and the Spiritual Marketplace. New York: NYU Press, 2009. Lindsay, Freda. My Diary Secrets. Dallas: Christ for the Nations, 1979. Messner, Tammy Faye. Tammy: Telling It My Way. New York: Villard, 1996. Meyer, Joyce and Deborah Bedford, The Penny: A Novel. New York: Faith Words, 2008. Osborn, Daisy. “How to Stay Young and Grow More Beautiful,” Faith Digest (1964): 20. Osborn, Daisy. 5 Choices for Women Who Win. Tulsa, OK: Harrison House Publishers, 1986. Tilton, Robert and Marte, Dare to Be a Success. Kingwood, TX: Hunter Books, 1982. Treat, Wendy. The Fulfilled Woman: You Can Live a Happy Christian Life. Seattle: Casey Treat Ministries, 1989. Walton, Jonathan L. Watch This!: The Ethics and Aesthetics of Black Televangelism. New York: NYU Press, 2009. Wyatt, Evelyn. “Prosperity’s Hidden Secrets … Revealed,” Wings of Healing, March 1977, 10–11.

Part 3 Global Exemplars

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Editor’s Note to Chapter 8 This chapter offers a clear portrait of resistance agency at work in women through the lives of some key Australian Pentecostal pioneers. Having faced life’s harshest and most lonely challenges while pioneering the “outback,” Australian women Pentecostals responded in kind to the aggression of silencing and marginalization. Authors Denise A. Austin and Jacqueline Grey introduce the ‘outback’ as “both a literal desert and a mythical place in the Australian identity that represents unchartered opportunities, adventure, and unfamiliar threats. Those who live and exist in the outback thrive in a tough and isolated environment through resourcefulness and hard work. This spirit has generally been incorporated into the psyche of the Australian culture and has become synonymous with such characteristics as defiance, influence, resilience, courage, and ingenuity. This same ‘outback spirit’ is evident in the history of Australian Pentecostalism, which has had a distinctive emphasis on the empowerment of women.”1 This ‘outback spirit’ took the form of unyielding defiance and ‘resistance agency’ as Australian Pentecostal women responded to challenges not unlike those of their sisters around the globe with unfettered ‘outback’ courage and determination. In so doing, they molded their own brand of standpoint theology drawn from their cultural identity and rugged pragmatism. The uniqueness of their voice offers compelling evidence of the need for authentic autonomy in witness. Interestingly, most early Pentecostal churches were pioneered by women. And during a long season of feminine retrenchment following wwii, Aussie women charted a very different path, demonstrating surprising resilience, even in the face of gender and racial discrimination. Instead of capitulating to the pressures of patriarchalism from the broader church, many of these women successfully pressed through the era, inspiring a new generation of twenty-first-century ‘hipster’ Pentecostalism.

1 See 204.

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chapter 8

The ‘Outback Spirit’ of Pentecostal Women Pioneers in Australia Denise A. Austin and Jacqueline Grey Introduction The ‘outback spirit’ is often considered to be the very backbone of Australian society, from the original inhabitants to contemporary ‘Aussie battlers,’ both men and women alike.1 Noted politician and feminist campaigner, Edith D. Cowan (1861–1932), applauded Australia’s pioneer women for their “… astonishing spirit … of uncomplaining acceptance of inevitable trials for the sake of those who were to come after.”2 The ‘outback’ is both a literal desert and a mythical place in the Australian identity that represents unchartered opportunities, adventure, and unfamiliar threats. Those who live and exist in the outback thrive in a tough and isolated environment through resourcefulness and hard work. This spirit has generally been incorporated into the psyche of the Australian culture and has become synonymous with such characteristics as defiance, influence, resilience, courage, and ingenuity.3 This same ‘outback spirit’ is evident in the history of Australian Pentecostalism, which has had a distinctive emphasis on the empowerment of women. Through unyielding defiance against social marginalisation, the majority of early Pentecostal churches were pioneered and pastored by women of significant influence. Post-World War ii women demonstrated tremendous resilience in their missional endeavours, even amid gender discrimination and entrenched racism. Despite the pressure to capitulate to the patriarchal culture of the broader church, many women persisted in their missional callings. Yet, ironically as the broader society debated the empowerment of women as promoted by second wave feminism, key Pentecostal leaders in Australia,

1 Sue Williams, Women of the Outback: Inspiring True Stories of Tragedy and Triumph (Camberwell, Victoria: Penguin, 2008), ix. 2 Edith D. Cowan, “Pioneer Women,” Western Mail, July 4, 1929, 59. Accessed February 14, 2016. Trove. http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/38887676?searchTerm=%22Pioneer%20 Women%22&searchLimits=. 3 Author Unknown, “Spirit of the Outback,” The Argus, September 19, 1938, 2.

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opposing this threat of hyper-feminism, still focused on equipping women in ministry. The remarkable ingenuity of Australian women has now launched them to global prominence in a rebranded, twenty-first-century ‘hipster’ Pentecostalism. This chapter provides an overview of this progression and influence at work in the lives of some key Australian women Pentecostal pioneers.

Defiant in Church Planting

The ‘outback spirit’ is evident in Pentecostal women who thrived in harsh conditions and defied cultural norms to become pioneer church planters. In early twentieth-century Australia, economic dependence, family responsibilities, and denial of civil rights imposed oppressive restrictions on women.4 However, as early as 1902, Pentecostal-style prayer meetings comprised of “principally women” were being held in Victoria,5 and there were reports of many baptized in the Holy Spirit.6 The media ridiculed this worldwide phenomenon as religious hysteria, particularly noting that “many of the weaker willed women were convulsed by something that caused their whole frame to twitch, and then brought them helpless to the floor.”7 Yet, Elizabeth Brusco notes that this typical marginalization did open up opportunities for women in otherwise patriarchal cultures.8 Shane Clifton adds that the Free Church ecclesiology, voluntarism, and premillennial urgency of early Australian Pentecostalism made

4 Heather Radi, “Introduction,” in 200 Australian Women: A Redress Anthology, ed. Heather Radi (Broadway nsw: Women’s Redress Press Inc, 2007), xi. 5 Author Unknown, “Alleged Faith Healing,” Bendigo Advertiser, November 15, 1902, 5. Accessed February 14, 2016, Trove. http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/89508855?searchTerm=%22 Alleged%20Faith%20Healing%22%20Bendigo&searchLimits=. 6 James T. Flynn and Wie L. Tjiong, “Fanning the Flames: How the Renewal Movement has Shaped American Theological Education,” Pneuma: The Journal of the Society for Pentecostal Studies 28, no. 1 (Spring 2006): 97. 7 Author Unknown, “Extraordinary Irreligious Proceedings,” Richmond River Herald and Northern Districts Advertiser, March 20, 1908, 2. Accessed February 14, 2016. Trove. http:// trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/127867479?searchTerm=%E2%80%9CExtraordinary%20 Irreligious%20Proceedings%E2%80%9D&searchLimits=. 8 Elizabeth Brusco, “Gender and Power,” in Studying Global Pentecostalism: Theories and Methods, ed. Allan Anderson, et al (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2010), 82; Janet Everts Powers, “‘Your Daughters Shall Prophesy’: Pentecostal Hermeneutics and the Empowerment of Women,” in The Globalization of Pentecostalism: A Religion Made To Travel, ed. Murray W. Dempster, Byron D. Klaus and Douglas Petersen (Oxford: Regnum, 1999), 313.

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it even more conducive to female leadership.9 As time was short, all willing workers were needed—including women. The Pentecostal women in this early period simply responded to what they believed to be the impetus of the Spirit, regardless of—or in defiance of—race, gender, or age, in what Fulkerson calls “radical submission to God.”10 The Spirit had called them; therefore, who was ‘man’ to stop them? Foremost among these early pioneers was Methodist lay healing evangelist Sarah Jane Lancaster (‘Jeannie’ or ‘Mother’ 1858–1934), who, in 1908, founded Good News Hall [later part of the Apostolic Faith Mission (afm)].11 Lancaster has been identified as the informal leader of early Pentecostalism in Australia up until the 1930s. By 1925, eleven of the eighteen Pentecostal churches planted in Australia had female founders. In fact, by 1930, twenty of the thirty-seven Pentecostal churches in Australia were established and led by women.12 The significance of this cannot be overstated, as women at this time could not even open a bank account without their husband’s permission.13 Good News Hall (and even the later afm) had no constitution, ordination, or clerical structures, thus Lancaster became a prophetic symbol of egalitarianism in Australia.14 This was later to become a significant issue when it was highlighted that Lancaster held non-traditional views of the Trinity and hell (instead being an annihilationist). Despite this, her influence in unifying early Pentecostalism and releasing women into ministry is remarkable. Mark Hutchinson notes that 9

Shane Clifton, “Pentecostal Ecclesiology: A Methodological Proposal for a Diverse Movement,” Journal of Pentecostal Theology 15, no. 2 (2007): 214. Inherited from the Holiness Movement, the concept of premillennial urgency was the widespread belief among Pentecostals that history was in rapid decline and required the urgent activity of the faithful to usher in God’s plan for the future. See also Donald Dayton, Theological Roots of Pentecostalism (Metuchen, nj: Scarecrow Press, 1987). 10 Mary M. Fulkerson, Changing the Subject: Women’s Discourse and Feminist Theology (Fortress Press: Minneapolis, 1994), 253. 11 The amf was the first formal Pentecostal group in Australia. See Shane Clifton, Pentecostal Churches in Transition: Analysing the Developing Ecclesiology of the Assemblies of God in Australia (Leiden: Brill, 2009), 54. 12 This is taking into account the statistics that are, as yet, available. Barry Chant, The Spirit of Pentecost: The Origins and Development of the Pentecostal Movement in Australia 1870– 1939 (Lexington, ky: Emeth Press: 2011), 3. 13 “Jacqueline Grey, “Torn Stockings and Enculturation: Women Pastors in the Australian Assemblies of God,” Australian Pentecostal Studies, 56 (2001): n.p. Accessed February 14, 2016. Alphacrucis College, http://aps-journal.com/aps/index.php/APS/article/view/51/48. 14 Shane Clifton, “Australian Pentecostalism: Origins, Developments, and Trends,” in Global Renewal Christianity: Spirit Empowered Movements Past, Present, and Future, Volume 1: Asia and Oceana, ed. Vinson Synan and Amos Yong (Florida: Charisma House, 2015), 164.

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such organizational authority was derived from perceived spiritual power.15 This is evident when Lancaster argued: “For the Holy Spirit makes the bodies of women His temple, as well as those of men … the pride of man forbids his acceptance of the grace of God toward those women upon whom He has poured His Spirit, thus making men and women one in Christ.”16 Such teaching had a tremendous impact throughout Lancaster’s network. Notably, in one Good News publication those seeking the “Outpouring of the Latter Rain” were provided with the names and addresses of leaders to contact—ten out of the eleven of whom were women.17 She also published articles by feminist leaders, such as Mina Ross Brawner (1874-[1959?]), who rejected exclusively male leadership in the church, admitting to “impatience at such an archaic viewpoint.”18 Far from being discouraged by discrimination, Lancaster’s converts pioneered assemblies right across Australia.19 Lancaster also supported independent itinerant preachers, such as Isabella Hetherington (1871–1946), who led many revivals among indigenous commu­ nities,20 establishing schools, medical clinics, and churches.21 As evidence of the intense discrimination faced by indigenous Pentecostals, several of Hetherington’s parishioners, such as Maud Mullett and Mary McRae, were forbidden by the Board for the Protection of the Aborigines to attend her meetings, as “some of the natives gave way to shaking and shivering … and no element 15

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Mark Hutchinson, “The Contribution of Women to Pentecostalism,” in Raising Women Leaders: Perspectives on Liberating Women in Pentecostal and Charismatic Contexts, ed. Shane Clifton and Jacqueline Grey (Sydney: Australasian Pentecostal Studies, 2009), 191. Sarah Jane Lancaster, Good News 17, no. 10 (October 1926): 11. Accessed February 14, 2016. Alphacrucis College. http://webjournals.ac.edu.au/ojs/index.php/GN/article/view/8013/ 8010. Author Unknown, “Editorial Notices and Circulation List, October 1913,” Good News, 6 (October 1913): 31. Accessed February 14, 2016. Alphacrucis College, http://webjournals. ac.edu.au/ojs/index.php/GN/article/view/8560. Mina Ross Brawner, “Woman in the Word,” The Good News 20, no. 1 (1 January 1929),): 9. Accessed February 14, 2016. Alphacrucis College. http://webjournals.ac.edu.au/ojs/index. php/GN/article/view/7534/7531. Barry Chant, “Waters to Swim In: Adelaide’s First Three Pentecostal Congregations (1910– 1935),” Australasian Pentecostal Studies 8, no. 4: 40–72. Accessed February 14, 2016. Alphacrucis College, http://aps-journal.com/aps/index.php/APS/article/view/74. Isabella Hetherington, “God’s Work in and Through a Missionary to the Australian Aboriginals,” Good News, 6 (October 1913), 11. Accessed February 14, 2016. Alphacrucis College. http://webjournals.ac.edu.au/ojs/index.php/GN/article/view/8544. Archibald H. Brown, “Among the Aboriginals and South Sea Islanders in the Far North,” Glad Tidings Messenger (July 1935): 6. Accessed February 14, 2016. Alphacrucis College, http://webjournals.ac.edu.au/ojs/index.php/AEGTM/article/view/6203.

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should be permitted which will rouse the people.”22 Nevertheless, these defiant women chose instead to have their own home meetings on the mission compound. Another fiery female evangelist who worked closely with afm was Mary (Molly) Ayres (1885–1966). She ministered extensively throughout Australia and also worked with Carrie Judd Montgomery in California.23 Although Lancaster’s anti-Trinitarian and annihilationist teachings led to her later rejection by most Pentecostal groups and the eventual dissolution of the organization, she clearly earned the title ‘mother’ of Australian Pentecostalism.24 Already marginalized from religious acceptability, Lancaster and her followers were free to defy gender norms and establish a women-led denomination on the fringe of Christianity. However, this freedom was seriously challenged in the subsequent decades as Pentecostalism in Australia began to develop formal structures and respond to cultural pressures in the process of institutionalization.25

Influential in Leadership

Despite the strongly patriarchal culture within the community and broader church in Australia, Pentecostal women found opportunities for leadership and influence. Ellen (Nellie) Mather (1894-n.d.), who attended the Pentecostal Church in Australia’s (pca) Victorian Bible Institute after being healed in an Aimee Semple McPherson meeting, later pastored churches in Bendigo, 22

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Cited in Patricia Grimshaw, “‘That We May Obtain Our Religious Liberty …’: Aboriginal Women, Faith and Rights in Early Twentieth Century Victoria, Australia,” Journal of the Canadian Historical Association 19, no. 2 (2008): 37. Mark Hutchinson, “‘Second Founder’: A C Valdez Sr. and Australian Pentecostalism,” Australasian Pentecostal Studies 11, no. 2: n.p. Accessed February 14, 2016. Alphacrucis College, http://aps-journal.com/aps/index.php/APS/article/view/95/92. Ibid. This rejection of Lancaster is typified by the response of Aimee Semple McPherson, who was sponsored by Lancaster and gnh to visit Australia. Upon arrival and learning of Lancaster’s non-traditional doctrinal views, Semple McPherson refused to be associated with Lancaster. Yet for Lancaster, differences in doctrine were less important than a shared experience of the Spirit. See Shane Clifton, “The Holy Spirit and the Leadership Structures of the Assemblies of God in Australia,” Pentecostal Charismatic Bible Colleges, n.p. http://webjournals.ac.edu.au/ojs/index.php/PCBC/article/view/8863/8860. Poloma’s study of the dilemmas of institutionalization in the North American ag with reference to the decline of women in ministry is insightful even for the Australian context. Margaret Poloma. Assemblies of God at the Crossroads: Charisma and Institutional Dilemmas (utp: Knoxville, 1989).

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Ballarat, Gympie, and Brisbane.26 She wrote: “Some are finding their way to the foot of the Cross for salvation, and healing, and, praise God, quite a number are seeking to be filled with the Holy Ghost according to Acts 2:4. Our little company is slowly growing in numbers, and we feel God is moving in our midst.”27 There were several other pca members who were influential in leadership, particularly from Richmond Temple. One of these was Mary Kum Sou (Wong Yen) Yeung (1888–1971), who, despite being three times widowed, defied her multi-faceted marginalizations as a female, Chinese, Pentecostal, and a single mother, to pioneer successful churches, schools, refugee shelters, kindergartens, and aged care homes in China and Hong Kong. She also preached in churches in Australia and New Zealand.28 Another was former opera singer and Elim Pentecostal Church pastor, Emily Stott (n.d.-1946).29 She founded the pca assembly in Perth and was ordained as a ‘secretary’ during the mid1930s.30 Also, Stella Evans (née Wheaton 1906–1995) of Adelaide was ordained with the title of ‘missionary’ to India at just twenty-one years old, stating: “I believe that God has a place for everyone, and that one can shine so much better in that appointed place.”31 With her husband, Thomas (Tommy) Lever Evans, she ultimately spent the next forty years pioneering and pastoring churches in India, Papua New Guinea, and Australia.32 In Australia and beyond, influential 26

Philip B. Duncan, Pentecost in Australia. Accessed February 14, 2016. Alphacrucis College. http://webjournals.ac.edu.au/ojs/index.php/EB/article/view/7098/7095; Chant, The Spirit of Pentecost, 276. 27 Nellie Mather, “Reports from Assemblies: Bendigo,” Australian Evangel and Glad Tidings Messenger (February 1930): 9. Accessed February 14, 2016. Alphacrucis College. http://webjournals.ac.edu.au/ojs/index.php/AEGTM/article/view/6575/6572. 28 Denise A. Austin, “Mary (Wong Yen) Yeung: The Ordinary Life of An Extraordinary Australian Chinese Pentecostal—Part 1,” Asian Journal Pentecostal Studies 16, no. 2 (2013): 99; Denise A. Austin, “Joined Hands: Asian Influence on Australian Pentecostal Identity,” in Global Renewal of Christianity: Spirit-empowered Movements, Past, Present, and Future, vol 1: Asia and Oceania, ed. Vinson Synan and Amos Yong (Lake Mary fl: Charisma House Publishers, 2016), 285. 29 Val Lewis, Personal Interview with Denise Austin, Buderim, qld, October 7, 2014. 30 Mark Hutchinson, “Stott, Emily (d.1946),” Australian Dictionary of Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements. n.p. Accessed February 14, 2016. Alphacrucis College. http://webjournals .ac.edu.au/ojs/index.php/ADPCM/article/view/225/222. 31 Author Unknown, “Young Disciple,” Adelaide News, October 27, 1927, 9. Accessed February 14, 2016. Trove, http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/129222128?searchTerm=Stella%20 Wheaton&searchLimits=. 32 George Forbes, Harvest Hands: Missionaries of Australian Christian Churches (Assemblies of God in Australia)—Celebrating 75 years 1937–2012 (Wantirna sa: Mission Mobilisers International, 2012), 84.

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Pentecostal women made significant contributions to their local churches and communities. The true ‘outback spirit’ was epitomized in Australian Indigenous women who confronted entrenched racism by becoming influential leaders. One prominent Australian Indigenous leader was Mary Querro who pioneered Sunday schools in outback communities where many people were converted, filled with the Holy Spirit, and supernaturally healed.33 In 1937, Querro became one of the first Australian Indigenous people ordained as a ‘worker’ in the newly formed Assemblies of God in Australia (aga).34 This was a remarkable achievement considering it would be another thirty years before a national government referendum endorsed Australian Indigenous citizen rights.35 Querro also deeply influenced her granddaughter Desley Barba (née Querro 1942-) who, at fourteen years of age, began to preach at open-air meetings and major conferences because: “we were black and … we were a novelty.”36 Barba married Bernie Henaway soon after she completed Bible college, and they pioneered and/or pastored churches at Ayr, Thursday Island, Mount Isa, Darwin, and Innisfail, as well as ministering in smaller Indigenous communities. After her first husband passed away, Barba continued to minister in Innisfail, Inala, and Townsville. Having never been recognized with ordination, Barba commented offhandedly: “I didn’t mind my [lack of] credentials. I just did it, hey. And that’s what a lot of our people have done … they’ve just ministered without that recognition of a piece of paper.”37 Although Australian Indigenous women were restricted from holding ecclesiastical offices, they remained committed to their calling as Pentecostal pioneers. However, as the institutionalization of Pentecostalism began to take shape in Australia, women leaders tended to be marginalized from official positions in the new assemblies. Throughout the late 1930s, Pentecostalism in Australia underwent significant changes. What had been informal, relational connections between church plants began to be formalized into organized groups. Within these new formal structures, women often were excluded. Lisa Stephenson notes that globally, women often experienced a restricted freedom 33 34 35 36 37

Desley Barba, Personal Interview with Denise Austin, Albany Creek qld, December 9, 2011. The Assemblies of God (Queensland) Ministerial Credential, Sister Mary Querro (October 26, 1937). Katie Holmes and Marilyn Lake, eds. Freedom Bound ii: Documents on Women in Modern Australia (St Leonards: Allen and Unwin, 1995), 138. Barba, Personal Interview. Barba, Personal Interview.

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within Pentecostalism, despite the rhetoric of Spirit-empowered egalitarianism.38 David G. Roebuck highlights a comparable experience in the United States—that Pentecostal women were encouraged to preach and prophesy but were excluded from holding church government offices by misguided ontological theology.39 One casualty in Australia was the ‘Ex-Agnostic Gospel Preacher,’ Pauline Heath (‘Sister Joy’ ca.1884–1940), who pastored a Pentecostal congregation in Adelaide from 1927–1933 but was pressured to step aside for a male leader and take the title of ‘evangelist’ instead.40 Dorothy Reekie, who was baptized in the Holy Spirit in 1923, then pastored the Adelaide congregation with her husband, Thomas, was also credentialed as ‘evangelist’ in 1936 rather than being recognized as a pastor.41 In Queensland, the Bible Training School advertising specified that it was “open to receive women for training as well as men,”42 but nevertheless, it was considered an “urgent necessity” to train young single men to pioneer in western Queensland country towns.43 While many women were forced out of formal leadership positions, new opportunities opened up to fulfill ministry callings. Returned missionary from India, Florrie Mortomore (1890–1927), actually saw many converted and filled with the Holy Spirit throughout Queensland, including active evangelist Annie Dennis.44 A model of tenacity, Dennis was reportedly pushed out of the Mackay church leadership because of her gender45 but simply moved her 38

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Lisa P. Stephenson, Dismantling the Dualisms for American Pentecostal Women in Ministry: A Feminist-Pneumatological Approach, vol. 9 of Global Pentecostal and Charismatic Studies series (Leiden: Brill, 2012), 9. David G. Roebuck, “‘I Have Done the Best I Could’: Opportunities and Limitations for Women Ministers in the Church of God—a Pentecostal Denomination,” Theology Today, 68 (2012): 402. Cited in Chant, “Waters to Swim In.” Assemblies of God (Queensland), Minister’s Credential—Dorothy J. Reekie (June 5,1936). Author Unknown, “Bible Training School,” Glad Tidings Messenger 3, no. 2 (January 1937): 6. Wiggins, Henry E., “A Bible Training School,” Glad Tidings Messenger 3, no. 3 (February 1937): 7. Charles G. Enticknap, “The Birth and Growth of the Assemblies of God,” Unpublished paper, 1984. Accessed February 14, 2016. Alphacrucis College, http://webjournals.ac.edu .au/ojs/index.php/EB/article/view/7096/7093. Cited in Jim Reiher, “Women and Ministry in Early Victorian Pentecost: Early aog leaders in Victoria, A.C. Valdez and C.L. Greenwood, and their Attitudes Towards Women in Ministry and Leadership in the Church,” Pentecostal and Charismatic Bible Colleges Journal 15, no. 2, n.p. Accessed February 14, 2016. Alphacrucis College, http://aps-journal.com/aps/ index.php/APS/article/view/63/60.

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pioneering efforts to other regions of far north Queensland.46 Objection to female leadership could, in part, explain the media sensationalizing Pentecostal meetings as “devious,” “strange cults,” “astoundingly emotional,” with a “pushing sales-talk flavour” and “uncontrollable religious frenzy, leading often to epileptic seizures.”47 Such antagonism led Leila Buchanan (1895–1966), Sarah Jane Lancaster’s daughter, secretary of the aga national executive, amanuensis for Smith Wigglesworth and long-time editor of Glad Tidings Messenger and Australian Evangel, to write: “Australia’s abundance hasn’t exactly developed a race of God-fearing saints, has it?”48 Regardless of internal pressures and external ridicule, women leaders found creative ways to operate in their giftings.

Resilient in Mission

Pentecostal pioneer women in Australia also displayed a spirit of steadfast resilience in their divinely ordained mission. As post-World War ii de-mobilized men took up more pastorates, women were further restricted in organizational roles.49 Fiona Clarke holds that generally women in the Australian church during this period were largely reduced to being financial providers and caretakers through auxiliaries and mission societies.50 Many women found leadership opportunities as pastors’ wives who, as Mark Hutchinson rightly notes, were simply assumed to come “under the authority of the pastor” in “gentleness, tenderness, and courage.”51 Despite these unquestionable confines, the courage of these women is indisputable. Conference speaker, author, and church leader, Edith Averill (1922–2016), pastored with her husband, Lloyd, in almost a dozen congregations across Australia.52 She also served as matron, 46 47 48

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Enticknap, “The Birth and Growth of the Assemblies of God.” R.K. Gerrand, “Speakers of Strange Tongues that No One Understands,” Courier Mail, July 4, 1936, 20. Accessed February 14, 2016. Trove. http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/page/1965519. Leila M. Buchanan, “Australia Awake!” Australian Evangel and Glad Tidings Messenger (November, 1935): 4. Accessed February 14, 2016. Alphacrucis College. http://webjournals .ac.edu.au/ojs/index.php/AEGTM/article/view/6122/6119. Grey, “Torn Stockings and Enculturation.” Fiona Clarke, “‘She Hath Done What She Could’: Women’s Voluntary Groups in the Methodist Church in South Australia 1945–1977,” in Long, Patient Conflict: Essays on Women and Gender in Australian Christianity, ed. Mark Hutchinson and Edmund Campion (Sydney: Macquarie University, Centre for the Study of Australian Christianity, 1994), 129. Hutchinson, “The Contribution of Women to Pentecostalism,” 203. Benjamin Clark, “Averill, Thomas Lloyd Webster, (1913–2010),” Australian Dictionary of Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements, n.p. Accessed February 14, 2016. Alphacrucis College. http://webjournals.ac.edu.au/ojs/index.php/ADPCM/article/view/194/191

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overseeing the organization of all food and accommodation in Bible colleges in both Australia and New Zealand, establishing the first-ever “Women in Ministry” subject, as well as Students’ Wives’ Fellowships, and providing support to college women—many of whom studied part-time while caring for young families.53 Converted opera singer, disciple of Kathryn Kuhlman, and ordained pastor, Bernice Hall pioneered Nollamara aga in 1962, which became one of the largest churches in Western Australia at that time, with almost 500 in attendance.54 Shirley Jones of the Atherton Tablelands in North Queensland preached to Pentecostal congregations throughout Queensland and New South Wales, providing an influential role model for women leaders.55 In truth, Australian women of this era sought increasing independence and earning power, rejecting the baby boom drive to repopulate the nation.56 Ingrained views on female submission and the lack of sound teaching within Pentecostal assemblies created some challenges.57 Long-time pastor and spiritual mother of aga, Pauline Alcorn, recalled that, owing to her pregnancy-induced epileptic seizures, her husband was once voted out as pastor of a church for having a “demon-possessed wife.”58 Divorced women were particularly scrutinized before they were accepted for ordination.59 Outside of the emerging women’s movements at this time, and despite the increasing conservatism in the church, some Pentecostal women continued to operate in the public domain, including one woman in the Cessnock Foursquare Gospel Church who even had rotten tomatoes, eggs, and other missiles thrown at her while preaching in open air meetings.60 Far from being the meek and submissive background support to male pastors, many Pentecostal women exerted tremendous authority and influence under trying circumstances. As global acceptance of Pentecostalism gradually became a reality, remarkable determination also drove the overseas missionary aspirations of Pentecostal women pioneers. Pentecostals were joined by others who were swept up in 53 54 55 56 57

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Edith Averill, Personal Interview with Denise Austin, Springwood qld, August 9, 2012. Chris Peterson, Personal Interview with Denise Austin, Caloundra qld, February 7, 2012. David O’Keefe, Personal Interview with Denise Austin, Buderim qld, (October 7, 2014). Holmes and Lake, eds. Freedom Bound ii, 83. Cheryl Catford, “Women’s Experiences: Challenges for Female Leaders in Pentecostal Contexts,” in Raising Women Leaders: Perspectives on Liberating Women in Pentecostal and Charismatic Contexts, ed. Shane Clifton and Jacqueline Grey (Sydney: Australasian Pentecostal Studies, 2009), 30. Alex and Pauline Alcorn, Personal Interview with Denise Austin, Buderim qld, October 5, 2011. Billy Ann Kennedy, Personal Interview with Denise Austin, Buderim qld, October 7, 2014. Albert E. Banton, Pentecostal Pioneering with the Foursquare Gospel in Australia (Westmead: Essington Christian Academy, 1989), 12.

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the tide of Charismatic renewal,61 as Vatican Council ii (1962–1965) promised new social equity and other denominations began relaxing views on women in church leadership.62 Some Pentecostal women felt divinely called to overseas missions, such as Evelyn (née Brumpton 1927-) Westbrook, who served with her husband, Cyril, for forty years in Papua New Guinea.63 There were other long-term missionaries in that field, such as Pearl Badham (twenty-five years);64 ­Lillian Westbrook (twenty years);65 Elizabeth Evans (fifteen years); Glenys Hovey (fifteen years); and many more.66 Research has found that such role models particularly opened the way for Papua New Guinean women to become more involved in community leadership positions.67 Another noted missionary was Marie Smith (1915–1971), who resisted post-war racism and gender discrimination to return to her childhood home of Japan and continue the work of her Good News Hall missionary parents.68 Smith became a prominent preacher throughout the nation,69 describing at one point: “There was a real Pentecostal fervour throughout the meetings. One thrilled at the sight of 800 Christians gathered on Sunday morning.”70 When Smith died unexpectedly in Japan, more than 200 people attended her funeral, including leading

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Vinson Synan, Holiness-Pentecostal Tradition: Charismatic Movements in the Twentieth Century (Grand Rapids mi: William B. Eerdmans, 1997), 216. Margaret Ann Franklin and Ruth Sturmey Jones, “Introduction,” in Opening the Cage: Stories of Church and Gender, ed. Margaret Ann Franklin and Ruth Sturmey Jones (Sydney: Allen and Unwin, 1987), xviii. Cyril and Evelyn Westbrook, Personal Interview with Denise Austin, Buderim qld, October 4, 2011. Don and Pearl Badham, Personal Interview with Denise Austin, Redland Bay qld, September 16, 2011. Alun Davies, Invading Paradise: Inspiring Stores of aog Missionaries in Papua New Guinea (Melbourne: aog World Missions, 1991), 23. Fred and Betty Evans, Personal Interview with Denise Austin, Albany Creek qld, September 17, 2011. Anne Dickson-Waiko, “The Missing Rib: Mobilizing Church Women for Change in Papua New Guinea.” Oceania, 74 (September-December, 2003): 103. Maki Ichikawa, “Smith, Marie Bertha (1915–1971),” Australasian Dictionary of Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements, Alphacrucis College, n.p. Accessed February 14, 2016. Alphacrucis College. http://webjournals.ac.edu.au/ojs/index.php/ADPCM/article/view/223/ 220; Forbes, Harvest Hands, 120. Marie Smith, “Japan,” The Australian Evangel and Glad Tidings Messenger, 21, no. 2 (February 1964): 3–4; Marie Smith, “Japanese Convention,” The Australian Evangel, 18, no. 7 (1961): 11. Smith, “Japanese Convention,” 10.

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representatives of the Assemblies of God in the United States and Japan.71 Such remarkable resilience allowed many women like Westbrook and Smith to see the fulfillment of overseas missionary aspirations, despite a host of barriers they faced.

Courageous in Training

The ‘outback spirit’ of pioneer Pentecostal women in Australia has also been manifest in their courage to train up the next generation of women in ministry. In 1970, a new wave of feminism surfaced in the broader Australian community when activist Germaine Greer published her international best-seller, The Female Eunuch, which argued that Australia’s misogynist culture was crippling women.72 Pentecostal women who even hinted at such a notion would cause congregations to light the torches and head out on a “Jezebel spirit” witch hunt.73 Nevertheless, there arose at this time some strong female leaders who unashamedly promoted women in ministry. Long-term single missionary to the Philippines Margaret Pashley wrote: “now, as never before, we recognize God is pouring out His Spirit in a larger degree than previously upon many young men and women.”74 Marie Cartledge (née Westbrook 1941-) had felt called into the ministry during a Leighton Ford preparatory meeting for the Billy Graham crusade.75 She and her husband, David, assisted in Hobart, planted the Devonport assembly, and pastored at Lithgow before serving for eighteen years in Townsville, and then five years at Surfers’ Paradise Assemblies of God, which also birthed seven other Gold Coast churches.76 Cartledge also became national aga coordinator for women’s ministries and head of Jimmy Swaggart Ministries in Australia, 71 72

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“Minutes of Meeting—Assemblies of God in Australia Eighteenth Biennial Commonwealth Conference” (Ringwood vic: 22–28 April, 1971), 7. Joan (Justina) Williams, “Women Carrying Banners,” in Carrying the Banner: Women, Leadership and Activism in Australia, ed. Joan Eveline and Lorraine Hayden (Nedlands: University of Western Australia Press, 1999), 25. Kimberly Ervin Alexander, “Pentecostal Women: Chosen for an Exalted Destiny,” Theology Today 68, no. 4 (January 2012): 405; Trudie Stark and Hans J.M. van Deventer, “The ‘Jezebel Spirit’: A Scholarly Inquiry,” Verbum et Ecclesia 30, no. 2 (2009): 301. Margaret Pashley, “The Dawn of an Awakening,” Australian Evangel 35, no. 5 (May 1978): 14. Marie Cartledge, Personal Interview with Denise Austin, Nambour qld, February 2012. Southern Cross Bible College of the Assemblies of God in Australia—External Campus Network Policy (no date), 1.

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and became a prominent spokesperson for the ordination of female pastors.77 In 1988, she was guest speaker at the first aga Women’s Ministry Conference, along with other key aga leaders, Lorraine Evans, Ruth Harvey, Edith Averill, Jackie Leesment, and Wendy Migchelse.78 She also launched a new initiative in training women: a full-time Associate Diploma in Women’s Ministry in 1994 at aga’s Commonwealth Bible College (cbc).79 Advertising proclaimed: “If we are to see Australia won for Christ and the nations of the world reached with the Gospel, we need an army of prophesying daughters. All are needed!”80 Rather than simply allowing women to study at the aga national college, this new initiative sought to actively encourage female students. Conferences, seminars, and courses on women in ministry provided a strong foundation for future women leaders. Training of younger women must have been effective, since the next generation made an outstanding impact. After graduating from cbc, Clare Singleton subsequently pioneered and pastored the Snowy Mountains Christian Centre for seventeen years, as well as other substantial assemblies. Margaret Court (née Smith 1942–), legendary winner of a remarkable sixty-two grand slam tennis titles, also attended a Pentecostal training college after she retired from tennis.81 Revealing her ‘outback spirit,’ she claimed that it was the “determination to succeed and to be the best” which drove her in every area of life.82 In 1991, she was ordained and the following year founded Margaret Court Ministries Inc. In 1995, she pioneered Victory Life Centre, which grew into one of Perth’s largest churches with an average Sunday attendance of 1300.83 In 1998, Melinda Dwight, senior pastor of Imagine Church Melbourne, became the second woman ever to become an aga state executive member (Leila Buchanan 77

Mark Hutchinson, “Cartledge, David Frederick (1940–2005),” Australian Dictionary of Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements, n.p. Accessed February 14, 2016. Alphacrucis College, http://webjournals.ac.edu.au/ojs/index.php/ADPCM/article/view/198/195. 78 Author Unknown, “Announcing the First National Assemblies of God Women’s Ministry Conference,” Australian Evangel, 44, no. 11 (November 1987), 34. Accessed February 14, 2016. Alphacrucis College. http://webjournals.ac.edu.au/ojs/index.php/AEGTM/article/ view/3218/3215. 79 scc, Advertisement brochure on Associate Diploma in Women’s Ministry (1994). 80 Ibid. 81 Sue Williams, “All-time Australian Tennis Great Margaret Court Found Her True Form Serving Jesus,” The Australian Women’s Weekly (February 2003): 240. 82 “Court, Margaret (1942-),” Australian Women’s Register, n.p. Accessed February 14, 2016. http://trove.nla.gov.au/people/459298?c=people. 83 “Rev. Dr. Margaret Court,” Victory Life Centre, http://www.victorylifecentre.com.au/about -us/rev-dr-margaret-court.html.

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of Queensland being the first).84 She later became national director of Alpha Australia.85 An inspiration to the next generation, Dwight commented: Imagine … arts, justice, the poor, transformation, church planting, kingdom business, making a difference, real relationship, truth, authenticity, great marriages, integrity, reformation, grace, love, family, community. There are SO many ways and things to imagine and God has no limit to what He can do… The only cap is our ability to ask or think or imagine.86 Another cbc alumni, Anne Iuliano, founded the highly successful Chaplaincy Australia in 1997 as a national department of aga to provide resources to meet the spiritual and pastoral needs of people in a wide variety of local contexts, including hospital visitation, disaster relief, and crisis management.87 The training Pentecostal women leaders received clearly equipped them for practical ministry application.

Ingenious in Creativity

The ‘outback spirit’ of ingenious creativity caused some Australian Pentecostal women to have a worldwide impact, edging out expiring institutional constrictions. In 2000, the secular media described Pentecostalism in Australia as: “contemporary and prosperous. Hip even … where winners hang out” noting that thousands of women at aga national women’s ministry director Bobbie Houston’s (1957–) Colour Conference “milled among the marquees and pots of pink and magenta petunias.”88 A major part of this media attention can be attributed to contemporary Christian worship music from Australia, which has achieved “chart-bending success.”89 New Zealand migrant Christine Pringle was instrumental in pioneering Christian City Church (now C3) in Sydney, with 84

85 86 87 88 89

Jim Reiher, “Do Assemblies of God Churches in Victoria Really Believe in Women’s Participation in Church Leadership?” Australasian Pentecostal Studies, 7, n.p. Accessed February 14, 2016. Alphacrucis College, http://aps-journal.com/aps/index.php/APS/article/ view/63/60. Matt Prater, “Melinda Dwight,” Historymakersradio.com, Accessed February 14, 2016. http://historymakersradio.com/podcast/melinda-dwight. Melinda Dwight, “Where are the Artists?” Melinda’s Memoirs, Accessed July 23, 2015. http://melindasmemoirs.blogspot.com.au/. John and Anne Iuliano, Personal Interview with Denise Austin, Chatswood nsw, October 1, 2012. Diana Bagnall, “The New Believers,” The Bulletin 118, no. 6219 (April 11, 2000): 5–21. Mark Hutchinson and John Wolffe, A Short History of Global Evangelicalism (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012), 261.

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her husband Phil, using contemporary music and culture. C3 planted churches throughout Australasia and now has more than 230 churches ­globally.90 Notably as a “pioneer of the modern worship movement,”91 Darlene Zschech (1965-), formerly of Hillsong and now co-senior pastor of Hope Unlimited Church on the New South Wales Central Coast, has won numerous gold albums, and her songs are known throughout the world.92 As Mark H ­ utchinson observes, Zschech became the face of “contemporary popular music with a passionate interior spirituality.”93 Antiquated models of leadership were being challenged. As ordained pastor, conference speaker, and daughter of Edith Averill, Joy Graetz wrote: “… women … are called to positions of leadership, influence and government. Sadly, and as a loss to the growth of the church, their voice has been silenced and their influence limited in so many church systems or local churches. The days of infertility in the church must be ended.”94 In 2007, aga was rebranded to Australian Christian Churches (acc), comprising over 1000 churches with 2800 ordained ministers serving within Australia and overseas. In a promising move that year, Donna Crouch of Hillsong Church was elected to the acc National Executive. The global influence of creative, gifted female leaders was also swinging national sentiment. The creativity of Australian Pentecostal women leaders moves well beyond the music industry into social action and political engagement, which affirms international studies in Pentecostal women’s studies.95 The outstanding growth of Pentecostal/Charismatic movements in Australia contributes to this growing influence. According to the independent 2011 National Church Life Survey, while Catholics are the largest group of church attendees in Australia, Pentecostals have become the second largest group of weekly church attendees in Australia surpassing Anglican Church, Uniting Church, and Presbyterian Church attendees. In 2012, the misogynist taunt of a well-known Sydney radio 90 91

92 93 94 95

Shane Clifton, “Australian Pentecostalism,” in Handbook of Pentecostal Christianity, ed. Adam Stewart (DeKalb il: Northern Illinois University Press, 2012), 41. DeWayne Hamby, “Darlene Zschech Reveals Jesus in Latest Album,” Charisma News, n.p. http://www.charismanews.com/culture/38616-darlene-zschech-reveals-jesus-in-latest -album. Author Unknown, “Biography,” Darlene: http://www.darlenezschech.com/biography/. Hutchinson, “The Contribution of Women to Pentecostalism,” 191. Joy Graetz, Women in Leadership: Boaz … Meet Ruth (Huntsville al: Milestones International Publishers, 2005), 170. Amos Yong, “Preface,” in Philip’s Daughters: Women in Pentecostal-Charismatic Leadership, ed. Estrelda Alexander and Amos Yong (Eugene or: Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2009), vii; Yolanda Pierce, “Woman-tology and the Future Face of Pentecostalism,” Theology Today, 68 (2012): 381.

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announcer that women political leaders in Australia were ‘destroying the joint’ (that is, wrecking the country), led to a flood of protest from a wide sector of society. In response, Jane Caro states: “Feminism is a broad church.”96 That is, it is compatible with almost any political or religious worldview. In light of continuing male dominance in Australian society, it is pertinent to ask whether ‘destroying the joint’ is an appropriate response for women of God. In rebuttal of Marion Maddox’s blinkered criticism of Colour Conference,97 Shane Clifton argues that, unlike other church groups, Pentecostal organizations such as Hillsong have raised the national profile of women in leadership.98 In fact, Colour Conference has placed “value upon womanhood so that women can place value upon fellow humanity” by promoting the self-esteem of schoolgirls (through Shine Programs), countering bullying (through the String Movement and other initiatives) and supporting international social programs (such as Compassion Australia and Watoto).99 In addition, A21, a global movement combating human (especially female) trafficking, was birthed out of Australia by influential and renowned Hillsong pastor, Christine Caine.100 Another notable figure is Malaysian-born Jeannie Mok of the 800-strong International City Church (icc) in Brisbane, which operates the Multicultural Community Centre to assist new migrants and refugees.101 In June 2013, Mok was awarded the Order of Australia Medal by the Governor General of Australia, as part of Queen Elizabeth ii’s birthday list of honors, in recognition of her work among multicultural communities in Queensland and beyond.102 In ‘breaking down’ the gender barriers in Australian society, Pentecostal women pioneers continue to find ingenious ways to impact individuals, churches, and communities in Australia and beyond.

96

Jane Caro, “Introduction: Sometimes You Just Have to Laugh,” in Destroying the Joint: Why Women have to Change the World, ed. Jane Caro (St Lucia: University of Queensland Press, 2013), xiv. 97 Marion Maddox, “Prosper, Consume and be Saved,” Critical Research on Religion 1, no. 1 (April 1, 2013): 112. 98 Shane Clifton, “Australian Pentecostalism: Origins, Developments, and Trends,” 165. 99 Author Unknown, “Thousands of Women United to Place Value on Humanity,” My Hillsong Australia, http://myhillsong.com/thousands-women-united-place-value-humanity. 100 Ibid. 101 Author Unknown, “Multicultural Community Centre,” International City Church, Accessed December 24, 2010, http://www.iccbrisbane.org/community/multicultural-community -centre/; “History,” International City Church, http://www.iccbrisbane.org/about-us/our -history/. 102 Jeannie Mok, Email Correspondence—Group Email, June 25, 2013.

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Conclusion Throughout history, Australian Pentecostal women have demonstrated common characteristics of the ‘outback spirit’: defiance, influence, resilience, courage, and ingenuity. Through resourcefulness and hard work, these women have forged new trails in ministry and opened new mission fields. Overcoming obstacles of marginalization (both inside and outside the church), rejection, and loneliness, women in Australian Pentecostalism have thrived in a tough and isolated environment. Propelled by the impetus of the Spirit, these women have ministered regardless of institutional or societal approval. Just as Jesus Christ is described as being led by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness (see Luke 4:1), so this same Holy Spirit provided the impetus for these women to be led to the wilderness, both literally and metaphorically, to share the good news of Christ crucified. The Holy Spirit, like the ‘outback spirit,’ is not biased by personal traits such as gender, age, or race, but is “poured out” on all. As the Holy Spirit called or moved these Pentecostal women in Australia, they responded to the internal conviction despite whatever external restrictions were imposed upon them (including supposedly scriptural injunctions). These female pioneers have laid the foundation for an Australian Pentecostalism that has exerted influence beyond its borders, exporting its creative and tenacious expression of Christianity and providing models of female leadership to the global church. Bibliography Primary Sources

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February 14, 2016. Alphacrucis College. http://aps-journal.com/aps/index.php/APS/ article/view/51/48. Grimshaw, Patricia. “‘That We May Obtain Our Religious Liberty …’: Aboriginal Women, Faith and Rights in Early Twentieth Century Victoria, Australia.” Journal of the Canadian Historical Association 19, no. 2 (2008): 24–42. Hamby, DeWayne. “Darlene Zschech Reveals Jesus in Latest Album.” Charisma News, n.p. http://www.charismanews.com/culture/38616-darlene-zschech-reveals-jesus-in -latest-album. Holmes, Katie, and Marilyn Lake, eds. Freedom Bound II: Documents on Women in Modern Australia. St Leonards: Allen and Unwin, 1995. Hutchinson, Mark. “Cartledge, David Frederick (1940–2005).” Australian Dictionary of Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements, n.p. Accessed February 14, 2016. Alphacrucis College, http://webjournals.ac.edu.au/ojs/index.php/ADPCM/article/ view/198/195. Hutchinson, Mark. “‘Second Founder’: A C Valdez Sr. and Australian Pentecostalism.” Australasian Pentecostal Studies 11, no. 2: n.p. Accessed February 14, 2016. Alphacrucis  College,  http://aps-journal.com/aps/index.php/APS/article/view/ 95/92. Hutchinson, Mark. “Stott, Emily (d.1946).” Australian Dictionary of Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements. n.p. Accessed February 14, 2016. Alphacrucis College. http://webjournals.ac.edu.au/ojs/index.php/ADPCM/article/view/225/222. Hutchinson, Mark. “The Contribution of Women to Pentecostalism.” In Raising Women Leaders: Perspectives on Liberating Women in Pentecostal and Charismatic Contexts, edited by Shane Clifton and Jacqueline Grey, 191–220. Sydney: Australasian Pentecostal Studies, 2009. Hutchinson, Mark, and John Wolffe. A Short History of Global Evangelicalism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012. Ichikawa, Maki. “Smith, Marie Bertha (1915–1971).” Australasian Dictionary of Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements. n.p. Accessed February 14, 2016. Alphacrucis College. http://webjournals.ac.edu.au/ojs/index.php/ADPCM/article/view/223/220. Maddox, Marion. “Prosper, Consume and Be Saved.” Critical Research on Religion 1, no. 1 (1 April 2013): 108–115. Pierce, Yolanda. “Woman-tology and the Future Face of Pentecostalism.” Theology Today, 68 (2012): 381–382. Poloma, Margaret. Assemblies of God at the Crossroads: Charisma and Institutional Dilemmas UTP: Knoxville, 1989. Powers, Janet Everts. “‘Your Daughters Shall Prophesy’: Pentecostal Hermeneutics and the Empowerment of Women.” In The Globalization of Pentecostalism: A Religion Made to Travel, edited by Murray W. Dempster, Byron D. Klaus, and Douglas Petersen, 313–337. Oxford: Regnum, 1999.

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Prater, Matt. “Melinda Dwight.” Historymakersradio.com. Accessed February 14, 2016. http://historymakersradio.com/podcast/melinda-dwight Radi, Heather. “Introduction.” In 200 Australian Women: A Redress Anthology, edited by Heather Radi, xi-xii. Broadway NSW: Women’s Redress Press Inc., 2007. Reiher, Jim. “Do Assemblies of God Churches in Victoria Really Believe in Women’s Participation in Church Leadership?” Australasian Pentecostal Studies, 7: n.p. Accessed February 14, 2016. Alphacrucis College, http://aps-journal.com/aps/index .php/APS/article/view/63/60. Reiher, Jim. “Women and Ministry in Early Victorian Pentecost: Early AOG leaders in Victoria, A.C. Valdez and C.L. Greenwood, and their Attitudes Towards Women in Ministry and Leadership in the Church.” Pentecostal and Charismatic Bible Colleges Journal 15, no. 2: n.p. Accessed February 14, 2016. Alphacrucis College, http://webjournals.ac.edu.au/ojs/index.php/PCBC/article/view/8910/8907. “Rev. Dr. Margaret Court.” Victory Life Centre. Accessed August 25, 2015. http://www .victorylifecentre.com.au/about-us/rev-dr-margaret-court.html. Stephenson, Lisa P. Dismantling the Dualisms for American Pentecostal Women in Ministry: A Feminist-Pneumatological Approach. Vol. 9 of Global Pentecostal and Charismatic Studies series. Leiden: Brill, 2012. Synan, Vinson. Holiness-Pentecostal Tradition: Charismatic Movements in the Twentieth Century. Grand Rapids MI: William B. Eerdmans, 1997. Roebuck, David G. “‘I Have Done the Best I Could’: Opportunities and Limitations for Women Ministers in the Church of God—A Pentecostal Denomination.” Theology Today, 68 (2012): 393–403. Stark, Trudie and Hans J.M. van Deventer. “The ‘Jezebel Spirit’: A Scholarly Inquiry.” Verbum et Ecclesia 30, no. 2 (2009): 301–309. Williams, Joan (Justina). “Women Carrying Banners.” In Carrying the Banner: Women, Leadership and Activism in Australia, edited by Joan Eveline and Lorraine Hayden, 16–31. Nedlands: University of Western Australia Press, 1999. Williams, Sue. “All-time Australian Tennis Great Margaret Court Found Her True Form Serving Jesus.” The Australian Women’s Weekly (2003): 240. Williams, Sue. Women of the Outback: Inspiring True Stories of Tragedy and Triumph. Camberwell, Victoria: Penguin, 2008. Yong, Amos. “Preface.” In Philip’s Daughters: Women in Pentecostal-Charismatic Leadership, edited by Estrelda Alexander and Amos Yong, vii–viii. Eugene OR: Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2009.

Editor’s Note to Chapter 9 Religious women do not exist in an ecclesial vacuum, but are influenced by many social forces including secular ones. As late-twentieth century Pentecostal and charismatic women leaders struggled with issues of identity, autonomy, agency, and calling within their own religious contexts, their efforts were further instructed and complicated by the struggles of Western women as a whole. Conservative women were caught between contradictions of traditional evangelical Biblicism and secular feminism, and negotiating through such contradictory pressures is at the center of the dilemmas facing female Pentecostals and charismatics. While some conservative women publically affirmed male authority while finding creative ways to circumvent it, others were shaped by a stream of biblical feminism that was taking shape. Recalling that much of the ecclesial male leadership of the era had been swept into reactional waves of patriarchal entrenchment, and with judgments often aimed directly at them, Pentecostal and charismatic women surprise us with their private thoughts, reflections, and responses. Linda Ambrose illuminates this struggle in this chapter’s narrative portrait of the Rev. Bernice Gerard (1923–2008). Gerard was an ordained Pentecostal pastor and well-known public figure from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Over her lifetime of ministry, Gerard operated in a wide variety of roles and gifts, including that of pastor, teacher, evangelist, and prophet. While it would be inaccurate to suggest that she was ‘typical’ of Canadian Pentecostal women, there are many aspects of Gerard’s life and ministry experience that provide a useful lens through which to explore the experiences of Canadian Pentecostal women in ministry more broadly, especially in the late twentieth century. This chapter explores Gerard’s reflections on the question of women in ministry and women’s status in the church through her 1988 autobiography, Bernice Gerard: Today and for Life, and other archival documents. Ambrose explores in particular her position on the contentious issue of women in ministry and how she arrived at the views she held. Gerard’s experiences in Vancouver and particularly on the campuses of the University of British Columbia and Simon Fraser University profoundly shaped her thinking. Returning to university studies in her mid-thirties, Gerard was an eager student and a voracious reader. Questions about women’s place in the church were being widely debated by North American evangelicals throughout the 1970s and 1980s, and the issue of women’s ordination was at the center of deliberations within her

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denomination, the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada (paoc), in that period. Analyzing her autobiography alongside archival collections of her personal papers, it is clear that Gerard was a feminist, and, as this chapter argues, her feminism was shaped by a surprising combination of influences including the ideas she encountered, adopted, and adapted from at least three different approaches including evangelical, ecumenical, and secular thinkers.

chapter 9

Canadian Pentecostal Women in Ministry: The Case of Bernice Gerard and Feminist Ideologies1 Linda M. Ambrose Introduction When pressed to declare where she stood on the controversial question of women in ministry, the Rev. Bernice Gerard wrote in 1988, “Please understand me, I am not belligerent on this subject. I am bored, bored as a black person is bored with discussing what’s wrong with apartheid.”2 At sixty-five years of age and with more than forty years of ministry behind her, it is no wonder that Gerard was bored, and a little impatient with fellow believers who were stalled on the issue of whether or not women should take up formal roles in ministry. But among Canadian evangelicals generally, and Canadian Pentecostals specifically, debate on this issue was very much alive, and there probably was no one more qualified to speak to the issue than Bernice Gerard, an ordained Pentecostal pastor and well-known public figure from Vancouver, British Columbia (bc). In the year 2000 The Vancouver Sun named Gerard number one on a list of “the twenty-five most influential religious figures in British Columbia in the twentieth century.” As he defended that ranking, journalist Douglas Todd explained, “The veteran evangelist has made Greater Vancouver a stronghold of charismatic worship, spreading its super-emotional, arm-waving style to mainline Protestant, Anglican, and Catholic congregations. In addition to founding some of bc’s 200 Pentecostal churches and a Christian tv network, Gerard’s gravelly voice has reached hundreds of thousands of people through her radio and tv shows.”3 Indeed, over her lifetime of ministry, Gerard operated in a 1 An earlier version of this paper, entitled “‘I am not belligerent, I am bored …’: Bernice Gerard, Her Feminist Ideologies, and Canadian Women in Ministry,” was presented at the 43rd Annual Meeting of the Society for Pentecostal Studies in Springfield, Missouri March 7, 2014. 2 Bernice Gerard, Bernice Gerard: Today and for Life (Vancouver: Sunday Line Communications, 1988), 144. 3 Douglas Todd, “British Columbia’s 25 Most Influential Spiritual Leaders,” The Vancouver Sun, April 21, 2000.

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wide variety of roles and gifts including that of pastor, teacher, evangelist, and prophet. It would be inaccurate to suggest that she was ‘typical’ of Canadian Pentecostal women; indeed, in many ways she was exceptional, even among the women who held ministry credentials with the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada. Yet, there are many aspects of Gerard’s life and ministry experience that provide a useful lens through which to explore the experiences of Canadian Pentecostal women in ministry more broadly, especially in the late twentieth century. As an example of Canadian historical scholarship on Pentecostal women, this chapter explores Bernice Gerard’s reflections on the question of women in ministry and women’s status in the church. Her autobiography, Bernice Gerard: Today and for Life, appeared three years after she concluded her pastoral ministry that had stretched from 1964 to 1985, when she co-pastored a Vancouver church, Fraserview Assembly, with Velma Chapman, her life-long ministry partner. In her private correspondence just a few months before the autobiography was published, Gerard described her forthcoming book as “a[n] intellectual—spiritual—pilgrimage kind of book: spiritually presenting my story of new life in Jesus, and my Pentecostal experience, life as a university chaplain, women’s ministry, a biblical rationale for Christians in politics, and some of my experiences as a member of Vancouver City Council, etc.”4 This chapter seeks to interrogate Gerard’s ‘intellectual pilgrimage’ and, in particular, her position on the contentious issue of women in ministry and how she arrived at the views she held. Questions about women’s place in the church were being widely debated by North American evangelicals throughout the 1970s and 1980s, and the issue of women’s ordination was at the center of the deliberations of her denomination, the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada (paoc), in that period.5 Gerard was a feminist and her feminism was shaped by a surprising combination of influences including the ideas she encountered, adopted, and adapted from at least three different approaches including evangelical, ecumenical, and secular thinkers. 4 Summit Pacific College, Lorne Philip Hudson Memorial Library Archives, Bernice Gerard Collection (Hereafter spc, bgc), Personal Correspondence, Bernice Gerard to Dr. Paul Yonggi Cho, February 29, 1988. 5 The paoc had been debating the question of women’s ordination for some time, but the issue was central on two occasions at the General Conference in Hamilton, on, in 1980 and again in Saint John, nb, in 1984. The decision to grant ordination to women came into effect following the 1984 meeting, but it sparked a great deal of controversy among paoc members as the following letters to the editor of Pentecostal Testimony illustrate: Mike and Cathy Davis, “Worldly Cover,” (March 1985), 9; Wendy Wake, “Influenced by Modern-Day Feminism” (April 1985), 43; and Harold W. Brown, “Jesus Called Only Men” (April 1985), 44.

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Born in 1923 in New Westminster, bc, Gerard was adopted at birth and spent the first years of her life with a fishing family on the Fraser River before coming into the care of the provincial child welfare system and living in a series of foster homes through the remainder of her school years. Gerard had a conversion experience at the age of thirteen and was training to become a teacher when, because of the province’s teacher shortage, she found employment at a school in Rossland, bc even before her formal education was complete. In 1945, however, she gave up her brief teaching career to travel full-time as part of a trio of women evangelists, and in 1948 she was ordained by the Assemblies of God in Springfield, Missouri, as part of the Presbytery of Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada.6 After ten years of traveling as an evangelist and musician throughout the United States, Europe, and South America, Gerard returned to Vancouver in 1958 to attend the University of British Columbia where she completed undergraduate and graduate degrees while taking up a new career as a Pentecostal university chaplain, pastor, city councilor, and radio/television personality. Gerard was an early participant in interfaith dialogues with Roman Catholic charismatics beginning in the early 1960s; she became a friend of David du Plessis, who gained notoriety for his clashes with the Assemblies of God over his ecumenical initiatives.7 In the 1970s when Canadian society was experiencing the unprecedented liberalization of social and sexual mores, Gerard rose to prominence as an outspoken opponent of abortion and defender of conservative standards of public morality. Not only did she lead and participate in anti-abortion demonstrations, she also used her influence as an elected municipal politician to stage public protests against nude beaches in Vancouver and the presentation of ‘obscene’ and ‘pornographic’ plays and movies in public theatres.8 Gerard continued in active ministry roles until 2005. She died in Vancouver in 2008.9

6 During her ministry as a traveling evangelist throughout North America and as a missionary to Latin America and South America, she published her first autobiography, Bernice Gerard, Converted in the Country: The Life Story of Bernice Gerard (Jacksonville, fl: McColl-Gerard Publications, 1956). This book was largely anecdotal, and it was intended as a tool for evangelism as she presented her testimony of God’s work in her life. 7 Joshua R. Ziefle, David du Plessis and the Assemblies of God: The Struggle for the Soul of a Movement (Leiden: Brill, 2013). 8 Linda M. Ambrose, “Bernice Gerard: Controversial Pentecostal Pastor and Politician in 1970s Vancouver, Canada,” Unpublished paper presented at the 8th GloPent Conference, London, uk, September 6, 2014; see also Gerard. Today and For Life, especially chapters 16–18. 9 The paoc publication, Pentecostal Testimony honored Gerard’s memory in the March 2009 issue with her picture on the cover, and two articles: Marilyn Stroud, “Bernice Gerard: A Life

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When Bernice Gerard set out to write her 1988 autobiography she confided to her readers: The question of women in ministry is not a simple one, nor one I can avoid any longer as I tell my own story. My first impulse has been to ignore this complex issue and write as the majority of ministers would write, that is, as a man would write. One finds no explanations, no justifications, no apologies for being ‘mere men’ in the ministry. However, for many years I have done what some say is a ‘man’s job only.’ In some cases they mean, ‘It’s a man’s job, so get out of the pulpit!’ In others, they are attempting a compliment, as in ‘You preach like a man.’ Just as, in another context, they might say ‘You drive real good, just like a man.’10 Relenting, she finally took up the question of women in ministry in the fourteenth chapter of her book, where she began by saying “for friend and foe, I force myself to collect my thoughts, and share how I, as a woman, pastored the same church for twenty-one beautiful years, preached twice on Sundays and midweek, ministered the communion, baptized believers, performed wedding ceremonies, counseled the living, buried the dead, acted as chairman of the board and chief administrative officer, and then, with a peaceful heart, chose to shift gears and go full time into writing and radio and television ministry.”11 By her own admission, Gerard’s experiences in Vancouver and particularly on the campuses of the University of British Columbia and Simon Fraser University shaped her profoundly. Returning to university studies in her mid-thirties, Gerard was an eager student and a voracious reader. She earned two degrees from ubc: a b.a. in Theological Studies in 1962 and an m.a. in English in 1967.12 As she explained, “to the students whose sincere questioning demanded on behalf of the church an answer that represents Jesus more



Lived in the Power of the Spirit,” 8–9; and Susan Wells, “Against All Odds: Bernice Gerard’s Rich and Vibrant life,” 10–11. 10 Gerard, Today and For Life, 142. This second biography was different from the first, not only in scope, but also in tone. Published more than thirty years after the first, Gerard told Dr. Paul Yonggi Cho that she intended this account to be more of a record of her “intellectual and spiritual pilgrimage.” spc, bgc, Gerard to Dr. Paul Yonggi Cho, February 29, 1988. 11 Gerard, Today and For Life, 144. 12 Bernice M. Gerard, “Milton’s Orthodoxy and Its Relation to the Form of Paradise Lost,” Unpublished ma Thesis, University of British Columbia, 1967. Her thesis supervisor was Milton scholar Roy Daniells, who wrote Milton, Mannerism and Baroque (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1963).

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adequately than in the past, I owe the development of many insights.”13 For readers who might be interested in understanding the development of those insights and her intellectual formation more generally, Gerard confided “my own interests led me to the works of radical secular feminists, as well as those of Bible-believing evangelical scholars, male and female,” and she instructed, “I would urge the reader who is interested in studying these issues to check out my footnotes for recommended reading.”14 That is the very task this chapter undertakes. Drawing on her autobiography, the works she cited there, and her personal papers and correspondence held at the library of Summit Pacific College in Abbotsford, bc, this chapter considers the various ideological influences that converged in Bernice Gerard’s views about women in the church. Following Gerard’s instruction, I proposed to do just as she had suggested: to track her footnotes and uncover the authors and ideas she referenced. My goal was to understand how the works she read shaped her thinking. What quickly became evident is that Bernice Gerard was very much a product of her times, as she studied and ministered during the rise of the second-wave women’s movement in Canada and through the years when debates about women in ministry were reaching a crescendo in the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada. Given the target audience for her autobiography (one assumes she was writing her life story mainly for evangelical Christians), it is not surprising that her footnotes show far more reliance on evangelical scholarship than on secular sources. Sixteen footnotes accompany her chapter on women in ministry, and of those, all but three point readers to evangelical sources. The remaining three sources include one reference to the New English Bible, and two references to prominent figures in Canadian women’s history: Emily Murphy and Nellie McClung. The remaining thirteen notes include references to two classic texts concerning women and ministry, including Catherine Booth’s 1859 work Female Ministry: A Woman’s Right to Preach the Gospel and Katharine C. Bushnell’s God’s Word to Women, originally published in 1923, along with more contemporary authors from the 1970s and 1980s. Unfortunately, the footnotes to her chapter can only take one so far in a quest to track her intellectual formation, but by piecing those together with the papers and correspondence in her personal archives, one comes to a more complete picture of what influenced her thinking. And those influences were unquestionably feminist in orientation. Reading Gerard’s personal papers in conjunction with her autobiography, it becomes clear that a variety of feminist influences are entwined throughout 13 Gerard, Today and for Life, 150–51. 14 Ibid., 147.

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Gerard’s writing, correspondence, and speaking notes including evangelical feminism, ecumenical feminism, and secular feminism.

Evangelical Feminist Influences

As Pamela Cochran explained in her 2005 book, Evangelical Feminism: A History, For most people today, much less in the 1980s, the terms ‘evangelical’ and ‘feminism’ are contradictory. ‘Evangelicalism’ … known for its strict or ‘literal’ interpretation of the Bible … conjures up images of right-wing politics and social conservatism, including support for ‘traditional’ gender roles. So how could an evangelical also support feminism, a movement that seeks, at its most basic level, to redress the inequalities, injustice, and discrimination that women face because of their sex?15 Despite those seeming contradictions, Cochran traces how a historic gathering of young evangelicals in 1973 gave rise to a group known as the Evangelical Women’s Caucus, and a movement “characterized by the belief that when interpreted correctly, the Bible teaches the equality of women and men.”16 That view is the one that Bernice Gerard shared and upon that conviction she based her thinking and her career in ministry. Perhaps the most widely circulated publication that emerged from evangelical feminists in the 1970s is a book by Letha Scanzoni and Nancy Hardesty, All We’re Meant to Be: A Biblical Approach to Women’s Liberation, published in 1974.17 Cochran pointed to the significance of that book, indicating that their argument was constructed both theologically and historically to assert that the call to use women’s gifts in leadership was an important part of authentic Christianity. Taking that historical and theological base, they “hoped to divert complaints that [they were] just adding a feminist veneer to Christianity.”18 Gerard cited Scanzoni and Hardesty in the footnotes of her autobiography, and took from them a critical reference because it was there that she found 15

Pamela Cochran, Evangelical Feminism: A History (New York: New York University Press, 2005), 1–2. 16 Ibid., 2. 17 Letha Scanzoni and Nancy Hardesty, All We’re Meant to Be: A Biblical Approach to Women’s Liberation (Waco, tx: Word Books, 1974). 18 Cochran, Evangelical Feminism, 23.

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her definition of ‘liberation.’ Gerard explained that “Liberation for a Christian woman is not a movement or an organization but ‘a state of mind in which a woman comes to view herself as Jesus Christ sees her—as a person created in God’s image whom he wants to make free to be whole, to grow, to learn, to utilize fully the talents and gifts God has given her as a unique individual.’”19 Scanzoni and her co-author, Nancy Hardesty, were important leading voices in the emerging debates about feminism in evangelical circles, and at the time they were writing their book, the idea of an ‘evangelical feminism’ was perceived to be quite radical and daring, for some perhaps even an oxymoron.20 The fact that Gerard cites Hardesty and Scanzoni in her footnote is a cue to readers to know that she had read and been influenced by their now-classic text. Gerard was not merely a casual reader of their ideas, but it is clear that she was profoundly influenced by them. Gerard’s personal archives include some copies of the newsletter, Daughters of Sarah, published by the People’s Christian Coalition. In the September 1975 issue of that newsletter, which Gerard kept in her files, there were references to the Hardesty and Scanzoni book, but also book reviews of other publications dealing with themes of biblical feminism, including a review of Fuller Theological Seminary professor Paul K. Jewett’s 1975 book Man as Male and Female: A Study in Sexual Relations from a Theological Point of View.21 The newsletter also featured announcements about upcoming events concerning biblical feminism, an international women’s year, and conferences of interest to its readers as well as news about a newly published directory of biblical feminists, issued by the Evangelical Women’s Caucus. The fact that Gerard was reading this material, and that she preserved it among her personal papers for more than thirty years, lends weight to the idea that she was shaped by the lively debates engendered by these early American evangelical feminists. In following the scholarship of these two leaders of evangelical feminism there is no doubt that Gerard had also read Scanzoni’s 1973 article “The Feminists and the Bible,” where she pointed out that American feminists from the first-wave women’s movement, who fought for women’s right to vote, were 19 Gerard, Today and For Life, 147; citing Scanzoni and Hardesty, All We’re Meant to Be, 11. 20 For a series of blog entries explaining the 1970s context and the story behind the publication of All We’re Meant to Be, see Letha Scanzoni’s blog, “Part 1. Coauthoring ‘All We’re Meant to Be’—The Beginning,” Letha’s Calling: A Christian Feminist Voice, http://www.lethadawsonscanzoni.com/2011/01/part-1-coauthoring-all-were-meant-to-be-the-beginning/. 21 Donald W. Dayton, “Man as Male and Female: A Review,” Daughters of Sarah 1, no. 6 (September 1975): 5–8; Paul K. Jewett, Man as Male and Female: a Study in Sexual Relationships from a Theological Point of View (Grand Rapids, mi: Eerdmans, 1975).

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Bible-believing Christians.22 Gerard took that model of tying her feminist thought to women’s history when she opened the chapter on women in her autobiography with a parallel account of early Canadian feminists whose faith had spurred them to argue for equality for women in public life. Devoting six paragraphs to a short history, Gerard recounted how, in 1929, after an extended court battle and a series of appeals, Canadian women came to be recognized as “persons” under the British North America Act because of the campaign waged by ‘the Alberta Five,’ including Emily Murphy and Nellie McClung, who fought tirelessly on behalf of Canadian women’s right to a political voice. Gerard made the point that these were women with active connections to church life. Indeed, Gerard quoted McClung, a celebrated author and satirist, who mocked turn-of-the century church structures when she quipped, “Women may lift the mortgages, or build churches, or any other light work, but the real heavy work of church, such as moving resolutions in the general conferences … must be done by strong, hardy men.”23 More important than citing the amusing bits of McClung’s writing, though, was the fact that here Gerard was tying early Canadian feminist initiatives for women to enter into public, political life to their life of faith and involvement in church politics. Gerard wanted her readers to see the logic behind this fact: political status like voting in elections and occupying political office were widely accepted among Canadians. And the women who had won those victories on behalf of their fellow citizens were churchwomen. Having established those facts of Canadian history, Gerard went on to question, in unabashedly feminist terms, why it was then that several decades later evangelical churches were one of the last bastions of male chauvinism in their church leadership and governance practices. While she professed boredom with the question of why it was acceptable for women to provide leadership in church ministry, after a long, successful career as a co-pastor, she simply stated, “I have no time for debate with those who raise the subject of women’s ministries with the intent to silence or harass women. There is a lot of meanness in people that finds ready expression in targeting persecuted minorities.”24 This could be interpreted as pragmatism; perhaps Gerard had simply decided not to waste precious time to engage in sparring over the question. After all, like the prophet Nehemiah, whom she cited, she maintained, “I am carrying on a great project … why should I leave it and go down to you?” (Neh. 6:3, niv). Although 22 Letha Scanzoni, “The Feminists and the Bible,” Christianity Today (February 1973): 10–15. 23 Pauline Ashton quoting Nellie McClung, cited in Gerard, Today and for Life, 144. 24 Gerard, Today and for Life, 145.

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she reported that she had been “endlessly challenged, questioned, cajoled, and condemned,” it was clear that she had long since settled in her own mind that she was called of God to do what she was doing and had done. Moreover, a closer look at her rationale shows that she was, in fact, following a hermeneutic that was in step with that of evangelical feminists in the 1970s and early 1980s. Rather than merely debating the exegesis of certain passages of Scripture, she invoked the language of the feminist movement. She claimed that she only wanted to share with her readers “what is presently foundational in my own understanding,” what she believed to be true, and significantly, what “[I] find liberating to me as a person.”25 Clearly she was incorporating language and ideas from evangelical feminist thinkers who, according to Cochran, “came to rely on personal experience as authoritative in their interpretation of Scripture, thereby weakening their commitment to external, transcendent authority.”26 And yet, Gerard’s greatest reliance for her chapter came from one author in particular, Charles Trombley, who published his book Who Said Women Can’t Teach in 1985. Gerard admired Trombley’s work for its clear communication as he tackled the three parts of the biblical record at the heart of the woman question: the creation account, Jesus and his treatment of women, and the teachings of the apostle Paul. As she explained, when Trombley came to the question “Should Women Be Silent in the Church?” his “answer to that question concur[red] with reliable scholarship.”27 Solid scholarship, published in 1985, gave direction to readers seeking to understand Gerard’s position from the key Bible passages. This was significant because by the mid-1980s some of the evangelical feminist scholars Gerard had admired ten years earlier (including Hardesty) had taken up controversial positions on social questions like lesbianism that Gerard could not endorse.28 Therefore, finding a publication like Trombley’s, which gave a feminist reading of the most commonly debated scriptures, undoubtedly was a relief for Gerard as she sought to take a more moderate position on women in ministry than some of her more liberal American counterparts.

25 Ibid., 147. 26 Cochran, Evangelical Feminism, 4. 27 Gerard, Today and for Life, 155. Charles Trombley, Who Said Women Can’t Teach? (South Plainfield, nj: Bridge Publishing Inc., 1985). 28 See Cochran, Evangelical Feminism, 77–109. That chapter is entitled “Is the Homosexual My Neighbour? The Crisis in Biblical Feminism.”

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Ecumenical Feminist Writers

It would be misleading, however, to create the impression that Gerard always ‘played it safe’ with her own reading choices or intellectual associations. The second group of writers that shaped her thinking on women in the church illustrates this clearly. Although it was obviously outside the boundaries of what her readers and the paoc executives at the time could endorse, Gerard was heavily influenced by, and an enthusiastic participant in, ecumenical initiatives and interchurch dialogue. Through her many and varied connections with other denominations she encountered various churches’ positions on the woman question. A newspaper report about a talk that Gerard gave to a women’s conference in Ontario in 1968 referenced her openness to ecumenical initiatives as she urged “Christian women to communicate with people in other churches, to have interchurch dialogue. She said the Pentecostals had to find out what the Catholics, the Baptists and the United Church [of Canada] members were doing. People cannot ignore others just because they have a different belief.”29 While such a suggestion might sound entirely reasonable to a liberal-minded person in the twenty-first century, the idea of such ecumenical cooperation actually was considered to be rather controversial among conservative Pentecostals in this period. Among Gerard’s personal archives is a copy of a letter written in 1987 by the Rev. James M. McKnight, General Superintendent of the paoc, on the subject of Gerard’s involvement with the International Roman Catholic/Pentecostal Dialogue. Evidently, Gerard’s involvement had drawn the attention of a colleague from South Africa who had written to the Canadian General Superintendent to clarify whether Gerard spoke on behalf of the paoc or not. While McKnight praised Gerard’s “competence and sensitivity to the things of God,” he unequivocally reinforced the position of the paoc, making clear that there was “no approval from our office for any official endorsement to appoint an individual to dialogue with Roman Catholics.”30 Gerard, however, had been in that dialogue for many years. In a personal letter to an American colleague in 1971, she confirmed her plans to attend a Roman Catholic conference planned for the early summer and explained that she had been hosting an open-line radio program for more than three years “which has made quite a contribution to the understanding of the charismatic renewal on the part of many people in the denominational churches.”31 While she might 29 30 31

“Pentecostal Chaplain Learned Students’ Jargon,” Windsor Star, August 26, 1968. spc, bgc, James M. McKnight to Pastor Justus T. du Plessis, September 24, 1987. spc, bgc, Bernice Gerard to Rev. Ray Bringham, May 4, 1971.

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have been commended for that broadcast work that was serving to spread the Pentecostal message of charismatic renewal, she crossed a line in the minds of many Pentecostals when she declared: “I am quite convinced that the Lord is leading me to work with the Roman Catholics who are sincerely endeavoring to move within the circle of their own church. … There has definitely been conflict here, but in my own mind I have no doubt …”32 The idea that Gerard was in dialogue with Roman Catholics (and had been for many years) when her own church headquarters was not ready to endorse such exchanges is not surprising. Indeed, by the early 1970s she had a wellestablished reputation for working across denominational lines and being ecumenically minded, having served for several years as a university chaplain at the University of British Columbia.33 Following her admonition to reference her footnotes, the careful reader of Gerard’s autobiography cannot help but note that to support her position on feminism’s place in the church she pointed to Catholic scholarship, specifically the work of Leonard J. Swidler, professor of Catholic Thought and Interreligious Dialogue at Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In 1971, Swidler published in Catholic World what would become an oft-cited article entitled “Jesus was a Feminist.”34 The fact that Gerard was following Catholic thinkers on this topic is further evidence of the wide-ranging influences that were shaping her thinking at the time. On the question of women and the church Gerard was particularly drawn to Swidler’s historical scholarship because of the way he contextualizes Jesus’s interactions with women in light of the status of women in the land of Israel at the time of Christ. Based on his understanding of the restricted views that characterized the lives of women during the lifetime of Jesus, Swidler argues that Jesus was unquestionably feminist in his dealings with women because he ignored the cultural conventions of the day. He cites several of the well-known episodes of the interactions Jesus had with women including the woman at the well, the woman with the issue of blood, the woman who wiped Jesus’s feet with her hair, and Mary and Martha. 32 Ibid. 33 “No Room for Chaplain Here,” The Wayfarer, November 3, 1966. The Wayfarer was a paid advertising insert that appeared several times per year in the University of British Columbia student newspaper, The Ubyssey. Ken Gaglardi edited The Wayfarer and, Gerard was listed as one of the “assistants” for this publication along with more than twenty students. 34 Leonard J. Swidler, “Jesus was a Feminist,” Catholic World (January 1971): 177–183. The full text of the article is available at God’s Word to Women, http://www.godswordtowomen .org/feminist.htm.

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Swidler’s argument is that Jesus disregarded ethnic and gender restrictions that would have prohibited him from conversing with the Samaritan woman; by engaging with her, he actually entrusted her with news about his true identity. She was the first person to whom he disclosed that he was the long-awaited Messiah, and the gospel message was actually spread to her entire community through her reports of their conversation. Second, when Jesus made a public scene by pointing out that the woman who had been healed from the issue of blood had touched him, Swidler argues that Jesus was calling attention to the fact that her physical touch had not contaminated him. On the contrary, he commended her for her act of faith and challenged the conventions that had been created to block women from accessing religious leaders. Third, Swidler writes about the woman of ill repute who wiped Jesus’s feet with her tears and her hair. He accepted her action, and, Swidler argues, did not dismiss her as a sex object due to her status as a sex trade worker; instead he blessed her and modeled for the men around him a different way to interact with women by refusing to objectify her and to reduce her to a one-dimensional being. And, finally, Swidler argues that Jesus elevated the place of women when he validated Mary, the sister of Martha, for her choice to leave off housekeeping concerns and opt instead to sit at his feet to listen to the teaching and to enjoy a spiritual encounter with him. Gerard emphasized that in so doing Jesus opened the possibility for women to enter fully into intellectual and spiritual life by sharing with men the act of loving God with their minds. Only one year after her general superintendent had firmly stated in 1987 that the paoc was not officially involved in any dialogue with Roman Catholics, it must have come as a surprise to some readers of Gerard’s autobiography that she was pointing to a Catholic scholar’s work to defend her stance on women in ministry. As a Toronto Star journalist had remarked about Gerard a few years earlier, “In a denomination not known for making waves on social issues, Miss Gerard has a tendency to rock the boat.”35 Apparently, she had been rocking the boat, not just on social issues, but also by entering into dialogue with Catholics against the wishes of the national paoc office and by reading Catholic feminist scholarship for more than a decade and a half before.

Secular Feminist Authors

The third expression of feminism that shaped Gerard’s views was perhaps the most surprising of all: secular feminism. On August 26, 1968, the Windsor 35

Michael McAteer, “Woman Pentecostal May Rock the Boat,” Toronto Star, August 16, 1980.

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Star reported on a talk that Gerard had given at the General Conference of the paoc. The newspaper reported that “Miss Bernice Gerard thinks that if people have something to say, we should listen to them, no matter whether they are a square or a hippie.”36 Urging the paoc delegates to the women’s meeting that they needed to grasp the opportunities that were all around them, she reportedly said, “Women should not say, ‘I am only a woman.’ We must realize we are people too. We all have to give an account of ourselves as persons.”37 Invoking Canadian history to remind women of their position in society, she said, “It is not that long back when women didn’t have the vote and it isn’t that long back when they couldn’t keep the money they earned. We women today can move into areas where we are needed and do our part as Christian women.”38 The reporter added that “Miss Gerard said women must pull up their socks because they are missing a lot of their opportunities.”39 Gerard’s speaking notes for that Windsor talk are in the archival materials deposited at Summit Pacific College in Abbotsford, bc. In eight pages of handwritten notes, Gerard emphasized “Christian women need to see themselves as persons.”40 She elaborated on this point in her notes with the remark, “there is nothing especially Christian about an exaggerated meekness that allows a woman to draw back from the challenges of real living saying, ‘I’m only a woman.’”41 To support that point, she quoted scripture in her notes, specifically Acts 2, which cites the prophet Joel predicting that God would pour out his Spirit “upon all flesh” (Acts 2:17; Joel 2:28 kjv) and that “your sons and your daughters shall prophesy” (Acts 2:17; Joel 2:28 kjv), and Galatians 3:28 (kjv) where the apostle Paul declared, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female for ye are one in Christ Jesus.”42 Gerard continued her notes with reference to history, commenting, Canadian Women Have Unlimited Opportunities To Develope [sic] Their Full Potential (1) position vastly different from those in Greek culture to whom Paul wrote (2) or even those of 19th Cent. [sic] (no right to vote, own property, keep the money they earned by their own labour). The 19th 36 “Pentecostal Chaplain Learned Students’ Jargon,” Windsor Star, August 26, 1968. 37 Ibid. 38 Ibid. 39 Ibid. 40 spc, bgc, Bernice Gerard, “Communicate in ’68 wmc Windsor August 24, 1968” Speaking notes for “Communicate in ’68.” 41 Ibid. 42 Ibid.

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and 20th centuries brought a revolution in the status of women, but some revolutionary concepts have yet to be grasped by many of our Christian women …43 For Gerard to invoke these references to societal reform accomplished by the first-wave women’s movement is noteworthy; so, too, were her multiple references to second-wave feminism as it was playing out through then-current events, namely the work of the Royal Commission on the Status of Women in Canada, an inquiry launched by the Government of Canada in 1967 to explore the place of women in Canadian society.44 In February 1972, Gerard preached a sermon at Fraserview Assembly, the church where she was co-pastor, entitled “Diamonds are Forever.” That ­slogan was from a jewelry company and was also the title from a recent James Bond movie. But Gerard argued that, in fact, diamonds are ‘not’ forever because husbands can die, stray, and sometimes are stolen from you. She was making the point that true security cannot be found in earthly possessions, social positions, or human relationships. The only source of lasting security, Gerard concluded, was in a relationship to God. In her sermon notes, Gerard included elements of Germaine Greer’s text The Female Eunuch that resonated with her.45 She agreed, for example, that people are trapped by the demands of the culture and the ways that they set out to create false security for themselves. She quoted Greer directly saying, “Probably the only place where a man can feel really secure is in a maximum security prison, except for the imminent threat of release.”46 While Gerard obviously did not agree with the coarse language or sexual prescriptions in Greer’s work, she did take up some of the same sentiments as those that Greer urged upon women to stop bowing to the dictates of men but also to stop blaming men for their lot in life. Greer famously said, “Those miserable women who blame the men who let them down for their misery and isolation enact every day the initial mistake of sacrificing their personal 43 Ibid. 44 Canada, The Report of the Royal Commission Report on the Status of Women in Canada (Ottawa: Queens Printer, 1970). The Commission’s report was released in 1970 with 167 recommendations. 45 Germaine Greer, The Female Eunuch (London: Paladin, 1971). Gerard was drawing specifically from Greer’s chapter entitled “Security,” 239–245. The reference above to husbands being lost or stolen is a paraphrase of Greer, 241. 46 spc, bgc, Bernice Gerard, “Diamonds are Forever,” February 1972 Sermon notes. This is another direct quote from Greer’s The Female Eunuch, 240.

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responsibility for themselves.”47 Gerard took that same sentiment and told the Pentecostal women she addressed that they needed to take personal responsibility for themselves and stop projecting what she called ‘an exaggerated meekness.’ Instead, she exhorted that every woman in the church should recognize herself as “a whole person for whom Christ died,” and to realize that “you will be called upon to give an account of yourself: what you did with what you had.”48 Gerard’s challenge to church women was this: do not take too passive a position and abdicate to any man (husbands or fathers) the responsibility for your own spiritual life and work. Every woman was given gifts, and Gerard emphasized that they were expected to use those gifts. Although Gerard’s exhortation for church women to exercise personal responsibility was a theme she had been preaching even before Germaine Greer’s classic feminist text was published in 1971, it is significant that Gerard incorporated direct quotes from this prominent secular feminist into her speaking notes to urge Pentecostal women to find their security outside of their relationships with men. Moreover, it is clear that Gerard’s impatience with churchwomen who displayed what she called ‘an exaggerated meekness’ was only reinforced by what she found in Greer’s secular feminism. Like her secular counterpart, Gerard was calling women to stop sacrificing their personal responsibility and to step up into the roles that they were called to take up. For Gerard, unlike Greer and other secular feminists, there was an eternal consequence to this since she taught that Christian women would be judged in the next life for their failure to fully embrace the gifts and opportunities available to them in this life. Conclusion Bernice Gerard, the Pentecostal preacher, chaplain, and politician, was a feminist. A careful reading of her autobiography and personal papers demonstrates that Gerard’s thinking about women’s roles was shaped by at least three different expressions of feminism in the 1970s and 1980s: evangelical feminism, ecumenical feminism, and secular feminism. Portrayals of Gerard in the media and in Pentecostal church circles as a popular (and often controversial) preacher, broadcaster, and municipal politician have tended to overshadow the fact that she was an academically inclined woman who read widely, enjoyed academic exchanges, and thought carefully about how she could 47 Greer, The Female Eunuch, 244. 48 Gerard, “Communicate in ’68” wmc sermon notes.

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arrive at a synthesis between her faith and her feminism. She managed this so skillfully, almost subversively, that many of her listeners, readers, and parishioners might balk at the very idea of the label ‘feminist’ even being applied to her. Certainly her instruction to simply check the footnotes in her book belied the complexity of ideological influences that converged as she adopted and adapted ideas from various sources to arrive at her conclusions about the role of women in the church. In the spring of 1988, one of Gerard’s academic friends, after he had reviewed the manuscript for her forthcoming autobiography, praised the way she had “elaborated on the multiplicity of roles available to women.”49 Moreover he concluded by saying, The strongest case for the potential of the female sector of the human race, however, is the entire autobiography; you yourself are your own best argument. If an individual with such diverse interests and attributes as yours had lived in the sixteenth or seventeenth century, he would have been called a ‘Renaissance Man.’ … but I think I have met a modern ‘Renaissance Woman’ who apparently was raised on the banks of the muddy Fraser River in British Columbia before she emerged to make an impact on our society in our time.50 While that professor’s praise for Gerard and her book bordered on hyperbole, there is no denying that Bernice Gerard was a woman with many interests, and that her ideas about appropriate roles for women in ministry were influenced by a surprisingly broad spectrum of feminist thought, including evangelical, ecumenical and secular writers. Bibliography Ambrose, Linda M. “Bernice Gerard: Controversial Pentecostal Pastor and Politician in 1970s Vancouver, Canada.” Unpublished paper presented at the 8th GloPent Conference, London, UK, September 6, 2014. Brown, Harold W. “Jesus Called Only Men.” Pentecostal Testimony, April 1985, 44.

49

spc, bgc, John A. Anonby, Department of English, Trinity Western University, to Bernice Gerard, March 2, 1988. 50 Ibid.

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Canada. The Report of the Royal Commission Report on the Status of Women in Canada. Ottawa: Queens Printer, 1970. Cochran, Pamela. Evangelical Feminism: A History. New York: New York University Press, 2005. Daniells, Roy. Milton, Mannerism and Baroque. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1963. Davis, Mike, and Cathy Davis. “Worldly Cover.” Pentecostal Testimony, March 1985, 9. Dayton, Donald W. “Man as Male and Female: A Review.” Daughters of Sarah 1, no. 6, 1975, 5–8. Gerard, Bernice. Converted in the Country: The Life Story of Bernice Gerard. Jacksonville, FL: McColl-Gerard Publications, 1956. Gerard, Bernice M. “Milton’s Orthodoxy and Its Relation to the Form of Paradise Lost.” Unpublished MA Thesis, University of British Columbia, 1967. Gerard, Bernice. Bernice Gerard: Today and For Life. Vancouver: Sunday Line Communications, 1988. Greer, Germaine. The Female Eunuch. London: Paladin, 1971. Jewett, Paul K. Man as Male and Female: a Study in Sexual Relationships from a Theological Point of View. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1975. McAteer, Michael. “Woman Pentecostal May Rock the Boat.” Toronto Star, August 16, 1980. “No Room for Chaplain Here,” The Wayfarer, November 3, 1966. “Pentecostal Chaplain Learned Students’ Jargon,” Windsor Star August 26, 1968. Scanzoni, Letha. “The Feminists and the Bible.” Christianity Today, February 1973, 10–15. Scanzoni, Letha. “Part 1. Coauthoring ‘All We’re Meant to Be’—The Beginning.” Letha’s Calling: A Christian Feminist Voice. http://www.lethadawsonscanzoni.com/2011/01/ part-1-coauthoring-all-were-meant-to-be-the-beginning/. Scanzoni, Letha, and Nancy Hardesty. All We’re Meant to Be: A Biblical Approach to Women’s Liberation. Waco, TX: Word Books, 1974. Stroud, Marilyn. “Bernice Gerard: A life Lived in the Power of the Spirit.” Pentecostal Testimony, March 2009, 8–9. Summit Pacific College. Lorne Philip Hudson Memorial Library Archives. Bernice Gerard Collection. Personal papers, sermon notes and press clippings. Abbotsford, British Columbia. Swidler, Leonard J. “Jesus was a Feminist.” Catholic World, 1971, 177–183. God’s Word to Women. http://www.godswordtowomen.org/feminist.htm. Todd, Douglas. “British Columbia’s 25 Most Influential Spiritual Leaders.” The Vancouver Sun, April 21, 2000. Trombley, Charles. Who Said Women Can’t Teach? South Plainfield, NJ: Bridge Publishing Inc., 1985.

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Wake, Wendy. “Influenced by Modern-Day Feminism.” Pentecostal Testimony, 1985, 43. Wells, Susan. “Against All Odds: Bernice Gerard’s Rich and Vibrant Life.” Pentecostal Testimony, March 2009, 10–11. Ziefle, Joshua R. David du Plessis and the Assemblies of God: The Struggle for the Soul of a Movement. Leiden: Brill, 2013.

Editor’s Note to Chapter 10 This chapter by volume co-editor Lois Olena highlights a creative model based upon hospitality in a ministry to Muslim women called “Say Hello: Serving Muslim Women” and a café ministry in Central Asia. The hospitality model creates opportunities whereby Pentecostal women can offer friendship to their female Muslim neighbors. Equipped by the Holy Spirit and a growing body of academic resources, Spirit-empowered women can situate themselves in a place of obedience to God’s command to love all people—including Muslims. What is unique about this ministry and of particular interest to the discussion in this volume is that hospitality, traditionally, has long been considered the domain of feminine contribution. Interestingly, the ministry format is especially egalitarian, as the givers and receivers of hospitality operate on equal ground as friends, which is a departure from masculine-driven formats that are based upon power and authority. Contrast this ministry with more typically male approaches involving targets, training procedures, fund raising, and the like. Say Hello’s attitude regarding ministry to Muslims is unique as well in that it focuses on building relational bridges between Muslim and Christian women in ways that are unobtrusive and non-judgmental. The distinctive aspects of this feminine ministry raises larger questions about how Christian ministry as a whole might change if females were fully represented in all aspects of shaping and governance. According to Janet Bauer, “Women are creating a space for themselves within fundamentalism in ways that intersect, even collide, with men’s worlds and that may have implications for conclusions drawn about (men’s) fundamentalism and in particular, for feminist concerns about gender equality.”1 Recent discussion in Pentecostal circles has revolved around hospitality as a primary theological construct, faming it in Christ’s hospitality to humanity. Letty M. Russell defines hospitality as “God’s welcome”: “The practice of God’s welcome [is] embodied in our actions as we reach across differences to participate with God in bringing justice and healing to our world in crisis.”2 Amos

1 Judy Brink and Joan Mencher, eds., Mixed Blessings, Gender and Religious Fundamentalism Cross Culturally (New York: Routledge, 1997), 234. 2 Letty M. Russell, Just Hospitality: God’s Welcome in a World of Difference, ed. J. Shannon Clarkson and Kate M. Ott (Atlanta: Westminster/John Knox, 2009), 2. See also, Steven M. Fettke, God’s Empowered People: A Pentecostal Theology of the Laity (Eugene, or: Wipf & Stock), 59–60.

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Yong writes that hospitality creates “free space” that mimics God’s actions toward humankind: Christians must discern the Spirit’s presence and ‘perform’ appropriate practices in concert with the hospitable God. They must embody Christ’s incarnational vulnerability and open up theological and relational ‘free space’ not only to serve as hosts for the gospel but also risk being guests of others.3 According to Steven Fettke, it is in creating places where hospitality can be offered that “believers can both extend and receive expressions of hospitality among those who attend as God’s representatives, and thus in the process begin to create a community of truth, justice, and love.”4 The concept is rooted in the biblical admonitions about offering grace to strangers, i.e., those outside of one’s clan or group. Although the Old Testament discusses hospitality toward strangers, Christine Pohl finds the concept rooted in the teachings of Christ and church history: “Based on the biblical teachings, and especially on Jesus’ identification with the stranger in Matt. 25:35 and his teaching on the necessity of welcoming ‘the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind’ to our dinner tables (Luke 14:12–14), a distinctive understanding of hospitality emerged in the first centuries of the church.”5 Of the 1.6 billion Muslims in the world, an estimated 800 million are women. According to N.T. Wright, the Christian’s task is “… to proclaim love and trust to the world that knows only exploitation, fear, and suspicion.”6 Discovering something as simple as saying ‘hello’ and opening one’s home in an offer of friendship and biblical hospitality, as well as developing an understanding of the diversity of Muslim women globally, will assist Pentecostal women in creating the unique, relational approaches necessary as a first step in communicating the grace of Christ.

3 Amos Yong, Hospitality and the Other: Pentecost, Christian Practices, and the Neighbor (New York: Orbis, 2008), 132. See also, Fettke, Empowered People, 61. 4 Fettke, God’s Empowered People, 61. 5 Christian D. Pohl, “Hospitality, A Practice and a Way of Life,” Vision (Spring, 2002): 35. 6 N.T. Wright, The Challenge of Jesus: Rediscovering Who Jesus Was and Is (Downers Grove, il: InterVarsity Press), 184.

chapter 10

The Holy Spirit and Hospitality: Pentecostal Empowerment for Building Relationships with the World’s 800 Million Muslim Women Lois E. Olena* Introduction “Unprecedented”1 was the word used to describe the December 2014, attack by the Pakistani Taliban on a school in Peshawar, Pakistan, that killed 145 people, 132 of them children. The attack was so horrendous it even drew a sympathetic response from the Afghani Taliban, who “criticized the ‘deliberate killing of innocent people, women and children (as being) against Islamic principles’ and expressed condolences to the attack’s victims.”2 Yet only weeks went by before the world’s attention was diverted to the “worst militant Islamist assault on a European city in nine years”3 when on January 7, 2015, radical Islamists stormed the offices of the Charlie Hebdo magazine4 killing twelve, and on January 9, took hostages in a kosher market, killing four Jewish men.5 Abubakar Shekau, leader of the jihadist group Boko Haram, which had only days before, on January 3, slaughtered an estimated 2,000 Nigerian citizens, “praised the deadly rampage at the Charlie Hebdo offices in France.”6 * I am deeply grateful for the contributions of Lynda Hausfeld and Donna Krstulovich to the content of this chapter. Their in-depth interviews in 2014 and subsequent conversations about the topic of hospitality and ministry to Muslim women were invaluable to this chapter. 1 Sophia Saifi and Greg Botelho, “In Pakistan School, Attack, Taliban Terrorists Kill 145, Mostly Children,” cnn, December 17, 2014, http://www.cnn.com/2014/12/16/world/asia/pakistan -peshawar-school-attack/index.html?iref=allsearch. 2 Ibid. 3 “After Attacks, Arm-in-Arm World Leaders Join Mass Paris March,” Reuters, January 11, 2015, http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/01/11/us-france-shooting-idUSKBN0KK05S20150111. 4 The Charlie Hebdo magazine is known for its satirical images of the prophet Mohammed. 5 William Booth and Ruth Eglash, “In Jerusalem, Thousands Gather for Funeral of 4 Jewish Men Killed in Paris,” The Washington Post, January 13, 2015, http://www.washingtonpost .com/world/thousands-gather-in-jerusalem-for-funeral-of-four-jewish-men-killed-in -paris/2015/01/13/cf28c43a-9aa1-11e4-96cc-e858eba91ced_story.html. 6 Laura Smith-Park and Nic Robertson, “Satellite Images Show Devastation of Boko Haram Attacks, Rights Groups Say,” cnn, January 15, 2015, http://www.cnn.com/2015/01/15/africa/ nigeria-boko-haram-images/index.html. © koninklijke brill nv, leiden, ���7 | doi 10.1163/9789004332546_022

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Nearly every day the news relays stories of attacks connected to radical Islam. In summer 2014, the acronym isis7 began to send chills down the collective spine of global inhabitants due to reports of the group’s unspeakable violence. Acts carried out in isis’s attempt to establish an Islamic caliphate in the Middle East have included countless acts of mass execution, beheadings,8 kidnapping, sexual enslavement, murder,9 and specific assaults on Christians,10 including the beheading of four Iraqi Christian children who refused to deny Christ, according to Canon Andrew White, the Anglican vicar of Baghdad.11 In November of 2015, isis claimed responsibility12 for the “deadliest day of attacks in France since World War ii and one of the worst terrorist strikes on Western soil since Sept. 11, 2011”13 with the killing of 7

isis (for Islamic State of Iraq and Syria). cnn Library, “isis Fast Facts,” cnn, November 17, 2014, http://www.cnn.com/2014/08/08/world/isis-fast-facts/. Also called is (Islamic State) and isil (Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant). The name “Daesh” (an acronym for the Arabic version of isis, al-Dawla al-Islamiya al-Iraq wa al-Sham) is used by those combating this terrorist group, as the term is considered pejorative, is hated by those to whom it applies, and also avoids the legitimization that talk of “statehood” implies. See Andrew Tilghman, “Official: Don’t Comfort Enemy by Calling Them isis, isil,” Military Times, December 19, 2014, http://www.militarytimes.com/story/military/pentagon/2014/12/19/ daesh-not-isil/20600351/. 8 Ibid. 9 Stoyan Zaimov, “isis Executes 150 Women and Girls, Some Pregnant, for Refusing to Become Sex Slaves and Marry Jihadists,” Christian Post, December 18, 2014, http://www .christianpost.com/news/isis-executes-150-women-and-girls-some-pregnant-for -refusing-to-become-sex-slaves-and-marry-jihadists-131388/. 10 Perry Chiaramonte, “isis Reportedly Selling Christian Artifacts, Turning Churches into Torture Chambers,” Fox News, December 20, 2014, http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/12/20/ isis-reportedly-selling-christian-artifacts-turning-churches-into-torture-1596164509/. 11 Michael W. Chapman, “Vicar of Baghdad: isis Beheaded 4 Christian Children; They Said, ‘We Love [Jesus],’” cns News, December 15, 2014, http://www.cnsnews.com/news/ article/michael-w-chapman/vicar-baghdad-isis-beheaded-4-christian-children-they -said-we-love. See also, Marisa Schultz, “isis Savages Behead Four Children: Christian Leader,” New York Post, December 12, 2014, http://nypost.com/2014/12/12/christian -leader-isis-savages-behead-four-children/ and “isis Beheads 4 Young Christian Children in Iraq,” Fox News Video, December 14, 2014, http://video.foxnews.com/v/3941130944001/ isis-beheads-4-young-christian-children-in-iraq/?#sp=show-clips. 12 Mariano Castillo, Margot Haddad, Michael Martinez and Steve Almasy, “Paris Suicide Bomber Identified; isis Claims Responsibility for 129 Dead,” cnn, last modified November 16, 2015, http://www.cnn.com/2015/11/14/world/paris-attacks/. 13 Maura Judkis and Griff Witte, “String of Paris Terrorist Attacks Leaves over 120 Dead,” The Washington Post, last modified November 13, 2015, https://www.washingtonpost .com/world/europe/paris-rocked-by-explosions-and-shootouts-leaving-dozens-dead/201 5/11/13/133f5bc2-8a50-11e5-bd91-d385b244482f_story.html.

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130 people14 across Paris on Friday, November 13. And then again, on March 22, 2016, isis claimed responsibility for the horrendous Brussels attack that killed 32 people (not including the three suicide bombers) and injured 340 others.15 In the face of such events, how even to begin to know what to think or do remains a daily struggle for Christians. Too often, rage, fear, and simply the need to turn away from media overload serve as primary responses. Many believers transfer their view of radical Islamists onto all Muslims globally, causing a Jonah-like reaction16 instead of obediently following after God’s heart by befriending a Muslim neighbor in the love of Jesus. Of today’s 1.6 billion17 Muslims, it is safe to assume that half are females. This chapter provides a way forward, by offering a portrait of a ministry to Muslim women that rises above anxieties and fears and helps Pentecostal18 women to become good neighbors to the 800 million Muslim women around the world—or maybe just for the one next door.

Global Initiative

In 1982, David and Debbie Irwin, with Assemblies of God World Missions (agwm) in Malawi and Egypt,19 founded the Center for Ministry to Muslims 14 15 16

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“Paris Attacks Death Toll Rises to 130,” rte News, last modified November 20, 2015, http:// www.rte.ie/news/2015/1120/747897-paris/. “Brussels Explosions: What We Know about Airport and Metro Attacks,” bbc, April 9, 2016, http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-35869985. After God’s command to Jonah to go to Nineveh to speak his word to them, Jonah fled in the opposite direction (Jon.1:3) because the people of Nineveh had such a reputation for violent behavior, and Jonah was afraid of them. Drew DeSilver, “World’s Muslim Population More Widespread Than You Might Think,” Pew Research Center, June 7, 2013, http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2013/06/07/worlds -muslim-population-more-widespread-than-you-might-think/. In many countries overseas it is difficult to know how many Muslims are in a given city, because there’s no census. According to Steve Krstulovich, engineer at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory near Chicago, who prepared statistical information for the Say Hello Ministry, “If Muslim women stood shoulder to shoulder, the line would go around the world thirteen times.” Lynda Hausfeld, interview. The Zweimer Center for Muslim Studies (http://www.zwemerinstitute .com/) wrote Hausfeld and agreed: “I think that’s as close as we’re going to get.” Though this chapter primarily focuses on the efforts of Assemblies of God World Missions, the information and resources herein are applicable to all Pentecostal and Charismatic women globally. The term Pentecostal in this chapter will be taken to mean both Pentecostal and Charismatic. “Introductory Video,” Global Initiative, http://globalinitiativeinfo.com/. The historical narrative that follows in this section is an adaptation of the content of this video.

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(cmm). Originally, cmm’s purpose was to train Christians around the world to minister to Muslims in their own areas. A significant shift in the ministry took place once when Irwin was traveling; he found himself weeping, overwhelmed with the task and the need for Christians to pray. The Jumaa Prayer Fellowship was launched, which now consists of over 60,000 people20 around the world committed to praying every Friday at noon for Muslim people. In 2009, following a succession of various leaders, Mark and Lynda Hausfeld, who had been serving with agwm in South Asia, Cyprus, and as ag Eurasia Area Directors, assumed the international directorship of cmm, which then became known as Global Initiative (gi). Today the ministry continues to grow as it equips and mobilizes Christians around the world. gi’s efforts since 1998 have “empowered 5,000 Christian workers from forty countries … to challenge, train, prepare and empower” workers for the Muslim world.21 Although Global Initiative has from its inception trained men and women for ministry to Muslims, they have recently been able to focus more deliberately on equipping the church for gender-based ministry.

Say Hello: Serving Muslim Women

In response to Islam’s gender-based ministry needs, Lynda Hausfeld launched Global Initiative’s women’s component, now called “Say Hello: Serving Muslim Women.” This chapter is offered largely as an effort to convey the story of this ministry.22 Foundational to the ministry is establishing relationships with Muslim women, beginning with the simple act of saying, “hello.” Often that first simple step helps Christian women overcome their fears and anxieties about the ‘other,’ opening the door to further interactions that can develop into friendships. Fear and intimidation are “significant separations.”23 It is difficult enough to go up to a person who looks like he or she is from another culture who may speak a different language. 20 Ibid. 21 “The Jonah Initiative,” Global Initiative, http://globalinitiativeinfo.com/get-involved/ jonah-initiative/. See gi’s abundant resources—including books, articles, web sites, and other publications—for equipping Christians: http://globalinitiativeinfo.com/resources/. 22 “We are not out to change them;” says Lynda, “we are out to love them so Jesus can change them.” Lynda Hausfeld (Say Hello Ministry), in discussion with the author, Springfield, Missouri, September 2, 2014. Permission to quote received. 23 Ibid.

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Say Hello also helps bring down “language and culture barriers by appealing to what Christian and Muslim girls and women of all ages value. It imparts joy in friendship; it yields eternal fruit, helping Christian women everywhere know that they and Muslim women have everything to gain by being friends.”24 Providing equipping resources25 for Christian women to foster relationships with Muslim women, the ministry’s message is remarkably powerful because a Christian woman comes to realize that the Muslim woman behind the veil is really just that—a woman—with whom she has so much in common. The Christian discovers when she makes a Muslim woman friend that she’s more like me than I thought.26 Say Hello communicates the heart of this message beautifully with the following poem: Should We Say Hello? Beneath her Islamic veil she is not much different from me: She is a sister, a mother, an auntie, a grandma— Who pours her life into family and wonderful friendships. She values inner and outer beauty. She is modest. She strives for success. She avoids shameful deeds; she strives to uphold honor. She is probably a foodie, and she loves fun. She prays often. She works hard to please her god [i.e., Allah]. She will almost always respond to a friendly “hello.” In fact, she is more like me than I know …27 The veil that a Muslim woman wears serves as a physical separation between her and men; however, it may send a signal to women who don’t understand its purpose. Christian woman must seek to understand the Muslim woman’s perspective regarding her veil and not let it keep them from building friendships.

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“About,” Say Hello: Serving Muslim Women, http://sayhelloinfo.com/about/ (with minimally altered wording from web site with permission from Lynda Hausfeld). 25 See Say Hello: A Guide to Building Christ-like Friendships with Muslim Women, Say Hello, http://sayhelloinfo.com/resources/ (available as a free pdf download). 26 Lynda Hausfeld, interview. 27 Say Hello: A Guide to Building Christ-like Friendships with Muslim Women, 3. Used by permission.

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Say Hello believes that going beyond the physical veil to see a Muslim woman as simply a woman first is the place to begin.28 A ministry colleague of the Say Hello team recounts the transformation that can take place when women grasp this message. She was teaching in the Philippines, and a Bengali woman who had been listening to her message about befriending Muslim women said, “Madam, your teaching went into the corner of my heart! I’ve grown up in Bangladesh my whole life, but I was blind to their need!”29 Another time, when the Say Hello team was ministering in Florida, a Nigerian woman came up to a team member and said, “I’ve lived around Muslims all my life, and not until today did I know that I could say hello to even one of them!”30 Such blindness is sometimes due to persecution in Islamic countries where Christians are in the minority, but as the Say Hello team speaks across the United States and around the world, Christian women are hearing new stories, seeing exciting opportunities, and learning meaningful ways of graciously interacting with their Muslim neighbors. Women have unique ways of relating to other women, and this true in many contexts including Christian-Muslim relations.31 As Christian women think and pray about Muslim women around the world, saying hello is a first step in the ministry of hospitality. Because Muslim women abroad are so hospitable to American women who visit their countries, and because Americans are usually so inhospitable to Muslim women here in America, any hospitality, anyone reaching out, seems amazing to them. 28 29 30 31

Lynda Hausfeld, interview. Donna Krstulovich (Say Hello Ministry), in discussion with the author, Springfield, Missouri, September 2, 2014. Permission to quote received. Lynda Hausfeld, interview. Say Hello: A Guide to Building Christ-like Friendships with Muslim Women, 3. In today’s world of ever-growing global Islam, such breakthroughs often can seem unreachable. As I stood in the Bangalore airport in the summer of 2011, having just shared in the foundational moments of the Say Hello vision, I looked at a woman standing in front of me wearing a full burka (“Interpreting Veils,” Seattle Times, http://seattletimes.com/news/ nation-world/crisis/theregion/veils.html). The woman, traveling with a friend—both of them busy with young children and numerous bags of luggage—was in all black. Only her eyes were visible through a small opening. I smiled and, glancing down at the embroidery on the sleeve of her black burka, touched the cloth and remarked how lovely it was. Her eyes lit up with a smile of their own, and in that instant all fear and intimidation—on both our parts—was gone. Had she been a woman in my hometown instead of a stranger in an airport, I know I would have seen her again and possibility developed a friendship. Because of that brief yet warm exchange, instead of suspicion, there was acceptance. Instead of a wall, there was an open door.

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For example, Donna was in Chicago once and sat down to wait for an appointment in an office next to a Palestinian woman wearing a hijab. She greeted the woman and spoke with her for a while. The woman, most likely a secondgeneration immigrant, had beautiful, fluent English. A little while later she was called for her appointment, but when she returned, she came over to Donna and gave her a big hug. “She really held on to me,” Donna recalls, “And she said, ‘Thank you so much for talking to me. It’s been great talking with you!’”32 Say Hello teaches that it doesn’t take much; simply sitting next to someone, showing kindness, being open, and giving grace a chance to work between two people, is the starting point.

Nurturing the Powerful Ministry of Hospitality

The ministry of hospitality can and must go beyond saying hello. Christian women must find ways to live their lives before and with Muslim women, and saying hello is just the first step. One woman who has made such a difference is Donna, mentioned above as visiting with the Palestinian girl. Donna was born overseas in a Muslim country (Iran) due to her father’s job. The family lived overseas until she graduated from high school, after which she lived in several different countries around the world, most with a significantly Muslim population. Her background and her own spiritual journey were significant factors in her thinking later on in life as she pondered the role of hospitality in building relationships with Muslim women. Donna attended Bible college and then seminary, eventually earning a master’s degree in intercultural studies. She pastored an international congregation at a church in Virginia for four years, seeing there the important role of hospitality through the hosting of international dinners. Her heart for global ministry led her to South Asia where she sensed God directing her to open a restaurant for women. Donna had worked at many food service jobs prior to pastoring and even as a young girl had wanted to run a restaurant. Providing a way to engage Muslim women meaningfully through a café was an exciting idea. Donna’s idea of a restaurant developed into more of a community center, where she could offer cooking classes and have a café where Christian and Muslim friends could meet or gather together for conversations. She returned to the States and raised the funds to begin the café, which turned out to be an 32

Krstulovich, interview.

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upscale, Victorian-style tearoom geared toward the upper class women33 of the city. Many of these women were married to the city’s decision makers (and so the influence of the café extended also to the husbands of these women); the tearoom provided a way for Donna to meet women she never would have had the opportunity to get to know otherwise. After nearly four years of operating the café in South Asia, Donna opened another restaurant in Central Asia. That café had a different focus in that it hired only women but served women as well as men since the culture there was not as segregated as in South Asia. That café is still open today and has become an important gathering place for the community. Another aspect of the ministry of hospitality involves helping Muslim women who are in crisis. Beth Grant’s chapter in this volume addresses such methods—and the theology behind them—particularly through the ministry of Project Rescue. Many Muslim girls and women are fleeing human trafficking or honor killings and need a place of refuge for themselves and their children. One ministry I visited in Kolkata34 provides such refuge. Former prostitutes find shelter and are also brought into a nurturing Christian environment where they learn life skills such as jewelry making and sewing as an alternative means of support.35 The open door they and their children receive from their new Christian friends provides the pathway to new life, breaking the spiritual and physical bondage of their past lives.

Understanding the Role of Context

Countless opportunities to share hospitality with Muslim women exist across the globe.36 Every woman is unique, so each friendship will entail diverse 33 34

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In South Asia there is more separation between men and women, so the need in this Muslim culture for women to minister to women and men to men was paramount. Lois E. Olena, “Walking with Jesus through the Red Light District,” The Network: A Called Community of Women, September 22, 2011, http://womeninministry.ag.org/Subscriber _Articles/archive.cfm?targetBay=526867fb-5f6e-485b-b12a-e2d3c9c1f174&ModID =2&Process=DisplayArticle&RSS_RSSContentID=20419&RSS_OriginatingChannelID =1237&RSS_OriginatingRSSFeedID=3757&RSS_Source=. See Jubilee Market, a company that sells these items: http://thejubileemarket.com/. The list of ways to minister to Muslim women abroad is extensive and cannot be fully explored in the scope of this chapter. Meg Page provides a good summary, though, about women who: “… work in areas of agriculture, dentistry, humanitarian aid, leadership training, public health, medicine, veterinary medicine, social work, sports ministry, student or university ministry, children’s ministry, women’s ministry, teaching English as a

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giftedness and a distinctive approach. Key to success in any approach, however, lies in understanding the subtleties of each context and how that context impacts a particular Muslim woman and her situation. Ministry to Muslim Women in the us Ministry to Muslim women in the us will differ from that accomplished abroad in several ways. One difference is the motivation for presence. Overseas ministry requires a reason for existing that includes connecting oneself with a ministry; a Christian must hold a visa and is constantly watched to confirm the stated reason for being in the country and whether his or her behavior falls within expected governmental and cultural guidelines. Christians are the foreigners in a neighborhood, so everyone knows who they are and where they are going. But when an American Christian is in the us, she has every reason to be there. Ministry on her own American soil simply begins with living her life as a loving Christian neighbor to a Muslim woman. Second, ministry differs because of who is ‘the guest.’ When Christian workers are overseas, they are guests in that country, and so they must act like guests, not like hosts. But when Muslim immigrant women come here to the us, they are guests in this country, and Christian women here must act like the hosts. With hospitality as such a significant value in Muslim culture, Muslim women treat guests with great honor and respect. In fact, hospitality is connected with honor, as it is a Muslim person’s honor to serve a guest. Donna remarks about her time in South Asia, “The man who was the guard at the café would have protected me with his life. I have no doubt about that. … And when the Gulf War started, our Muslim landlady said, ‘Donna, come and stay with us. We don’t want anything to happen to you.’”37 Rarely do American Christian women treat Muslim immigrant women in America with the same honor and respect that they would be shown as a guest in a Muslim home overseas.38 Many Muslim immigrant women who are guests in the United States have no American friends, even after being here many years. Nabeel Qureshi describes this reality:

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second language, teaching in schools for nationals, teaching the children of missionaries either in institutions or home-based classes, developing indigenous worship music, theological education, … vocational training … and much more. … The goal of every ministry is the same: to build redemptive relationships.” Meg Page, “Women on Mission with God,” in Discovering the Mission of God: Best Missional Practices for the 21st Century, ed. Mike Barnett and Robin Martin (Downers Grove, ivp, 2012), 563. Krstulovich, interview. American women out on the streets alone in a Muslim country are in ‘men’s territory’ and can be in danger of being treated quite inhospitably.

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My mother ha[s] been in the United States, she’s now here for over thirtyfive years, and never once has she been invited by a Christian in to their home. And I have friends, … who came from the Middle East specifically to study here. … One in particular was someone from Saudi Arabia who came to study, and he brought two suitcases full of gifts to give to people who … [would invite] him into their homes. And when he went back to Saudi, he took both suitcases full back with him because not a single person had invited him.39 This is often due to pervasive negative media coverage since 9/11, making it difficult for those shaped by such coverage to understand and deduce what is true. Regardless, American Christian women should treat their female Muslim neighbor as someone who is, as Say Hello emphasizes, more like them than they realize. Many immigrant women are lonely and simply want a friend and long for someone to talk to. They are living in a foreign country—some having come here out of traumatic situations as refugees from war-torn lands—and would love to have help to live in this strange place. They would like to know someone who is not like the women on tv. To a Muslim immigrant, all the women on tv are considered ‘Christian women,’ so when they meet a Christian woman who has similar values to theirs, that is important to them. A Christian woman can help meet her Muslim friend’s many needs, such as going to the doctor, learning how to drive, and going shopping for clothes or groceries. She can assist as an interpreter or with childcare. Many times immigrant women stay inside during the day when their husbands are working and their children are in school, or sometimes they are at home with small children. Many opportunities emerge to be a friend—a ‘sister’ even—to such a woman, and being with her in public validates her so she doesn’t have to be afraid in that context. Going where Muslim women are serves as a good place to start. Then interacting with them along natural lines, for example: meeting where children attend the same schools or activities helps to build a bridge. Instead of seeing the Islamic veil as a barrier, Christian women can take time to find out what they have in common with Muslim women. In the case of an immigrant woman in particular, asking questions about family—children in particular— rather than why she is here and where she came from, can put her at ease. Avoiding questions about her husband, which also might put her on the defensive or raise suspicion about inappropriate gender interaction, is also 39

The Christian Broadcasting Network, “In the Green Room with Nabeel Qureshi,” YouTube, February 20, 2014, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IfnDJqndYE. See Nabeel Qureshi, Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus: A Devout Muslim Encounters Christianity (Grand Rapids, mi: Zondervan, 2014).

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helpful.40 Conversation should not feel like an interview or interrogation to the Muslim woman but should convey a sense of mutuality, wherein the Christian woman pauses to let her new friend ask questions as well. Another category of interaction in the us context is, of course, that of befriending Muslim American women who are not immigrants. Though certain similarities exist as far as understanding issues of honor and modesty, clearly interaction with a non-immigrant will take on a different flavor than with an immigrant—especially one who may have come from a war-torn or extremely conservative country. American Christian women will do well to take the time to get to know their new friend rather than making assumptions about their backgrounds, observances, language, and so on. Some American Christian women remain afraid of befriending a Muslim woman for fear that doing so will put the Muslim woman in danger with her family or larger community. However, a Muslim woman will let her Christian neighbor know whether she would be in danger, or if a friendship would not be advisable. The men in the Muslim community will determine whether they think the Christian woman will be a good influence on their wife, sister, or daughter, and, if so, will allow further relationship. Modesty remains a crucial factor in that approval process. If a Christian woman goes into a Muslim’s home and appears or acts immodestly, the men will not allow further access. But if a Christian woman goes dressed modestly and is respectful, they generally will be happy for their female relatives to have such contact. A Christian woman’s comportment remains the key to further relationship. One Muslim friend can introduce a Christian woman to an entire community of wonderful friendships—with invitations to all of their “celebrations, religious holidays, and birthdays.”41 Ministry to Muslim Women Abroad Ministry to female Muslims abroad will differ of course based on the unique characteristics of each country, since the Muslim world has such diversity.42 40

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Ibid. As Lynda Hausfeld notes, “A good question to ask after you’ve gotten to know your Muslim friend a little is, ‘When I meet your husband, can you tell me what is appropriate etiquette’ (whether to look at him, speak to him, shake his hand, or not)?’ In America we’re pretty forward. It is better not to be the first one to extend your hand. Even to look into the eyes of a man is not appropriate. That’s considered immodest, so you should divert your eyes” (Lynda Hausfeld, interview). Krstulovich, interview. See Pew Research Religion & Public Life Project, “The World’s Muslims: Unity and Diversity,” Pew Research Center, August 9, 2012, http://www.pewforum.org/2012/08/09/ the-worlds-muslims-unity-and-diversity-executive-summary/ for an excellent article describing what unites Muslims and how they are distinct. “The survey, which involved

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Often Christians easily develop a ‘them and us’ mindset that assumes all Muslim men or women are a certain way or believe a certain thing, but a Christian need only look at her own Christian world to realize that the same diversity of teaching and praxis in her own religious context exists in the Muslim world as well. Though some principles and characteristics apply globally, Christians living abroad who want to minister to their female Muslim neighbors will need to identify distinctive factors that impact a particular Muslim woman’s life.43 The cafés discussed earlier in this chapter were in countries outside the us—one in a more religiously conservative country in South Asia where men and women are more separated, and one in a less conservative country where men and women meet together in the café (Central Asia). Understanding the range of conservative-to-liberal Muslim mindsets and observances regarding such things as clothing, culture, interrelatedness between the genders, and communication between Muslims and non-Muslims in a given area remains crucial to contextualized ministry. Region, generation, gender, and sectarian association serve as some of the additional factors that play a significant role in the diverse nature of Muslims’ ideas and practices. The more conservative the woman, the easier it is to speak with her about God, pray with her, and be spiritually expressive because at the core conservative Muslim women want to know and obey God. The role that honor plays differs in extent in various regions but remains a strong theme among women throughout the Islamic world. Girls carry the heaviness of keeping the family’s honor by avoiding situations that could shame the family or community. When a woman is religious, she wants to please Allah, please her family, and do the right thing. But maintaining the family’s honor provides an additional layer of pressure on her because everything depends on her. For her to let the family down in some way such as a being too Western, too worldly, contacting boys, or creating the perception

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more than 38,000 face-to-face interviews in over 80 languages, finds that in addition to the widespread conviction that there is only one God and that Muhammad is His Prophet [sic], large percentages of Muslims around the world share other articles of faith, including belief in angels, heaven, hell and fate (or predestination). While there is broad agreement on the core tenets of Islam, however, Muslims across the 39 countries and territories surveyed differ significantly in their levels of religious commitment, openness to multiple interpretations of their faith and acceptance of various sects and movements.” See Shahin Gerami, Women and Fundamentalism: Islam and Christianity (New York & London: Gerland Publishing, Inc., 1996) specifically for the impact of Islamic fundamentalism on women. See Jan Goodwin’s Price of Honor: Muslim Women Lift the Veil of Silence on the Islamic World (Boston and New York: Little, Brown & Company, 1994), which describes the diverse situations of Muslim women throughout the Middle East.

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of behaving inappropriately with a member of the opposite sex brings great shame to the whole family. According to Geraldine Brooks, “In most Muslim countries women are the custodians of their male relatives’ honor. If a wife commits adultery or a daughter has sex before marriage, or is even suspected of having done so, they dishonor their father, their brothers and sometimes the whole family that bears their name.”44 Say Hello explains this idea further: In Islam, honor is focused on chastity and sexual purity. … If a woman behaves shamefully or is shamed, it reflects poorly on the men who are responsible for her protection and sustenance. It is this context that prescribes Islam’s careful modesty codes. Clearly, a modest woman is less vulnerable to shame. A Muslim’s identity is totally community dependent; the honorable or shameful act of one person reflects upon the whole group. A woman who veils communicates honorable intentions. First, she obeys Allah with her modesty. Second, by veiling, she tells the community that her husband is honorable as well.45 Although in many ways the value of honor protects a woman, in other ways it puts her at great risk. Many Muslim women are under threat of beatings and even being killed because of an honor violation—whether real or perceived. According to The Washington Post, upwards of 1,000 women each year die from honor killings in Pakistan.46 Honor remains a key theme even in America for Muslim female immigrants, especially for second- and third-generation immigrants whose parents have lost some hold over them and fear their children are taking on values of American kids (i.e., losing respect for families, dating outside of Islamic culture, leaving their community, lacking modesty, and bringing shame to the family and community). Related to honor is the theme of submission. In more conservative Muslim countries, even from the time a girl is born, her value as a female and how she is to act toward the males in her life are carefully outlined. Usually when a boy is born there is great rejoicing, and varieties of sweets are given out, but when a girl is born, this rarely happens. Most girls grow up knowing they will leave their own family and 44 45 46

Geraldine Brooks, Nine Parts of Desire: The Hidden World of Islamic Women (New York: Anchor Books, a Division of Dom House, 1995), 37. Say Hello: A Guide to Building Christ-like Friendships with Muslim Women, 7–8. Terrence McCoy, “In Pakistan, 1,000 Women Die in ‘Honor Killings’ Annually. Why is this Happening?” The Washington Post, May 28, 2014, http://www.washingtonpost.com/ news/morning-mix/wp/2014/05/28/in-pakistan-honor-killings-claim-1000-womens-lives -annually-why-is-this-still-happening/.

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remain a part of their husband’s family—having to learn submission not only to a husband but also to a mother-in-law as the chief female in that family.47 Too often, deprived of an education, most women learn homemaking skills and are expected to care for the home and raise children. Although characteristics like honor, submission, and pre-ordained roles often exist at the core of a Muslim woman’s identity, she should not be stereotyped according to them. A world of professional-class Muslim women exists as well. In Pakistan, for instance, it is most acceptable for Muslim women to see women doctors (and the female patients prefer to do so), and women usually teach other women. Ironically, in conservative Pakistan, where women often face so many restrictions, Benazir Bhutto, a woman, served as the country’s prime minister.48 With such realities and examples as Bhutto, many professional Muslim women have tried to counteract the public perception of Muslim women as oppressed, to show instead that they are valued and esteemed, that Islam was made for them, and that professionals can be faithful Muslims as well.49 Nilufer Gole, professor of sociology at Bogazici (Bosphorous) University in Istanbul, Turkey, comments on an Islamic feminism gaining voice globally: Women participated in the Islamic movement and gave some new visibility to [it]. … And yet, with the same movement, they became publicly visible and their lives changed. They started publishing women’s magazines, going to meetings with other women for the sake of the Islamic movement. Then they want to pursue their professional careers after having achieved university degrees. [Their] upward social mobility through education and through politics. … [provided] new opportunities ... . But … each time these Muslim girls—or women now—go to public life, pursue their professional career, there is a tension within the movement. … a debate among Islamic women who want to go even more public and Islamic men who remind them that, first of all, they have to

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“A Muslim woman’s sons can be her greatest influence. Muslim boys are very close to their mothers. They live with them forever. The mother-son relationship often conflicts with the Muslim husband and wife relationship.” Lynda Hausfeld, interview. Jane Perlez, “Benazir Bhutto, 54, Lived in Eye of Pakistan Storm,” New York Times, December 28, 2007, http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/28/world/asia/28bhuttocnd.html?_r=0. Frontline, “Muslims: Women and Islam: Interviews with Nilufer Gole, Amina Wadud, and Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf,” Public Broadcasting Service, http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/ pages/frontline/shows/muslims/themes/women.html.

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be wives and mothers—their sacred roles. This debate is becoming more and more a public debate.50 With such diversity of women from homemakers to prime ministers, clearly, then, trying to describe ‘the Muslim woman’ is like trying to describe ‘the Christian woman.’ Forty-nine countries across the globe have Muslim majority populations,51 so even though Islam joins these women together, the situation of Muslim women is different in each region. A Christian making a Muslim friend needs to ask, “Where is that friend from? What is her language? What is her culture? Is she a village woman? Or, is she a wife of a Ph.D. student? Or is she a Ph.D. student?” Although ministry as an American in a predominantly Muslim country abroad is completely different than ministry within the us in many ways, the basic principles of the Say Hello ministry are global, since a local Pakistani Christian woman should be able to do the same thing as an American Christian woman—or the Christian woman in Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, or anywhere around the globe in terms of reaching out. Each context has its own significant challenges,52 though, and when considering the nature of interaction with Muslim women, the team at Say Hello has this encouragement: Keep a mindset that every encounter counts. You have to approach it as you would any friendship, understanding that a simple hello might open 50 51

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Ibid. See also Elizabeth Warnock Fernea, In Search of Islamic Feminism: One Woman’s Global Journey (New York: Anchor Books, 1998). Pew Research Religion & Public Life Project, “Muslim-Majority Countries,” Pew Forum, January 27, 2011, http://www.pewforum.org/2011/01/27/future-of-the-global-muslim -population-muslim-majority/. Mark Hausfeld with Global Initiative says that it can be more difficult to reach Muslims in the West than those in Muslim majority countries like Pakistan because Muslims in the West are “like an emissary force. They take on a sense of ummah, community. They are tighter, as their faith pulls them together. Also Muslims in the West have a missional perspective that says, ‘We are the beginning of Islam growing and increasing in numbers in this non-Muslim place.’ There is a sense of frontier. There is a tension between the two ways Muslims see the world: (1) the dar-ul-islam (house and submission) worldview that says anything in the world under the submission of Islam has been influenced, taken over, and conquered by Islam, and then (2) anything (peoples and places) that is not Islamic, which is dar-al-Harb (house of war). These two … remain in tension until all becomes Islamic.” Mark Hausfeld (Director of Global Initiative), in a Skype interview with the author, Springfield, Missouri, and Van Nuys, California, September 19, 2014. Permission to quote received.

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the door … The mindset should not be, “I’m going to win her,” but “I’m going to love her.”53 Another key step on the path is giving a Bible to a Muslim woman in her own language. Such love will help a Muslim woman come to see Christians as loving people, a different view than she has been used to. A Christian woman allowing the Spirit to work in her heart can be infused with an ever-increasing love and kindness that will take her beyond the point of only initiating friendship with a Muslim woman. The Spirit can work spiritual fruit in her such as patience, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, joy, and peace that will help to provide what she needs for the long haul.

The Role of the Holy Spirit in Pentecostal Ministry to Muslim Women

Pentecostals believe that the Holy Spirit is vital in every aspect of hospitality. Believers have the fruit of the Spirit (see Gal. 5:22–23) active in their lives, teaching them how to offer grace. Without the ‘the fruit’ of love, kindness, faithfulness, and patience, a relationship with a Muslim woman friend remains impossible. Additionally, Pentecostals believe that the Holy Spirit is available to inspire creative ideas and fresh vision for ministry, and in opening doors and providing favor and wisdom. Every person is different, and every relationship is different. No ‘formula’ exists for the way forward. In every country Donna worked in South and Central Asia, she prayed for God’s help to live in a home where those people became her protectors, friends, providers, and even a family to her.54 53

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Lynda Hausfeld, interview. Say Hello encourages Christian women, “Always take the opportunity to pray with Muslim women. And always pray for them in the name of Jesus. We have never had anyone say, ‘Don’t do that.’ Muslims believe he was a prophet and a miracle worker, so they generally are not closed to you praying in His name.” Krstulovich, interview. Another Christ-follower, Ann Marie (not her full name), has lived among Muslims in Central Asia since 2001 and knows the strength of this ‘family’ relationship; her husband Stan gave his life to the people there and lies buried in an area village. Their bond with their Muslim neighbors has been strong: “In my corner of Central Eurasia, I am privileged to be accepted as family by my Muslim neighbors. They have taught me a great deal about community living. It requires sharing your life with those around you. It requires a sacrifice of time and self. It provides protection, a place to belong, where everyone’s abilities are utilized and respected. It can be messy, just like most families. Living closely means that you see the good and the bad. There is conflict, and therefore

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The Holy Spirit helped her to find wisdom in befriending Muslims involved in the occult or in folk Islam. According to Say Hello, “Eighty-five percent of all Muslim women are involved in folk Islam in some way or another. Technically it is prohibited but broadly practiced, especially among women. This involves superstition, the evil eye, believing in evil spirits, asking spirits to come, using charms to ward off evil spirits, curses.”55 As a Say Hello team member recalls, “We never feel fully prepared, except that we trust in a God who protects us and leads us.”56

The Only Hope

Although politicians and soldiers clamor to resolve the current global terror brought about by radical Islam, the only real hope for peace is renewed understanding between peoples. On January 11, 2015, fifty world leaders walked side by side in a remarkable show of anti-terrorism solidarity in the streets of Paris in response to the January 7 and 9, 2015, Paris attacks, joining an estimated 1.5 million people in the crowd57 and 3.7 million throughout France in the largest gathering in the nation’s history.58 As astounding as such unity is, and as remarkable as the words of Egyptian President, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, are in calling for a “religious revolution” among Muslim leaders to fight Islamic extremism,59 ultimately, military and political powers will not bring the answer. Wherever a Muslim is located on the idealistic spectrum—(1) terrorist, (2) extremist but not terrorist, (3) fundamentalist, (4) moderate, (5) liberal, or (6) nominal60— that individual needs to find peace. If Christians do not interact with Muslims you are forced to learn conflict resolution—but there is also acceptance. There is a bond of love that comes with going through life together” (Ann Marie, “Why I Love My Muslim Neighbors,” Vital Magazine, issue #01, January/February 2015, 28–29). 55 Ibid. 56 Krstulovich, interview. 57 “After Attacks, Arm-in-Arm World Leaders Join Mass Paris March.” 58 Ashley Fantz, “Array of World Leaders Joins 3.7 Million in France to Defy Terrorism,” cnn, January 12, 2015, http://www.cnn.com/2015/01/11/world/charlie-hebdo-paris-march/ index.html. 59 Sarah El Deeb and Lee Keath, “Egypt’s President Calls for a ‘Revolution’ in Islam,” Huffington Post, January 9, 2015, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/01/09/egypt-president -revolution-islam_n_6436734.html?cps=gravity_2442_866242462195014758. See also Dana Ford, “Egypt’s President Calls for a ‘Religious Revolution’,” cnn, January 6, 2015, http:// edition.cnn.com/2015/01/06/africa/egypt-president-speech/. 60 Mark Hausfeld, interview.

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with the intention of being Christ-like and speaking the message of grace into their lives, though, that peace will be hindered. Pentecostal women working among Muslims and equipping other Christians to do the same express encouragement about this when many Muslims are becoming disillusioned. Despite what things look like in the global media, these groups view today as “a day of open doors.”61 Yet to realize the fulfillment of God’s heart for the Muslim world, they are calling the church in the West to wake up and overcome its … fear, anger, and indifference toward Muslims, which causes a lack of action in the global church. … We need to start seeing Muslims from a kingdom of God perspective. … God, according to Acts 17:26–27 is bringing Muslims into Western contexts so the church can be equipped and mobilized to befriend and engage and love them. Mother Theresa said the first step of love is kindness.62 Knowing that hospitality and faith inspire hope and feeling ready to begin a friendship with a Muslim woman are sometimes two different things, though. Often Christians wonder how much they need to know about Islam in order to communicate that hope to Muslims. The history, theology, and even contemporary complexities of Islamic issues can easily feel overwhelming to the Christian. A continuum of ideas exists among those who work with Muslims— from just launching out without much knowledge at all; to studying the Qur’an enough to engage; to taking on certain aspects of the culture of Muslims in order to relate contextually. Opportunities exist to learn more—through personal study as well as the resources of ministries such as Global Initiative, Say Hello, and the Summer Institute for Islamic Studies at the Assemblies of God Theological Seminary.63 61 Ibid. 62 Ibid. Paul Everett Pierson, The Dynamics of Christian Mission: History Through a Missiological Perspective (Pasadena, ca: William Carey International University Press, 2009), 92, quotes Fuller Theological Seminary professor Dr. Dudley Woodberry as affirming that “more Muslims are coming to Christ in this period of history than ever before.” See also Peter J. Liethart, “Religious Change in the Middle East,” March 1, 2013, First Things, http://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2013/03/religious-change-in-the-middleeast; David Garrison, A Wind in the House of Islam: How God is Drawing Muslims around the World to Faith in Jesus Christ (N.p.: WIGTake Resources, 2014), A Wind in the House, http://windinthehouse.org/. 63 See http://www.agts.edu/center_for_islamic_studies/siis.html for more on the Summer Institute for Islamic Studies.

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Knowing the basics of Islam at least to establish familiarity is important, but not necessary to initiating friendly contact. Certainly interaction with intellectual Muslim women calls for increased knowledge about Islam and related issues, but … the friendship itself will provide opportunity for mutual learning.64 Conclusion Instead of anxiety, anger, and despair fed by global events, Say Hello ministry teaches Pentecostal women to engage with Muslim women, offering hospitality and friendship in ways that can bridge the cultural divide between them. In addition, this uniquely egalitarian ministry model offers the opportunity to reflect on the larger question of how Christian ministry as a whole might change if empowered females were fully represented in all aspects of shaping and governance. Bibliography “Say Hello: Serving Muslim Women.” http://sayhelloinfo.com/about/. Afkhami, Mahnaz, ed. Faith & Freedom: Women’s Human Rights in the Muslim World. Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 1995. “After Attacks, Arm-in-Arm World Leaders Join Mass Paris March.” Reuters. January 11, 2015. http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/01/11/us-france-shooting-idUSK BN0KK05S20150111. Booth, William, and Ruth Eglash. “In Jerusalem, Thousands Gather for Funeral of 4 Jewish Men Killed in Paris.” The Washington Post. January 13, 2015. http://www .washingtonpost.com/world/thousands-gather-in-jerusalem-for-funeral-of -four-jewish-men-killed-in-paris/2015/01/13/cf28c43a-9aa1-11e4-96cc-e858eba91ced _story.html. 64

A Christian woman can ask her Muslim friend what is appropriate, or even questions like, “What do you teach your child about manners?” Because in such cases, what they would teach their children is what the Christian woman should be doing when in a Muslim context. In many cases, interaction will fall more along traditional female aspects of life such as food, home, and family. In the us, when the American Christian woman is the host, she can simply be respectful (avoiding serving her guests pork and alcohol, forbidden in the Qur’an; and avoid having pets around since generally they do not prefer animals). As a guest, the Christian woman can observe what her Muslim hosts do and then do likewise (such as taking her shoes off at the door if that is what they do; visiting in the living room rather than the kitchen; or segregating by genders during a visit). She can simply try to be a good guest.

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Brooks, Geraldine. Nine Parts of Desire: The Hidden World of Islamic Women. New York: Anchor Books, a Division of Dom House, 1995. “Brussels Explosions: What We Know about Airport and Metro Attacks,” BBC. April 9, 2016. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-35869985. Castillo, Mariano, Margot Haddad, Michael Martinez, and Steve Almasy. “Paris Suicide Bomber Identified; ISIS Claims Responsibility for 129 Dead.” CNN. Last modified November 16, 2015. http://www.cnn.com/2015/11/14/world/paris-attacks/. Chapman, Michael W. “Vicar of Baghdad: ISIS Beheaded 4 Christian Children; They Said, ‘We Love [Jesus].’” CNS News. December 15, 2014. http://www .cnsnews.com/news/article/michael-w-chapman/vicar-baghdad-isis-beheaded -4-christian-children-they-said-we-love. Chiaramonte, Perry. “ISIS Reportedly Selling Christian Artifacts, Turning Churches into Torture Chambers.” Fox News. December 20, 2014. http://www.foxnews.com/ world/2014/12/20/isis-reportedly-selling-christian-artifacts-turning-churches-into -torture-1596164509/. The Christian Broadcasting Network. “In the Green Room with Nabeel Qureshi.” YouTube. February 20, 2014. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IfnDJqndYE. CNN Library. “ISIS Fast Facts.” CNN. November 17, 2014. http://www.cnn.com/2014/ 08/08/world/isis-fast-facts/. DeSilver, Drew. “World’s Muslim Population More Widespread Than You Might Think.” Pew Research Center. June 7, 2013. http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2013/ 06/07/worlds-muslim-population-more-widespread-than-you-might-think/. El Deeb, Sarah, and Lee Keath. “Egypt’s President Calls for a ‘Revolution’ in Islam.” Huffington Post. January 9, 2015. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/01/09/ egypt-president-revolution-islam_n_6436734.html?cps=gravity_2442_86624246 2195014758. Fantz, Ashley. “Array of World Leaders Joins 3.7 Million in France to Defy Terrorism.” CNN. January 12, 2015. http://www.cnn.com/2015/01/11/world/charlie-hebdo-paris -march/index.html. Fernea, Elizabeth Warnock. In Search of Islamic Feminism: One Woman’s Global Journey. New York: Anchor Books, 1998. Ford, Dana. “Egypt’s President Calls for a ‘Religious Revolution.’” CNN. January 6, 2015. http://edition.cnn.com/2015/01/06/africa/egypt-president-speech/. Frontline. “Muslims: Women and Islam: Interviews with Nilufer Gole, Amina Wadud, and Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf.” Public Broadcasting Service. http://www.pbs.org/ wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/muslims/themes/women.html. Garrison, David. A Wind in the House of Islam: How God is Drawing Muslims around the World to Faith in Jesus Christ. N.p.: WIGTake Resources, 2014. A Wind in the House, http://windinthehouse.org/.

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Gerami, Shahin. Women and Fundamentalism: Islam and Christianity. New York & London: Gerland Publishing, Inc., 1996. Goodwin, Jan. Price of Honor: Muslim Women Lift the Veil of Silence on the Islamic World. Boston and New York: Little, Brown & Company, 1994. “Interpreting Veils.” Seattle Times. http://seattletimes.com/news/nation-world/crisis/ theregion/veils.html. “Introductory Video.” Global Initiative: Reaching Muslim Peoples. http://globalinitiativeinfo.com/. “ISIS Beheads 4 Young Christian Children in Iraq.” Fox News Video. December 14, 2014. http://video.foxnews.com/v/3941130944001/isis-beheads-4-young-christian -children-in-iraq/?#sp=show-clips. “The Jonah Initiative.” Global Initiative: Reaching Muslim Peoples. http:// globalinitiativeinfo.com/get-involved/jonah-initiative/. Jubilee Market. http://thejubileemarket.com/. Judkis, Maura, and Griff Witte. “String of Paris Terrorist Attacks Leaves over 120 Dead.” The Washington Post. Last modified November 13, 2015. https://www .washingtonpost.com/world/europe/paris-rocked-by-explosions-and-shootouts -leaving-dozens-dead/2015/11/13/133f5bc2-8a50-11e5-bd91-d385b244482f_story.html. Liethart, Peter J. “Religious Change in the Middle East.” March 1, 2013, First Things, http:// www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2013/03/religious-change-in-the-middle-east. Marie, Ann. “Why I Love My Muslim Neighbors.” Vital Magazine. Issue #01. January/ February 2015, 28–29. McCoy, Terrence. “In Pakistan, 1,000 Women Die in ‘Honor Killings’ Annually. Why is this Happening?” The Washington Post. May 28, 2014. http://www .washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2014/05/28/in-pakistan-honor -killings-claim-1000-womens-lives-annually-why-is-this-still-happening/. Olena, Lois E. “Walking with Jesus through the Red Light District.” The Network: A Called Community of Women. September 22, 2011. http://womeninministry .ag.org/Subscriber_Articles/archive.cfm?targetBay=526867fb-5f6e-485b-b12a-e2 d3c9c1f174&ModID=2&Process=DisplayArticle&RSS_RSSContentID=20419&RSS _OriginatingChannelID=1237&RSS_OriginatingRSSFeedID=3757&RSS_Source=. Page, Meg. “Women on Mission with God.” In Discovering the Mission of God: Best Missional Practices for the 21st Century, edited by Mike Barnett and Robin Martin, 554–568. Downers Grove, IVP, 2012. “Paris Attacks Death Toll Rises to 130.” RTE News. November 20, 2015. http://www.rte.ie/ news/2015/1120/747897-paris/. Perlez, Jane. “Benazir Bhutto, 54, Lived in Eye of Pakistan Storm.” New York Times. December 28, 2007. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/28/world/asia/28bhuttocnd .html?_r=0.

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Pew Research Religion & Public Life Project. “Muslim-Majority Countries.” Pew Forum. January 27, 2011. http://www.pewforum.org/2011/01/27/future-of-the-global -muslim-population-muslim-majority/. Pew Research Religion & Public Life Project. “The World’s Muslims: Unity and Diversity.” Pew Research Center. August 9, 2012. http://www.pewforum.org/2012/08/09/ the-worlds-muslims-unity-and-diversity-executive-summary/. Pierson, Paul Everett. The Dynamics of Christian Mission: History Through a Missiological Perspective. Pasadena, CA: William Carey International University Press, 2009 Qureshi, Nabeel. Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus: A Devout Muslim Encounters Christianity. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2014. Ross, Megan. “Jesus Reveals Himself to Syrian Muslim.” Charisma News. July 27, 2013. http://www.charismanews.com/world/40353-jesus-reveals-himself-to-syrian -muslim. Saifi, Sophia, and Greg Botelho. “In Pakistan School, Attack, Taliban Terrorists Kill 145, Mostly Children.” CNN. December 17, 2014. http://www.cnn.com/2014/12/16/world/ asia/pakistan-peshawar-school-attack/index.html?iref=allsearch. Say Hello: A Guide to Building Christ-like Friendships with Muslim Women. Say Hello. http://sayhelloinfo.com/resources/. Schultz, Marisa. “ISIS Savages Behead Four Children: Christian Leader.” New York Post. December 12, 2014. http://nypost.com/2014/12/12/christian-leader-isis-savages -behead-four-children/. Smith-Park, Laura, and Nic Robertson. “Satellite Images Show Devastation of Boko Haram Attacks, Rights Groups Say.” CNN. January 15, 2015. http://www.cnn .com/2015/01/15/africa/nigeria-boko-haram-images/index.html. “Summer Institute for Islamic Studies.” Assemblies of God Theological Seminary. http://www.agts.edu/center_for_islamic_studies/siis.html. Swartley, Keith. Encountering the World of Islam. 2nd ed. Orlando, FL: Pioneers, 2014. Tilghman, Andrew. “Official: Don’t Comfort Enemy by Calling Them ISIS, ISIL.” Military Times. December 19, 2014. http://www.militarytimes.com/story/military/ pentagon/2014/12/19/daesh-not-isil/20600351/. Woodberry, J. Dudley, Russell G. Shubin, and G. Marks. “Why Muslims Follow Jesus: The Results of a Recent Survey of Converts from Islam.” Christianity Today. October 24, 2007. Available online: http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2007/october/42.80 .html. Zaimov, Stoyan. “ISIS Executes 150 Women and Girls, Some Pregnant, for Refusing to Become Sex Slaves and Marry Jihadists.” Christian Post. December 18, 2014. http://www.christianpost.com/news/isis-executes-150-women-and-girls-some -pregnant-for-refusing-to-become-sex-slaves-and-marry-jihadists-131388/ The Zweimer Center for Muslim Studies. http://www.zwemerinstitute.com/.

Editor’s Note to Chapter 11 In a crack heard throughout the Pentecostal world, author Beth Grant successfully broke through a century-old stained-glass ceiling by becoming the first female executive presbyter of the Assemblies of God in 2009. She seems an unlikely activist, but while Pentecostals like Grant might be more commonly associated with pietism and quietism, they are increasingly earning reputations around the globe as advocates and spokespersons for the disenfranchised. Over the past twenty years, Grant’s missionary experiences have caused her to form an understanding of how a woman’s sexual experiences define her value within the context of culture and the church, as well as shape the value she assigns to herself as a woman. This chapter explores contrasting cultural perspectives on the value of girl children and women and their sexual identities against a foundational teachings of value God places on girls and women as revealed in scripture. With her ministry experiences to prostituted women and children through the outreach of Project Rescue as a backdrop, Grant studies essential elements of ministry to sexually exploited women and girls in order to bring freedom (physical, social, cultural, and spiritual). Finally, Grant highlights the critical role of Spirit-empowered Christian women ministers in bringing life-changing hope and freedom to those whom society and even the church too frequently identify as ‘prostitutes,’ ‘bad women,’ and ‘whores.’ Human trafficking represents the grievous extreme of epistemic violence and testimonial injustice, but, regrettably, might also be considered as the logical final outcome of all disempowering and subordinating gender-based ideological paradigms.

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chapter 11

Merchandised Women: Priceless, Called and Empowered Beth (A. Elizabeth) Grant Introduction Within a week of marrying my husband, David, thirty-eight years ago, we left for ministry in India and ten other nations in Asia, the Middle East, and Europe. And so began my personal introduction to the diverse ways in which cultures value women and define their role in society at large and in the church specifically. The journey revealed a thread of common challenges that women face globally. Most specifically in the past twenty years, this ministry journey offered an understanding how a woman’s sexual experiences in particular tend to define how she is valued by culture, the church, and herself in her own personal identity as a woman. This chapter will briefly explore some contrasting cultural perspectives on the social and existential value of girl children and women and their sexual identities. These perspectives will be contrasted with a Scriptural reading respecting the value of girls and women and particularly illuminated in how Jesus related to women who were considered ‘sinners’ in their community’s eyes. Next, my ministry experiences with prostituted women and children through the outreach of Project Rescue will serve as a case study to identify essential elements in ministry to sexually exploited women and girls in order to bring greater physical, social, cultural, and spiritual freedom. Finally, the chapter will highlight the critical role of Pentecostal women in seeking life-changing hope and freedom for women whom society and even the church too frequently identify as ‘prostitutes,’ ‘bad women,’ and ‘whores.’ Though others identify them as such, Scripture teaches that Jesus knows them by name—their real names. Pentecostals should consider that Christ came to seek them out through the disarming work of the Holy Spirit and offers them a different future and new identity as transformed daughters of God. This chapter will attempt to provide insights into who ‘merchandised women’ really are in God’s eyes as indicated in Scripture, because, as recipients of Jesus’ mission, they are our mission as well.

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Contrasting Cultural Perspectives on the Value of the Girl Child

The value placed on a girl child compared to a boy child is apparent from the time of birth, and before birth, even as the baby is carried in the mother’s womb. Although cultures around the world vary greatly in how females are valued, similar perspectives are held by large percentages of the earth’s population. Contrasting views characteristic of the Two-Thirds World and Western World in America will be presented. In light of the focus of this chapter on ‘merchandised women,’ particular attention will be given to sexual exploitation of women and girls through pornography, the sale of their bodies for sex, and the impact of these injustices on victims. Two-Thirds World Perspectives The two most populous nations in the world, China and India, are known for their traditional cultural preference for boy children over girl children. A distorted value of the girl child is reflected in the willingness to accept or at least tolerate the practices of gender-specific abortion and even infanticide of girl babies in order to accommodate parents’ wishes for a son.1 It is telling that a daughter’s birth in India is frequently met with open tears of disappointment rather than celebration, because she is viewed as a financial liability rather than a source of pride and status. Out of 7.2 billion people in the world, 1.3 billion live in China, and 1.2 billion live in India.2 This represents approximately 35 percent of the world’s population in two nations that hold or are at least greatly influenced by this traditional view of girls as being secondary and less valuable than boys. The percentage does not include those Chinese and Indian immigrants who now live in other nations of the world but continue to hold this deeply traditional cultural view as well. If one were also to add the very large populations of Muslim nations in Asia and the Middle East where sons are also valued and preferred over daughters, the extent to which girls are devalued globally becomes more apparent. This problem is no small issue as it provides fertile ground for injustice against women and girls, including the buying and selling of them for purposes of sexual exploitation. This gender-distorted worldview underlies the cultural and economic rationale that girls are not valuable, but rather an economic liability. 1 “Female Infanticide,” bbc, www.bbc.com/news/world-south-asia-13264301 (original is now archived). 2 “Current World Population,” GeoHive, http://www.geohive.com/earth/population_now.aspx.

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In times of crisis or economic hardship, there is always one way to help pay for food, shelter, or drugs: sell your daughter or wife for sex.3 The cultural view that females have secondary value becomes more difficult to challenge when it is subtly sacralized as an integral part of a culture’s religion. To illustrate, in India it is not uncommon to find the references to females as ‘children of a lesser god.’ Daughters do not have the sacred ritual responsibilities in the family that sons carry. Like goddesses in the ancient fertility religion of Hinduism, in which sex was a part of worship with temple prostitutes, women were perceived as having the capacity to be capriciously both nurturing mothers and seducing temptresses, and, therefore, both loved and feared. Their alleged innate strong sexual urges and potential power for evil are given as rationale for why daughters, wives, sisters, and mothers must be segregated in society to protect them from themselves and from men who might be tempted by them. In the practice of Islam, females have a secondary, submissive role in society and family as daughters, wives, mothers, and sisters despite the fact that Islamic historians document that early Islam was actually reformist in its historical cultural context in granting women equality in its ‘constitution.’4 While the value and treatment of women can vary greatly within contemporary Islam from nation to nation, women are not uncommonly viewed as property among more conservative and radical Muslims, and, therefore, available to the male members of the family who can use them as they wish. As in India, sexual exploitation of daughters within the extended family is tragically common and widely ignored. Similarly, in Hinduism and Islam, girls carry the heavy burden of protecting the honor of the family name through their sexual purity. Ironically, this does not keep them from being victims, but instead blames them for any suspected immorality, rape, or even flirtation. So called ‘honor killings’ of teenage girls and women in fundamental Islamic nations reveal the extreme violence against women associated with this ‘religious’ view of women and sexuality. Author and journalist Nicholas D. Kristof reports, “In any 10-year period, more girls are discriminated against [resulting in their] death than all of the

3 In Disposable People: New Slavery in the Global Economy and Understanding Global Slavery (Berkeley and Los Angeles, ca: University of California Press, 2012), 12–13, author Kevin Bales documents the relationship between poverty-stricken areas of the world and sex trafficking. Victims tend to be trafficked from poorest nations to richer nations. 4 See Terence Lovat, Women in Islam: Reflections on Historical and Contemporary Research (Dordrecht: Springer Science + Business Media, 2012).

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people who died in all the genocides of the 20th century.”5 He tells the story of an Ethiopian girl he had met who at fourteen suffered horrendous injuries giving birth and was left to die.6 The girl fought off hyenas through the night and managed to crawl to a missionary’s home thirty miles away where she received medical treatment. Amazingly, she recovered and became a nurse. From birth to death, the value or lack of value of girls and women around the world cannot be ignored by people of faith who are committed to God’s redemptive mission. The Commodification of Women in the West But what about the value of girls and women in Western cultures of Europe and America where egalitarianism and the rights of the individual—whether male or female—are documented, prioritized values? Compared to women in the more traditional Hindu and Islamic cultures, women in the West have many privileges and choices not afforded to a majority of their sisters in the world. Their births are generally celebrated similarly to male babies, more often they are viewed as equals, provided an education with their male counterparts, have the freedom to travel alone, and may aspire to leadership roles in the professions of their choosing. Nevertheless, every culture has its own distorting lens, and women are devalued in the West as well. Even with its JudeoChristian heritage, and for all the benefits and blessings Western women enjoy, distortions in how women and girls are perceived, especially with respect to sexuality, tragically persist. And in some ways, the distortions and devaluation appear to be increasing in critical arenas of Western culture. In her book, Scheherazade Goes West: Different Cultures, Different Harems, Islamic feminist Fatima Mernissi offers an insightful glimpse of Western culture through an outsider’s eyes.7 As a respected journalist from the Middle East, Mernissi has spent much time in Europe and the United States. While at times she appears to chafe under the stereotyping she experiences as a Muslim woman living in the West—despite her notable educational accomplishments—some of her keen observations concerning ‘liberated’ women belie the often overlooked devaluation of women in our own culture.

5 Nicholas D. Kristof, “The Value of Women” (lecture, Harvard Medical School, September 27, 2010); reported by The Harvard Gazette. Kristof is a journalist for The New York Times and coauthor with Sheryl WuDunn of Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide (New York: Knopf, 2009). 6 Ibid. 7 Fatima Mernissi, Scheherazade Goes West: Different Cultures, Different Harems (New York, ny: Washington Square Press, 2001).

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To illustrate, Mernissi, who is not unlike many Muslim women from wealthy families in the oil-rich Middle East, wears expensive designer clothing and jewelry—even under her black burka. While in New York for a business trip she decided to shop in an exclusive women’s boutique. When she asked the owner to help her, the individual surveyed Mernissi’s ample size with some disdain and explained that the store wouldn’t be able to help her because it carried only sizes 2–4 for smaller women. The author was shocked and indignant, recounting that she had never felt devalued for her ‘generous figure’ in a Middle Eastern country. But in America, value for women is attached to a slender body, and those in the clothing industry and media decide what is ‘beautiful,’ leaving many American women feeling unattractive and devalued based upon what number registers on the scale each day.8 Mernissi’s point: American women have arenas of bondage (‘harems’) that men in big business, marketing, and the entertainment industry subtly control as well. In a telling interview, celebrity boxer Floyd Mayweather was questioned about accusations of his violence against women, and he responded by comparing his view of women to cars: “Even if you can’t drive 10 cars at one time, you got people that got 10 cars … So you’re able to keep [do] maintenance on 10 cars. I feel that as far as it comes to females, that same thing should apply. If you are able to take care of 20, then you should have 20.”9 A former wife, Josie Harris, who brought [battery] charges against him, says Mayweather views his relationship with women as “ownership.”10 The implication is that if something/someone is ‘owned,’ the owner can treat his ‘property’ however he wishes—with impunity. I encounter similar anecdotal illustrations in every meeting where I speak, suggesting that the us is increasingly becoming a place where the commercial market for women and girls for sexual gratification of men is on the rise. America was not the place many thought it was a generation ago given how many women in their forties and fifties now come forward and testify to past sexual exploitation. The following trends are fueled in even more destructive ways through the Internet and globalization.

8

Phyllis Kilbourn addresses this cultural pressure and its destructive effects on young girls in America from a biblical perspective in Shaping the Future; Girls and Our Destiny (Pasadena, ca: William Carey Library, 2008). 9 Martin Rogers, “Life with Floyd Mayweather: ‘I was a Battered Woman,’” interview with Josie Harris, November 19, 2014, usa Today, http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ boxing/2014/11/18/floyd-mayweather-josie-harris-domestic-abuse/19221605/. 10 Ibid.

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The sexualization of young girls in marketing and media Internet-based child pornography and pedophilia The glorification of ‘pimp culture’ and prostitution The explosion of pornography production and usage Growing domestic violence against women Sex trafficking of both international and domestic victims The prostituting of daughters or wives for drug money Sexual abuse/molesting of minors by people of influence (i.e., teachers, doctors, ministers, priests, celebrities)11

In recent years, no story illustrates the reality of young merchandised women in America more than a tragedy that came to light in Lebanon, Missouri, in America’s heartland, in September 2011.12 A young woman was brought into a hospital trauma center after suffering cardiac arrest from what was learned to be sexual torture over a period of five years as a sex slave. A couple had offered the fifteen-year-old girl a place to live. Once there, men would come to their trailer home where the ‘mentally deficient’ teen was kept to brutally rape and torture her in acts that included administering electrical shocks to her genitals and caging her like an animal. Videotapes of the sexual violence and torture were then sold for profit to other men in Missouri. When interrogated, her captors defended their actions by claiming the young woman liked the abuse and enjoyed being a part of pornography production. The depravity and willingness of this couple and other men to exploit a vulnerable young woman for money and perverse sexual experiences gives a sickening glimpse into the evil horrors associated with the merchandising of women and girls in our twentyfirst-century world. Pornography: Western Exploitation, Global Market Pornography is sometimes portrayed as a less degrading form of merchandising women for sexual purposes. However, the stories told by the women exploited in pornography production suggest otherwise. Former ‘porn star’ 11

12

In America, although more trafficking victims have been identified from 2013–2014, prosecutions and convictions decreased significantly. See “2015 us Trafficking in Persons Report,” 60. http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/245365.pdf. us Attorney’s Office/Western District of Missouri, “Lebanon Man Pleads Guilty to Sex Trafficking, Admits Torturing Woman Who Was Coerced as Sex Slave,” Human Trafficking Rescue Project, The fbi: Federal Bureau of Investigation, January 5, 2012, http://www .fbi.gov/kansascity/press-releases/2012/lebanon-man-pleads-guilty-to-sex-trafficking -admits-torturing-woman-who-was-coerced-as-a-sex-slave.

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Shelley Lubben, now a born-again Christian, shares her story of the exploitation and inhumane treatment of women in the production of pornography.13 Shelley had been prostituted on the streets before entering the world of porn stardom, which she believed would be better. Instead, she found that the expectations of what she was forced to do for the camera with men and the unhygienic conditions in which porn was produced caused her to go back to the streets of prostitution. From her experiences in both forms of exploitation, the streets of prostitution seemed safer than the life of a ‘porn star.’ Again, the underlying assumption is that if men pay they have a right to do anything they want to women sexually and physically, no matter how degrading, painful, or destructive it is to them. A woman sold for sex, including the one in front of a camera, is completely dehumanized and considered fair game. The Sale of Women and Children for Sex Prostitution is not ‘sex work’ for the majority of women and children being prostituted in the world.14 Yes, someone makes money from a ‘customer’ who pays to use a woman’s body for sex; however, in most cases, the person making money is not the woman or child, but pimps, madams, friends, and even family members. As one survivor stated, “My mother was my first pimp. She used to sell me to the landlord and other men who wanted a young girl. She was a junkie … I thought that was normal.”15 Far too many little girls in the world are experiencing sexual violence as their ‘normal.’ Approximately 20 percent of women researched internationally reported being victims of some form of sexual violence as children.16 And while men and boys are also experiencing the devastating injustice of sexual 13

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I participated in the Convergence Summit in Baltimore, Maryland in April of 2011 in which Shelley Lubben shared her story. See Luke Gilkerson, “Porn and Sex Trafficking: A Convergence of Religious Leaders Speak Out,” Covenant Eyes: Internet Accountability and Filtering, June 23, 2011, http://www.covenanteyes.com/…/porn-and-sex-trafficking -a-convergence. See “Prostituted Women Are Not ‘Sex Workers,’” Women’s Views on News, August 7, 2014,  http://www.womensviewsonnews.org/2014/08/prostituted-women-are-not-sex -workers/#sthash.MF3HuvUb.dpuf. Written by “victims and survivors of prostitution, women’s groups representing marginalized communities of caste, class and ethnicity, and anti-trafficking organizations representing those trapped in bonded labor and other forms of servitude” as an appeal to United Nations Women. Alysa Jordheim, Made in the usa: The Sex Trafficking of America’s Children (Oviedo, fl: HigherLife Publishing and Marketing, 2014), 63. World Health Organization, “Fact Sheets: Violence against Women,” www.who.int/media centre/factsheets/fs239/en/. (original now not available)

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exploitation, out of an estimated 4.5 million persons globally forced into sexual exploitation, 98 percent are women and girls.17 Bringing young women and girls into prostitution for profit is made easier by the destructive effects of sexual exploitation in their childhood. Child sexual exploitation breaks down healthy, God-given boundaries and the sense of dignity and innocence in a child, causing her to feel dirty, bad, and worthless. Perpetrators of child molestation blame their young victims for their own predatory sexual behavior and threaten them into silence through shaming and fear. Sexual abuse of a child causes her to be sexualized prematurely and traumatically, which unmistakably alters her emotions, self-concept, actions, and demeanor in ways inappropriate for her age. She thus begins a downward spiral of self-blame, fear, and feelings of worthlessness that are later exploited by other sexual predators to whom the victim is vulnerable. Then, if a woman is trafficked later by a would-be boyfriend and eventual pimp, her sense of identity as a woman has already been distorted forever by her early exploitative experiences. The one who was victimized has come to believe the lie that she deserves whatever sexual violence and exploitation are forced upon her. Part of the process of preparing women and girls for prostitution is initiating them into a new identity and systematically destroying their personal sense of worth and former identity. In Prostitution and Trafficking in Women: An Intimate Relationship, Dorchen A. Leidholdt sheds light on this destructive process and its effect on victims: The sex industry entrepreneur ‘turns out’ a woman or girl by eradicating her identity, erasing her sense of self, especially any belief that she is entitled to dignity and bodily integrity. ‘Turning out’ often takes place through rape and acts of sexual humiliation. It is facilitated by changing her name, giving her a ‘makeover’ to ensure that she will be viewed as a sex object, alienating her from her family and friends, instilling in her the belief that she is an ‘outlaw,’ rejected by yet superior to ‘straight’ society, and teaching her to accept her place in a rigid hierarchy, where she is obedient to the man who profits from the sale of her body and any wom[a]n he designates as his surrogate.18

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“Facts and Figures: Ending Violence against Women,” un Women, http://www.unwomen .org/en/what-we-do/ending-violence-against-women/facts-and-figures. Dorchen A. Leidholdt, “Prostitution and Trafficking in Women: An Intimate Relationship,” in Prostitution, Trafficking, and Traumatic Stress, ed. Melissa Farley (Binghamton, ny: The Haworth Press, 2003), 172.

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Pimps, madams, and those who attempt to obliterate the woman or child’s prior identity for the sake of financial gain in order to render her compliant find reinforcing distortions within the culture and even the church. While it does not seem to hold true for men to the same extent, a woman or girl’s identity tends to be shaped by her past sexual experiences—regardless of whether she was a victim. ‘She’s the woman who was raped.’ ‘She’s the girl who was sexually abused.’ ‘She’s a bad girl.’ ‘She’s a prostitute.’ Exploiters know that once a woman internalizes such a label that she has nowhere else to go, and the slavery is now powerfully complete: physically, emotionally, mentally, socially, and spiritually. The devaluing of girls and women in human cultures around the world is tragically common. This lack of perceived value renders girls and women particularly vulnerable to individuals and systems that violate their dignity and then sexually merchandise them.

A Theology of the Value of the Girl Child and Woman

Contrasting such cultural views of girls and women is the radically liberating perspective revealed in Scripture—especially as it relates to those who have been sexually exploited. From creation, the Bible reveals that God made humankind—including both men and women—in his image and likeness, and, therefore, both reflect that image (see Gen. 1:27). In Genesis 1, God places man and woman in stewardship together over the earth and blesses it and them. “God saw all that he had made, and it was very good” (Gen. 1:31).19 This account of God’s creative activity bestows equal value upon the woman and the man.20 She was neither inferior nor superior as God’s creation but was given mutual purposes in equal concert with the man in overseeing the earth. In this state before sin, the story of creation in Genesis presents God’s ideal for relationships between himself and his creation as well as between male and female created in his image. Tragically, the longer human history progresses beyond the Garden of Eden and its idyllic, God-ordained, mutually-valuing relationships, the more we learn about the depths of depravity possible in sinful humanity in devaluing and exploiting God’s creation and relationships. This was neither God’s doing nor was it his intention.

19 All Scripture quotation, unless otherwise noted, are from the New International Version. 20 See God’s Women Then and Now by Deborah M. Gill and Barbara Cavaness (Springfield, mo: Grace and Truth 2004), 36.

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The God who created man and woman for relationship with himself worked missionally down through the Old Testament law and dealings with his creation to restore and atone for humanity’s separating sin. Women were vitally and integrally engaged in that narrative. The stories of Miriam, Moses’ sister and prophetess (see Exod. 15), the prophetess Deborah in Judges 5, the prophetess Huldah (see 2 Kings 22), the widowed Ruth who became part of the royal bloodline of redemption (see Ruth), and Esther, the Jewish daughter in exile who would become queen and save her people from annihilation (see Esther)—all clearly demonstrate that God not only created women in his image, but also invested gifts and abilities in them, which he ordains to be used for his redemptive purposes. This same radical reality is communicated in the New Testament through the life and words of Jesus, and his relationships with women as well as men. Unfortunately, the historical/cultural context of the world in which Christ and his disciples lived is little understood by many contemporary Christians and even church leaders. As a result, the actions and words of Jesus and the apostle Paul lived out in the first century New Testament context are too often eisegeted through a contemporary cultural lens, patriarchal traditions, and cultural norms. In context, Jesus’s treatment of women was radically valuing and empowering. This was remarkably apparent with women who were considered immoral and ostracized by their societies. A primary example of Jesus’s valuation of women is illustrated in the John 4 encounter with a Samaritan woman at a community well. So many things about this woman would have supported Jesus’s avoidance of her: she was from an ethnic group despised by the Jews, she was alone at the well in the middle of the day, which indicated a degree of social isolation in a communitybased culture, she had lived with too many men, and she was a woman. But Christ engaged with her in a radical and redemptive way. Jesus crossed all these human barriers to relationship in order to give the Samaritan woman at the well the greatest gift he ever gave men or women: the full disclosure, the truth of who he was. While demonstrating he knew about every detail of her broken life, Jesus still chose to align himself forever in history with an outcast, ‘immoral’ woman, which affirmed her value. The New Testament underscores this valuation of women by presenting female disciples such as Mary and Martha and Mary Magdalene. It is difficult to imagine to what extent Jesus’s ministerial inclusion of women assaulted the common social norms in this patriarchal society. Such activity presents Christ as a social liberator of women. The apostle Paul continued this radically inclusive ministerial activity by commending numerous “co-laborers” throughout his epistles, such as Phoebe

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and Priscilla. Pentecostals identify a strong dynamic, unifying thread in the work of the Spirit between Joel’s prophesy that in the last days daughters would prophesy (see Joel 2:28–29), the filling of men and women on the day of Pentecost to fulfill God’s mission (see Acts 1:8, 14), and the historical emergence of female along with male leaders in every Pentecostal revival who identify with Christ’s mandate in Luke 4:18–19, saying, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” History is full of accounts of cultural exclusion, devaluation, exploitation, and commodification of women and girls; unfortunately, religion too often has been used to justify and legitimize such actions. Nevertheless, ministries such as Project Rescue in Bombay, India, offer a counter-example of a biblical affirmation of female worth.

Case Study: Project Rescue, a Ministry to Merchandised Women and Children

In 1997, after working for several years with young boys on the streets who were addicted to drugs, K.K. Devaraj, in Mumbai, India, took his Bombay Teen Challenge21 outreach team into a major red light district. In so doing, he boldly stepped into an arena that largely was avoided by the traditional church. It was estimated that as many as 100,000 women and children lived in Kamatapura, one of the largest red light districts in Asia. Devaraj and his team saw block after block of multi-story buildings from where women and children trafficked from Nepal and other parts of India were held and sold for sex. About 100 women asked Devaraj to take their young daughters—thirty-seven of them—to a place of safety away from the exploitation they were facing in the brothels. Devaraj contacted my husband and me asking us to open a safe home for them, which was the start of Project Rescue. Beautiful little dark-eyed girls came with huge emotional, mental, social, and spiritual needs that the original team was unprepared to meet. Such children had been offered to idols, and exploited in unimaginable ways. Their needs were extreme and highly complex. Pentecostals consider that that the supernatural dynamic of the Spirit was at work in liberating rescued children 21

Bombay Teen Challenge was founded while the colonial British name for the city of Bombay was still in usage. More recently, the original Indian language name for the city, Mumbai, has been reinstituted by the government and is commonly used.

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in the safe home. They began to form an identity of value, dignity, and hope for a different future from the one they had assumed they would have. Their mothers’ pimps, madams, corrupt policemen, and ‘customers’ already viewed them as merchandise to sell, and their culture and community assumed the inevitability of their exploitation. But the first safe home in Mumbai became a spiritual sanctuary of renewal. As mothers in Kamatapura saw the growing health and hope in their daughters, they began to trust the btc staff and believe that there might be hope for them as well. Over the next several years, prostituted mothers took steps toward freedom. They began to believe that it was possible for them to escape their slavery with the help of the Bombay Teen Challenge staff. An aftercare home was started for rescued prostituted women, and a number of madams come into the home as well. Women who had run brothels and cruelly exploited other women became advocates of liberation. Nevertheless, merchandised women and children represent income for exploiters, and those who bought and sold them saw them as their ‘property.’ Each woman and girl in prostitution was embedded in systems of evil that were challenged every time we dared to reach out to help a woman or child personally. For the first five years of Project Rescue’s existence, the struggle to continue seemed insurmountable at times, but the ministry survived and began to thrive. Since 1997, thirteen aftercare safe homes have become affiliated with Project Rescue ministries operating in six countries: India, Nepal, Moldova, Tajikistan, Spain, and Bangladesh. They are homes that provide integrated ministry to the whole woman and child, i.e., physical safety, legal aid and medical care; psychological counseling and trauma care; religious ministry and training; and intellectual development, including educational/vocational training. Of the first group of little girls to be rescued in Mumbai, some have become nurses, teachers, and social workers. Others have attended Bible college to prepare to minister to other young girls and their mothers in sex slavery. Some have found employment in an area of interest. Some have married young men, and of those, some are now in ministry together. Unfortunately, not all stories end well. For prostituted women who have been in exploited for many years—even from childhood—the challenge of the known and the many layers of bondage can beckon them back to darkness. Tragically, some return to exploitation and slavery. There is a daily rush of adrenaline experienced by prostituted women who regularly encounter violence, seduction, and chaos in their lives. If they have been born into generational prostitution, it is the only life and community they have known. Leaving it takes great courage. Staying out of it takes endurance, perseverance, sheer

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force of will for good, and God’s grace appropriated daily. Restoration requires a willingness to participate in a level of discipline and structure that is foreign to them. It demands great strength and faith to continue to embrace a new identity of value and dignity when the outside community—including, sadly at times, the church—continues to label them regardless of the steps they take away from prostitution. One of the most difficult days in the life of a ministry staff worker happens when one they have worked to help for months and even years decides to walk back into bondage. More than 30,000 women and children’s lives were touched by God through Project Rescue affiliated ministries in 2014. This chapter has explored how different cultures value and treat women and girls and has described the ministry of Project Rescue. The following section reflects on the lessons Project Rescue has learned in its eighteen years of work with prostituted women and children.

Reflections on Ministry by Spirit-Empowered Daughters of God to Sexually-Exploited Daughters of God

So many lessons about ministering to this particular population were learned painfully as mistakes were made. Outlined below are some of the most valuable lessons, including inherent questions regarding the staggering need of merchandised women in our world. Recognize that the rescue, redemption, and restoration of sexually exploited women and children are journeys—not momentary events. As Pentecostals in the Western church, we tend to view redemption as a singular crisis moment when an individual decides to pray ‘the sinner’s prayer.’ However, an enslaved woman who has suffered years of mental, emotional, spiritual, and physical trauma may respond desperately to an invitation for prayer that is only the first of many prayers. She may be forced to leave the altar and walk back out into the night to “take the next customer.” Like first-century slaves who were not instantly released from their bonds after redemption, sex slaves are not immediately free to leave slavery until their physical freedom can be negotiated or obtained through other means. But if Christians care about prostituted women and love them as Jesus does, they will be willing to walk with them on the challenging journey and keep praying and believing with them for complete liberation. With each prayer, the slave’s will and determination is strengthened. Then, in a moment on that journey, she begins to dare to hope and believe in the possibility of full deliverance. Soon to follow come healing, rescuing, and restoring. There remain layers of hurt, trauma, disease, fear from threats, and

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other dangers that must be dealt with in order to fully realize restoration and healing.22 Are we as Pentecostal women prepared to be a part of the challenging, and even painful, healing journey of our merchandised sisters? There is no quick fix. It demands a long-term commitment. Our own past of sexual abuse or exploitation does not necessarily constitute a call to prostituted, exploited women and girls. Ministry to wounded women is not in itself a means of healing for similarly wounded women. Often over these years, women of all ages have connected with us who have expressed a desire to engage in ministry with Project Rescue. We have learned to ask them whether or not they themselves have been victims of sexual exploitation. Sexually exploited women tend to have a deep affinity for others who have been similarly hurt. But we have learned to pose an important follow-up question. “What kind of help and healing have you received since your own trauma?” Ministry to sexually exploited women when they are beginning their journey out of bondage can cause caregivers to experience secondary trauma that brings back painful memories in destructive ways. Also, if caregivers have not found freedom and dealt with areas of sexual woundedness in their own lives, temptation can be re-awakened with a vengeance when working with this population. Godly, Spirit-empowered women who are former victims of exploitation can make powerful caregivers for others on the healing journey after they themselves have established a new identity, health, and healing in their own lives. Everyone has cultural and religious stereotypes regarding merchandised women and girls. Those who would help them effectively must recognize and address their stereotypes and invite the Holy Spirit to help them to see victims with new eyes. If we see a young teenage girl at the shopping mall who is scantily dressed and acting provocatively, what is the first thing we think, and how do we react? Do we blame her and assume she is a bad girl, ‘loose,’ and immoral? Or, are we drawn to her in compassionate concern, asking ourselves what has happened to cause her to become sexualized at a young age? There is always a story and a context with respect to her behavior. As with many conservative societies, do we blame the victim no matter what? Do we consider it to be her own fault that she was raped because she was dressed inappropriately? Unless we recognize our own biases regarding prostituted women and children, 22 In Hands that Heal: International Curriculum to Train Caregivers of Trafficking Survivors (Academic Version) (Washington, dc: Faith Alliance against Slavery and Trafficking, 2007) edited by Beth Grant and Cindy Hudlin, a professional team including trauma counselors, medical practitioners, social workers, and ministers to exploited women describe the specific kinds of need that have to be addressed in order for prostituted survivors to realize healing and a different future.

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we can easily add hurt to hurt rather than help them. Deeply-held biases are difficult to hide, and even if we bite our tongues, those biases can tend to leak out in non-verbal ways. Prostituted women and girls read body language well. They intuitively sense when other women value them as sisters—regardless of the circumstances surrounding their births. Treating other women with dignity means listening to their stories without judgment, hearing them with the heart, and waiting to offer them advice until one has earned their trust. Pentecostal women who can see sexually exploited women through eyes of faith can be powerfully used as catalysts for redemption in women’s lives. The most effective, sustainable ministries to prostituted women and children are connected to healthy local communities of faith. Women need the support of a caring community in order to survive. Part of ‘breaking in’ women or children to the world of prostitution involves isolating them from their families and others who have been a part of their lives previously. Once they have been brutally raped and beaten into submission over weeks or months, they become convinced that their families and communities would now reject them. Pimps and other merchandisers use the stigma of prostitution to intimidate and control victims convincing them that no one else will want them, and, therefore, they have nowhere else to go. So running away and escaping becomes increasingly impossible in the exploited woman’s eyes. Over time, as all communication with family and former friends is lost, prostituted women have no community except those which are part of the exploitation: pimps, madams, corrupt policeman, recruiters, other women in the ‘business,’ and ‘customers.’ Especially in the case of trafficked women and children who are intentionally moved from place to place in order to avoid law enforcement and intervention, women are forced to rely on their captors as they have no other ongoing relationships. With this dynamic in mind, helping women escape prostitution and sexual slavery requires more than an individual rescuer. It requires a community of people who can offer the woman coming out not just medical help and a safe place, but also genuine relationships for the healing journey. It is naïve and even irresponsible, albeit sincere, to attempt to rescue women from sexual slavery as individuals without providing a supportive community for them to enter. It takes a community—ideally a community of faith, i.e., a local church—to provide caring relationships and a new ‘family’ that women and girls need in order to survive thrive. Effective ministry as women in the face of the rising evil tide of sexual exploitation demands that we be collaborators rather than competitors in God’s redemptive mission. The sheer magnitude of sexual violence and injustice in our world demands that we collaborate as women ministers rather than work separately to develop ministries or organizations. Americans have been enculturated to be competitors. Sadly and shamefully, this trend to compete and not

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work together has become a recognized characteristic of the faith-based, antitrafficking movement. But God has called us to be co-laborers, co-workers, coministers of his deliverance, redemption, and grace to merchandised women. Only God knows what could happen to turn the tide of women and girls’ futures around the world if we worked together. Pentecostal women are uniquely equipped to help prostituted individuals find freedom, healing, and new life. Slaves require more than a hug to be free. Prostituted women and girls desperately need called, trained, mature women of God to help victims to find freedom. Fiona Bellshaw is one such woman. A Scottish-born, Pentecostal pastor’s wife in Madrid, Spain, Fiona and her husband, Juan Carlos Escobar, pastor a growing international church in that great city. Fiona began to notice foreign young women walking the streets, many from Africa. Nudged by the Spirit, she introduced herself to a young woman who had caught her eye. The minister learned the girl had been trafficked from Africa for prostitution, and the girl feared for her life. Over a period of months, Fiona became like a mother to the frightened girl, and when the girl became pregnant, the pastor’s wife was able to help her escape and get the legal and medical care she needed. The young woman became a devoted follower of Jesus and now shares her story to help other young women escape sexual slavery and find freedom. For Fiona, daring to reach out to one young, African woman was the beginning of a new season of ministry and the beginning of Project Rescue’s outreach in Spain. Within two years, trafficked women in Madrid from over forty nations had been touched by the vision of this woman and her team. Conclusion Women whose value had been shattered and reduced to what they were worth for sex on the street are priceless in God’s eyes. They have joined a growing army of Pentecostal women working to bring liberation from injustice to trafficked and merchandised women. Bibliography Alexander, Estrelda, and Amos Yong. Philip’s Daughters: Women in Pentecostal- Charismatic Leadership. Eugene, OR: Pickwick Publications, 2009. Bales, Kevin. Disposable People: New Slaves in the Global Economy. Rev. ed. Berkeley and Los Angeles, CA: University of California Press, 2012.

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Bales, Kevin, and Ron Soodalter. The Slave Next Door: Human Trafficking and Slavery in America Today. Berkeley and Los Angeles, CA: University of California Press, 2009. Burke, Mary. Human Trafficking: Interdisciplinary Perspectives. New York, NY: Routledge, 2013. Cunningham, Loren, and David J. Hamilton. Why Not Women: A Biblical Study of Women in Missions, Ministry, and Leadership. Seattle, WA: YWAM Publishing, 2000. “Current World Population.” GeoHive, http://www.geohive.com/earth/population _now.aspx, 2014. “Facts and Figures: Ending Violence against Women.” UN Women. www.who.int/­ mediacentre/factsheets/fs239/en/ (updated January, 2016). Farley, Melissa. Prostitution, Trafficking, and Traumatic Stress. Binghamton, NY: The Haworth Press, 2003. “Female Infanticide.” BBC. www.bbc.com/news/world-south-asia-13264301. May 23, 2011. Gill, Deborah, and Barbara Cavaness. God’s Women Then and Now. Springfield, MO: Grace and Truth, 2004. Gilkerson, Luke. “Porn and Sex Trafficking: A Convergence of Religious Leaders Speak Out.” Covenant Eyes: Internet Accountability and Filtering. June 23, 2011. http:// www.covenanteyes.com/…/porn-and-sex-trafficking-a-convergence. Grant, Beth. Courageous Compassion: Confronting Social Injustice God’s Way. Springfield, MO: My Healthy Church, 2014. Grant, Beth, and Cindy Hudlin, eds. Hands that Heal: International Curriculum to Train Caregivers of Trafficking Survivors. Washington, DC: Faith Alliance Against Slavery and Trafficking, 2007. Jordheim, Alisa. Made in the USA: The Sex Trafficking of America’s Children. Oviedo, FL: HigherLife Publishing and Marketing, 2014. Kendall, Virginia M., and T. Markus Funk. Child Exploitation and Trafficking: Examining the Global Challenges and US Responses. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc, 2012. Kilbourn, Phyllis, ed. Shaping the Future: Girls and Our Destiny. Pasadena, CA: William Carey Library, 2008. Kristof, Nicholas, and Sheryl WuDunn. Half the Sky: Turning Oppression Into Opportunity for Women Worldwide. New York: Knopf, 2009. Leidholdt, Dorchen A. “Prostitution and Trafficking in Women: An Intimate Relationship.” In Prostitution, Trafficking, and Traumatic Stress, ed. Melissa Farley, 167–186. Binghamton, NY: The Haworth Press, 2003. Mernissi, Fatima. Scheherazade Goes West: Different Cultures, Different Harems. New York, NY: Washington Square Press, 2001. “Prostituted Women Are Not ‘Sex Workers.’” Women’s Views on News. August 7, 2014. http://www.womensviewsonnews.org/2014/08/prostituted-women-are-not-sex -workers/.

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Rogers, Martin. “Life with Floyd Mayweather: ‘I was a Battered Woman.’” Interview with Josie Harris. November 19, 2014, USA Today. http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ boxing/2014/11/18/floyd-mayweather-josie-harris-domestic-abuse/19221605/. US Attorney’s Office/Western District of Missouri. “Lebanon Man Pleads Guilty to Sex Trafficking, Admits Torturing Woman Who Was Coerced As Sex Slave.” Human Trafficking Rescue Project. The FBI: Federal Bureau of Investigation, January 5, 2012. http://www.fbi.gov/kansascity/press-releases/2012/lebanon-man-pleads-guilty-to -sex-trafficking-admits-torturing-woman-who-was-coerced-as-a-sex-slave.

part 4 Distinctive Concerns of Female Leadership and Ministry

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Editor’s Note to Chapter 12 The emergence of Pentecostalism in the us following the 1906 Azusa Street revival combined with the growing Women’s Suffrage Movement of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries served as a powerful impetus for women to start churches, hold evangelistic crusades, and travel abroad as single missionaries in the first half of the twentieth century. An undetermined, but impressive, number of Assemblies of God churches were begun by female evangelists and congregations that could not afford male pastors would often accept the services of women. The next chapter by Loralie Robinson Crabtree and Joy E.A. Qualls examines church planting in the Assemblies of God as a practical option for contemporary female clergy seeking opportunities to lead as senior pastors. The chapter conducts a cultural analysis indicating that women are leaving American churches at a faster rate than men due to the perception of sexism in the church, painful experiences, and a growing feminism in the pew among both women and men. The authors suggest that a significant gap between outdated male leadership models and contemporary cultural expectations opens an opportunity for female clergy seeking senior leadership roles in Pentecostal churches. Crabtree and Qualls examine the viability of this option by considering three church planting strategies. They suggest that a distinctly Pentecostal model encourages the participation of all congregational members according to each person’s Spirit-distributed gifts. A team model with strong lay participation and flatter structure may lend itself well to women’s leadership expression and foster a reproducing culture. Finally, less financially-dependent models may enhance the church-planting efforts of some women. While none of these models are exclusively unique to men or women, some may lend themselves well toward women’s expressions of leadership. Methodologically, the authors crafted a survey and disbursed it to 596 ag female lead pastors. This survey went out under the signature of ag General Superintendent, Dr. George O. Wood, by way of the ag’s Network for Women in Ministry. The survey results and follow-up interviews suggest endemic isolation, a lack of support, a lack of connection to district leaders, and a lack of other women to look to who share their experiences. More had positive feelings about the ag as an institutionalized fellowship. The negative feelings increased at the district, sectional, and local levels. The isolation and dearth of supporting structures available to female senior clergy illustrate the testimonial injustice experienced by them in their efforts

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to resist persistent and systematic structural prejudices, even in denominations that self-identify as supportive. The authors show that such passive measures exert a silencing effect upon female clergy, despite verbal attestations to the contrary, for “… prejudice presents an obstacle to truth, either directly by causing the hearer to miss out on a particular truth, or indirectly by creating blockages in the circulation of critical ideas.”1 The chapter notes that young men seeking senior clergy positions enjoy structural support through the help of mentors who offer advice, networks of opportunity, and practical insight for moving forward. Female clergy receive none of these benefits, and while generally not attended with open hostility, are not empowered through the valuable information reserved for males. 1 Miranda Fricker, Epistemic Injustice, 43.

chapter 12

Women as Assemblies of God Church Planters: Cultural Analysis and Strategy Formation Loralie Robinson Crabtree and Joy E.A. Qualls Introduction Numerous communities in the United States lack Pentecostal/charismatic congregations that missionally reach out to their city. Often, Pentecostal female ministers, seeking to fill that need, have attained their credentials, honed their leadership competencies, and developed their faith only to face shut doors, a lack of encouragement, and even outright hostility from those immersed in traditional, patriarchal worldviews who claim a more biblical position than their female counterparts. Despite these challenges—as well as a sense of isolation and a lack of female role models—women ready to engage their skills, experience, and faith as lead pastors of church plants can meet this need. Their unconventional ministry might not look like a ‘traditional’ church, and it may require raising a congregation from the ranks of the hurt, the failed, and the spiritually exhausted, but they like their ag female forebears, are navigating these challenges in cities across the us. This chapter1 offers a cultural analysis by examining statistics indicating that women are leaving America’s churches at a rate never before witnessed and offers reasons for this flight. It considers how female church planters can help restore the church’s diminishing credibility in a post-Christian America. The chapter then compares some of the key praxis issues of ag female church

1 Originally written as a 2014 Assemblies of God Theological Seminary master’s thesis by Loralie Crabtree, this chapter was based on a four-part missional helix created as a framework for continued reflection in ministry development and as a way in which to view and develop church planting. Gailyn Van Rheenen, “mr #26: The Missional Helix: Example of Church Planting,” http://www.missiology.org/?p=157. The thesis first established a biblicaltheological foundation for women as pastors of church plants then followed up with an historical review, a cultural analysis, and strategy formation to provide a biblical and missional rationale for female ag church planters. This chapter focuses on the cultural and strategic components of the missional helix.

© koninklijke brill nv, leiden, ���7 | doi 10.1163/9789004332546_026

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planters with ag female lead pastors of established or revitalized congregations and articulates potential strategies for missional kingdom advancement. An examination of the recent history of the Assemblies of God contains some noteworthy trends. Since 2010,2 women have accounted for the majority of total net growth of credentialed ag ministers each year,3 causing one to ponder what this means for the future trajectory of ag ministry. The percentage of ag credentialed women today closely mirrors the percentage of female ag ministers in its earliest decades. In 2013, women accounted for 22.3 percent of all ag credential holders,4 a number that has consistently climbed each year since 1989 when women accounted for 14.8 percent of all ag ministers.5 This number represents a growing recruitment pool for available ministry positions and for church planters. Among current ag credentialed women, 528 served as ag lead pastors in 2013,6 an amount that has increased steadily since 2000 when 400 served as senior pastors.7 Today, almost 6.5 percent of ag credentialed women serve as senior pastors, and female ag credential holders pastor just over 4 percent of all ag churches.8 However, neither the national ag statistician’s office nor the ag Church Multiplication Network currently keeps track of the numbers of credentialed women who serve as ag church planters. Most ag credentialed women, excluding those classified as retired or disabled, serve as church staff 2 Only records back to 2010 were reviewed for this particular piece of data. 3 Assemblies of God, “Statistics on the Assemblies of God,” http://ag.org/top/About/statistics/ index.cfm. In 2011, women accounted for 63 percent of total net growth in credentialed ministers; in 2012, women accounted for 77 percent of total net growth in credentialed ministers; in 2013, women accounted for 56 percent of the same. 4 Assemblies of God, “Ministers by Class: 2013” http://agchurches.org/Sitefiles/Default/RSS/ AG.org%20TOP/AG%20Statistical%20Reports/2013/Ide711%202013%20Sum.pdf. 5 Assemblies of God, “ag us Female Ministers, 1977–2012,” http://agchurches.org/Sitefiles/Default/RSS/AG.org%20TOP/AG%20Statistical%20Reports/2012/MinFemAn%202012.pdf. 6 Sharon Casada, e-mail message to Loralie Crabtree, April 4, 2014. Sharon Casada is a demographic specialist in the Office of the Statistician at the General Council of the Assemblies of God. As of February 25, 2014, there were 596 lead pastors reported, “Lead Female Pastors,” email to Joy Qualls from George O. Wood, February 25, 2014. However, 76 of these 596 women are not credentialed with the ag, and 62 have ag credentials but do not pastor an ag church. Thus, the figure of ag credentialed women pastoring an ag church as of February 25, 2014 was 458. 7 Darrin J. Rodgers, “Fully Committed,” Pentecostal Evangel, April 13, 2014, 29. 8 Casada: “We do not know how many non-ag-credentialed women are lead pastors [serving in ag churches].” Although the ag does not officially keep track of this, the email from George O. Wood to Joy Qualls on February 25, 2014 clarified how many of the female ag ministers are serving as lead pastors.

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members.9 Some of these women who serve in support capacities may be ready for weightier leadership roles if encouraged to take them. A vibrant historical record of female church planters seems to caution the ag to not veer from its Pentecostal theology, heritage, and identity in pursuit of evangelical alliances, lest its originating fires of revival smolder leaving only organizational mechanics and diluted theology. When Pentecostals “do not defend the ministries of women, they are not defending their own distinctive view of Spirit-empowered ministry and are in danger of losing the very doctrine that gave them their Pentecostal identity.”10 While still a significant minority, the steady increase in numbers of female Assemblies of God ministers since the 1980s seems to indicate a revitalization of the Pentecostal ethos in the organization, at least among its female constituents. The ag will also want to ensure the telling of its historical narrative to new generations, as well as the continued, unapologetic practice of their distinctives for effective world evangelization. “A group will often remember the stories of its beginnings or crucial events in its history to remind itself of its fundamental ethos.”11 Luke’s composition of the book of Acts originally gave “an accounting of the acts of the Holy Spirit”12 to second-generation Gentile Christians. Recounting biblical and historical records, including its stories of early female pioneers, can help the ag perpetuate its Pentecostal identity. The ag must intentionally recruit, resource, and deploy men and women into the ministries for which the Spirit has gifted them, including church planting. Doing so will serve the ag well in missional connection with those disillusioned with the church in contemporary American culture. Discussion on the cultural analysis and strategic formation of the Missional Helix in the remainder of this chapter creates opportunity for this intentionality and offers 9

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Sherri Doty, e-mail message to Loralie Crabtree, August 17, 2012. “In 2011 the breakdown of 7521 ag credentialed women was as follows: ‘2446 church staff members, 524 lead pastors, 432 world missionaries, 190 evangelists, 188 us missionaries, 79 chaplains, 33 ag college teachers, 22 sectional presbyters, 7 district executive presbyters, and 1 district official, with the remainder serving in various capacities, or in retirement or disability.’” Sherri Doty serves as the statistician for the General Council of the Assemblies of God. Janet Everts Powers, “Pentecostalism 101: Your Daughters Shall Prophecy,” in Philip’s Daughters: Women in Pentecostal-Charismatic Leadership, Princeton Theological Monograph Series 104, ed. Estrelda Alexander and Amos Yong (Eugene, or: Pickwick Publications, 2009), 136. Denzil R. Miller, Empowered for Global Mission: A Missionary Look at the Book of Acts (Springfield, mo: Life Publishers, 2005), 35. Alan J. Roxburgh, Missional: Joining God in the Neighborhood (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2011), 108.

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space to women who find themselves isolated in their ministry contexts for connection to their calling as well as other’s who may share their burden.

Cultural Analysis

The Assemblies of God is strategically positioned to be on the cutting edge of ministry in the twenty-first century with women playing a pivotal role in leading churches and church planting efforts. The history of women’s leadership in the Assemblies of God is complex. While policy may have been on the side of women who pioneer ministry efforts, the actual practice of promoting women in leadership positions and supporting their ministries has been less than praiseworthy. One exception to the dissonance of policy and practice may be the women who found avenues to pursue the call to ministry though dynamic church planting efforts. This section will address cultural analysis and strategic formation in order to provide a missional rationale for female ag church planters. A Priority Exercise for Missional Church Leadership Cultural analysis exists as the “middle space between doctrine and practice— the space where we reflect deeply on our theology and our culture to understand how both of them can shape our ministry,”13 leading to new or improved ministry forms. In addition to effective contextualization of the gospel, cultural analysis can prevent the ministry practitioner from unintentionally drifting into practices that do not reflect the heart of her mission. The Christian faith must translate into cultures different from both those of Bible times and the often-homogeneous communities and churches from which church planters dispatch. Caution must predicate the transfer of theologies from one culture to another, expecting the meanings and outcomes to predictably match those of the cultures of origin: Church planters naively project their worldview upon other contexts and interpret reality in terms of their heritage. This intellectual colonialism results in transplanted theologies, reflecting the missionaries’ heritage, rather than contextualized theologies, developed by reflecting on

13

Timothy Keller, Center Church: Doing Balanced, Gospel-Centered Ministry in Your City (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2012), 17.

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scripture within the context of local languages, thought categories, and ritual patterns.14 Ministry practitioners must gain awareness of their cultural and rational filters so the filters will not rule them.15 The astute cultural exegete will answer “local questions that reside in particular contexts at particular times. The church gets into problems when it asserts that one theology is to be imposed on all other churches or cultures, outside of the one local culture where and when that particular theology was created.”16 Offensive imposition of timeless and transcultural restrictions upon women in church leadership based on Paul’s contextualized restrictions toward a select group of Ephesian women serves as a contemporary example of such a predicament. A cultural assessment of unchurched American women reveals their growing disillusionment with the church due to their perceptions of its sexist rhetoric and behavior. Cultural awareness helps church planters to understand people so they know “what to say and do, and how. When the people know that the Christians understand them, they infer that maybe the High God understands them too.”17 Missionally-minded churches must listen carefully to the voices of unchurched women and men so as to effectively communicate the love of Christ to them. Twenty-first-century Americans’ perception of a persistently male-dominated church, and its subsequent impact upon church attendance and Christian faith, needs exploration. Women’s Departure from the American Church Research conducted by George Barna reveals that women are leaving the American Church at a faster rate than men.18 Over a recent twentyyear span, the number of women classified as unchurched “rose a startling 14 15 16

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Gailyn Van Rheenen, “mr #26: The Missional Helix: Example of Church Planting,” http:// www.missiology.org/?p=157. Richard Lints, The Fabric of Theology: A Prolegomenon to Evangelical Theology (Grand Rapids, mi: Eerdmans, 1993), 83. Ryan Bolger, “All Theology is Local,” http://www.ryanbolger.com/?p=180. Ryan Bolger serves as an Associate Professor of Church in Contemporary Culture in the School of Intercultural Studies at Fuller Theological Seminary. George G. Hunter, iii, The Celtic Way of Evangelism: How Christianity Can Reach the West … Again (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2000), 19–20. Barna Research Group, “20 Years of Surveys Show Key Differences in the Faith of America’s Men and Women,” http://www.barna.org/faith-spirituality/508-20-years-of-surveysshow-key-differences-in-the-faith-of-americas-men-and-women#.TyH2o3x9Jho.email. Women’s attendance has decreased by 11 percentage points since 1991; only 44 percent

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17 percentage points—among the largest drops in church attachment identified in the research.”19 In addition to the Barna Group findings, sociologists at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln discovered that although church attendance rates have remained relatively steady over the past thirty years, “sizeable shifts have occurred within traditionally reliable churchgoing groups,”20 including diminishing numbers of women. However, this trend does not indicate that women have abandoned faith in Christ. The number of women professing to be born again Christians, acknowledging that salvation comes by the confession of one’s sins and acceptance of Jesus Christ as Savior, actually rose from 38 percent in 1991 to 44 percent twenty years later.21 Women’s exodus from church communicates an alarming cultural trend that should not be ignored. The reasons for this departure vary as much as the women themselves. In addition to research organizations such as the Barna Group, sociologists and authors have also explored the phenomenon.22 Prominent themes that surface include the church’s sexist treatment of and rhetoric toward women, painful encounters women have endured in the church, and of American women now attend church services. This means a majority of American women no longer attend church. 19 Ibid. 20 Office of University Communications University of Nebraska-Lincoln, “Study: us Church Attendance Steady, but Makeup of Churchgoers Changes,” University of Nebraska-Lincoln unl News Releases, April 12, 2010, http://newsroom.unl.edu/releases/2010/04/12/Stu dy%3A+U.S.+church+attendance+steady,+but+makeup+of+churchgoers+changes. 21 Barna Research Group. 22 See George Barna, Futurecast: What Today’s Trends Mean for Tomorrow’s World (Austin, tx: Barna Books, 2011); Barna Research Group, “20 Years of Surveys Show Key Differences in the Faith of America’s Men and Women,” Barna.org, http://www.barna.org/ faith-spirituality/508-20-years-of-surveys-show-key-differences-in-the-faith-of-americasmen-and-women#.TyH2o3x9Jho.email; Diana Butler Bass, Christianity after Religion: The End of Church and the Birth of a New Spiritual Awakening (New York: HarperOne, 2012); Jim Henderson, The Resignation of Eve: What If Adam’s Rib Is No Longer Willing to Be the Church’s Backbone? (Austin, tx: Barna Books, 2012); Carolyn Custis James, Half the Church: Recapturing God’s Global Vision for Women (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2011); Dan Kimball, They Like Jesus but Not the Church: Insights from Emerging Generations (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2007); David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons, UnChristian: What a New Generation Thinks About Christianity … and Why It Matters (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2007); Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn, Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide (New York: Alfred A. Knopp, 2009); Robert D. Putnam and David E. Campbell, American Grace: How Religion Divides and Unites Us (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2010); and Phil Zuckerman, Faith No More: Why People Reject Religion (New York: Oxford University Press, 2012).

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the increasing influence of feminism and its resulting equality for women in spheres outside of the church. The Perception of Sexism in the Church Dan Kimball’s book, They Like Jesus but Not the Church, examines six recurring sentiments from young adults regarding their departure from the church, one of which lies with young adults’ perception that “the church is dominated by males and oppresses females.”23 Diana Butler Bass also notes young adults’ opinions in her book, Christianity After Religion, as the smoldering discontent of young evangelicals at odds with the church’s views on women, among other issues.24 A young woman interviewed by Kimball articulated, “I feel the church is very sexist, yet I don’t believe that Jesus was sexist. From what I have observed, women in the church basically sit on the sidelines and are only able to work with children, answer the phones, be secretaries, and serve the men. They seem to be given no voice.”25 On any given Sunday in many American churches, attendees will observe male ministers, worship leaders, and ushers. A glance at the bulletin may reveal all male names listed as deacons and elders. Kimball surmises, “As people outside of the church look at us, many think of us as a boys’ club, concluding that the church teaches that females are not as valued and respected as men are. This conclusion keeps many people away who might otherwise trust the church enough to enter into community with us.”26 Some churches have even taken on an intentionally masculine identity,27 asserting that the contemporary church is too feminine, in spite of its predominately male leadership for almost twenty centuries. Many churches socially condition and explicitly teach women to submit to the presupposed male leadership of the church and the home. When women, and men, assert more egalitarian concepts, or simply ask why the church does not allow women to serve in leadership capacities, they often receive a sharp rebuke, resulting in heated arguments with both sides using Scripture as the basis for their conclusions. In her book, Half the Church, Carolyn Custis James discusses the impact of such behavior:

23 Kimball, 115. 24 Bass, 80. 25 Kimball, 115. 26 Ibid. 27 Church for Men is a group that seeks to resource churches to be more male-friendly. Their web site can be viewed at: http://churchformen.com/.

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Word of this ongoing battle (and other disputes in the church) is leaking out to a watching world. This makes an unappealing impression on women outside the church. Instead of being intrigued and drawn by a community where loving one another is the reigning distinctive, they are repelled by all the infighting and the expectation that the world will grow smaller for them when they step inside. The church seems out of touch and irrelevant at points to the normal lives of Western women.28 This unnecessary dispute between men and women does not facilitate positive public relations among the unreached people the church hopes to reach for Christ. Women with advanced degrees and significant accomplishments in the secular workplace encounter enormous culture shock when and if they migrate to church. Without opportunity for expression of their knowledge and leadership gifts, some women leave. “How would you feel if you were capable of leading, thinking, guiding, shaping, and forming a spiritual community but were denied the opportunity to do so? This experience leads some women to walk away from the church, Christianity, and in some cases, God.”29 This serious disconnect between women’s advancements outside and inside the church reveals the church’s inattention to gospel contextualization, and stands in stark contrast to the leadership involvement of prominent women in the early church. Painful Experiences in the Church Painful encounters with churchgoers and leaders also influence how a person perceives Christianity. Dave Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons discovered that onefifth of all those outside the church, regardless of age, admitted they “had a bad experience in a church or with a Christian that gave them a negative image of Jesus Christ.”30 This represents nearly fifty million adults who admit they have significant emotional or spiritual baggage from past experiences with so-called Christ followers.31 George Barna echoes this concern as he observes reasons for a growing hostility toward Christianity: “So many people have had a personally significant negative experience with a Christian church or individual that left them 28 29 30 31

Carolyn Custis James, Half the Church: Recapturing God’s Global Vision for Women (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2011), 159. Henderson, 3. Kinnaman and Lyons, 31. Ibid., 31–32.

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with a negative image of Jesus Christ.”32 For women, these painful experiences are often sexist in nature. In The Resignation of Eve, Jim Henderson details the stories of women who left the church, some of whom left faith altogether. Henderson recounts story after painful story of spiritual, and sometimes physical, abuse heaped on women all in the name of religion. For instance, Nancy Murphy told how she married a young man she met at a Christian college, only to be beaten by him three days into their marriage, a pattern that would continue for ten years. When Nancy attempted to tell her pastor’s wife, she was met with the response that perhaps the abuse happened because “the two of them weren’t faithfully attending church like they used to.”33 The pastor, who knew how Nancy was being treated, told her, “I’ve spent the whole day with him, and he’s a really special guy! I’m wondering what you would think if I asked him to be my assistant pastor after this has all been worked out?”34 Kathleen Helmley reported that in her conservative church she was required to seek her husband’s permission before moving to the microphone to share with the congregation; however, a thirteen-year-old boy was not required to seek prior guidance.35 Denie Tackett recounted how a ministry to homeless people began when she began to pass out water and sandwiches to men and women in a local park. A woman in Denie’s church chastised her for ministering to men, while a man in the congregation told her, “A woman shouldn’t do what you’re doing. Women are meant to be helpmates to men.”36 Following the death of her father, Jennifer Roach’s youth pastor reached out to her, even offering for her to live with him and his wife. Within three weeks, he sexually violated Jennifer.37 Growing Feminism in the Pew In the book American Grace, Robert D. Putnam and David E. Campbell conclude that people in the pew have moved increasingly toward feminist conclusions: “In both occupational and normative terms the feminist revolution of the last generation swept as rapidly through the ranks of religious men and women, including evangelicals, as it did through the ranks of secular Americans.”38

32 33 34 35 36 37 38

Barna, 15. Henderson, 51. Ibid., 52. Ibid., 131–132. Ibid., 205. Ibid., 212–213. Putnam and Campbell, 241.

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The Faith Matters Survey of 2006 conducted by Harvard University39 and cited by Putnam and Campbell shows that most religious Americans believe women should hold more roles in the church, including pulpit ministry. Putting aside heated emotions that many evangelicals attach to the current usage of the word ‘feminism’ and considering its most basic definition, “equality between the genders,” growing numbers of women as well as men expect equal treatment for women in all societal spheres, including the home, workplace, academy, and church. “In this sense, most Americans today are religious feminists.”40 Phil Zuckerman, author of Faith No More: Why People Reject Religion, says the women he interviewed who abandoned faith did so at a point in their lives when they were, perhaps for the first time, “in control of their own destinies.”41 No longer hemmed in by conventional expectations of yesteryear, women expect equality in the church. Women Clergy Restore the Church’s Credibility In order to counter the disheartening trend of women’s departure and Americans’ perception of sexism in the church, women might consider it as a strategically advantageous time to plant churches. The Assemblies of God, because of its historic support of women in church leadership, accompanied by its pneumatology affirming the full expression of women’s Spirit-endowed gifts, and its current denominational church-planting initiatives, sits uniquely poised to meet this need. In fact, in some communities where women strongly participate in both the academy and the professions, and where a high degree of cynicism toward the church exists, the presence of female clergy may possibly cause detractors to give the church another look. Women might consider planting churches in largely academic communities such as those surrounding Harvard or Berkeley or professional communities, where women like Marissa Mayer, ceo of Yahoo; Sheryl Sandburg, coo of Facebook; or Mary Barra, ceo of General Motors, live and lead. Female church planters may possess the ability to restore the church’s credibility among such accomplished women and men. One female ag church planter selected a 39

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To access this survey see Roper Center, “Faith Matters Survey 2006,” Roper Center Public Opinion Archives, http://ropercenter.cornell.edu/faith-matters-survey-2006/. For example, the survey asked survey takers to indicate (question 13-1f) whether they agreed or disagreed with the statement, “Women should be allowed to be priests or clergy in my house of worship.” The agreement range was: basically agree, basically disagree, don’t know/no opinion, and no answer/refused. Of the 3,108 surveyed, 2,301 respondents marked, “basically agree.” Putnam and Campbell, 242. Zuckerman, 114.

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community for a new church as a good fit for her when her demographic study of that area revealed that a high number of educated and professional women resided there. Another ag church planter launched a new congregation in a certain community, noting that little existed to reach the professional women of that metropolitan area. Cultural Conclusions Statistics demonstrating the flight of women from churches call for a serious review of churches’ sexist rhetoric and treatment of women and their impact upon the church’s mission. Church leadership needs to consider the advancements of women outside the church and review whether the church has kept stride or fallen behind cultural trends. Churches should exegete their surrounding cultures and consider how their teachings and traditions repel or draw women in. Cultural analysis must cause religious leaders to examine at what expense the church champions a theology that enforces the subordination of women and the restriction of their gifts. Women, particularly those of emerging generations, are leaving the church with no intention of coming back, and those without religious affiliation simply have no interest. When women feel invalidated, marginalized, and excluded from meaningful ecclesial participation at the comparative level of their knowledge and experience outside the church, they leave or never bother to come at all. Paul’s concern expressed in 2 Corinthians 6:3 focused on the unimpeded movement of the gospel: “We put no stumbling block in anyone’s path, so that our ministry will not be discredited” (niv). This great missionary “saw any barrier to the gospel as a stumbling block that must be removed.”42 Paul, who included and affirmed women in church leadership, might be alarmed today at the contemporary church’s restrictionist treatment of women and the impact upon them. The departure of women from the American church is a serious missional concern that the church must remedy. Among those who prefer an all-male clergy because of its familiarity, mission must trump personal preference and tradition. “Without at all intending it and with the best of intentions, many churches by lacking female perspective in leadership may be limiting the effectiveness or reach of the work God intends for them to do.”43 42 43

Ben Arment, Church in the Making: What Makes or Breaks a New Church Before It Starts (Nashville: B & H Publishing Group, 2010), 113. Ronald E. Keener, “Churches Lose Strength When Women are Excluded in Leadership,”  http://churchexecutive.com/archives/churches-lose-strength-when-women-are -excluded-in-leadership.

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Church planting primarily intends to reach those who have not yet decided to follow Christ (see Luke 19:10), not to transplant believers from one church to another. Typically, only persons raised and steeped in fundamentalist evangelicalism and some sacramental traditions insist on male leadership in the church and its twin theology, the subordination of women. Many in contemporary America mock this stance. An awareness of the growing feminist consciousness in America and the hurt experienced by numerous women in the church will help the missional church planter reach out to these wounded and disillusioned persons. The leadership of ag female pastors may encourage those who perceive the church as a sexist environment to return to the faith community. A woman in the pulpit, preaching a message of Spirit-empowerment, portrays an authentic picture of Pentecost’s outcomes. In fact, the unchurched cannot fully comprehend the full impact of Pentecost until both men and women deliver its message. Pentecost results in equality for all its participants; indeed, “Authentic Pentecostal encounter cannot occur unless liberation becomes the consequence.”44 Spirit-filled men and women must effectively communicate this boundary-breaking Pentecostal message to those who perceive the church as sexist, for history reveals that the most powerful argument for biblical equality is rooted in the ministry of the Spirit.45 Reminiscent of dynamics in the first-century church, Pentecost is making a significant impact upon women around the globe today, as noted by Pulitzer Prize winners Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn: “It is particularly crucial to incorporate Pentecostalism into a movement for women’s rights around the globe, because it is gaining ground more quickly than any other faith. … Without a doubt it has a positive impact on the role of women.”46 Women planting ag churches and filling its pulpits may likewise facilitate a similar impact in the United States. Pentecostal churches that fully embrace and employ women’s gifts stand poised not only to remedy serious misperceptions of Christ’s church, but also to engage the unchurched and launch them into effective, gifts-based leadership.

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Stanley M. Burgess, and Eduard M. van der Maas, eds., “Black Theology,” in The New International Dictionary of Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements: Revised and Expanded Edition (Grand Rapids, mi: Zondervan, 2002), 430. See A.J. Gordon, “The Ministry of Women,” The Alliance Weekly, May 1, 1948, 277, quoted in Edith Blumhofer, “The Role of Women in Pentecostal Ministry,” ag Heritage 6 (Spring 1986): 11, 14. Kristof and WuDunn, 143.

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Understanding the current state of American culture, a number of strategies exist that will aid the male or female missional church planter. Noticeable changes, such as the inclusion of men and women on leadership teams and governing bodies of the church, and small modifications like the use of inclusive language in sermons and church communications, can go a long way in connecting with contemporary unchurched American people. The next section examines strategies to assist women planting churches.

Strategy Formation

A Theoretical Examination of Three Church-Planting Models A church planter should complete strategy formation only after addressing biblical-theological reflection, historical perspective, and cultural analysis, asking the summative question: “Does this model of praxis reflect the purposes of God within this historical, cultural context?”47 Conversely, many ministry practitioners often begin their strategy formation efforts by giving priority to the question: “Does it work?” The pragmatist asks, Does it produce? Is it effective? Pragmatism has moved the church toward … a consumer approach to the faith. Jesus becomes the product marketed to people—the consumers—to satisfy their needs. The pastor then becomes the ceo, and the church is run according to the principles of the Fortune 500 companies.48 Unfortunately, “many strategies that ‘work’ and enable the church to grow for short periods of time do not reflect the qualities and purposes of God.”49 Ministers will want to consider the filters of theological reflection, historical perspective, and cultural analysis as they glean the best practices of successful organizations for ministry application. Perhaps the institutionalization of the church propelled it toward the adaptation of business models, many of which are hierarchical and tiered with layers of management, contributing to a ‘stained glass ceiling’ for women. For this reason, female ministers may discover church planting as a great opportunity for the unrestricted application of their leadership gifts rather than 47 48 49

Van Rheenen. Robert E. Webber, Who Gets to Narrate the World? Contending for the Christian Story in an Age of Rivals (Downers Grove, il: InterVarsity Press, 2008), 132. Van Rheenen.

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seeking pastoral leadership at an existing church. A pre-existing congregation may hesitate to employ a woman as its lead pastor simply because of the concept’s unfamiliarity to them; the woman hired by an existing church may find the congregation’s expectations of her to be an uncomfortable fit. Changing organizational culture is a difficult, long-term effort. Most research indicates it can take five to ten years for an organization to actualize a new culture.50 In a church plant, the female leader can foster a model that builds upon her gift set and leadership expression. In fact, church planting lends itself well to the experimentation and development of new approaches. “Church planters need to create ministry, not replicate it.”51 Two of the church planters interviewed for this chapter serve as excellent examples of women who create ministry. Medical doctor Eleanore Kue began prayer meetings in Lansing, Michigan, at His Healing Hands, the medical clinic she had established for her uninsured and low-income neighbors. That prayer group soon morphed into a church ministering to the unique needs of that community. Church planter Sandra Mick in Poplar Bluff, Missouri, who came out of a lifestyle of drug and alcohol addiction, began a church, Recycling Grace Ministries, which reaches out to people facing life-controlling addictions. Out of that came a center for women who were homeless due to addiction. As church planting expert Bob Roberts Jr. notes, “there is no one particular profile that a church planter must fit. I even think it’s dangerous to say someone can’t plant because they’re not ‘this’ or ‘that.’ They come in all shapes and sizes.”52 With this in mind, women can be exactly whomever God designed them to be, create a church’s culture from its inception, engage in innovative ministry models, and lead thriving congregations as a result. Women church planters may employ strategies that differ from their male church-planting colleagues. Ministry expression varies according to gifts, temperament, and experiences. Different environments may allow for the flourishing of women’s leadership and ministry expansion. The next section explores components of an integrated church-planting strategy formation that may suit women well. These approaches apply to men also, but women may find some of these to be underutilized or different from traditional models.

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Jacalyn Sherriton and James L. Stern, Corporate Culture, Team Culture: Removing the Hidden Barriers to Team Success (New York: Amacon American Management Association, 1997), 52–53. Keller, 20. Bob Roberts, Jr., The Multiplying Church: The New Math for Starting Churches (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2008), 95.

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A Distinctly Pentecostal Church Model A Pentecostal orthodoxy, upholding a high view of Scripture, encourages the participation of all congregational members according to each person’s Spiritdistributed gifts. As such, this theology affirms women’s leadership and sets Spirit-baptized female pastors distinctly apart from those who have moved away from the belief in the authority of God’s Word. The participation of Pentecostal women in church leadership exists as the first of many steps toward showing the lost what the kingdom looks like when Spirit-empowered men and women co-labor alongside one another in mutuality, a picture of healthy male–female relationships. “Only a charismatic community of the Spirit can provide a place where women can fully be liberated, and Pentecostal communities are a prime place for a realization of God’s future now.”53 Women in nonPentecostal traditions, whose denominations may mimic stratified business models with layers of ecclesial hierarchy, may find themselves striving much harder for leadership fulfillment than Pentecostal women upon whom God’s anointing rests for leadership roles. Team Model with Strong Lay Participation A female church planter will want to surround herself with men and women who possess strengths and gifts different from her own. As Ray Bakke encourages, “Every gift belongs in the … mission of the church.”54 The inclusion of others who differ from her serves to expand a congregation’s reach into a community, and since a female church planter already breaks the mold with her participation as a lead pastor, she may attract a diverse group of teammates and parishioners eager to embrace new ministry paradigms. The church planter who shapes the model of a new church to include the mobilization of her entire congregation in the church-planting enterprise stands to experience greater growth than the pastor who seeks church growth because of his or her own capabilities. Traditional ministry models tend to focus on the pastor’s vision and skill set, with the minister providing professional services to a clergy-dependent congregation. The stratification of clergy over laity, however, has the inherent hazard of producing a ‘clergy caste.’ A more egalitarian approach, where the minister shares her skills with congregants to set them up as effective workers, multiplies the efforts of the entire church. She will build a healthy church 53

54

Lisa P. Stephenson, Dismantling the Dualisms for American Pentecostal Women in Ministry: A Feminist-Pneumatological Approach. Vol. 9 of Global Pentecostal and Charismatic Studies Series (Boston: Brill, 2012), 76. Ray Bakke, A Theology as Big as the City (Downers Grove, il: InterVarsity Press, 1997), 67.

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with greater impact in its community than she could facilitate alone. Some perceive that power has a zero-sum gain; less remains for the donor if he or she gives any away. In contrast, influence grows for both the giver and the recipient when it is given away. Ecclesial organizational configurations with flatter structures may better enable women’s ministerial leadership as facilitators of lay participation. The larger a congregation grows, the more layers of administration it necessitates for management of its ministries. At a certain point in their growth, churches often cut women out of meaningful leadership involvement. Female church planters may do better to implement flatter structures in smaller congregations in sharp contrast to a ‘large-is-successful,’ strata-reinforcing paradigm. In the perpetuation of a lay-oriented ministry, the female church planter may want to function as a church-planting midwife, starting another church or releasing a team to plant when her congregation reaches a certain number. With intentionality, small churches possess the unique potential to adopt a reproducing ethos and contribute toward a church-planting movement. If a minister desires to increase the ministry of the church, the release of congregants to start more works in other communities can mirror the New Testament’s gospel expansion. Due to certain cultural biases, a pastoral search committee may not pursue a female minister to lead a church of one thousand adherents, but the same female minister might be selected to oversee a smaller congregation of 150 or so that sends out teams to plant five churches—each growing to 200 and having a reproducing ethos. “Better to be a mother who produces ten than a planter who produces one. The real key to a church planting movement doesn’t lie in the individual church that is planted, but in the incubators that produce churches.”55 A church that births more congregations might be able to penetrate deeper into post-Christian regions of the United States than one large, albeit successful, mega-church. As spiritual midwives, women who plant and pastor smaller churches can facilitate church-planting movements. In fact, Roberts asserts, “Church planting movements are from smaller churches, not megachurches.”56 It serves the church planter and new congregation well to foster a reproducing culture from the church’s inception, for church plants that in turn plant another church within three years grow faster on average than churches that do not plant daughter churches.57 Some post-Christian regions of the United States 55 56 57

Roberts, 17. Ibid., 51. Ed Stetzer and Phillip Connor, “Church Plant and Survivability Study,” http://pcamna.org/ churchplanting/documents/CPMainReport.pdf.

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have minimal Pentecostal or even evangelical presence. A few mega-churches dotting the spiritual landscape cannot possibly reach the vast populations of these regions; however, multiple smaller churches which in turn birth more congregations have the potential to populate an expansive area with a missional presence. Less financially-dependent church-planting models may aid in the planting of numerous new congregations. Less Financially-Dependent Models Sizable portions of church income typically go to staff salaries and facilities. The church planter starting from scratch “has to figure out a financial model to survive—whether it’s bivocational ministry, outside support, or local tithes.”58 Churches pursuing unreached people are often cash poor as new converts usually do not begin to tithe for twenty-seven to twenty-eight months.59 With the need for a less expensive model in mind, and with the unfortunate but real possibility that a female church planter may not receive as much financial backing as male colleagues, it may serve as an advantage for the lead female church planter and her teammates to function as bivocational ministers. Employment in the community places the church planter in a posture of an intentionally incarnational life. A missional approach requires the reorientation of ministry around people in the community, rather than focusing on a church’s established and sometimes insular programs and buildings. While it may prove a challenge to her ability to manage time, working a job in the community helps the church planter develop relationships and earn the trust of those she desires to reach. Also, the bivocational minister, by virtue of having two jobs to juggle, must rely on her development of congregants to grow the church, encouraging an ongoing lay participation characteristic of flatter ministry structures. She has the advantage of a church that is “less dependent on them.”60 Married female ministers make up a largely untapped recruitment pool of church planters, particularly if their husbands work in professions other than vocational ministry or enjoy ministry expression in other venues. The husband’s income can provide for the family until the church stabilizes enough to offer a pastor’s salary. A married female church planter whose family does not depend primarily on her income for its basic needs may have more freedom and flexibility to start a church than a married male church planter 58 59 60

Arment, 68. Melvin Ming, “Leading Christian Organizations” (class notes at Assemblies of God Theological Seminary, Springfield, mo, February 21, 2012). Craig Ott and Gene Wilson, Global Church Planting: Biblical Principles and Best Practices for Multiplication (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2011), 97.

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does—particularly if his wife does not work outside the home, chooses to be home with small children, or does not earn a generous income. In such cases, his income must be more dependable than what a new church plant can provide. A married female church planter whose husband provides for the family’s needs with outside income can give more attention to the logistics of church planting other than fundraising. This is not meant to assert that women should receive less compensation than their male clergy colleagues, or should not be equal recipients of national or district resources made available to church planters, but rather is mentioned simply to show alternative possibilities. Simon Kue, the husband of Eleanor Kue, M.D., one of the church planters mentioned earlier, works as a pharmacist, which helps provide the means whereby Dr. Kue can offer her medical services to uninsured and needy neighbors in His Healing Hands clinic as well as financially support their family, freeing her to serve as a pastor on the weekends at a start-up church. Before he passed away in the fall of 2015, Joe Mick, husband of pastor Sandra Mick in Poplar Bluff, Missouri, had retired from teaching at the college level, and was therefore able to help provide not only financially but to contribute time to the ministry as well. This recruitment pool should not exclude a married woman with small children if she desires to plant a church. Many couples with small children are dual-income families, sometimes out of necessity, but other times because of their agreed-upon preference. The scope of this chapter precludes examination of the dynamics of dual-income couples in ministry; however, if ministry is a woman’s calling and desired vocation, nothing should prohibit her from church planting or any other vocational ministry expression. A mother has countless contacts; her natural networks in the community serve as essential building blocks for church planting. Facilities, whether for rent or purchase, also consume a large part of a church’s budget. If the female church planter finds herself with inadequate funds for facilities, she may want to consider less building-dependent models, such as a meeting in homes or other low-cost public spaces including libraries, hotel conference rooms, ymcas, or other unique entrepreneurial venues. Since a female church planter already breaks the traditional mold with her presence as a lead pastor, her sponsoring organization and constituents may readily receive innovative and creative ideas regarding church meeting spaces. Many people associate church with a place, a location to attend, “whether it’s in a church building, a house, a storefront, or a coffeehouse. … The biggest revolution in ‘church’ for the future is not going to be where [a congregation] meets but how [it] operates and … is dispersed.”61 One couple in a large city 61

Roberts, 42.

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started a church and coffee shop enterprise. Income generated by the coffee shop offset church expenses.62 Another couple in a metropolitan area that was experiencing urban renewal launched a community-center model, which, in addition to congregational use of the facility, included an art gallery, coffee shop, office space for local business start-ups, and meeting rooms for rent to locals for weddings, concerts, and business meetings. Income generated from rent and coffee shop sales contributed toward the church’s budget.63 The single female church planter who cannot fall back on a spouse’s income may discover that such entrepreneurial ministry models can generate income for the church’s budget from which her salary is paid. Theoretical Strategy Conclusions Church planters now employ many innovative models for doing church. While none are exclusively unique to men or women, some models lend themselves well toward women’s expressions of leadership. A Pentecostal model that encourages the charismatic participation of its ‘sons and daughters’ according to Joel 2:28, with strong lay participation and teamwork like that of which the apostle Paul speaks in 1 Corinthians 12, will suit a female church planter well. Female pastors may discover exponentially increased influence while serving smaller churches with flatter structures and reproducing cultures that contribute to church-planting movements. Married women who can depend on a spouse’s income can initially pursue less-financially dependent church models that free them to pursue missional contacts either in bivocational work contexts or in natural networks in the community. Innovative models may well serve the married or single female lead church planter and her target audience. Conclusion When a young man enters the ministry, he often receives grooming through pastoral staff positions, such as youth pastor or young adults pastor, in order to one day become a senior pastor. Women with equal experience and years of service may, upon self-evaluation, view their leadership capacity as equivalent to that of their male colleagues and determine that they, too, qualify to serve as a lead pastor. Regrettably, women who serve at existing churches as staff pastors seldom receive an invitation by church boards to submit their names 62 63

Corner Church, “About Us,” http://www.cornerchurch.tv/our-story/. Rachel Triska, interview by author, Dallas, TX, November 14, 2012. For additional information see: “Signs of Life,” interview with Joel and Rachel Triska by Drew Dyck. Christianity Today, http://www.christianitytoday.com/le/2014/summer/signs-of-life.html?start=1.

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for consideration of senior pastor roles. The woman elected as senior pastor at an existing church may find that it takes years for its church culture to change if any congregants challenge her right to lead. The realities of ‘on the ground’ female church planting support this research as well. In an analysis of interviews with more than a dozen female church planters from across the United States, several themes emerged that reveal close alignment between perception and the realities faced by ag female church planters. Like their female predecessors in early Pentecostalism, these women speak of powerful encounters calling them to ministry and an overwhelming sense that they had to find a way to fulfill that call. Each one also had a period of hesitation, holding off on her call as she silently tried to determine how to fulfill it.64 Most of the women who were interviewed described little to no mentoring or support from institutional churches in response to their sense of ministry calling in order to encourage and equip them. New Jersey pastor Jamie Morgan noted that the lack of examples of successful women or those who have paved the way for women leading today presents a challenge. Be it connected to the district or national level, those role models serve as a lifeline to women engaged in ministry today. She goes on to note that it is more difficult when women try to push the doors open or remove the obstacles to ministry on their own. The perception of women as fighters is negative. Rather, women need those already in the trenches of ministry to share their stories in order to create opportunities for praxis. Women called into ministry have grit; they have the physical and spiritual strength to accomplish the work, but they need the wisdom and support of mentors. Women leading in churches need to know that others in established ministries are encouraging women in their ministry 64

Loralie Robinson Crabtree and Joy Qualls, survey conducted June 24, 2014. On June 24, 2014, a survey crafted by this chapter’s authors was sent to 596 ag female lead pastors. This survey, based on the most up-to-date list available, went out under the signature of ag General Superintendent, Dr. George O. Wood, by way of the ag’s Network for Women in Ministry. Of the 596 surveys sent, we received only fourteen completed surveys. Of those, four women requested and received a follow-up interview (two church planters, a church revitalizer, and a senior pastor). Although the information gathered supports the historical trends among women church planters, the small survey response is also indicative of the results of the interviews, including issues such as isolation, feelings of a lack of support, lack of connection to district leaders, and a lack of other women with whom to look to and share their experiences. More had positive feelings about the ag as an institutionalized fellowship. The negative feelings grew at the district, sectional, and local levels. However, most felt overwhelming support from their immediate families. This introduction draws from a compilation of responses from those interviews.

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callings, so that more become willing to make the leap. In addition, conferences and meetings (like ag District Councils or Network gatherings) need to feature women and specifically address and encourage their participation (not in the ‘ladies’ activities such as shopping or teas, but in the actual ministry or leadership training). Seeing women exercise their gifts and hearing the stories of those who know what it means to work in ministry is vital to providing a sense of belonging and equipping for women already leading—or those who sense God’s call but who have not yet found the space to step out. As a result, the female church planters who were interviewed for this chapter, although well educated in fields outside of ministry, often lacked basic wisdom about pursuing full-time ministry as an option. It was incumbent upon these women to ‘lean in’ and self-resource through all means possible, including their respective districts as well as the ag national office. At the local level, some women found opportunities through person-to-person networking, opening their homes to gatherings, or stepping into already established congregations or previously-failed church plants (to, as one pastor responded, ‘raise the dead’). These women demonstrated creativity reminiscent of their early Pentecostal foremothers. Few of the women interviewed were serving as pastors in what might be called ‘traditional’ church settings. Rather, they were running social programs, clinics, and home churches that developed into gatherings where services and worship could occur. Those ministering in more traditional settings tended toward replanting or revitalizing failed churches. They had to begin with small groups of people in need of recovery and healing from churchrelated hurts before they could proceed. While the number of women serving as pastors, missionaries, and staff members in ag churches has steadily grown and demonstrates an intentional effort on the part of the fellowship to produce women ministers, the reality for women planting churches is they may not find the support they need. Many interviewees believe that the ag supports the ‘idea’ of women in ministry, but that the actual praxis of support does not reconcile with this belief, specifically at the district and local levels. A woman in the field might expect to encounter a lack of encouragement, which is the result of a lack of training—both on what the ag believes about women leaders as well as training for women to lead—together with a lack of female role models. The lack of such vital structures creates a deep sense of isolation among these planters. They express feeling that they cannot look to their fellowship as a foundation for their ministry or to provide a safe place to work out the daily challenges they face. Many of the unmarried women are also bivocational, so their ability to participate in district or local ministry meetings or networking opportunities is also

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severely limited, which also contributes to a sense of isolation. Bivocationality provides many opportunities for women who lead, but it also creates barriers to making those ministry connections within the organization (in this case the district/network or national Assemblies of God). Therefore, it is a doubleedged sword. For those who were married, across the board the spouse was employed outside of ministry and able to provide some financial stability to the family so that ministry work could be less encumbered. Most of the women interviewed were either approaching or in their forties to fifties and had either raised their children or were beyond childbearing years.65 Encouragement and participation from spouses and grown families for the ministry provided the much-needed means of emotional support. This support often substituted for institutional support and gave these church planters the ability to overlook or work through their institutional isolation. The continued dissonance between institutional positions and the praxis of church planting for women results in an imbalance both in the church plants and in the female church planters’ ability to find support from others in the fellowship. The lack of visibility of women pastoring or planting contributes to feelings of isolation as well as a felt need to ‘go it alone’ in their approach to leading their congregations. Congregations also suffer some imbalance, though not outside of the national norms, with more women as core members of the plants than men. Nearly all of the women interviewed regarded this situation as reversible if more congregations and other ministers would have the opportunity to experience the leadership and church-planting results of women. Church planting provides a meaningful opportunity for women to exercise their leadership gifts in new venues. Pentecostal history provides numerous examples of women who left a church-planting legacy, especially in the Assemblies of God. Women’s participation as lead pastors can counter the sexist perceptions of the contemporary American church. Numerous church-planting models showcase the expression of women’s leadership gifts. The intersection of theological reflection, historical perspective, cultural analysis, and strategy formation provide a substantial biblical and missional rationale for women as church planters. With intention, denominations such as the Assemblies of God can confidently commission men and women into ministry leadership, including church-planting roles. 65 Ibid.

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Bibliography Arment, Ben. Church in the Making: What Makes or Breaks a New Church Before It Starts. Nashville: B&H Publishing Group, 2010. Assemblies of God. “AG US Female Ministers, 1977–2012.” Accessed April 12, 2014a.  http://agchurches.org/Sitefiles/Default/RSS/AG.org%20TOP/AG%20 Statistical%20Reports/2012/MinFemAn%202012.pdf. Assemblies of God. “Ministers by Class: 2013.” Accessed April 11, 2014b. http:// agchurches.org/Sitefiles/Default/RSS/AG.org%20TOP/AG%20Statistical%20 Reports/2013/Ide711%202013%20Sum.pdf. Assemblies of God. “Statistics on the Assemblies of God.” Accessed April 12, 2014c. http://ag.org/top/About/statistics/index.cfm. Bakke, Ray. A Theology as Big as the City. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1997. Barna, George. Futurecast: What Today’s Trends Mean for Tomorrow’s World. Austin, TX: Barna Books, 2011. Barna Research Group. “20 Years of Surveys Show Key Differences in the Faith of America’s Men and Women.” Accessed March 19, 2013. http://www.barna.org/ faith-spirituality/508-20-years-of-surveys-show-key-differences-in-the-faith-of -americas-men-and-women#.TyH2o3x9Jho.email. Bass, Diana Butler. Christianity after Religion: The End of Church and the Birth of a New Spiritual Awakening. New York: HarperOne, 2012. Blumhofer, Edith. “The Role of Women in Pentecostal Ministry.” AG Heritage 6:1 (1986): 11, 14. Bolger, Ryan. “All Theology is Local.” Accessed April 12, 2014. http://www.ryanbolger .com/?p=180. Burgess, Stanley M., and Eduard M. van der Maas, eds. The New International Dictionary of Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements. Rev. and exp. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2002. Henderson, Jim. The Resignation of Eve: What If Adam’s Rib Is No Longer Willing to Be the Church’s Backbone? Austin, TX: Barna Books, 2012. Hunter, George G., III. The Celtic Way of Evangelism: How Christianity Can Reach the West … Again. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2000. James, Carolyn Custis. Half the Church: Recapturing God’s Global Vision for Women. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011. Keener, Ronald E. “Churches Lose Strength When Women are Excluded in Leadership.” Accessed June 4, 2012. http://churchexecutive.com/archives/churches -lose-strength-when-women-are-excluded-in-leadership. Keller, Timothy. Center Church: Doing Balanced, Gospel-Centered Ministry in Your City. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2012.

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Kimball, Dan. They Like Jesus but Not the Church: Insights from Emerging Generations. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2007. Kinnaman, David, and Gabe Lyons. UnChristian: What a New Generation Thinks About Christianity … and Why It Matters. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2007. Kristof, Nicholas D., and Sheryl WuDunn. Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide. New York: Alfred A. Knopp, 2009. Lints, Richard. The Fabric of Theology: A Prolegomenon to Evangelical Theology. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1993. Miller, Denzil R. Empowered for Global Mission: A Missionary Look at the Book of Acts. Springfield, MO: Life Publishers, 2005. Ming, J. Melvyn. “Leading Christian Organizations.” Class notes at Assemblies of God Theological Seminary, Springfield, MO, February 21, 2012. Office of University Communications University of Nebraska-Lincoln. “Study: US Church Attendance Steady, but Makeup of Churchgoers Changes.” University of Nebraska-Lincoln UNL News Releases. April 12, 2010. http://newsroom.unl.edu/ releases/2010/04/12/Study%3A+U.S.+church+attendance+steady,+but+makeup+of +churchgoers+changes. Ott, Craig, and Gene Wilson. Global Church Planting: Biblical Principles and Best Practices for Multiplication. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2011. Powers, Janet Everts. “Pentecostalism 101: Your Daughters Shall Prophecy.” In Philip’s Daughters: Women in Pentecostal-Charismatic Leadership. Princeton Theological Monograph Series 104, edited by Estrelda Alexander and Amos Yong, 133–51. Eugene, OR: Pickwick Publications, 2009. Putnam, Robert D., and David E. Campbell. American Grace: How Religion Divides and Unites Us. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2010. Roberts, Bob Jr. The Multiplying Church: The New Math for Starting New Churches. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2008. Rodgers, Darrin J. “Fully Committed.” Pentecostal Evangel, April 13, 2014. Roper Center. “Faith Matters Survey 2006.” Roper Center Public Opinion Archives. http://ropercenter.cornell.edu/faith-matters-survey-2006/. Roxburgh, Alan J. Missional: Joining God in the Neighborhood. Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2011. Sherriton, Jacalyn, and James L. Stern. Corporate Culture, Team Culture: Removing the Hidden Barriers to Team Success. New York: Amacon American Management Association, 1997. Stephenson, Lisa P. Dismantling the Dualisms for American Pentecostal Women in Ministry: A Feminist-Pneumatological Approach. Vol. 9 of Global Pentecostal and Charismatic Studies Series. Boston: Brill, 2012. Stetzer, Ed, and Phillip Connor. “Church Plant and Survivability Study 2007.” Accessed April 22, 2014. http://pcamna.org/churchplanting/documents/CPMainReport.pdf.

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Triska, Rachel. Interview by author. Dallas, TX, November 14, 2012. Van Rheenen, Gailyn. “MR #26: The Missional Helix: Example of Church planting.” Accessed March 9, 2013. www.missiology.org/?p=157. Webber, Robert E. Who Gets to Narrate the World? Contending for the Christian Story in an Age of Rivals. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2008. Zuckerman, Phil. Faith No More: Why People Reject Religion. New York: Oxford University Press, 2012.

Editor’s Note to Chapter 13 African-American women face all of the gender challenges encountered by Caucasian women with additional layers of challenge and complication due to increased measures of bias and historical epistemic injustice directed at them. Such individuals struggle for space and voice in their own communities wherein they meet gender bias, but also are met with both racial and gender bias in the wider religious culture. They are left to ask themselves where do their allegiances lie, with race or gender, both or neither? From a womanist perspective, Estrelda Alexander, president of William J. Seymour College, theologian and sociologist, voices in her chapter the cry of oppressed individuals. “When Liberation Becomes Survival” discusses the failures and challenges of much of the Pentecostal/ evangelical theological enterprise, which, in her perspective, involves a dichotomy between what is considered the biblical mandate for winning souls and making disciples contrasted with an inattention to the reality that circum­scribes the lived situations of many individuals who are victims of deeply entrenched, systemic injustice. Alexander offers poignant reflections as an African-American woman on the need for Pentecostals to engage in liberative discourse. This chapter uses three contemporary issues—the struggle for authentic racial and cultural justice for people who are in some way locked out of the ‘mainstream’ of the privileged white power structure, the quest of women to live out their God-ordained humanity in every arena of the church and society, and the response of the church to homosexuality—to explore the necessity of drawing on the intellectual resources of Pentecostal/charismatic scholarship to engage the social justice issues with which the church must wrestle in the twenty-first century. The silencing practices employed against women—which are notably increased as experienced by African-American women based upon the above mentioned factors—are illustrated in this chapter together with those of other marginalized populations. Many Pentecostal and evangelical ecclesial organizations have traditionally barred women from senior leadership positions and from church boards from where they might express the views and perspectives of their large female constituencies. Such entrenched practices are remarkably consistent within African-American Pentecostal denominations as well as Caucasian and Latino/a ones. This exclusion of female voices has been codified from the very inception of Pentecostalism, particularly with respect to African-American denominations.1 According to Fricker, such exclusion from 1 The Church of God in Christ was founded by C.H. Mason 1907, and from its inception its position has stated that women are important to the Christian ministry … “but nowhere can we © koninklijke brill nv, leiden, ���7 | doi 10.1163/9789004332546_027

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testimonial voice in authoritative arenas marks a testimonial injustice through silencing. “It occurs when hearer prejudice does its work in advance of a potential informational exchange: it pre-empts any such exchange. Let us call it preemptive testimonial injustice … Thus purely structural operations of identity power can control whose would-be contributions become public, and whose do not”2 Therefore, the gender exclusion that is asserted as a theological imperative becomes in practice a tool of objectification and dehumanization. “The subject is wrongfully excluded from the community of trusted informants, and this means that he is unable to be a participant in the sharing of knowledge (except in so far as he might be made use of as an object of knowledge through others using him as a source of information.) He is thus demoted from subject to object, relegated from the role of active epistemic agent, and confined to the role of a passive state of affairs from which knowledge might be gleaned.”3 According to Fricker, such ‘epistemic objectification’ created in embedded structures that render agents into passive subjects, and thus objects “amounts to a sort of dehumanization.”4 Translated from male pulpits to the women in pews, such objectified information comes across in the form of stereotypes and degrading jokes and comments. For instance, after interviewing hundreds of evangelical women across the us, Denise George says that pastors speak to the silenced women in their congregations based upon flawed imaginations. One woman says, “My pastor just assumes that every single woman in his church is desperate to get married.” Another writes, “Women want respect from the pulpit—no jokes about women, or degrading comments toward women.”5 In addition, information in this way is controlled and limited, creating the sense that Christianity is a male enterprise. George says that women perceive that sermon material is over-drawn from male biblical exemplars. “Women constantly hear pastors preach on the triumphant men in the Bible.” Illustrations, too, are male-centric. “A woman in South Carolina writes: ‘I wish our pastor wouldn’t use so many male-oriented and sports illustrations to make his peaching points.’”6 Using special software, Robert Priest confirmed this observation by searching popular sermons given by evangelical males and

2 3 4 5 6

find a mandate to ordain women to be an Elder, Bishop, or Pastor.” See Cornelius Range and Clyde Young, eds., Church of God in Christ Manual (Memphis: cogic Pub., 1973), 146. Miranda Fricker, Epistemic Injustice: Power and the Ethics of Knowing (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007), 130. Ibid., 132. Ibid., 133. Denise George, What Women Wish Pastors Knew: Understanding the Hopes, Hurts, Needs and Dreams of Women in the Church (Grand Rapids, mi: Zondervan, 2007), 130–131. Ibid., 131.

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females for male-centric referencing. He found that four of the five preachers who were lowest on male centrism were women. Nine of the top ten preachers who scored highest were men. Some men who might be considered extreme conservatives scored the highest in male-centrism with “John Piper using 45 male pronouns for every female pronoun and John MacArthur using 105 male pronouns for every female pronoun used. Clearly more is going on than simply formal theology,” says Priest.7 Historically, liberation theologies have been dismissed by the evangelical and Pentecostal communities as unbiblical responses to social ills driven largely by secular philosophical agendas, but these same communities have failed to speak a liberative word to those within their own churches whose very lives are circumscribed by blatantly unjust responses to these issues. This chapter calls for crafting liberative theologies as a Spirit-empowered and enlightened academic pursuit that takes seriously the biblical mandate to be responsive to issues of justice. 7 Robert Priest, “Male Centric Preaching?,” Sapientia (December 5, 2012), Carl F.H. Henry Center for Theological Understanding, http://henrycenter.tiu.edu/2012/12/male-centric-preaching/.

chapter 13

When Liberation Becomes Survival1 Estrelda Yvonne Alexander Introduction Within the evangelical and, more specifically, the Pentecostal community, efforts for liberation are viewed often with suspicion. In these instances, conservative evangelicals perceive liberative movements as attempts by radical individuals or fringe elements to infuse the authentic Christian context with secular, even ungodly agendas that potentially can move the faith community away from its central mission of redeeming souls and reconciling them to a saving relationship with Christ. Proponents of both feminist and ethnic, or cultural, liberation are suspected of being interested in mounting narrowly defined campaigns to gain power for themselves and their constituencies at the expense of upsetting the God-ordained order for the church and broader society. For example, missionary scholar Raymond Hundley, in his 1987 work, Radical Liberation Theology: An Evangelical Response, examined Latin American liberation theology and found little in it that was laudatory, casting the entire project as “theological and doctrinal revolution that stands in opposition to the very foundations of traditional Christian doctrine,” and as “a whole new way of looking at Christian faith that challenges all past ways of being Christian.”2 Within this way of thinking, discussions of disenfranchised or marginalized communities’ struggles to obtain essential human rights and dignity, considered the natural privilege of others, are perceived as antithetical to an authentic biblical spirituality. For such spirituality is conceived as dispensing with attempts to gain one’s rights for the sake of maintaining unity in the body of Christ. Those who think this way understand social disparity simply as the unfortunate, yet irreparable, consequence of the Fall. As such, it is either to 1 Adapted from an article of the same title, originally published in Pneuma 32 (2010): 337–353 as Estrelda Alexander’s 2010 Society for Pentecostal Studies Presidential Address. Used by permission. In some instances, supporting source referencing is supplied by editor. 2 Raymond C. Hundley, Radical Liberation Theology: An Evangelical Response (Wilmore, ky: Bristol Books, 1987).

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be patiently borne as one’s particular cross, or is characterized as a situation from which providential deliverance will eventually arrive, without disruptive human intervention and within God’s predestined but largely indeterminable period. An objection raised by one of my students in a contemporary theology seminar at an evangelical seminary presents an excellent example of this way of thinking; it occurred when a student interrupted the discussion to raise an earnest question: “What does this conversation have to do with the saving of souls?” he challenged. Moreover, he quickly added that if it had nothing to do with the evangelistic endeavor, there was no sense in carrying the discussion further. The question at first disarmed me, and I scrambled to counter the objection with an appropriate spontaneous response. Yet, that question haunted me through the evening, disturbing me to the point that I prepared a lecture to address it during the next class session. I was agitated, not only because I did not have an immediately adequate answer for the student, but also because the question represented, for me, the tenor of what the movement to which I have given the larger part of my life had become. It signaled what I have come to see as a major shortcoming in much of the evangelical theological enterprise: a dichotomy between what is considered the biblical mandate for winning and making disciples of those who do not know Christ, preparing them for a glorious afterlife, and inattention to the reality that circumscribes the lived situations of many believers—and nonbelievers—who are the victims of or challenged by the presence of systemic evil, social injustice, and deep disparity in access to what is necessary for a decent quality of life in this present world. A roundtable discussion I attended some years ago on the campus of my former institution provides a different angle. A highly respected local pastor of a trans-ethnic congregation attempted to bring balance to the political divide that often exists between members of different cultures within the evangelical community. He labored to explain the need to put kingdom principles above socio-political differences and to refrain from using invective to characterize those with whom we disagree politically. Rather, he contended that we should graciously engage brothers and sisters in Christ with whom we differ. Yet, even this attempt at providing a center for reasoned discourse fell short when he offhandedly referred to Christians who are passionately concerned about justice as being ‘on the left.’ In doing so, he immediately discredited his early statements about objectivity. As an African American woman, I have often been on the receiving end of racial or gender injustice both within the church and Christian academy as well as in the broader society. Indeed, the most debilitating experiences of

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injustice have been within the first two contexts. Still, my academic preparation, as well as my fortune—or misfortune—in being born into a period of history that has seen a marked lessening of blatant instances of these injustices in American society, has saved me from the brunt of the harshest—sometimes most violent—instances that still exist within much of the Christian world. Existing at the intersection of three identities—African American woman, evangelical Christian, and scholar—presents existential problems and continued psychic angst that draws from me a disposition that leaves me being perceived as somewhat ‘edgy.’ This passion mode is mistaken by some as anger and is often off-putting. Yet, it is the only mode for which I can justify my existence. For to live without a passion for justice is to deny the very reason for which I was created. It is to cut the lifeline that allows me to live authentically and short-circuit my very survival. Three issues vividly illustrate the serious need to engage in liberative discourse. The first is the struggle for authentic racial and cultural justice for people locked out of the ‘mainstream’ of the privileged power structure. The second is the quest of women to live out their God-ordained humanity in every arena of the church and society. And the last is the response of the church to the perceived threat of the homosexual agenda. Each issue provides an opportunity to examine the role of an informed faith in the life of the Christian community as well as highlight the duty of the Christian academy to assist the church in promoting such a faith. At the same time, each issue suggests that the Christian scholar’s duty must extend beyond personal agendas that drive individual projects. The first two issues frame essential components of my own quest for wholeness within the faith community and so allow me to resonate with others who face similar challenges. I, too, however, stand in a privileged place vis-à-vis the last issue, since it is not intimately related to my own experience. Yet, it provides a test of whether I can take a biblically appropriate stance toward a community in which I have little vested interest, but for whom human civility can too often be withheld by Christians. Separately lifting these issues becomes important since both sides of the gay and lesbian rights movement have attempted to link their efforts with Christian feminist and African American liberation movements.3 Proponents of gay rights contend that all three are civil rights issues and must be treated as equally valid and resolved in the same direction. On the other hand, evangelicals and other conservatives sometimes suggest that liberative efforts by people of color and women should be summarily dismissed because they 3 As an example of this common linkage, see, Rebecca L. Sandefur, “Access to Civil Justice and Race, Class, and Gender Inequality,” Annual Review of Sociology 34 (2008): 339–358.

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give sanction to the gay community’s efforts to press for rights.4 Yet, while the three issues should be considered parallel rather than ontologically interrelated, these types of reductionist suggestions from either side do little to settle the issues, leaving us with inadequate direction on how to proceed on either front.

The Race Issue

Looking first at the issue of pushing for authentic racial equity within the church and society, many evangelicals might suggest that such an endeavor is a moot point because racism is no longer an issue—it no longer exists.5 Indeed, the eyes of many who hear or read these words may glaze over with the temptation to succumb to the ‘ho-hum’ attitude of ‘here we go again.’ Yet, unless forced by the sovereign design of birth to live within the reality of people of color, it is impossible to understand how unsettled the issue is for the average African American (or Latino/a) even within the Christian church.6 At this point in history, a seemingly genuine query might be: “You have the presidency, what else could you want?” But I would suggest that the vast majority of those who pose that question are not people of color and have little understanding of the real psychic costs of sustained racial discrimination, even among seemingly privileged minority persons.7 Because of a variety 4 In 2000, the Southern Baptist Convention, citing theological drift due to the advancement of cultural imperatives amended its doctrinal position in the 2000 Baptist Faith and Message explicitly to exclude women from leadership roles. As part of the outfall of that same exclusionary event, the sbc Chaplain’s Commission stopped endorsing female chaplains, including those in the field serving at that current time, many of them in prisons, hospitals, and in military installations. See, “sbc to Cease Endorsing Ordained Female Chaplains,” The Baptist Standard, February, 18, 2002, http:www.baptiststandard.com/2002/2_18/pages/endorsing .html. 5 A study of race on television newscasts indicates that Americans see minority life as marginally covered, or it is disregarded in a way that demeans nonwhites. Second, newscasts are replete with racial stereotypes where in nonwhites are portrayed as different, unsophisticated, and menacing. Third, local news stories would generally have the viewing public believe that racism no longer exists in America. See, Chris Campbell, “What Local tv News Tells us about Race in America,” Television Quarterly 27, no. 4 (1995): 65–73. 6 See Polycarp Ikuenobe, “Conceptualizing Racism and Its Subtle Forms,” Journal for The Theory of Social Behaviour 41, no. 2 (2011): 161–181. 7 Although it is impossible to isolate and measure the effects of long-term, sustained racism, the impact on psychological and physical wellbeing of individuals belonging to various ethnic and minority groups was measured in a study focused on negative affect. The aim of this

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of circumstances, all but the few most privileged people of color hang near the bottom rung of the socioeconomic ladder with little real hope of ever reaching beyond its mid-point. Even among people of color who have seemingly made it, the nagging sense of somehow never being fully regarded as an equal lingers in the psyche, and that nagging sense is debilitating. For example, Amanda Berry Smith, the nineteenth-century Holiness evangelist, was rejected as a preacher by black Holiness men and then derided by other blacks for seeking preaching opportunities in white congregations. Yet, Smith understood that some in her white audience saw her as an oddity and never fully accepted her as their equal. She summed up the difference in perception of racial disparity within the Christian community in her 1893 autobiography by insisting that, “some people would understand the quintessence of sanctifying grace if they could be black about twenty-four hours.”8 In an address to the Society of Pentecostal Studies in 2002, Marilyn Abplanalp offered the insightful critique that the issue of racism within a specific branch of Pentecostalism could be characterized as the “undiscussed, undiscussed.”9 Abplanalp perceptively articulated that the sort of ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy that exists within classical Pentecostalism dictates that we do not talk about the subject of racism, and we do not talk about the fact that we do not talk about the subject of racism. This policy might go a long way in keeping perceived peace within the movement; yet, it does little to maintain the genuine unity of the Spirit that begins by regarding each person in the body of Christ as equal in dignity and worth and allowing him or her full participation in what the Spirit is doing in the church and the world. Certainly, Barack Obama’s 2008 election and 2012 re-election signal an essential change in the fabric of much of American society from one that excludes any real hope of authentic valuation for people of color to one broad enough to allow a black man to stand as the symbolic head of its government. At the same time, the backlash from some evangelicals was unmistakably loud and study was to investigate how racism acts as a unique stressor, eliciting acute affect reactivity to produce sustained distress. See Nisha Ver Halen, “A Randomized Controlled Study of the Acute and Sustained Effects of Perceived Racism on Negative Affect,” (diss., St. John’s University, 2010). 8 Amanda Berry Smith, An Autobiography: The Story of the Lord’s Dealings with Mrs. Amanda Smith, the Colored Evangelist (Chicago: Meyer & Brother, Publishers, 1893), 116–117. 9 Marilyn Abplanalp, “Ethnic Inclusion in Pastoral Leadership in the Assemblies of God Fellowship from 1906–1999: A Case Study,” Paper Presented to the 31st Annual Meeting of the Society for Pentecostal Studies, Southeastern University of the Assemblies of God, Lakeland, fl, March 15, 2002.

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somber.10 Many who would certainly not count themselves among that group are, nonetheless, part of churches, families, and other constituencies in which the post-election mood resembled a funeral more than any other occasion.11 Immediately following the election there were hard pronouncements (mainly from conservative evangelical pulpits) about what the Spirit was saying to the church and the nation and the specific type of destruction God would rain on us. Our specific abomination was, of all things, having elected a man whose father was Muslim and who did not wholeheartedly support our right-to-life agenda or our particular understanding of the issue of homosexuality.12 At the same time, many black evangelicals who hold many of the same ethical convictions were praising God for a long hoped for, but little expected, breakthrough in the racial stalemate.13 This was the opportunity to see a person who looked like themselves, and, for the most part, who shared their cultural heritage and self-identification as Christian, in a position of high authority with the United States. They sensed that God had brought about a 10

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See, Will Bunch, “The Backlash: Right-Wing Radicals, High-Def Hucksters, and Paranoid Politics in the Age of Obama,” (New York: HarperCollins, 2010). See also, Gary J. Dorrien, “What Kind of Country?: Economic Crisis, The Obama Presidency, The Politics of Loathing, and the Common Good,” Cross Currents 62, no. 1 (2012): 110–142 (115). As an example, see, James W. Ceaser, “The Great Disappointment of 2013.” The Weekly Standard, March 3, 2014, http://www.weeklystandard.com/the-great-disappointment-of-2013/ article/782748. See, Lisa Miller, “Is Obama the Antichrist?,” Newsweek 152, no. 21 (2008): 18. See also, In early March, Harris Interactive conducted an online survey to gauge the attitudes of Americans toward President Barack Obama. Results included the following: 40 percent of those polled believe Obama is a socialist. Thirty-two percent believe he is a Muslim. Also, 14 percent believe that Obama may be the Antichrist. Of those who identified themselves as Republicans, 24 percent think Obama might be. This poll also found that 22 percent of Republicans think that Obama “wants the terrorists to win.” See, Steve Mirsky, “Presidential Harrisment,” Scientific American 302, no. 6 (2010): 92. See also, “Americans who suggest Barack Obama should rot in hell are apparently deadly serious. Nearly a quarter of Republicans believe the Democrat president ‘may be the Antichrist,’ according to a survey yesterday. An even greater number compared him to Hitler. Mr. Obama was jubilant this week after securing his £626billion healthcare reform plan. But his triumph seems only to have inflamed his critics among the evangelical Christians from America’s heartland who kept George Bush in power for eight years and have demonised his successor.” David Gardner, “Obama is Antichrist Say One in Four Republicans,” Daily Mail, March 25, 2010, 24. Jared A. Ball, “Barack Obama, ‘Connected Distance’: Race and Twenty-first Century Neocolonialism,” Black Scholar 38, no. 4 (2008): 35–37. See also, Wilson Scott, “The First Black President Looks Back, and Forward,” The Washington Post, Regional Business News, August 29, 2013, 8.

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liberative moment14 when, for the first time, they could look their children in the eye and truthfully say, “If you work hard, you can be anything you want to be.” My confusion about the volume (in number and ferocity) of pronouncements of doom was that many in these same camps were deafeningly silent for several hundred years when countless atrocities—lynching, intimidation, bombings, false imprisonment, and police brutality—were committed against people of color.15 This silence continued when people of color also were forced to endure unethical social and economic policies including low pay, unhealthy housing conditions, and inadequate schools.16 This silence has continued in the face of the new realities and questions that the Latino/a immigration issue has brought to the front.17 I am confused as well by the lack of a public balancing voice from the evangelical or Pentecostal academy and leadership. Indeed, the silence from our ranks has been and continues to be particularly deafening since we have been given the gift of intellect to help guide the church through critical issues such as these and help it to gain a balanced perspective.18 But 14 15

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Don Wycliff, “A New Day,” Commonweal, February 9, 2009, https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/new-day-0. According to Philip Yancey, “Barack Obama’s election as the president of the United States should prompt evangelicals to reflect and repent the role that they played in the racism that has plagued America since its founding. It took Southern Baptists 150 years to apologize for their backing of slavery, and Bob Jones University admitted just three months ago that it was wrong to ban black students before 1971. The school stated that it had ‘failed to accurately represent the Lord and to fulfill the commandment to love others as ourselves,’ a sentiment that applies to the many evangelicals who strongly opposed the civil rights movement.” See, Philip Yancey, “A Dream That Won’t Die,” Christianity Today 53, no. 3 (2009): 96. Kristen Lavelle studies how memory operates within the white racial frame, the dominant white-centric worldview, to uphold systemic racism and to maintain whites’ collective and individual identities. She argues that whites’ investment in perpetuating white dominance and upholding the white racial frame occurs through white moral identitymaking, myriad active and subtle ways that whites continue to construct themselves positively and construct people of color, especially black Americans, negatively. See, Kristen Maria Lavelle, “‘Our Generation Had Nothing to Do with Discrimination’: White Southern Memory of Jim Crow and Civil Rights” (Ph.D. diss., Texas A&M University, 2012). Karen Douglas, et al., illustrate how the racialized immigration policies and procedures serve as a mechanism for the reproduction of a racially unequal social order. See Karen Douglas, Rogelio Sáenz Manges, and Lorena Murga Aurelia, “Immigration in the Era of Color-Blind Racism,” American Behavioral Scientist 59, no. 11 (2015): 1429–1451. See Eleanor Scott Meyers, “Church Leadership and the Academy,” Christianity and Crisis 51, no. 5–6 (1991): 130.

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more importantly, any perpetuation of silence from the evangelical Christian community will only serve to highlight our ineffectiveness in proposing credible answers to the hard questions facing our constituencies.

The Women Question

At the same time, evangelical Christians (including Pentecostals) often see the feminist movement as the endeavor of a few women, with too much education and too much time on their hands, to agitate among and incite respectable women, many of them Christian, to move out from under their God-ordained place and ‘usurp authority’ over the men sovereignly placed at their head.19 Alternatively, some cast the movement as led by rebellious women who want to take over the church—or, put more harshly, who have a problem with, or hate, men.20 While such criticism might shut down the conversation, it does not eliminate the real anguish women feel about the failure of the church and Christian academy to come to terms with and seriously engage their struggle.21 Within the Holiness, Pentecostal, and Charismatic faith communities, the issue has been largely framed around the problem of women seeking broader roles in congregational and denominational leadership. Consequently, discussions often get mired at that level. Over the decades the tide has rolled forward and backward. We have seen some progress, however. So many wonder, “Why are women still dissatisfied?” Or, as the question has often been posed to me, “What do women want, anyway?” And that really is the question! Surprisingly, the answer is that the struggle involves much more than an aggressive attempt by a few restless, overeducated women to wrest power from men—either in the church or in society. In reality, the real battle has little to do 19

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For an example of resurgent cultural gender-based hierarchism, see, Jason Hall and Peter R. Schemm, Jr., “Marriage as It Was Meant to Be Seen: Headship, Submission, and the Gospel,” Journal for Biblical Manhood & Womanhood 15, no. 1 (2010): 13–14. Pamela Durso discusses the historical and ongoing conservative opinion of women clergy as being “bossy” and “of the devil.” See, Pamela Robinson Durso, “She-preachers, Bossy Women, and Children of the Devil: Women Ministers in the Baptist Tradition, 1609–2012,” Review & Expositor 110, no. 1 (2013): 33–47 (12). Using a ten-year-long Barna study indicating that adult women are leaving churches in unparalleled numbers, Jim Henderson publishes candid interviews with women regarding their struggles in us conservative churches that were once dominated by women. See, Jim Henderson and George Barna, The Resignation of Eve: What If Adam’s Rib Is No Longer Willing to Be the Church’s Backbone? (Carol Stream, il: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., 2012).

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with the church. Or, more clearly, the situation in the church is only the tip of an iceberg of global proportions rooted in a highly resistant strain of misogyny. Within this global realm, liberation for women has little to do with ordination or the rights to preach, to hold positions of church leadership, or even to hold certain jobs within society previously reserved for men or to receive equal pay when doing the same job. Further, for most evangelical women around the globe, the issue certainly is not over reproductive rights or the freedom to have an abortion. The harsh imposition of stringent controls over the lives of women concerning how much education they may obtain, where and with whom they may live, whom they may marry, or how many children they can have seems mildly inconsequential in light of more serious breaches of human dignity. Globally women are regularly subjected to imposed illiteracy, female circumcision, genital mutilation, sexual trafficking, and a myriad of means of violence. Each of these injustices stems from a root of inappropriate philosophical (indeed, theological) understanding of what it means to be authentically human. Such understandings, in some way, appraise female humanity as somehow less equal, less deserving, and less in God’s image than male humanity.22 So, rather, the struggle is about treating women of all races, ethnicities, classes, cultures, and religious traditions as fully human individuals who reflect God’s full image. It is about affording them the full dignity and respect that derives from that God-imaged createdness within every context—social, economic, spiritual, and ecclesial. In her 1999 book, In the Spirit We are Equal: The Spirit, the Bible, and Women: A Revival Perspective, Susan Hyatt, president of the International Women’s History Project, amassed astounding statistics regarding the status of women within the global context.23 Hyatt highlights how millions of women annually are sold as slaves into the international sex trade, discloses that two million girls a year are subjected to female mutilation, and reveals that battering, incest, and other forms of abuse occur regularly in Christian as well as 22

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See, Judith Chelius Stark, “Augustine on Women: In God’s Image, But Less So,” in Feminist Interpretations of Augustine, ed. Judith Chelius Stark (University Park, pa: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2007), 215–241. See also, George, What Women Wish Pastors Knew, 162–164. George interviewed hundreds of women from churches across the us, many of whom described ongoing gender discrimination in their churches that made them feel as though they were considered to be second-class citizens, especially from the pulpit. Susan Hyatt, In the Spirit We Are Equal: The Spirit, the Bible, and Women: A Revival Perspective (Dallas, tx: Hyatt International Ministries, 1999). See Beth (A. Elizabeth) Grant’s chapter in this present volume, “Merchandised Women: Priceless, Called and Empowered.”

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non-Christian homes.24 Not much has changed in the intervening decade and a half, yet the church remains largely silent on the issue, and the evangelical and Pentecostal academy has often failed to take on the challenge. Often those who dare to broach the subject are labelled as radical.25 In a true-to-life example, Firduas, an Egyptian woman who is the main character in Nawal El Saadawi’s short but gripping narrative, Woman at Point Zero, comes to a very tragic end when she is sentenced to die by hanging. Her crime was killing the pimp who had been taking advantage of her lower status as a woman in order to exact extravagant payment and semi-servitude from her. When offered the opportunity to escape her fate by having someone intervene on her behalf, she choose to die at age twenty-eight rather than continue to endure the harsh reality of life as a woman in Egyptian society.26 For her, such a life would have been dehumanizing and not worth living, and death would become her liberation. Yet, such a life is the lot of countless women around the globe, many of them Christian. A recent discussion with one of my graduate students concerning the abuse of wives within her Indian Christian culture sheds more light on the issue. After our discussion, the student had a conversation with several Indian pastors about how the church could help the situation. She later informed me that, sadly, there was little pastors could do. To approach the subject within their congregations would make the situation worse, because husbands would be offended by a pastor’s intrusion into private matters and thus might take their displeasure out on their wives, possibly causing them greater physical, emotional, and economic injury. In light of the seriousness of the global situation, evangelical and Pentecostal protestations that offhandedly dismiss biblical feminists’ efforts fail to engage critically the depth of human sinfulness regarding unbiblical and theologically flawed practices toward women in the Christian church and broader

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See David Trembley, ibid. See also, C.R. Bohn et al., examines the linkage between patriarchal theology and domestic violence, specifically in the context of rationalizing and condoning abuse and domestic violence. See also, Joanne Carlson Brown and Carole R. Bohn, Christianity, Patriarchy, and Abuse: A Feminist Critique (New York: Pilgrim Press, 1989). As an example, Christian women who espouse equality are characterized as radicals and “witches” in an article by Dolly Van Fossan, “Feminist Witchcraft: A Radical Woman’s Religion,” Journal of Theta Alpha Kappa 36, no. 2 (2012): 71–85. Lee Grady was attacked for speaking on women’s behalf by being called “radical.” See, George, What Women Wish Pastors Knew, 181. Nawal El Saadawi, Woman at Point Zero (London: Zed Books, 1996).

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society.27 They fail, further, to come to terms with the more urgent goal of liberation theologies—that of restoring that image of God within every person to its full clarity so that that image may be estimated in light of God’s word. While past missionary endeavors have sometimes wrongly imposed measures of Western civilization as biblical standards of righteousness on insignificant issues such as apparel and social activity, culture often becomes a scapegoat for failing to be prophetic about the unethical practices of a society—even our own society—that are truly life threatening, dehumanizing, and out of line with the principles of God’s word. Yet, a theological turn toward the prophetic is necessary to save the physical, emotional, psychic, and spiritual lives of our sisters who cannot fend for themselves. As Spirit-filled feminist theologians, we must assist in this project by allowing our Spirit-illuminated intellects to speak a Spirit-generated and empowered word that deconstructs patriarchal and misogynist systems that reflect humanity’s sinful, fallen nature, and are responsible for domination and untold suffering among at least half of the world’s population.

The Matter of Homosexuality

The issue of homosexuality is a difficult challenge that potentially can be radicalized by both sides. Traditional Pentecostals and charismatics believe that the Bible holds homosexual behavior–just as lying, murder, deceit, and adultery—to be sinful.28 Yet, some traditionalist evangelical and Pentecostal 27 28

See Monica Jyotsna Melanchthon, “Reconciliation: Feminist Shadings,” International Review of Mission 94, no. 372 (2005): 117–132. Although much of the Pentecostal/charismatic movement considers gay marriage to be outside of the scope of the Bible, within the wider movement can be found Progressive pockets that communicate some degree of ambivalence and discomfort with more traditional approaches. The Rev. Rob Buckingham, a leading Pentecostal mega-church pastor in Melbourne, Australia, made waves throughout World-Wide Web when he blogged openly about his disapproval over how gays are received in some conservative churches. He writes, “Bayside Church is a place where everyone is welcome. We believe God loves everyone and that He sent His Son Jesus to bring salvation (through His death and resurrection) to all of humanity. A study of the life of Jesus clearly reveals His love and care towards those who are often marginalized by the rest of society. Bayside Church welcomes glbt people to find God’s love and grace and to worship Him freely within our community.” See, Anthony Venn-Brown, “The Bayside Breakthrough—First Pentecostal Church to Accept Gays,” Ambassadors & Bridge Builders International, http://www.abbi .org.au/2009/10/bayside-church-homosexuality/.

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communities have used the weapon of Scripture to dehumanize gay or lesbian persons. It has not always been clear that the measure of the gospel is still the proclamation of God’s love and desire for reconciliation for all of humanity. Traditional Pentecostals have not wrestled successfully with the question of how to uphold a biblical conviction of the sinfulness of a behavior without breeding hatred for those who practice that behavior. While the expression may appear to be trite, traditionalists might argue that they ‘hate the sin while loving the sinner’ and frame responses denouncing all manifestations of sin, while fully, authentically embracing all people as full human persons worthy of the respect and dignity of his or her God-imaged createdness. The church does not have to endorse homosexuality as a lifestyle or promote the acceptance of same-sex marriage to do this. We must embrace a more humane response to the issues of homosexuality and the problem of the devastating rise of hiv/aids in the communities that we serve. We do not have to employ openly gay people on our staffs or allow them to serve in positions of leadership within our congregations. We must, however, find ways to communicate the message of the universal possibility of redemption offered in God’s grace. Further, we cannot elevate homosexual practices above other sinful behaviors, since the fallenness that brings about other forms of sinful behavior is no less severe than the fallenness that displays itself in homosexual behavior. Finally, we have to desist from creating lethal climates in which some leaders, as well as some lay people, secretly nurture a personal struggle while loudly hurling diatribes at those who openly insist they have a God-given right to live out their gay or lesbian identity. While rejecting the argument that the struggle for gay and lesbian rights is completely on par with women’s, black, or Latino/a liberation efforts, the aspiration of gay and lesbian persons to be treated with full human dignity as ‘created in the image of God’ is legitimate. No level of sinfulness removes any person either from that image or from God’s love, since no one can rightly insinuate that another person is unworthy of the love only God can offer. No degree of fallenness can completely obliterate that image, since it is not imprinted on the individual, but, rather, is indelibly and ontologically imbedded in the core of his or her very being. Finally, our failure to discern that God-imaged createdness in others derives from our own fallenness. Such fallenness dims our ability to perceive that image in the other, especially those who, in any significant way, are unlike us. If we sincerely believe that Christ’s atoning sacrifice was for all humankind, because all humankind is fallen and requires redemption, we are challenged to engage our Spirit-endowed intellectual acuity to help foster responses that point the evangelical church to genuine love for the sinner while allowing it to stand for what it perceives to be the truth of God’s word.

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Speaking from within the broader evangelical academic community, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary president, R. Albert Mohler, Jr.’s contention that “[h]omosexuals are waiting to see if the Christian church has anything more to say after we declare that homosexuality is a sin”29 invites a clarifying voice from the Pentecostal academy. His question invites the church to formulate a compassionate response that takes seriously the biblical insistence that a lifestyle lived out in sexual immorality is unacceptable. This invitation provides an opportunity for the Christian academy and church to overcome both the historic and the contemporary suspicions hindering rapprochement to formulate a credible response. Such a response, ultimately, must make clear the biblical assertion that every person created in the image of God is equally loved by God, and that the result of the fall is a humanity that exhibits its fallenness in a plethora of manifestations.

The Political Nature of Theology

No theologian within the contemporary academy approaches the theological task purely for the glory of God. All theology is political, some of it more blatantly and more honestly so than other theology. But all theology is crafted within a context of specific social, cultural, and political realities that not only color how it is formulated, developed, and refined, but seeks to protect, resist, or destroy specific views of that reality. There is always some vested interest at stake in doing theology, employing a specific theological method, or insisting that certain theological methods are legitimate and others are not. A theology of the nature of humankind, for example, that would allow a society to enslave or otherwise abuse any race or class of people while providing biblical sanction for such an endeavor is a political theology. The fact that such a theology is couched in esoteric terms obscuring a desire to uphold a supposedly Godordained order does not change its political nature.30 Any theology that supports the degradation or dehumanization of individuals because of their race or gender, or because they define themselves as gays or lesbians falls short of the biblical call for godly love. A theology that provides 29 30

Albert Mohler, “No Truth without Love, No Love without Truth,” Florida Baptist Witness, http://gofbw.com/blog.asp?ID=10205. Elizabeth Fox-Genovese and Eugene D. Genovese, “The Divine Sanction of Social Order: Religious Foundations of the Southern Slaveholders’ World,” Journal of the American Academy of Religion 55, no. 2 (Summer, 1987): 211–233, Oxford University Press, http:// www.jstor.org/stable/1464492.

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a rationale for, or in any way condones, mistreatment of persons (through the use of intimidation, physical or emotional violence, or labeling them with hateful names) based on race or gender or because they are gay and lesbian persons is ungodly.31 Any depiction of that gospel that promotes a portrait of a God who hates one class of persons or one class of sinners more than others,32 and not only wants its demise but seeks to elicit the church in bringing about that demise, is inauthentic. There is only one ministry given to the entire body of Christ, and that is the ministry of reconciliation. The Spirit calls those who claim to be empowered by his presence specifically to invoke that presence in the theological task of dutifully working toward the Spirit’s ends. Pentecostals and charismatics do not have the luxury of doing theology for its own sake or to compose even grander schemes that only serve to bring acclaim to their own institutions. Much is at stake. For those dehumanized by systems of oppression, it is a matter of survival. Pentecostals and charismatics must be careful to exclude themselves from the spiral of what the apostle Paul designates as “endless genealogies” (see 1 Timothy 1:4, kjv) that serve no purpose but to enlarge their intellectual egos. The goal of any discussion of the nature of the Godhead is not to prove that one assessment is more on target than another. Rather, Pentecostals consider God’s nature because humankind is created in God’s image, and the nature of that createdness has implications for what it means to be truly human. Liberative, rather than hierarchical, models of the Godhead are imperative to move thinking toward liberative models of the church and society. This is the only way to ensure the authentic survival, indeed the thriving, of every member of the human family. Pentecostal pneumatological dialogue cannot insinuate in some way that a Pentecostal encounter with the Spirit is more authentic than that which occurs within another tradition. Rather, Pentecostal theological proposals should suggest ways in which empowerment by the liberating Spirit of Christ might invest individuals with a genuine regard for the mission of reconciling the world to God33 and how such empowerment might be harnessed in service to that task. 31

See Anne Lu, “Cory Monteith Funeral: Westboro Baptist Church Mocks Lea Michele, Plans to Picket at Cory’s Funeral,” International Business Times, July 16, 2013, http://www .ibtimes.com.au/cory-monteith-funeral-westboro-baptist-church-mocks-lea-michele -plans-picket-corys-funeral-1312592. 32 Ibid. 33 Knud Jørgensen, “Mission as Ministry of Reconciliation: Hope in a Fragile World,” Transformation: An International Journal of Holistic Mission Studies 31, no. 4 (October 2014): 264–272.

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Within this scheme, the question of the nature of the Godhead takes on an entirely different significance. It is does not assert that propositions about the supreme reality get all the technical terms correct. Since God has deliberately remained a mystery, no one person or group can exclusively or authentically lay claim to an assertion that it fully understands and communicates God’s character and attributes. But the question of God’s nature as reflected in God’s image, and every person’s createdness in that image becomes very important. It also becomes a matter of survival. When one understands, and can communicate, that the createdness of every individual in God’s image has implications for the very survival and flourishing of every segment of humankind, that person better understands who and what God is. It is vital to understand and convey in scholarship that every member of the human family is reflected within God’s very nature. And it is imperative to communicate for that reason that all persons deserve the reverent respect that precludes treating them in dehumanizing manners because of gender, race, differing physical, mental, or emotional abilities, or because of how they define themselves regarding their gender identity.34 Without reverting to revisionism, the question of which history of the church will be lifted up becomes important as we attempt to discover elements within a fractured historiography of salvation history that celebrate the contributions of men and women of every culture to the Spirit’s project. The contributions of any constituent cannot be overlooked. Moreover, serious consideration must be given to all human efforts to reintroduce its rejected identity as full contributors to, and part of the full representation of, God’s kingdom. Such a representation has within its contours a rich tapestry of philosophical and material resources that has rarely received adequate attention. Failing to hold up this full image and this rich history gives credence to the misrepresentation that while the Holy Spirit was at work within privileged Western society, the 34

Archbishop Desmond M. Tutu said, “The Bible claims for all human beings this exalted status that we are all, each one of us, created in the divine image, that it has nothing to do with this or that extraneous attribute which by the nature of the case can be possessed by only some people. … The life of every human person is inviolable as a gift from God. And since this person is created in the image of God and is a God carrier a second consequence would be that we should not just respect such a person but that we should have a deep reverence for that person. … All this makes human beings unique. It imbues each one of us with profound dignity and worth. As a result to treat such persons as if they were less than this, to oppress them, to trample their dignity underfoot, is not just evil as it surely must be; it is not just painful as it frequently must be for the victims of injustice and oppression. It is positively blasphemous, for it is tantamount to spitting in the face of God.” See, John Witte, Jr. and Johann D. van der Vyver, eds., Religious Human Rights in Global Perspective (Hauge: Martinus Nijhoff Publisher, 1996), x–xi.

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rest of the entire human family has been relegated to centuries of heathenish idolatry without any participation in the life of God. More importantly, it leaves women and people of color with no heritage as participants with God in the unfolding of salvation history and robs them of that part of their identity.

The Task

The pneumatological claim that the Spirit of the Lord is upon Spirit-endowed intellects takes on new relevance as a vehicle for bringing the liberative good news to the poor, the broken-hearted, the captive, the blind, and the oppressed. Bishop John Richard Bryant, who introduced neo-Pentecostal spirituality within the African Methodist Episcopal Church, explicitly lifted up the need to infuse a deep spirituality with biblical activism and challenged assertions of Holy Spirit empowerment by the church and its leaders that did not take concerns for social justice seriously: One must ask the question, “Holy Spirit for what?” … If all we are doing is jumping up and down in the air, speaking in other tongues, saying, “Yea, the Spirit is with us,” that’s fine. But … that is taking the gravy and leaving the Spirit. The meat of the Holy Spirit is for our empowerment. It’s for our liberation and development. It’s for our strength as a people. And it has been for that.35 Though he was speaking within the context of the struggle of African Americans, his probing question can be extrapolated into any context in which injustice or deprivation is present. Regarding the academic pursuit as Pentecostal/ Charismatic/neo-Pentecostal scholars, one must re-pose the question as: “Holy Spirit for what?” If all we in the academy and church leadership do with our Spirit-endowed intellect is consider ever more impenetrable propositions removed from the life of the church and the struggle of individuals and faith communities to live out the mandate for social justice, what does it matter? If all we do is pursue excellence to impress one another with our scholarship or ever larger congregations, speaking to each 35

See Lawrence H. Mamiya, “A Social History of the Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Baltimore: The House of God and the Struggle for Freedom,” in Portraits of Twelve Religious Communities, vol. 1 of American Congregations, ed. James P. Wind and James Welborn Lewis (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1994), 266.

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other in intellectual or spiritual hyperbole, saying, “Yea, this is cutting edge theology,” that’s fine. But that is taking the gravy and leaving the meat. The gift of the Holy Spirit is also for our intellectual and spiritual empowerment. The Spirit has been poured out on us for the liberation and development of our minds. It’s for our strength as a people. It’s for our very survival. And it has always been for that.36 With that measure of the Spirit, it becomes possible to seek faithful answers to the hard questions. What do women want? What do black people want? Yes, and even what do gay and lesbian persons want? Each of the groups desires what all human beings desire, the opportunity not just to survive or subsist, but to flourish and be in full communion with those who claim to represent what is fully human. Jesus’ assertion the “the poor you will always have with you” (see Matt. 26:11, niv) was not an endorsement of a situation in which one-fourth of the world’s population lives a comfortable or extravagant lifestyle at the expense of the majority of others who live in abject poverty or at a mere subsistence level. Neither was it a license for those within the body of Christ who enjoy ‘the favor or blessings of God’ to ignore the needs of masses of others who live lives of quiet—or even loud—desperation. Nor was it an exoneration of the very political and social systems that cause such desperation. To say that Jesus was apolitical and endorsed no political system does not mean he did not recognize the sinfulness of certain political actions—especially those that deprive individuals or entire classes of people of the dignity required to survive at a level that allows them to be authentically human. Rather, Jesus’ assertion described a continuing reality among fallen, unredeemed men and women whom he knew would be prone to pursue individual personal gain at the expense of the wholeness of entire communities. He also knew that, because of this fallenness, individuals would pursue paths leading not only to their own impoverishment but to that of generations of their progeny. He knew that the causes for impoverishment and other dehumanizing conditions would be both individual and personal as well as corporate and communal. Just as Israel’s chosenness was as much for service as for communal blessing, the promise of God’s provision for the faithful is not an endorsement 36

Quoted in Lawrence H. Mamiya, “A Social History of Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Baltimore: The House of God and the Struggle for Freedom,” in James P. Wind and James Welborn Lewis, eds., American Congregations: Portraits of Twelve Religious Communities (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1994), 266.

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of an individual’s—or a nation’s—right to fare sumptuously as the rest of the world virtually goes to living hell.37 Similarly, one’s intellectual chosenness is not a tool for his or her own ego stimulation or satisfaction while real problems keep others locked out of opportunities for genuine wholeness. Intellectual acuity is a gift to the church to help it to work toward a more just future for all humankind in this present world. Without raising a utopian hope of ushering in the reign of Christ over a fully actualized kingdom, we are called to use our intellectual gifts to assist the church in modeling the already but not yet reality38 that the Holy Spirit makes possible in lives lived out in authentic obedience to the dictate to work for justice. As a political theologian, my contention that all theology is political suggests that, at face value, Amos Yong’s assertion that much of classical Pentecostalism has had a “typical apolitical orientation”39 misses an important truth. In truth, no theology has a genuinely apolitical orientation. All theology has the pragmatic goal of preserving or dismantling a social reality that is presumed to be God-ordained or against the will of God. Granted, within the HolinessPentecostal-Charismatic continuum, that political orientation has been embedded rather than deliberate. And, unfortunately, the lack of theological deliberateness regarding politics and political deliberateness regarding theology has rendered what ethicist J. Deotis Roberts correctly discerns as a political theology within the tradition that has been “notoriously short on social conscience and social sins” with “little concern for social transformation.”40 J. Deotis Roberts’s broad critique of the social consciousness of the Pentecostal movement in general does take note, however, of the contributions of early black Pentecostal leaders. He concedes that,

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A compelling example of the privileged using their ‘gift’ of resources and power is found in the 1909 worker’s strike in which young, exploited girls picketed against low wages and appalling conditions, despite holding very little hope for success. When a group of socially prominent and wealthy women came to their aid, national attention was drawn to the workers’ plight resulting in improvements. See Joan Dash, We Shall Not Be Moved, The Women’s Factory Strike of 1909 (New York: Scholastic Inc., 1996). See Christian T. Collins Winn, “Groaning for the Kingdom of God: Spirituality, Social Justice, and the Witness of the Blumhardts,” Journal of Spiritual Formation & Soul Care 6, no. 1 (2013): 56–75. https://www.academia.edu/5108650/Groaning_for_the_Kingdom_of _God_Spirituality_Social_Justice_and_the_Witness_of_the_Blumhardts. Amos Yong, “Justice Deprived, Justice Demanded: Afropentecostalisms and the Task of World Pentecostal Theology Today,” Journal of Pentecostal Theology 15, no. 1 (2006): 130. J. Deotis Roberts, Black Theology in Dialogue (Philadelphia: Westminster John Knox Press, 1987), 59.

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[b]lack Pentecostals have been formulating a black [political] theology for a long time. They have relied on oral traditions, African cultural retentions, and the like. Blacks join African, Latin American, and Asian tongues groups in rejection the definition of [themselves by] whites. In essence … black Pentecostalism has called attention to the racism that has splintered the Pentecostal ranks. It has provided a very perceptive critique of the authenticity of the fellowship, theology and practice of white Pentecostalism. The fruits of the Spirit are absent in regard to humanity of blacks and the poor. … This critique of this movement by black theologians may be a service to the entire church after all.41 Roberts’s assessment offers an invitation to Pentecostals to re-appropriate the liberative ethos found in various forms in formulations by early black Pentecostal leaders such as William Seymour and Robert Lawson and such later thinkers as Bennie Goodwin, James Forbes, Robert Franklin, and Leonard Lovett.42 Within the witness of these exemplars, which has not always been fully appreciated by the broader movement, we might find some answers. Unfortunately, even these same thinkers have been woefully short in shaping a liberative word for women43 or in fostering a humanizing word for those who struggle with gender identity issues. Despite these obvious shortcomings, however, these black leaders provide a cue. Too often the church and its academy have remained silent when a hard truth to colleagues, pastors, denominational leaders, and communities was called for. Too often they have waited 41 42

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Ibid., 62. “Goodwin, Lovett, and Franklin each demonstrate the fruitful dialogue that is possible between Pentecostal and black theology. They each provide Pentecostal theology with a new foci and support Turner in re-making black theology into a ‘church project’ in which the church offers critique as well as receives it.” See, David D. Daniels, iii., “A Response to William C. Turner, Jr.,” Journal of Pentecostal Theology 14, no. 1 (2005): 20. See also, Bennie Goodwin, “Social Implications of Pentecostal Power,” Spirit: A Journal of Issues Incident to Black Pentecostalism 1.1 (1977): 31–32; See also Leonard Lovett, “Conditional Liberation: An Emergent Pentecostal Perspective,” Spirit: A Journal of Issues Incident to Black Pentecostalism 1.2 (1977): 24–30 (26). As an example, Seymour, who launched the Azusa fellowship with full egalitarian roles for women began restricting that liberty by degrees until finally codifying the exclusion of women in 1915: “Rules for Ministry: Women in the Ministry, All ordination must be done by men not women. Women may be ministers but not to baptize and ordain in this work.” See, William J. Seymour, The Doctrines and Disciplines of the Azusa Street Apostolic Faith Mission of Los Angeles, California (1915; repr., Joplin, mo: Christian Life Books, 2000), 38–39, 110.

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on the sidelines, jumping on the bandwagon only when it appeared safe. One need only review the church’s failure to address race relations before the midtwentieth-century civil rights movement, while it now gives at least lip service to ideals of multiculturalism.44 For those early black Pentecostal leaders, justice was not an optional feature of a faith community or a quality that God demanded of those gifted or bent toward the prophetic. It was not and is not a choice one can make from a menu of Christian virtues. As with the call to evangelism, worship, and prayer, the call to work toward justice is an integral requirement of every group of people who gather to study, deliberate, and invoke the name of Christ.45 Any theology that provides a foundation for the sanctioning of bigotry and injustice or provides a base for disengagement from the vital work of seeking justice is unscriptural and unsound. Any theological system that props up existing structures of oppression is inauthentic in its claim to be biblical. Any theological system that does not take seriously the liberative work of the Holy Spirit and the implications of Jesus’s assertion that he came “that you might have life … abundantly” (John 10:10, kjv) is inauthentic. Any theology that does not enter into Jesus’ project of proclaiming and pushing forward the possibility of that abundant life within the already present manifestation of the kingdom, while being cognizant that its full presentation is only possible in the undetermined not-yet, is impotent. Further, whenever an individual or group hides behind the Bible as an excuse to ignore the cause of justice, it employs an inauthentic use of the sacred text. The issue of racial justice takes on a new urgency when viewed in light of the in-breaking kingdom.46 The issue of promoting the full humanity of women is critical when juxtaposed against the kingdom themes of physical, emotional, and spiritual wholeness for the entirety of God’s creation. The issue of basic civil rights for those who identify themselves as gay or lesbian takes on a new 44

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See, Leonard Lovett, “The Present: The Problem of Racism in the Contemporary Pentecostal Movement,” Cyberjournal for Pentecostal-Charismatic Research, 14 (2005), http://www .pctii.org/cyberj/cyberj14/lovett1.html. See also, Thomas E. Trask, “The Problem of Racism in the Contemporary Pentecostal Movement: Response to a Paper Presented by Dr. Leonard Lovett,” Cyberjournal for PentecostalCharismatic Research 14, (2005), http://www.pctii.org/cyberj/cyberj14/trask.html. For a discussion on recent developments in charismatic theologies of the kingdom indicating the ways in which the focus has changed from an imminent futuristic spiritualized kingdom in the 1960s to a kingdom which is now largely held to be both present and future with an emphasis on social concern and philanthropy, see Nigel Scotland, “From the ‘Not Yet’ to the ‘Now and the Not Yet’: Charismatic Kingdom Theology 1960–2010,” Journal of Pentecostal Theology 20, no. 2 (2011): 272–290.

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focus when viewed through the lens of the liberation of every human being to live out his or her God-imaged createdness—even when flawed. Conclusion Though these three issues exemplify the type of theological response Pentecostal scholars are called on to provide, they do not fully explore the desperate need of the quickly expanding global Pentecostal movement to come to terms with the myriad instances of injustice faced by those within the human family who are least able to fend for themselves. The social, emotional, and psychic cost of the failure to appropriate liberative theologies in the cause of justice is evident.47 It is displayed in the audacity of human slavery that has existed in every century and continues to exist in a variety of forms throughout the globe. It exists in the forcing of entire races or cultures (including women and children) into dire poverty so that, at their expense, other entire races and cultures never fail to be without the most trivial comfort—propped up by supposedly biblical, yet illusionary, sanctions such as manifest destiny and divine social order. It is also exemplified in locking women into destructive, loveless relationships that subject them to emotional, mental, and physical abuse or denying them any opportunity to employ particular God-given gifts outside of rigidly circumscribed but cleverly theologically nuanced structures that sanction male privileging.48 Finally, it is evident in the inciting of hatred and hate crimes, such as violence to homosexuals or to those who support abortion, among those (some of them in our own faith

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Southern theologian James Henley Thornwell preached, “Could anyone who called himself a Christian support … the destruction of the very foundations of social hierarchy and order that God, in His mercy, had provided for a weak and sinful humanity after its Fall,” Fox-Genovese and Genovese, 219. In post wwii us Christian culture, popular teachings of “headship” emerged, exemplified by Larry Christenson who argues that all authority belongs to a husband over his wife because “… a woman is also subject to spiritual attack.” Her vulnerability to the demonic realm stems from Eve’s deception in the Garden of Eden. Therefore, she must forever be “covered” by a man. Leaders, inspired by such teachings, presented a gender-based and supra-scriptural doctrine to the church of priesthood in which males were positioned as “priests” or even “high priests” of their homes. According to the teaching, a wife’s position in Christ is found solely in her abject obedience to her husband, through whom she must find authority, protection, and provision from God. See, Larry Christenson, The Christian Family (Minneapolis, mn: Bethany Fellowship, 1970), 17.

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communities) who are unwilling—or unable—to hear a truly biblical call for love and who see themselves as God’s duly authorized vigilante squad. But what is not always as evident is the spiritual cost to God’s kingdom that ensues from theologies that fail to marry personal and social holiness. For they result in our cultures becoming immune to receiving an allegedly life-giving gospel from which there is no tangible benefit for their temporal flourishing. Those within the culture esteem the offer of God’s grace as bogus when it comes from a church passionately concerned about their eternal wellbeing, but callously uninterested in ensuring their survival in this in this present world. These issues come from the heart of who people are. They are too critical to discard as the unimportant or dangerous work of malcontents. For those who live with them every day, these issues are the issues of life and death; they are matters of survival. Bibliography Abplanalp, Marilyn. “Ethnic Inclusion in Pastoral Leadership in the Assemblies of God Fellowship from 1906–1999: A Case Study.” Paper Presented to the 31st Annual Meeting of the Society for Pentecostal Studies, Southeastern University of the Assemblies of God, Lakeland, FL, March 15, 2002. Alexander, Estrelda Yvonne. “When Liberation Becomes Survival.” Pneuma 32 (2010): 337–353. Ball, Jared A. “Barack Obama, ‘Connected Distance’: Race and Twenty-first Century Neo-colonialism.” Black Scholar 38, no. 4 (2008): 35–37. Berry Smith, Amanda. An Autobiography: The Story of the Lord’s Dealings with Mrs. Amanda Smith, the Colored Evangelist. Chicago: Meyer & Brother, Publishers, 1893. Brown, Joanne Carlson, and Carole R. Bohn. Christianity, Patriarchy, and Abuse: A Feminist Critique. New York: Pilgrim Press, 1989. Bunch, Will, The Backlash: Right-Wing Radicals, High-Def Hucksters, and Paranoid Politics in the Age of Obama. New York: HarperCollins, 2010. Campbell, Chris. “What Local TV News Tells us about Race in America,” Television Quarterly 27, no. 4 (1995): 65–73. Ceaser, James W. “The Great Disappointment of 2013.” The Weekly Standard. March 3, 2014. http://www.weeklystandard.com/the-great-disappointment-of-2013/article/ 782748. Christenson, Larry. The Christian Family. Minneapolis, MN: Bethany Fellowship, 1970. Collins Winn, Christian T. “Groaning for the Kingdom of God: Spirituality, Social Justice, and the Witness of the Blumhardts.” Journal of Spiritual Formation & Soul Care 6, no. 1 (2013): 56–75.

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Daniels, David D. III. “A Response to William C. Turner, Jr.” Journal of Pentecostal Theology 14, no. 1 (2005): 17–21. http://booksandjournals.brillonline.com/content/ journals/10.1177/0966736905056494. Dash, Joan. We Shall Not Be Moved, The Women’s Factory Strike of 1909. New York: Scholastic Inc., 1996. Dorrien, Gary J. “What Kind of Country?: Economic Crisis, The Obama Presidency, The Politics of Loathing, and the Common Good.” Cross Currents 62, no. 1 (2012): 110–142. Douglas, Karen, Rogelio Sáenz Manges, and Lorena Murga Aurelia. “Immigration in the Era of Color-Blind Racism.” American Behavioral Scientist 59, no. 11 (2015): 1429–1451. Durso, Pamela Robinson. “She-preachers, Bossy Women, and Children of the Devil: Women Ministers in the Baptist Tradition, 1609–2012.” Review & Expositor 110, no. 1 (2013): 33–47. El Saadawi, Nawal. Woman at Point Zero. London: Zed Books, 1996. Fossan, Dolly Van. “Feminist Witchcraft: A Radical Woman’s Religion.” Journal of Theta Alpha Kappa 36, no. 2 (2012): 71–85. Fox-Genovese, Elizabeth and Eugene D. Genovese. “The Divine Sanction of Social Order: Religious Foundations of the Southern Slaveholders’ World.” Journal of the American Academy of Religion 55, no. 2 (Summer, 1987): 211–233. Oxford University Press. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1464492. Fricker, Fricker. Epistemic Injustice: Power and the Ethics of Knowing. New York: Oxford University Press, 2007. Gardner, David. “Obama is Antichrist Say One in Four Republicans.” Daily Mail, March 25, 2010, 24. George, Denise. What Women Wish Pastors Knew: Understanding the Hopes, Hurts, Needs and Dreams of Women in the Church. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2007. Goodwin, Bennie. “Social Implications of Pentecostal Power.” Spirit: A Journal of Issues Incident to Black Pentecostalism 1.1 (1977): 31–32. Hall, Jason, and Peter R. Schemm Jr. “Marriage as It Was Meant to Be Seen: Headship, Submission, and the Gospel.” Journal for Biblical Manhood & Womanhood 15, no. 1 (2010): 13–14. Henderson, Jim, and George Barna. The Resignation of Eve: What If Adam’s Rib Is No Longer Willing to Be the Church’s Backbone? Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., 2012. Hundley, Raymond C. Radical Liberation Theology: An Evangelical Response. Wilmore, KY: Bristol Books, 1987. Hyatt, Susan. In the Spirit We Are Equal: The Spirit, the Bible, and Women: A Revival Perspective. Dallas, TX: Hyatt International Ministries, 1999. Ikuenobe, Polycarp. “Conceptualizing Racism and Its Subtle Forms.” Journal for The Theory of Social Behaviour 41, no. 2 (2011): 161–181.

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Jørgensen, Knud. “Mission as Ministry of Reconciliation: Hope in a Fragile World.” Transformation: An International Journal of Holistic Mission Studies 31, no. 4 (October 2014): 264–272. Lavelle, Kristen “‘Our Generation Had Nothing to Do with Discrimination’: White Southern Memory of Jim Crow and Civil Rights.” Ph.D. diss., Texas A&M University, 2012. Lovett, Leonard. “Conditional Liberation: An Emergent Pentecostal Perspective.” Spirit: A Journal of Issues Incident to Black Pentecostalism 1.2 (1977): 24–30. Lovett, Leonard. “The Present: The Problem of Racism in the Contemporary Pentecostal Movement.” Cyberjournal for Pentecostal-Charismatic Research 14 (2005). http:// www.pctii.org/cyberj/cyberj14/lovett1.html. Lu, Anne. “Cory Monteith Funeral: Westboro Baptist Church Mocks Lea Michele, Plans to Picket at Cory’s Funeral.” International Business Times. July 16, 2013. http:// www.ibtimes.com.au/cory-monteith-funeral-westboro-baptist-church-mocks-lea -michele-plans-picket-corys-funeral-1312592. Mamiya, Lawrence H. “A Social History of the Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Baltimore: The House of God and the Struggle for Freedom.” In Portraits of Twelve Religious Communities. Vol. 1 of American Congregations, edited by James P. Wind and James Welborn Lewis. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1994. Melanchthon, Monica Jyotsna. “Reconciliation: Feminist Shadings.” International Review of Mission 94, no. 372 (2005): 117–132. Miller, Lisa. “Is Obama the Antichrist?” Newsweek 152, no. 21 (2008): 18. Mirsky, Steve. “Presidential Harrisment.” Scientific American 302, no. 6 (2010): 92. Mohler, Albert. “No Truth without Love, No Love without Truth.” Florida Baptist Witness. http://gofbw.com/blog.asp?ID=10205. Priest, Robert. “Male Centric Preaching?,” Sapientia. December 5, 2012. Carl F.H. Henry Center for Theological Understanding. http://henrycenter.tiu.edu/2012/12/ male-centric-preaching/. Range, Cornelius, and Clyde Young, eds. Church of God in Christ Manual. Memphis: COGIC Pub., 1973. Roberts, J. Deotis. Black Theology in Dialogue. Philadelphia: Westminster John Knox Press, 1987. Sandefur, Rebecca L. “Access to Civil Justice and Race, Class, and Gender Inequality.” Annual Review of Sociology 34 (2008): 339–358. “SBC to Cease Endorsing Ordained Female Chaplains.” The Baptist Standard, February, 18, 2002. http:www.baptiststandard.com/2002/2_18/pages/endorsing.html. Scotland, Nigel. “From the ‘Not Yet’ to the ‘Now and the Not Yet’: Charismatic Kingdom Theology 1960–2010.” Journal of Pentecostal Theology 20, no. 2 (2011): 272–290.

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Scott Meyers, Eleanor. “Church Leadership and the Academy.” Christianity and Crisis 51, no. 5–6 (1991): 130, 132. Seymour, William J. The Doctrines and Disciplines of the Azusa Street Apostolic Faith Mission of Los Angeles, California. 1915. Reprint, Joplin, MO: Christian Life Books, 2000. Stark, Judith Chelius. “Augustine on Women: In God’s Image, But Less So.” In Feminist Interpretations of Augustine, ed. Judith Chelius Stark, 215–241. University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2007. Trask, Thomas E. “The Problem of Racism in the Contemporary Pentecostal Movement: Response to a Paper Presented by Dr. Leonard Lovett.” Cyberjournal for Pentecostal-Charismatic Research 14 (2005). http://www.pctii.org/cyberj/cyberj14/ trask.html. Trembley, David. “Wife Beating and the Churches: Breaking the Silence.” Christianity and Crisis 43, no. 2 (1983): 39–40. Venn-Brown, Anthony. “The Bayside Breakthrough—First Pentecostal Church to Accept Gays,” Ambassadors & Bridge Builders International. http://www.abbi.org .au/2009/10/bayside-church-homosexuality/. Ver Halen, Nisha. “A Randomized Controlled Study of the Acute and Sustained Effects of Perceived Racism on Negative Affect.” PhD diss., St. John’s University, 2011. Wilson Scott, “The first black president looks back, and forward.” The Washington Post, Regional Business News, August 29, 2013, 8. Witte, Jr., John, and Johann D. van der Vyver, eds. Religious Human Rights in Global Perspective. Hauge: Martinus Nijhoff Publisher, 1996. Wycliff, Don. “A New Day.” Commonweal. February 9, 2009. https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/new-day-0. Yancey, Philip. “A Dream That Won’t Die.” Christianity Today 53, no. 3 (2009): 96. Yong, Amos. “Justice Deprived, Justice Demanded: Afropentecostalisms and the Task of World Pentecostal Theology Today.” Journal of Pentecostal Theology 15, no. 1 (2006): 127–47.

Editor’s Note to Chapter 14 Statistics indicate a precipitous rise in the numbers of females holding ministry credentials and leadership positions in recent decades. Consequently, the balance of male and female ministers is shifting. This chapter examines the praxis of co-gender ministry leadership in ecclesial settings, and the challenges, in particular for women, of how to best work as equal partners who experience healthy working relationships. Specific focus is given to constructing a theology of co-gender ministry, followed by a discussion of how practically to live out a theology of co-gender ministry. A case is argued for a biblical model based upon the co-gender ministries of both Christ and the apostle Paul. Jesus’s continual engagement with and inclusion of women demands the re-evaluation of male-exclusive models. Paul the apostle shared church leadership with women whom he called co-laborers. This discussion investigates three critical areas when considering the function of co-gender leadership roles today: reframing past experiences in order to correct distorted perceptions of gender roles, creating a culture of inclusion and initiating honest dialogue about respect-based boundaries that acknowledge the interdependence of men and women, and increasing the visibility of women leaders in order to build trust and a new normal. The chapter also compares male and female styles of leadership expression, urging readers not to limit the scope of their perceptions to ‘either/or’ but to appreciate the impact of ‘both/and’ wherein the full imago Dei can be expressed through both genders.

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chapter 14

Living a Theology of Co-Gender Ministry Stephanie L. Nance and Ava Kate Oleson Introduction The presence of females holding ministry credentials and leadership positions has flourished significantly in recent decades. Between 1951 and 1978, female clergy increased by 178 percent, compared to a 62 percent increase among male clergy; a portion of those women served in Pentecostal groups.1 According to research by the Barna Group, the number of female senior pastors in Protestant churches2 in America doubled between 1999 and 2009.3 The Association of Theological Schools (ats) statistics reflect a similar trend.4 With this increase of female credential holders, issues related to the praxis of healthy co-gender ministry continue to present new challenges for both genders, since men have traditionally held the primary leadership roles in the church. However, the balance of male and female ministers is shifting, as an increase in knowledge and awareness pertaining to gender equality is perpetuated. For instance, John Stackhouse, in his article, “How to Produce an Egalitarian Man,” narrates the story of his shift from patriarchy to egalitarianism, leading to his unapologetic support of authentically living out a theology of co-gender ministry. He describes not only male scholars and role models, but also a plethora of female scholars and personal examples, including his wife, and his mother, who prompted compelling arguments for this biblical view of gender. Stackhouse points out that “they seemed the equal of men in every way pertinent to leadership in church and society, and also to partnership at

1 “Religion: Clergy Women,” Time Magazine, April 23, 1978, http://www.time.com/time/ magazine/article/0,9171,919513,00.html. 2 See also, pages 20–21, and 71 for statistics indicating that Pentecostal churches lag behind other denominations with respect to female senior pastors. 3 George Barna, “Number of Female Senior Pastors Double in Protestant Churches,” Barna. org, September 14, 2009, https://www.barna.org/barna-update/article/17-leadership/304#. VME5r6PnZok. 4 Ellis L. Larsen and James M. Shopshire, “A Profile of Contemporary Seminarians,” Theological Education, The Association of Theological Schools 24, 2 (Spring 1988): 21.

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home.”5 He stresses that women participating equally in ministry leadership roles alongside men “makes more sense of church history and of our contemporary experience in a culture that, for once, is actually trying to treat men and women equally.”6 Although progress has been made, the challenge of how best to work as equal partners and demonstrate mutual respect continues, seeking a working relationship where women do not experience a loss of their identity or fear subordination.7 The notion that a congregation could thrive under the leadership of shared female and male partnerships remains a new concept for many in the church. Cultural and religious roadblocks, as well as a myriad of other complexities, exist as both genders pioneer this new territory, even though early Pentecostalism offered many leadership rights and privileges to women. This chapter investigates these concerns by examining the praxis of co-gender ministry, focusing on three central matters: (1) developing a theology of cogender ministry according to Jesus and the apostle Paul, (2) living a theology of co-gender ministry, and (3) understanding and maximizing female leadership expression.

Developing a Theology of Co-Gender Ministry According to Jesus and the Apostle Paul

Jesus’s Ministry to and with Women A proper theology of men and women in ministry must first and foremost begin with the person of Jesus, whom Pentecostals consider to be God incarnate and, therefore, the ideal model for Christian behavior. Throughout the Gospels, the authors include Jesus’s ministry to and with women, particularly in Luke who writes of twenty-four occasions when Jesus meets a woman, talks about a woman, or mentions a woman in a parable—all are spoken of in an instructive and positive way.8 Several key elements regarding how Jesus ministered to and with women remain pertinent to how men and women minister 5 John G. Stackhouse, Jr, “‘Conversion Narratives’ about Gender,” Johnstackhouse.com, January 2, 2011, http://www.johnstackhouse.com/2011/01/02/conversion-narratives-about-gender. 6 Ibid. 7 Alice Hageman, in collaboration with the Women’s Caucus of Harvard Divinity School, Sexist, Religion, and Women in the Church: No More Silence! (New York: Association Press, 1974), 54–58. 8 Doug Clark, “Jesus and Women,” Enrichment Journal (Spring 2001), http://enrichmentjournal .ag.org/200102/024_jesus_and_women.cfm.

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together. Christ’s continual engagement with and inclusion of women calls the church today to contemplate co-gender ministry. Engagement ‘With’ versus Protection ‘From’ Religious leaders of Jesus’s time protected themselves from women, who were often seen as a danger, therefore requiring restriction.9 Jesus, however, had a “non-defensive stance towards women.”10 Throughout his ministry, Jesus engaged ‘with’ women as opposed to protecting himself ‘from’ them. He especially reached out to rejected and despised women,11 engaging with them in the same way he did with men: (1) he healed women seen as unclean (see Mark 5:25–34), (2) he allowed women of questionable character to approach him (see Luke 7:37–50), and (3) he conversed with women seen as ethnically impure (see John 4:7–42). Instances such as these reveal that Jesus did not minister from a place of fear, seeking to protect himself or his ministry. Jesus met women where they were at, engaged with them as human beings worthy of respect, and offered them what they needed. Fear of what others thought in his culture did not drive his mission. “His vision of the kingdom drove the agenda of his mission.”12 That vision included engaging both men and women, which required that he trust them, not fear them. Inclusive versus Exclusive Although the religious system of Jesus’s day excluded women, he intentionally went out of his way to include them in his mission. One of the most important ways Jesus brought women into his ministry was by including them as close associates,13 allowing them to participate in his traveling ministry (see Mark 15:40–41; Luke 8:1–3). The mention of their presence in the Gospels can go unnoticed by a contemporary reader; however, such an inclusion shows that Jesus’s trust of women went as far as to make them disciples. Another point of inclusion is found in the simple act of Jesus teaching women. During a time when women were generally not allowed to attend school or study the Torah, some rabbis even believing it was evil to teach a girl,14 Jesus 9 10 11 12 13 14

William Loader, The New Testament on Sexuality (Grand Rapids, mi: Eerdmans, 2012), 342. Ibid., 344. Deborah M. Gill and Barbara Cavaness, God’s Women—Then and Now (Springfield, mo: Grace and Truth, 2004), 78. Loader, 358. Ibid., 360. Gill and Cavaness, 73.

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used illustrations to which women in his culture could relate;15 by doing so, he drew both men and women into his teaching on God’s kingdom. N.T. Wright addresses the story of Martha and Mary in Luke 10, one of the most underestimated, yet radical, examples of Jesus allowing women to learn from him: Most of us grew up with the line that Martha was the active type and Mary the passive or contemplative type, and that Jesus is simply affirming the importance of both and even the priority of devotion to him. … but far more obvious to any first-century reader … would be the fact that Mary was sitting at Jesus’ feet within the male part of the house rather than being kept in the back rooms with the other women. … And Jesus declares that she is right to do so. She is ‘sitting at his feet’; a phrase which doesn’t mean what it would mean today. … As is clear from the use of the phrase elsewhere in the nt (for instance, Paul with Gamaliel), to sit at the teacher’s feet is a way of saying you are being a student, picking up the teacher’s wisdom and learning … in order to be a teacher, a rabbi, yourself.16 This passage and the story of Jesus approaching the woman at the well, engaging her in a theological discussion (see John 4: 7–42), powerfully display his respect for her intelligence and his sense of the importance of women, not only to God but also to the kingdom. During the time of Jesus, the word of women was suspect, so much so that the rabbinic traditions did not accept a woman’s testimony.17 How countercultural, then, that Jesus would include women when commissioning witnesses to testify of his death and resurrection,18 trusting them with spreading his good news (see Matt. 28: 10). Jesus broke societal norms in order to include women,19 thus empowering them. Paul’s Endorsement of Female Leaders—Romans 16:1–15 Scripture spotlights how Paul’s life intersects with female leaders in the early church and illustrates the strategic impact of these women who helped 15 16

See Gill and Cavaness, 75–76, for an overview of Jesus’s egalitarian teaching manner. N.T. Wright, “Women’s Service in the Church” (paper presented at Men, Women and the Church Symposium, St. John’s College, Durham September 4, 2004), http://ntwrightpage .com/Wright_Women_Service_Church.htm. 17 Gill and Cavaness, 75. 18 Ibid., 81. 19 Ibid.

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to shape Christianity. These leading women demonstrated initiative, influence, and competence in a co-gender environment. Further examination of the Scripture reveals their significance as they modeled bold leadership within a highly patriarchal culture. Remarkably, Paul respected these women and embraced their essential leadership contributions to the church. In his letter to the Romans in chapter 16:1–15, he indicates that women played a prominent role in the Roman church, not only as members, but also as leaders. The Romans 16 pericope contains Paul’s commendation of Phoebe to significant individuals in the Roman church—a congregation he did not establish. In fact, ten of the twenty-seven Christians Paul greets in this passage are women (more than one-third). Paul specifically commends six of them (Phoebe, Priscilla, Junia, Tryphena, Tryphosa, and Persis) as women who “worked very hard in the Lord” (Rom. 16:12, niv). Clearly, the early church fostered an open atmosphere where women participated alongside men.20 To further illustrate this point, Paul identifies Euodia, Syntyche, and Priscilla as his synergos or “fellow-workers” (see Rom. 16:3; Phil. 4:3). He uses this language not only to describe these three women, but also to describe various men with whom he co-labored, a designation for his many associates. WolfHenning Ollrog views Paul’s ‘co-workers’ as those who “worked together with him as agents of God in the common work of missionary preaching.”21 Ollrog points out that Paul also refers to himself as a co-worker. This perspective leads to the theological conclusion that Paul viewed these women as sharing the function of church leadership alongside himself. Based on Paul’s greeting in Romans 16:1, Paul recognized certain women as gifted with leadership callings, and he commissioned them to ministry. A closer study of the ministries of these remarkable women is instructive, and Phoebe is an excellent case in point: But I commend to you Phebe, our sister—being a ministrant of the assembly that [is] in Cenchrea—that ye may receive her in the Lord, as doth become saints, and may assist her in whatever matter she

20 21

Douglas J. Moo, Encountering the Book of Romans (Grand Rapids, mi: Baker Books, 2002), 209. Wolf-Henning Ollrog, Paulus und seine Mitarbeiter: Untersuchungen zu Theorie und Praxis der paulinishen Mission, Wissenschaftliche Monographien zum Alten und Neuen Testament 50 (Neukirchen-Vluyn: Neukirchener, 1979), 67, quoted in Florence M. Gillman, Women Who Knew Paul (Collegeville, mn: The Liturgical Press, 1992), 43.

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may have need of you—for she also became a leader of many, and of myself.22 Rom. 16:1–2, ylt

At first glance, Paul’s greeting suggests that Phoebe delivered the letter to the church in Rome. She served as ‘Paul’s forerunner.’ As a woman entrusted with great responsibility, Paul requested that the church extend to her a hearty reception. He wholly respected and endorsed her: “I commend [The word commend means to ‘stand beside, express solidarity with, recommend, give approval, show, demonstrate, display as an ideal.’], to you, our sister Phoebe … (niv).”23 No doubt Paul’s letter evoked numerous questions from the Roman church leaders. Phoebe was the only one who could exegete Paul’s message to this beloved church, for Paul had never been to Rome. Therein lies a biblical illustration supporting a theology of co-gender ministry. In referring to Phoebe as ‘our sister,’ Paul also reinforces the idea of men and women as more than simply friends but instead as family—brothers and sisters—because of the work of Christ. The relationship between siblings … served as the primary relationship bond that mandated allegiance and deep emotional ties. Sharing the blood of your father tied you with your siblings in a way that required the ultimate devotion. It was in such a context that the Apostle Paul called Christ followers “brothers and sisters,” prioritizing their bond. Through the blood of Christ we are now tied to one another in such a way that mandates devotion and allegiance.24 Although this sibling relationship is eternal, “on Earth it plays out in the reality of sexuality and other relationship commitments, requiring dialogue on how to navigate the complexities. These discussions must happen since we 22

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The use of ylt here is intentional, to highlight translation of the Greek prostatis. This Greek word prostatis means to stand (statis) before (pro). The word is always translated as leader when the context applies to males. In this passage referencing a female, in the kjv, niv, NASB95 and other translations, it is translated helper, suggesting translator bias. A leader may, by inference, be a helper in some sense, but prostatis does not express that idea (Margaret English de Alminana, correspondence with authors, January 31, 2015). Gill and Cavaness, 111. Stephanie L. Nance, “Celebrating Male–female Relationships: The Conversation about Opposite Sex Friendships Usually Focuses on Boundaries—But What about the Opportunities?” September 8, 2015, Vital Magazine, https://vitalmagazine.com/life/celebrating -malefemale-relationships.

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are a redeemed people living life together, offering hope to others in need of redemption.”25 Paul seems to have navigated those complexities, given his affirmation of Phoebe. Upon closer examination, Paul called Phoebe a “minister” or a “deacon” (see Rom. 16:1). In fact, Phoebe is the first recorded diakonos in Christianity.26 As noted in earlier chapters, although several translations render diakonos as “deaconess,” the word used here for “deacon” (niv, rsv, nlt) or “minister” is actually masculine and the exact word Paul uses to describe himself and Apollos (see 1 Cor. 3:5), Tychicus (see Eph. 6:21; Col. 4:7), and Timothy (see 1 Tim. 4:6).27 Paul displays an egalitarian view of Phoebe. Her title, ‘deacon’ is in the masculine. There are no linguistic or theological grounds to distinguish her from the other male ‘ministers.’28 She performed ministry functions equally held by Paul and others. No gender qualifications are indicated.29 Renowned as a woman of means, and possessing a sizeable house to facilitate services and large groups of believers, the local church actually met in her home.30 Women played a role in the leadership matrix of the early church, which was considered essential and equal to the task.31 Paul’s enthusiastic inclusion of women as leaders, in spite of the patriarchal tendencies of the culture of the day, should move today’s church to rethink its cultural bias.

Living a Theology of Co-Gender Ministry

Co-gender theology, although a sound biblical model with increasing contemporary acceptance, is still in the stages of formation with respect to both genders envisioning new ways to work together in ministry. However, in order to continue this culture shift in the church, an ongoing dialogue is essential. In addressing some of the challenges women encounter in co-gender leadership 25 Ibid. 26 James D.G. Dunn, Romans 9–16, Word Biblical Commentary 38 (Dallas, tx: Word Books, 1988), 887. 27 Phillips translates diakonos as deaconess. kjv, niv, nasb, and nkjv translate diakonos as “servant,” and ylt translates diakonos as “ministrant.” 28 Don Williams, The Apostle Paul and Women in the Church (Van Nuys, ca: bim, 1977), 42–43. 29 Ibid., 43. 30 French L. Arrington and Roger Stronstad, eds., Full Life Bible Commentary to the New Testament (Grand Rapids, mi: Zondervan, 1999), 792. 31 Peter Stuhlmacher, Paul’s Letter to the Romans (Louisville, ky: John Knox Press, 1994), 246.

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roles, this discussion focuses on the following three areas: distorted perceptions of gender, boundaries, and the value of visibility. Distorted Perceptions of Gender Current literature reveals that organizations function at peak performance with both genders leading, ensuring that the best minds—both male and female—come together to create maximum impact.32 Creating teams, however, requires work, intentionality, and attentiveness, especially when cultivating healthy co-gender ministry environments.33 For healthy interaction, men and women must acknowledge human sexuality without obsessing over it. Personal awareness of subconscious assumptions and perceptions is imperative. Successful co-gender ministry may require men and women to reframe their personal belief systems in order to reflect healthier, more biblically egalitarian views of each other’s roles. Relationships with the visible leaders of one’s church, family, and community in one’s developmental years, where one’s worldview is in formation, is a key factor impacting an individual’s idea of gender roles.34 Consideration must be given to a leader’s relationship with his or her father. In particular, the father-daughter connection powerfully impacts and shapes a woman’s view of men as well as her level of comfort when interacting with male colleagues in a professional environment. A young girl growing up with an authoritarian, emotionally detached, angry father figure, or without a father, often experiences a level of intimidation with—and difficulty relating to—strong men. What a daughter receives from her father and how she experiences him affects her expectations of men. Similarly, what a father denies and holds back from his daughter may affect how she, as a leader, responds to and even interprets men’s behavior. Dismissing the impact of her past relationships with men may sabotage the female leader’s self-confidence and effectiveness. Her unconscious emotional responses—when triggered by anxiety and fear—can twist her perception of 32

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McKinsey & Company, “Female Leadership, A Competitive Edge for the Future,” Women Matter 2, Foreword, http://www.mckinsey.com/search.aspx?q=women+matter+2+female +leadership%2C+a+competitive+edge+for+the+future. Sarah Sumner, “Defining a Church Culture,” in Practical Ministry Skills: Working with the Opposite Sex (Carol Stream, il: Christianity Today, 2014), 7, e-book. Christianity Today, http://www.christianitytoday.com/gifted-for-leadership/2007/january/sarah-sumner .html. For instance, who are the biblical characters showcased as the ‘leaders and heroes?’ Who made the major decisions at home? Who were the political leaders? Who were the bosses?

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events. She may tend to view conflict, misunderstandings, or setbacks as personal mistakes. The resultant feelings of incompetence can send her spiraling down an emotional plunge into despair that drains her of the energy needed to remain engaged as a mature, confident colleague. Ruth Haley Barton in Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership states that unhealthy responses indicate a reaction from a learned negative pattern rather than one rooted in God’s grace. The ability to frame reality positively is a powerful skill, and learning how to do so is part of a woman’s leadership development.35 She must take some time for introspection in order to reframe negative past experiences so she can possess healthy perceptions of both genders. Boundaries As women have entered the ranks of church leadership, the issue of appropriate personal gender boundaries continually arises for discussion on blogs, at conferences, and behind closed doors. Many female ministers encounter popular teachings on gender boundaries, such as those in Andy Stanley’s sermon series, Guardrails,36 which is an updated version of the ‘Billy Graham Rule,’ which refers to Graham’s commitment not to be alone with a woman. “During his active years, Graham was so committed to personal purity and a desire to maintain an image of godliness that it is said he refused to ride in an elevator with a woman or to counsel her without a third party present.”37 Stanley’s admirable commitment to God, family, and church has created an ethos many male leaders want to follow. He encourages the creation of gender-differentiated boundaries to protect oneself against sexual sin and the appearance of it. Although opinions on this topic can prove polarizing, discussions need to take place throughout churches and denominations so men and women can move forward as co-laborers in God’s kingdom. Co-gender ministry does necessitate boundaries.38 Nevertheless, leaders must ensure that 35 36 37 38

Ruth Haley Barton, Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership: Seeking God in the Crucible of Ministry (Downers Grove, il: InterVarsity Press), 2008, 41. See Andy Stanley, Guardrails: Avoiding Regrets in Your Life (Grand Rapids, mi: Zondervan, 2011), dvd. Halee Gray Scott, Dare Mighty Things: Mapping the Challenges of Leadership for Christian Women (Grand Rapids, mi: Zondervan, 2014), 184–185. The Society for Human Resources Management notes the rise of workplace romances; in a 2013 study, “One out of four (24%) employees reported that they have been or are currently involved in a workplace romance.” Society for Human Resource Management, September 24, 2014, http://www.shrm.org/research/surveyfindings/articles/pages/shrmworkplace-romance-findings.aspx. Ruthie Oberg, “On Addressing Temptation—Without Resorting to Segregation,” Enrichment Journal (Spring 2015): 89, offers practical ways for

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the creation of such boundaries are rooted in mutual respect and not fear or bias.39 Reactionary, fear-based boundaries seek to eliminate factors seen as causing temptation or creating an appearance of wrongdoing. Such boundaries focus on self-protection, creating a gender exclusive culture wherein male leaders refuse to hire or interact with women closely, offering a false sense of safety, which is mistaken for freedom. Rigid, fear-based boundaries, such as never joking with or refusing to be alone with a woman under any circumstances, tend to objectify the opposite sex. Such boundaries lead to relegating women to certain roles, excluding them from visual leadership, and result in gender-based ministry relationships, which foster discrimination and bias in the church. Extreme boundaries can also evolve from lust, by wrongly eliminating the focus of lust instead of addressing the root of it. Jesus taught people to take responsibility for their own lust, not to shift blame to those upon whom it is focused (see Matt. 5:27–30). When instituting fear-based boundaries, the church forfeits the opportunity to speak through example to the surrounding culture. The church must paint a picture of how men and women can and should work together. Congregants, such as businesspersons, lawyers, and medical professionals, who work with the opposite sex in confidential settings, which often is mandated by the law, will struggle to implement excessive gender-based boundaries. Alternatively, ministers can teach and demonstrate how to engage respectfully with colleagues of both genders. Respect-based boundaries acknowledge the interdependence of men and women40 as co-laborers and co-bearers of the imago Dei, while also considering

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male and female ministers to guard their reputation and yet work together successfully as professionals. See Tracey Bianchi’s article on the often detrimental impact of the Billy Graham Rule on women in the Christian workplace: Tracey Bianchi, “Ladies Who Lunch—with Men,” June 23, 2016, Christianity Today, http://www.christianitytoday.com/gifted-for-leadership/2016/ june/ladies-who-lunch-with-men.html. She notes, “True, women and men do not always work together with integrity, but having the rule will not prevent this. If Christian women and men cannot model how to honor one another and serve together with integrity, who will? If we continue to hide behind the Billy Graham Rule rather than engage with our colleagues of different genders, we will miss out on the contributions that men and women bring together to the places we serve. Rather than let fear and mistrust inform our partnerships, let’s choose mutual respect like Jesus modeled when he chose to work alongside and honor women—even if that means going out for lunch.” In her book on co-gender ministry, Ruth Haley Barton writes on “The Discipline of Interdependence,” which calls men and women to a place of radical respect and

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and respecting the people, circumstances, and cultures involved. In a church where a male pastor has had an affair, the hurting church might not trust a new pastor to meet alone with a female colleague. Respect-based boundaries allow the new pastor to acknowledge what the church has experienced by creating a temporary boundary, aiming to lead the congregation through healing and establishing trust as he teaches and demonstrates over time how men and women can work together. Such boundaries respect the church’s experience and history while also striving for Scripture’s design for healthy relationships between the genders as co-laborers in mission together. Pentecostal ministers—both male and female—view the guidance of the Holy Spirit as a key advantage in navigating the challenges of co-gender ministry. Sharon Smith, a single professional in the corporate world, explains, “I don’t go into a situation with a pre-set list of laws. Rather, I set boundaries as I see they are needed …. Proper boundaries are necessary for any relationship—male or female. I establish boundaries … when another person’s heart/motives are not right. If I pick up a signal or see actions that require boundaries, I set them for the specific situation.” Such an approach respects people for who they are instead of who we have predetermined them to be. … Kingdom-minded women like Smith, … possess the opportunity to partner with men in the workplace and heal the division caused by sin. Smith has served as the first female leader in several companies, working extensively with men, helping them rise to their potential: “I help my teammates to be successful by using my leadership position to remove obstacles from their pathways that allows them to execute their jobs, and to help them develop their inherent potential.” By doing so, Smith … [is] helping her colleagues reimagine life with the opposite sex in a healthy way as opposed to the tragic us-versus-them story.41 Creating a culture of inclusion and respect by having honest dialogue with one another about how the established boundaries affect women is a strategic step toward living out the theology of co-gender ministry.

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interdependence as a discipline of biblical community. See Ruth Haley Barton, Equal to the Task: Men and Women in Partnership (Downers Grove, il: InterVarsity Press, 1998), 356–389, Kindle. Nance, “Celebrating Male–female Relationships.”

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Paul’s ministry practices provide guidance for respectful and inclusive cogender ministry today, one where men and women can strive to work with one another—not protecting themselves from each other by setting up boundaries that disrespect, exclude, and segregate. Value of Visibility The third issue addressed in this chapter related to living a theology of co-gender ministry is the value of maintaining visibility. Jesus taught his disciples to pray, “your kingdom come” (Matt. 6:10, nasb), reminding the church that the kingdom is in the ‘now and not yet’ state. If women wait for the perfect co-gender environment in order to enter ministry, few will go. Therefore, women must show up and engage with male leaders, even amid challenging boundaries or attitudes. Doing so will require courage and humility. Over time, a continual female presence will tend to normalize a co-gender culture. As the church continues to pray, “your kingdom come,” women can bring that reality by offering grace, sensitivity, and tolerance for others’ weaknesses and differing opinions. Where the opportunity exists, wise female ministers acquire visibility when they obtain credentials, find their voices, and—with poise and distinction— build bonds of trust over time with their male colleagues. As credentialed ministers, women have an opportunity to enter an arena where they may participate in the formulation of policies and programs, refining of doctrines, administration of offices, and other benefits. No one can change an organization from the outside, so women must actively be present to influence change from within. Increased visibility leads to more frequent opportunities for the unique contributions of female leadership expression. Carol Noren emphasizes the importance of visibility in her book, Women in the Pulpit. She recommends that female ministers become more active in denominational conferences and committees. The experience of watching boards function and of working alongside other leaders helps demystify power structures, allowing the female minister to see officials as ‘fallible fellow pilgrims’ who, like they, also need wisdom and grace. In the end, the positive example of her service, visibility, and contribution to the denomination will provide future advantages for her and those who follow her on many levels.42

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Understanding and Maximizing Female Leadership Expressions

According to Malcolm Gladwell, until a few decades ago, orchestra leaders made the assumption that women could not play instruments as well as men. He notes that some believed, for instance, that women lacked the lung capacity and the lip strength to play brass instruments. As a result, men dominated orchestras until screened auditions were introduced, which hid the musician’s gender from the judges. Only when women auditioned anonymously behind screens, Gladwell observes, were they able to prove that they possessed the same capacity to play instruments, such as the trombone and french horn, as well as men.43 In the church, women have stood behind the scene for years, quietly proving their ability to lead. Today, as women step out in front, taking on visible and vocal leadership roles alongside of their male colleagues, resistance often ensues. Since the church is more familiar with male expressions of leadership, both men and women in the pews often struggle to accept female leaders, questioning whether women possess the necessary skills, especially with respect to their leadership models and communication styles. Similar to the orchestra leaders whose erroneous assumptions that women lacked the skill to play instruments as well as men, the church must reconsider its assumption that women lack the skill to lead and that male leadership expressions are the only ones that are effective. Two prominent issues concerning male and female expressions in the leadership matrix of the church today are gender and communication styles. Gender Styles Studies have shown that men and women bring common behaviors of leadership to the table, although one gender uses certain expressions more than the other gender.44 Traditionally, the church has reflected a ‘masculine style’ leadership model. Comparisons of male and female styles tend to view leadership as ‘either/or,’ i.e., either male or female. However, greater impact can be realized by ‘both/and.’ Together both males and females reflect a more complete expression of ministry leadership. While men primarily express their leadership through making decisions alone, engaging others in executing plans and performing oversight tasks, 43 44

Malcolm Gladwell, Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking (New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2007), 2928–3902, Kindle. McKinsey & Company, “Women Matter 2: Female Leadership, A Competitive Edge for the Future” (McKinsey & Company, 2008), 6.

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women more often express leadership through casting vision, inspiring action, and building teams.45 Newly updated models of training capitalize on both sets of leadership behaviors in order to best prepare male and female vocational ministers, setting them up for success in co-gender ministry teams. Communication Style As female leadership expression increases throughout church boardrooms and pulpits, conversations emerge regarding preferences of ‘speaking’ or ‘vocal’ styles. The female voice gets compared to what has always been heard: the male voice, which makes the masculine style of expression the only standard. Instead, this ‘standard’ must be recognized for what it is: a preference that evolved over time due to a lack of diversity. A classic argument against women leading is that they express too much emotion. Women’s use of descriptive words, their conversational and relational speaking style, and the fact that women’s voices express a wider range of pitch than men’s,46 can cause women to seem more emotional, even if they are not.47 However, in today’s postmodern world, where people learn through the power of story more than through modernity’s linear thinking,48 such feminine attributes lend themselves to preaching in fresh, creative ways. For denominations focusing on church planting and revitalization, younger, postmodern congregations may resonate better with a more ‘feminine’ leadership style and may therefore wish to develop a strategy to engage female ministers on their leadership teams. As more women enter visible church leadership, some will critique everything they say and how they say it. Instead of a woman adjusting her voice to sound like the traditional male voice, she should focus on practical ways to strengthen her unique voice as a communicator, making it the best expression of her own style, while also intentionally pulling in both male and female

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Ibid., 6–7. Lillian Glass, He Says, She Says: Closing the Communication Gap Between the Sexes (New York: The Berkley Publishing Group, 1993), 38. Jackie Roese, She Can Teach: Empowering Women to Teach the Scripture Effectively (Eugene, or: Wipf & Stock, 2013), 1201, Kindle. The traditional Anglo-Saxon male voice, which has dominated the Western church since its inception, reflects a modern voice because men have been trained in seminaries founded in and with theological books written during this historical period. Although not necessarily a negative or inferior style, Western culture has changed, which is why men and women should co-lead in ministry and learn from each other’s strengths so they can best communicate the gospel in today’s world.

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listeners.49 Over time, the church will adjust and learn to embrace and appreciate a wider range of various communication styles. The following points provide practical ways for women to cultivate their voice while also helping the church adjust. Speak Inclusively. Women can use inclusive language, stories, and illustrations in the same manner as Christ to tear down walls and draw in listeners by building trust and openness through the power of rhetoric. Good communicators are learners. Women might consider learning about hobbies and areas of interests to which men in their culture are typically drawn or by simply using illustrations that men relate to well. Humor, a language all its own, can also be used to pull listeners into the message. If an audience can laugh with the communicator, they feel more relaxed, less skeptical, and equally included. Such inclusivity does not distract from a woman’s unique voice but may increase its influence. Seek Education. As doors of ministry have opened for women in various denominations, theological schools in North America now enroll 40 percent more women than twenty years ago.50 Women need to continue to show up in seminary classrooms, learning sound hermeneutics, and good theology. Informal educational opportunities, such as reading books, attending conferences, and forming mentoring relationships, also offer ongoing training. Create Cohorts. When women are excluded from pastoral and sermon teams, cohorts of peers and mentors can help them develop their communication style. They can use such groups for sermon feedback and input regarding other leadership issues. Co-gender cohorts can help both genders to learn from one 49

50

See Keri Wyatt Kent, “Communicate to Both Women and Men,” November 12, 2015, Leadership Journal, http://www.christianitytoday.com/gifted-for-leadership/2015/november/communicate-to-both-women-and-men.html?utm_source=womenleaders&utm_ m ed i u m = New s l e tte r& u t m _ te rm = 9 1 1 2 4 57 & u tm _con te n t=3 9 58019 27&utm _campaign=2013. Author of You Just Don’t Understand, Kent acknowledges the unique communication and relational styles of men and women and offers advise to women leaders for their preaching and leading opportunities. See also Jodi Detrick, “Boldness without Bitterness,” Enrichment Journal (Spring 2015): 86–92. In speaking about communication styles of women in ministry, Detrick says, “Boldness keeps a broader ministry focus, preventing us from getting stuck exclusively on gender matters. The world and the Church need to hear Spirit-empowered female voices on so many crucial matters, not just this one,” 92. Barbara G. Wheeler, Anthony T. Ruger and Sharon L. Miller, “Theological Student Enrollment: A Special Report from the Auburn Center for the Study of Theological Education,” August 2013, Auburn Seminary, http://www.auburnseminary.org/sites/default/files/ Theological%20Student%20Enrollment-%20Final.pdf, 6.

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another’s styles and strengths by offering each other insights into their differences as well as building on their commonalities. Stay Empowered. Humans hold the ability to self-improve through many methods. A danger exists in making the issue of women in church leadership exclusively about gender equality and rights instead of about spiritual empowerment and responsibility. Women must make this distinction, or their leadership ability will focus on their gender and not on their divine empowerment. A simple screen forced orchestra judges to stop listening with their eyes and to rely on their ears, allowing them to appreciate fully how each person interpreted the music according to his or her skill as a musician. As the most skilled musicians were hired, the best music was created. Conclusion In the contemporary church, as male ministers look around they discover new company—the female minister, rising up and responding boldly to the call of full-time vocational ministry. She desires a platform and a means to give expression to her call. The cultural and religious roadblocks that women encounter, however, require an ongoing dialogue to increase knowledge and awareness of a growing, new, collaborative model of church leadership, including a platform where the full imago Dei can be expressed through both genders.51 In spite of progress, navigating the contours of this journey requires change by both male and female leaders. As called women confidently take advantage of opportunities to demonstrate their gifts, and as they acquire the endorsement of their male colleagues, they will make continued progress toward living out a co-gender theology. Creating a new normal is a journey that will occur in stages, and will require work, as with the pursuit of any worthy goal. For the female minister, this journey includes perseverance and conviction. As with individuals, the church needs to perceive and experience what has hitherto been unfamiliar before it will change. Moving forward, the female minister will foster healthy dialogue; by personal example she will promote the value of co-gender ministry.

51

See Alan Johnson, How I Changed my Mind about Women in Leadership (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2010), a collection of essays on gender that presents progress on this dialogue. The book offers testimonies of a wide range of ministry leaders and scholars regarding how each became persuaded concerning biblical egalitarianism.

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Bibliography Allender, Dan. “Getting Caught by Your Calling.” Views From the Edge. Mars Hills Graduate School. http://www.mhgs.edu/Files/Documents/VFE-1-0/Your-Calling. Arrington, French L., and Roger Stronstad, eds. Full Life Bible Commentary to the New Testament. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1999. Assemblies of God General Secretary. “AG Ministers Report, 2009 Credentials, Marital, and Ministry Status By Gender.” http://agchurches.org/Sitefiles/Default/RSS/ Statistics_2009_public.pdf. Barna, George. “Number of Female Senior Pastors Double in Protestant Churches.” Barna. org. September 14, 2009. http://www.barna.org/barna-update/article/17-leadership/ 304-number-of-female-senior-pastors-in-protestant-churches-doubles-in-past -decade?q=female+pastors. Barton, Ruth Haley. Equal to the Task: Men and Women in Partnership. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1998. Kindle. Barton, Ruth Haley. Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership: Seeking God in the Crucible of Ministry. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2008. Bianchi, Tracey. “Ladies Who Lunch—with Men.” June 23, 2016. Christianity Today, http://www.christianitytoday.com/gifted-for-leadership/2016/june/ladies-who -lunch-with-men.html. Campbell, Jennifer D. “Self-Esteem and Clarity of the Self-Concept.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 59, no. 3 (September 1990): 538–549. Cardwell, Sue Webb. “Why Women Fail/Succeed in Ministry: Psychological Factors.” Pastoral Psychology 30, no. 4 (1982): 153–162. Christianity Today. “Men and Women Working Together.” September 2, 2014. Leadership Journal (Fall 2014). http://www.christianitytoday.com/le/2014/september/men -and-women-working-together.html. Clark, Doug. “Jesus and Women.” Enrichment Journal (Spring 2001). http://enrichmentjournal.ag.org/200102/index.cfmhttp://enrichmentjournal.ag.org/200102/024 _jesus_and_women.cfm. Detrick, Jodi. “The Man in the Back of the Room and Other Issues Facing Women Preachers.” Enrichment Journal (Winter 2013). http://enrichmentjournal .ag.org/201301/201301_056_man_in_back.cfm. Detrick, Jodi. “Boldness without Bitterness.” Enrichment Journal (Spring 2015): 86–92. http://enrichmentjournal.ag.org/201502/201502_086_Boldness_Without_Bitterness .cfm#. Dunn, James. Romans 9–16. Word Biblical Commentary 38. Dallas, TX: Word Books, 1988. Gill, Deborah M., and Barbara Cavaness. God’s Women—Then and Now. Springfield, MO: Grace and Truth, 2004.

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Gladwell, Malcolm. Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2007. Kindle. Glass, Lillian. He Says, She Says: Closing the Communication Gap Between the Sexes. New York: The Berkley Publishing Group, 1993. Hageman, Alice L., in Collaboration with the Women’s Caucus of Harvard Divinity School. Sexist, Religion, and Women in the Church: No More Silence! New York: Association Press, 1974. Klein, Doris. “Discernment of the Heart.” LCWR Occasional Papers (Summer 2014): 17–19. Larsen, Ellis L., and James M. Shopshire. “A Profile of Contemporary Seminarians.” Theological Education, The Association of Theological Schools 24, no. 2 (Spring 1988): 1–117. Loader, William. The New Testament on Sexuality. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2012. McKinsey & Company. “Women Matter 2: Female Leadership, A Competitive Edge for the Future.” McKinsey & Company, 2008. http://www.mckinsey.com/search.aspx?q =women+matter+2+female+leadership%2C+a+competitive+edge+for+the+future. Moo, Douglas J. Encountering the Book of Romans. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2002. Nance, Stephanie L. “Celebrating Male–female Relationships: The Conversation about Opposite Sex Friendships Usually Focuses on Boundaries—But What about the Opportunities?” September 8, 2015. Vital Magazine. https://vitalmagazine.com/life/ celebrating-malefemale-relationships. Noren, Carol. The Woman in the Pulpit. Nashville: Abingdon, 1992. Nouwen, Henry. In the Name of Jesus. New York: Crossroad, 1992. Oberg, Ruthie. “On Addressing Temptation—Without Resorting to Segregation.” Enrichment Journal (2015): 89. Ollrog, Wolf-Henning. Paulus und seine Mitarbeiter: Untersuchungen zu Theorie und Praxis der paulinishen Mission. Wissenschaftliche Monographien zum Alten und Neuen Testament 50 (Neukirchen-Vluyn: Neukirchener, 1979), 67. Quoted in Florence M. Gillman, Women Who Knew Paul. Collegeville, MN: The Liturgical Press, 1992. Ortberg, John. Soul Keeping: Caring for The Most Important Part of You. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2014. Rainer, Sam. “New Staff Positions to Emerge this Decade.” Church Executive. May 5, 2010. http://churchexecutive.com/archives/new-staff-positions-to-emerge-this-decade. “Religion: Clergy Women,” Time Magazine, April 23, 1978, http://www.time.com/time/ magazine/article/0,9171,919513,00.html. Roese, Jackie. She Can Teach: Empowering Women to Teach the Scripture Effectively. Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2013. Kindle. Scott, Halee Gray. Dare Mighty Things: Mapping the Challenges of Leadership for Christian Women. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2014.

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Society for Human Resource Management. September 24, 2014. http://www.shrm.org/ research/surveyfindings/articles/pages/shrm-workplace-romance-findings.aspx. Stackhouse, John G. Jr. “‘Conversion Narratives’ about Gender.” Johnstackhouse.com. January 2, 2011. http://www.johnstackhouse.com/2011/01/02/conversion-narratives -about-gender. Stuhlmacher, Peter. Paul’s Letter to the Romans. Louisville, KY: John Knox Press, 1994. Sumner, Sarah. “Defining a Church Culture.” In Practical Ministry Skills: Working with the Opposite Sex, 7. Carol Stream, IL: Christianity Today, 2014. E-book. Christianity Today, http://www.christianitytoday.com/gifted-for-leadership/2007/january/ sarah-sumner.html. Wheeler, Barbara G., Anthony T. Ruger, and Sharon L. Miller. “Theological Student Enrollment: A Special Report from the Auburn Center for the Study of Theological Education.” August 2013. http://www.auburnseminary.org/sites/default/files/ Theological%20Student%20Enrollment-%20Final.pdf. Williams, Don. The Apostle Paul and Women in the Church. Van Nuys, CA: BIM, 1977. Wright, N.T. “Women’s Service in the Church.” Paper presented at Men, Women and the Church Symposium, St. John’s College, Durham September 4, 2004. http:// ntwrightpage.com/Wright_Women_Service_Church.htm.

Editor’s Note to Chapter 15 Pentecostal/charismatic prayer has been largely considered the wheelhouse of women throughout the sagas of these movements in North America.1 Historically, women who encountered difficulties finding opportunities for religious expression in roles restricted to men achieved space and opportunity through prayer ministry, either in prayer groups populated predominantly by women or in altar ministries of prayer. Rich prayer traditions can be observed in the movement as early as Azusa Street and consistently beyond. Rosemary Ruether argues that one of the principle means through which female subordination in religious traditions in accomplished is by enforced silence.2 Yet, Pentecostal and charismatic prayer ministry traditions offer a contradiction to this tendency. Cheryl Townsend Gilkes, asserts that “it is not unusual to see, in churches that do not permit women to preach or otherwise use the pulpit, women (missionaries and evangelists) leading worship services and praying from lecterns placed below or near the pulpit.”3 While Gilkes particularly references African-American churches, her insight can be more generally applied to many churches within the Pentecostal and charismatic streams. In this chapter, Peter Althouse completes the volume’s discussion of agency and Pentecostal/charismatic women by examining one of these prayer traditions and illustrating enigmatic behaviors of Pentecostal women in prayer that offer agency and empowerment while concurrently tending to disempower and silence them. Christian Healing Ministries (chm) is a charismatic organization in Jacksonville, Florida, devoted to the promotion of Christian healing. Although known for its healing prayers, its worldview is more holistic and includes different kinds of prayers that address emotional, psychological, spiritual, and bodily health. These prayers are believed to have therapeutic effects that help to process emotional and bodily ‘dis-ease.’ Although the ministry is led by Roman Catholic Francis MacNutt, site observations reveal that the majority of those seeking healing prayer are women; the volunteers and leaders who

1 Landon Schnabel, “How Religious Are American Women and Men? Gender Differences and Similarities,” Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 54, no. 3 (September 2015): 616–611. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/jssr.12214. 2 Rosemary Radford Reuther, Sexism and God-Talk: Toward a Feminist Theology (Boston: Beacon Press, 1983), 74. 3 Cheryl Townsend-Gilkes, If It Wasn’t for the Women (Maryknoll, New York: Orbis, 2001), 135.

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pray are women as well. This has implications for understanding the gendered embodiment of prayer and charismatic healing as well as the role of women in charismatic ministry. Empirical fieldwork is placed in the context of theories of embodiment and gender studies. Althouse frames the discussion of healing prayer and the body with embodiment theories that have developed in feminist and gender studies as well as the sociology of the body. He describes some of the healing prayers practiced at chm and how they are embodied. Such prayers often involve rituals of surrender that tend to involve processes of the body and the emotions that empower and disempower women who pray within certain charismatic contexts. Other scholars have cast this subversive/transformative/acquiescence process in terms of what Bernice Martin identifies as the ‘gender paradox.’4 Martin argues that the gender paradox is an overlooked dynamic in the study of Pentecostal women. Although Pentecostal women are often restricted from pastoral roles and must refrain from sexual seduction and conform to (body) regulations such as modest dress and chastity, they are prominent in the manifestation of spiritual charismata such as healing, prophecy, speaking in tongues, and prayer rituals. They are also more prone to experience ‘resting in the Spirit’ in which the body falls to the floor during a state of ecstasy, a phenomenon observed in chm’s healing services Thus, while the rituals of healing prayer at chm are subversive to cultural paradigms and potentially transformative through an empowerment of women in the healing process, they paradoxically support and reinforce conservative and idealized gender roles.

4 Bernice Martin, “The Pentecostal Gender Paradox: A Cautionary Tale for the Sociology of Religion,” in Blackwell Companion to Sociology of Religion, ed. Robert K. Fenn (Oxford, uk: Blackwell Publishers, 2001), 52–66. See page 372.

chapter 15

Women Praying for Women: Christian Healing Ministries and the Embodiment of Charismatic Prayer1 Peter Althouse Introduction Christian Healing Ministries (chm), a charismatic organization located in Jacksonville, Florida, where the training in and practice of Christian healing occurs, is an interesting ministry for understanding the embodiment of prayer because women are predominantly the leaders in the practices of prayer at chm and women are predominantly the recipients of healing prayer. In this chapter I will frame the discussion of healing prayer and the body with the embodiment theories that have developed in feminist and gender studies as well as the sociology of the body. I will then describe some of the healing prayers practiced at chm and how they are embodied. I will conclude with comments on how these prayer rituals intersect culture and the body in ways that both empower and disempower women through rituals of surrender. The story of chm begins with Francis MacNutt who joined the Dominican order of the Roman Catholic Church in 1950 and was ordained to the ­priesthood in 1956. In 1967 MacNutt became a leader in the Catholic Charismatic Renewal and especially healing in part through the influence of Episcopalian Agnes Sanford and Methodist Tommy Tyson. However, in 1980 MacNutt married ­Judith Sewill, a clinical psychologist and missionary to Israel2 Together Francis and Judith MacNutt established chm in Clearwater, Florida, in 1980, but in 1987 the Episcopal bishop of Florida convinced the MacNutts to move chm to Jacksonville, and to come under the Florida diocese of the Episcopal Church, where the ministry would be given all but financial support. It has remained an ecumenical ministry in Jacksonville ever since. In 1993

1 These findings are the result of a project supported by a grant from The Foundation for Pentecostal Scholarship (TFFPS.org). 2 S. Strang, “MacNutt, Francis Scott,” in The New International Dictionary of Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements, rev. and exp., ed. Stanley M. Burgess and Eduard M. van der Maas (Grand Rapids, mi: Zondervan, 2002), 855–856.

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the MacNutts were granted an ecclesial dispensation and the Roman Catholic Church recognized their marriage. chm has developed schools, seminars, and retreats for the purpose of practicing healing prayer as well as propagating its version of charismatic Christianity. Individuals can make appointments to be prayed for, and chm has a monthly schedule for its School of Healing Prayer, Journey of Healing retreats, women’s conferences, and an internship program. It also publishes a quarterly magazine called Healing Line. Although chm is known for its healing prayer, its worldview is holistic, and diverse kinds of prayers are regularly practiced. Many of these prayers have therapeutic benefits that help the participants to process emotional issues.3 Although Francis began the ministry and still evokes a sense of awe among participants despite his age, Judith took over as president in 2008 and leads the ministry with her dynamic speaking, charismatic evanescence, and administrative skills. Consequently, the study of chm has implications for understanding of the role of women, how they perceive healing, and the gendered embodiment of prayer and healing.

Thinking about the Body

The body and embodiment is a developing theory in the social sciences that draws on diverse disciplines such as phenomenology, neuroscience, cognitive psychology, linguistics, cultural anthropology, sociology, and philosophy. Embodiment seeks to overcome the mind-body, subject-object dualisms in order to offer a more integrated understanding of the human self within particular cultural milieux.4 Women and the Body Feminist and gender studies have made the body and its relationship to culture the focus of study. Habits of eating, dress, exercise, work, etc., are all bodily 3 Morton T. Kelsey, Healing and Christianity: In Ancient Thought and Modern Times (ny: Harper & Row Publishers, 1973). 4 Chris Shilling, The Body in Culture, Technology and Society (London, uk: Sage, 2005); Thomas J. Csordas, Body/ Meaning/ Healing (New York: Palgrave, 2002), 58–62; 80–87. Heather Curtis examines the late nineteenth-century shift from Reformed beliefs that bodily suffering and illness was the providence of God and that women especially were to accept this situation with grace, to Wesleyan and Pentecostal notions that healing was divine providence that empowered men and women to engage in the work of the kingdom through missions. Heather D. Curtis, Faith in the Great Physician: Suffering and Divine Healing in American Culture, 1860–1900 (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2007).

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in their action. The body is both the text of culture that can be read and— following Pierre Bourdieu and Michel Foucault—the locus of social control. Bodies are trained, shaped and impressed according to cultural notions of self, desire, masculinity, and femininity. According to Susan Bordo, women are spending more time managing and disciplining their bodies in order to conform to an “elusive ideal of femininity.” However, they experience a sense of insufficiency because the idealized goal of femininity is unachievable. In order to make her case, Bordo discusses the culturally subversive, transforming, and conciliatory pathologies of anorexia, hysteria, and agoraphobia, diseases that are commonly associated with women. For instance, anorexic women subvert the ideal images of the female body by refusing to put food into their bodies (a kind of hunger strike) and therefore take control of their own bodies but at the same time reproduce the ideological and cultural conditions of ideal femininity. Hysteria voices the horrid suffering as a language of protest against linguistic and cultural controls. Agoraphobia subverts the expectations of the housewife who drives children to school and soccer and attends her husband’s social events, but maintains the ideal cultural image of the women’s place is in the home. These female pathologies thus protest and paradoxically collude with the cultural conditions behind them and therefore reproduce rather than transform the conditions.5 Other scholars have cast this subversive/transformative/acquiescence process in terms of what Bernice Martin identifies as the ‘gender paradox.’6 Martin argues that the gender paradox is an overlooked dynamic in the study of Pentecostal women. Although Pentecostal women are often restricted from pastoral roles and must refrain from sexual seduction and conform to (body) regulations such as modest dress and chastity, they are prominent in the manifestation of spiritual charismata such as healing, prophecy, speaking in tongues, and prayer rituals. They are also more prone to experience ‘resting in the Spirit’ in which the body falls to the floor during a state of ecstasy, a phenomenon observed in chm’s healing services. Likewise, Elizabeth Brusco observed the reforming strategies of gender roles that enhanced female status among evangelical (and Pentecostal) C ­ olumbians. She challenged the prevailing arguments of gender subordination, to argue that evangelical women’s moral expectations challenge male machismo that idealized the virulent male as a drinker, gambler, and womanizer, and, ­therefore, 5 Susan Bordo, “The Body and the Reproduction of Femininity,” in Writing on the Body: Female Embodiment and Feminist Theory, ed. Katie Conboy, Nadia Medina, and Sarah Stanbury (New York: Columbia University Press, 1997), 90–110. 6 Martin, 52–66.

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raised female status in the male–female relationship in the household through radical alteration of sexual behavior, promotion of female interests, and family aspirations.7 Many of the reforms specifically address various regimes of the body that define the household relationship. For Martin, however, the Pentecostal gender paradox affords women a certain degree of autonomy through the feminization of the Pentecostal understanding of God and through discursive contributions on sexual relations and family life. Pentecostal women have entered into an implicit deal that domesticates Pentecostal men and returns them to the home. As such, women are afforded a greater degree of gender equality as long as they do not exercise formal authority over men publically. In other words, the Pentecostal gender paradox is both empowering and disempowering for women. Although many come from unstable family systems, Pentecostal women resist being categorized as victims and take control over their destinies.8 R. Marie Griffith’s study on prayer also captures the way that women praying together encourage surrender, emotional release, and inner healing. Prayer plays an important role in personal transformation through conversion, inner healing, and recovery. Prayer is claimed to be liberating, intimate, and healing, and, therefore, potentially transformative.9 Transformation is broadly understood as victory over sin and sickness, physical, emotional, and spiritual healing, restoration of the ‘authentic self,’ surrender of the selfish will to God, finding new love in God as father, and Jesus as lover, or friend, and through feelings of liberation, freedom, and empowerment brought about through an ecstatic experience of the Spirit.10 Forgiveness, release, restoration, and freedom are social processes that occur through ritual prayer in the context of sacred space. In the prayer meeting, women feel inwardly healed and transformed as they are outwardly released through the power of the Spirit.11 Sociology of the Body More generally, the body has become the focus of analysis in the field of sociology, especially in terms of health and well-being. Prominent scholars such as Bryan S. Turner and Chris Shilling have made the body the focus of their 7 8 9 10 11

Elizabeth E. Brusco, The Reformation of Machismo: Evangelical Conversion and Gender in Columbia (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1995), 3–6. Martin, “Gender Paradox,” 55–56. R. Marie Griffith, God’s Daughters: Evangelical Women and the Power of Submission (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997), 202. Ibid., 103–105. Ibid., 57–58.

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research. Turner, for instance, argues that the problem of the body and embodiment is located in the relationship between nature and culture; a tension between the body as a living organism and a culturally constructed product. The debate is often cast in the distinction between nature and nurture.12 Turner also makes an interesting observation on the relationship between the body, health, and religion. He argues that Christianity historically has made a link between sin and sickness as well as salvation and health, but that persons are not defiled by what they put into their body but by their intentions. Christian history is filled with analogies between priest and physician; shrines and pilgrimages were associated with physical cures. While making room for the competency of secular physicians, “certain diseases and illnesses were the special province of priests. The miracles of Jesus provided a strong theological warrant for the priest as exorcist of demons.”13 Turner contrasts the argument of Max Weber who said that healing rituals were a concession to popular demand and ran counter to orthodoxy to the care for the sick seen as a supreme act of charity of virtuous heroes. However, the situation is more complex because the body is deeply rooted in notions of sinfulness, frailty, and decay as metaphors for depravity, but disease was also viewed as a sign of divine election whereby the righteous could be purified through pain and suffering. Therefore, the body was not simply viewed in terms of external, natural processes, but the body was ascribed deeply spiritual significance.14 Disease, like the body and that which affects the body, is also socially constructed. In the Western world, disease and health have been closely linked to Christian ritual practices that regulated the body. Likewise, medicine is a powerful form of regulation that restrains the body.15 Christianity took Greek culture’s secular and naturalistic understanding of medicine and moralized it within a Christian framework in which disease was seen either as punishment by God or a form of instruction for the soul. Although medicine has become secular and decoupled from its religious framework, it has maintained its moral discourses. For instance, melancholy was seen in Christianity as a peculiar problem of spiritual dryness of monks; likewise sorrow has been replaced by secular notions of depression, which was believed to be caused by obesity. Consequently, secular forms of medicine embraced diet as the t­ reatment for 12 13 14 15

Bryan S. Turner, The Body and Society: Explorations in Social Theory, 3rd ed. (Los Angeles: Sage, 2008), 1. Ibid., 62. Ibid., 62–64. Bryan S. Turner, Medical Power and Social Knowledge 2nd ed. (Thousand Oaks, ca: Sage Publications, 1995), 18–19.

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sorrow.16 Thus, there have been two processes in the shift from punishment to examination: one is the secularization of the body as the object of science rather than the subject of Christian confession and theology. In this process, confession was copied and eventually replaced by psychoanalysis and the medical examination. The second was the evolution of rational and bureaucratic management of the body in hospitals, asylums, and clinics.17 As a result the physician has taken the place of the priest, the therapy examination has taken the place of confession, and the hospital has taken the place of the church. According to Chris Shilling, the social obsession for constructing healthy bodies has led to social regimes. Individuals have become responsible for their bodies and engage in strict self-care regimens. The problem is that the body has limitations and is susceptible to decay and death. The onset of diseases, such as cardiac problems, cancer, and a host of others, is thought to be lessened by healthy eating, avoiding smoking and alcohol, and performing exercise. These self-care regimes require individuals to assume that the body is a project where the interior and exterior can be monitored, nurtured, and maintained for optimal efficiency. However, self-care regimes are not just about avoiding disease, but also about feeling good about how the body looks and feels. Investing in the body allows people the opportunity for self-expression and a way of feeling good by increasing control over their bodies. The use of self-help books, dietary supplements, beauty products, and exercise plans are produced to help accomplish these goals. The problem, however, is that there is no criteria for understanding what the body is or how it should be treated.18 Mellor and Shilling also trace the secularization of psychological therapy from the regulations of control, especially in relation to religious exorcism. In therapy, every thought and experience is turned into language in order to be controlled and cured, but religious exorcism is rooted in the body’s potential volatility or lack of control. In the sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Roman Catholic Church, exorcism validated correct practices and beliefs that were under attack and was used as an important tool against the Protestant accusations of superstition. Exorcism assumed that the person to be exorcised was either physically possessed by a demon, or ethically and/or spiritually under the power of Satan. The person subject to exorcism was not always a willing participant, and exorcisms involved coercion accompanied by “the violent rupturing of the body from itself brought about by the ritual practices associated with 16 17 18

Ibid., 20–22. Ibid., 33. Chris Shilling, The Body and Social Theory, 2nd ed. (Thousand Oaks, ca: Sage, 2003), 5–7.

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the event.”19 The practice is different than therapy in that the intent is not to change the interior self, but the removal of the evil inhabiting the body. Consequently, women embody charismatic prayer in ways that are subversive, transformative, and conciliatory to the cultural image of the ‘ideal woman.’ This ideal is inscribed with notions of health and disease; and social regimes are employed to maintain the appearance of the healthy body according to feminine and masculine myths. Exorcism represents an eruption of the body and emotions, but it can be transformative because it allows one to strive for well-being by surrendering to cultural forces beyond one’s control. What remains to be seen is how chm is transformative and/or replicates cultural notions of women in the ministry of prayer.

Observing the Body in chm Healing Prayer Rituals

One of my strategies for observing the prayer practices at chm was to observe the body—its posture, actions, and interactions with other bodies. A second strategy involved my own bodily reflections and how they reacted to and interacted with what was occurring around me.20 This follows Judith Okely’s argument that participant observation entails bodily engagement in ways not always obvious to observers who do not pay attention to the body. Of all the methodological techniques, participant observation best engages the body in the process of fieldwork. Thus, by reflexively paying attention to bodily displays of the subjects and how the observer’s body interacts with other bodies, one begins to recognize and interpret bodily knowledge.21 In keeping with these strategies, my fieldwork at chm included two, one-week site observations of the “School of Healing Prayer iv” (October 2013) and the “School of Healing Prayer i” (December 2013).22 My goal was to understand the r­ elationship 19 20

21 22

Philip A. Mellor and Chris Shilling, Re-Forming the Body: Religion, Community and Modernity (London: Sage, 1997), 183–184. Although I had initially proposed to study Christian Healing Ministries in 2012, the start of my fieldwork was delayed when I suffered a serious spinal injury in January 2013. However, this gave me the opportunity to reflect on how my own body experienced and processed charismatic prayers as a participant observer. What I noted especially was the emotional intensity of the ritual setting as I processed difficult emotions related to the trauma of my injury. Judith Okely, “Fieldwork Embodied,” in Embodying Sociology: Retrospective, Progress and Prospects, ed. Chris Shilling (Malden, ma: Blackwell Publishing, 2007), 65–79. I conducted these observations out of order based on my needs as a researcher versus the needs of participants to learn certain prayer techniques.

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b­ etween healing and the embodiment of charismatic prayer rituals by paying attention to the body. Healing as understood at chm is more than simply the physical cure, but also includes a holistic approach that incorporates emotional and bodily processes. chm teaches that there are four types of healing: spiritual, inner, physical, and deliverance.23 Spiritual healing is rooted in repentance and confession for sinful actions and the forgiveness that follows, but, more fundamentally, involves the process of forgiving others for real or perceived hurts. Otherwise bitterness and resentment become impediments to healing. Inner healing is an emotional/psychological process that includes healing of the memories and healing from generational curses. Inner healing is the healing of emotional wounds (some that go back to childhood and pre-birth) and the filling of the recipient with divine as well as human love. The common indicators that inner healing has occurred are the bodily expressions of crying or weeping. Deliverance is a form of exorcism that frees the person from unwanted ‘spirit attachments.’ Although chm leaders do not exclude notions of demon possession, by far deliverance is claimed to free the person from oppressive spirits. These spirits usually are identified by negative emotional and psychological processes. Thus, one can have a spirit of trauma, depression, bitterness, lust, and so on. A common indicator of spiritual attachment that needs exorcising is coughing and writhing or slithering body movements. At times the prayer minister may claim to have impressions or visions that indicate what the problem is and how spirits are involved. Physical healing is the claim that in the context of prayer the body recovers from injury or illness. This process is not normally instantaneous but extends over time and is interconnected with other types of healing, natural processes, and medical science. The four types are usually conflated in the process of healing. According to MacNutt, the prayer minister may have the sensation of heat or tingling when touching (“laying hands on”) a person seeking prayer, or, conversely, the sensation of cold when evil is present.24 The body itself is a fundamental focus in this physical healing in terms of the claims of recovery by those seeking healing, but the prayer ministers also experience bodily sensations such as warmth, electricity, peace, or joy in the discernment process, or the sensation of darkness or heaviness if they are not supposed to pray.25 23

Francis MacNutt and Judith MacNutt, “Four Types of Healing,” School of Healing Prayer Level i (Jacksonville, fl: Christian Healing Ministries, Inc., 2007), 65–69; Francis MacNutt, Healing (Altamonte Springs, fl: Creation House, 1988 [1974]), 169–237. 24 MacNutt, Healing, 175. 25 Ibid., 202–203.

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Moreover, the body is engaged in a multiplicity of ways in the prayer rituals associated with each of these types. Different prayer rituals are embodied in particular ways. Resting in the Spirit, which is commonly observed in the healing service, involves the body with prayer minister(s) and/or the charismatic leader through touching the top, front, and sides of the recipient’s head, at which point many people fall to the ground. Others can be seen bending over, weeping, laughing, or swaying. Inner-healing prayers are primarily identified by a person crying and others praying for her, sometimes with a prayer minister placing his or her hands on the recipient. At times, childhood memories are remembered and emotionally re-experienced with the goal of healing those memories by having them come to light. Cutting Free Prayers are normally prayed at the end of a prayer session but also in the midst of other kinds of prayer. The prayer minister makes chopping motions with her hands symbolically indicating that the recipient is being cut free from negative emotional states or spirit attachments. Renunciation prayers are performed with the recipient holding an open bodily posture (no crossing of arms or legs), and the minister using her hands to perform chopping motions. The intent is to break the recipient free from the bondage impeding her spiritual/healing progress. Occasionally, the person being prayed for will manifest body spasms. During one prayer interview demonstration, the recipient began coughing and gasping for air, and the leader explained to the audience that “something was hooked and needed to come out” indicating an inner emotional impediment and/or spirit of some sort. Although all the prayer rituals employed by chm involve the body in one way or another, one prayer ritual especially geared toward inner healing is the Father and Mother’s Blessing. The prayer of the Father’s Blessing and the Mother’s Blessing is an embodied prayer designed to help petitioners experience inner healing by experiencing forgiveness from the turmoil or trauma of childhood and troubled familial relationships. The prayer session begins with instructions on the setting of the room, which includes making facial tissue available for those who cry. The prayer minister stands in proxy for the individual’s father or mother and is instructed to hug the person with a full embrace. However, the leaders caution that one should not try to force people to hug when they are not ready and give tips on how to read the person’s body language to see if she is hesitant or ready to embrace in response. Prayer ministers are instructed to be positive, smile, and say affirming things. Practical advice is given on the use of breath mints and deodorant so as not to offend people when praying for them. The prayer ministers standing in proxy for fathers and mothers are instructed to be positive, affirming, and to seek forgiveness from the recipient as if he or she were that person’s father or mother. ­Moreover,

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fathers and mothers are viewed idealistically. For instance, the father is depicted as a protector, provider, and a person who blesses and establishes a child’s identity.26 The mother is depicted as someone who nurtures, provides for, loves, tends, treasures, and teaches her children.27 During the practicum, six men volunteered to come up to the front, faced the audience, and stood in the place of the father. Participants were asked to come and be prayed for. Both men and women, but mostly women, approached the ministers slowly, one following another with up to a minute or two until the next person approached. This process extended over a period of time as participants trickled to the front. Most of the participants who received the father’s blessing were women, though men were also involved. Many of the participants who went up for prayer cried softly while being prayed for.28 A short time later, the men were asked to return to their seats as the leaders prepared for the Mother’s Blessing prayer. The leader of the Mother’s Blessing prayer claimed that “cruel women can out-cruel, cruel men” and that the intent of the prayer was not to take a mother’s place, but to bring areas of unhealed hurt to the Lord’s love and light to bring comfort. She said the Mother’s Blessing prayer to the group and then had five to six volunteers come to the front and face the audience. People were asked to come and receive the Mother’s Blessing as they felt led, and once again there was a trickle of people over a period of about twenty minutes. Most of the people who went to receive the blessing were women, and at times people cried or sobbed, and some rocked back and forth in the arms of the prayer minister. At one point, after comforting a woman who had wept in her arms, one prayer minister volunteer exclaimed, “enough” and, “I can’t take any more” while weeping herself and returning to her seat.

Comments and Analysis

One of the more striking observations at chm is the preponderance of women participants. In all site observations at least two-thirds of participants were women. Moreover, female leadership at chm is prominent. Although Francis

26 27 28

“A Father’s Blessing,” Christian Healing Ministries, http://www.christianhealingmin.org/ menu2-personal-ministry-2/sample-prayers/a-father-s-blessing-2. “A Mother’s Blessing,” Christian Healing Ministries, http://www.christianhealingmin.org/ menu2-personal-ministry-2/sample-prayers/a-mother-s-blessing-2. Author received consent from subjects regarding participation.

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MacNutt began the ministry and functioned as its president for nearly thirty years, Judith MacNutt assumed the role of president in 2008. She is a dynamic speaker, respected by other women and men, and she has left her mark on the ministry by blending prayer with Christian therapy.29 Moreover, although there were a few men involved, most of the speakers of the teaching sessions were women. Thus, those who led the ministry, prayed, sought prayer, and hoped to be prayer ministers were mostly women. The observation that women pray more than men has been supported by study after study.30 What is not as well understood is how prayer is embodied and engendered. Since women are the ones who pray, how is prayer embodied by women, and how is this process of embodiment similar to and/or different from that of men? In addition, participants of chm engage in rituals of surrender that include bodily and emotional processes. For instance, resting in the Spirit is a prayer ritual that involves the body whereby a recipient sometimes spasms or jerks and falls to the ground. Laying hands on the recipient conveys what one leader explained as “the impartation of love.” Emotional processes are engaged as people cry. After the healing service, participants experience joy, calm, or a sense of release. However, the recipient also must be willing to yield control and allow herself to submit to the process of healing. Speaking in tongues is also a ritual where the recipient must initially surrender her tongue and rest the mind in order to speak. The performance is not entirely passive because there is an intention to praise God, but the act is pre-objective, and, therefore, embodied.31 The Blessing Prayers engage the body and emotions in a manner that brings about a cathartic release from childhood trauma and turmoil. The embrace is intersubjective bodily contact culturally inscribed with meanings of vulnerability, love, and acceptance. Women or men who feel they have not experienced love as they should have may experience the intimacy of love and then emotionally process difficult familial relationships. Deliverance prayers are the most difficult to interpret, but once again involve surrender to forces beyond one’s control in order to accept the processes of healing. Spirits of 29

30 31

See Joseph W. Williams, Spirit Cure: A History of Pentecostal Healing (New York: Oxford University Press, 2013). Williams traces the development of healing movements through the twentieth century and how they eventually coupled with psychological and dietary therapies. See for example “Religion and Public Life Project,” Pew Research, April 28, 2011, http:// www.pewforum.org/2011/04/28/prayer-in-america/. See Csordas, 34, 74–80. Pre-objective means before cognition or objective interpretation. So for instance, reflecting on an ecstatic experience involves cognitive assessment and ­interpretation, but pre-objective is the mental processes that are involved in the experience (usually in an altered state of consciousness).

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trauma, depression, anger, etc., identify the negative bodily and/or emotional problems that must be accepted and then renounced before the recipient can reach the desired goal of health. Spirits and demons also function to support the ministry’s theologically conservative outlook. Rituals of surrender exemplify the gender paradox among Pentecostal women. Kelly Chong noted the way that rituals of surrender function among Korean Pentecostal women. She observed that in the variety of Pentecostal prayer meetings and retreats women have the opportunity to heal emotional injuries inflicted by patriarchal and family systems. In the communal context of the prayer meeting women can embrace new religious interpretative frameworks that allow them to make sense of their situations of suffering. Prayer also helps them to develop regularized habits for experiencing the sacred that leads to profound internal empowerment. Through surrender to the Spirit and embrace of the charismatic gifts women can find strength to deal with their social situations.32 According to Chong, rituals of surrender are simultaneously empowering and disempowering because the newly-empowered feminine self is undercut by a domestication that reorients the self to harmony in the home through self-sacrifice, obedience, and endurance. In surrender, women embrace self-abandonment and relinquish the self to the divine will through unquestioned obedience. In doing so, women experience a kind of healing through a newly-empowered sense of the self in relationship to the sacred that transcends their suffering. The healing process is enacted in two ways: (1) by enabling them to unburden their problems and cares by turning their lives over to God. The act of surrender then is an important ritual that allows women to obtain a sense of relief and emancipation from psychic burdens and emotional pain; and (2) surrender is an important source of internal empowerment over the ‘helpless’ behavior that cleanses them from negative or unwanted emotions and dispositions (e.g., anxiety, depression, trauma, etc.) and enables women to gain a new sense of strength in God. “[N]ot only does the act of surrender release an individual from the burden of pain and worries, but in the very act of surrendering, a person is moved to feel less helpless, gaining strength from the belief that God has taken charge of one’s life and that one can accomplish things with ‘God’s strength.’”33 The

32

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Kelly H. Chong, “Healing and Redomestication: Reconstituting the Feminine Self in South Korean Evangelical Cell Group Ritual Practices,” in Practicing the Faith: The Ritual Life of Pentecostal-Charismatic Christians, ed. Martin Lindhardt (New York: Berghahn Books, 2011), 100. Chong, 113.

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intense emotional experiences found in rituals of surrender not only include the physical phenomena of heat pulsating through their bodies, speaking in tongues or ‘resting in the Spirit,’ but they also claim to experience bodily or inner healing. Rituals of surrender support the gender paradox thesis, but also, following Bordo, acquiesce to cultural values regarding gender. The image of fathers and mothers in the Blessing Prayer is scripted and idealized. Often those who seek inner healing have experienced difficult and traumatic childhoods and have not experienced familial relationships in such an idealized manner. Thus, while the rituals of healing prayer at chm are subversive to cultural paradigms and potentially transformative through an empowerment of women in the healing process, they paradoxically support and reinforce conservative and idealized gender roles. Moreover, rituals of surrender involve processes of the body and the emotions that empower and disempower women who pray within particular contexts. Conclusion Paying attention to the body and how charismatic prayer is embodied provides inroads for a better understanding of the relationship between the body, health, and culture. I have placed observations of healing prayer in the context of chm within the body studies of Turner, Shilling, and a number of feminist and gender scholars. chm claims a holistic view of healing prayers that encompasses the mind, body, and soul. Rituals of surrender are particularly important for understanding the relationship between the body and charismatic prayer, as these rituals both support the empowerment of women and disempower them by acquiescing to cultural norms of gender. Study of the embodiment of charismatic prayer adds to our understanding of particular practices and effects of prayer. Bibliography “A Father’s Blessing.” Christian Healing Ministries, http://www.christianhealingmin .org/menu2-personal-ministry-2/sample-prayers/a-father-s-blessing-2. “A Mother’s Blessing.” Christian Healing Ministries. http://www.christianhealingmin .org/menu2-personal-ministry-2/sample-prayers/a-mother-s-blessing-2. Bordo, Susan. “The Body and the Reproduction of Femininity.” In Writing on the Body: Female Embodiment and Feminist Theory, edited by Katie Conboy, Nadia Medina, and Sarah Stanbury, 90–112. New York: Columbia University Press, 1997.

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Brusco, Elizabeth E. The Reformation of Machismo: Evangelical Conversion and Gender in Columbia. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1995. Chong, Kelly H. “Healing and Redomestication: Reconstituting the Feminine Self in South Korean Evangelical Cell Group Ritual Practices.” In Practicing the Faith: The Ritual Life of Pentecostal-Charismatic Christians, edited by Martin Lindhardt, 98–128. New York: Berghahn Books, 2011. Csordas, Thomas J. Body/ Meaning/ Healing. New York: Palgrave, 2002. Curtis, Heather D. Faith in the Great Physician: Suffering and Divine Healing in American Culture, 1860–1900. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2007. Griffith, R. Marie God’s Daughters: Evangelical Women and the Power of Submission. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997. Kelsey, Morton T. Healing and Christianity: In Ancient Thought and Modern Times. NY: Harper & Row Publishers, 1973. MacNutt, Francis. Healing. Altamonte Springs, FL: Creation House, 1988. MacNutt, Francis., and Judith MacNutt. “Four Types of Healing.” School of Healing Prayer Level I. Jacksonville, FL: Christian Healing Ministries, Inc., 2007. Martin, Bernice. “The Pentecostal Gender Paradox: A Cautionary Tale for the Sociology of Religion.” In Blackwell Companion to Sociology of Religion, edited by Robert K. Fenn, 52–66. Oxford, UK: Blackwell Publishers, 2001. Mellor, Philip A., and Chris Shilling. Re-Forming the Body: Religion, Community and Modernity. London: Sage, 1997. Okely, Judith. “Fieldwork Embodied.” In Embodying Sociology: Retrospective, Progress and Prospects, edited by Chris Shilling, 65–79. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing, 2007. “Religion and Public Life Project.” Pew Research, April 28, 2011, http://www.pewforum. org/2011/04/28/prayer-in-america/. Shilling, Chris. The Body and Social Theory. 2nd ed. Thousand Oaks: Sage, 2003. Shilling, Chris. The Body in Culture, Technology and Society. London, UK: Sage, 2005. Strang, S. “MacNutt, Francis Scott.” In The New International Dictionary of Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements. Rev. and exp., edited by Stanley M. Burgess and Eduard M. van der Maas, 855–856. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2002. Turner, Bryan S. Medical Power and Social Knowledge. 2nd ed. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications, 1995. Turner, Bryan S. The Body and Society: Explorations in Social Theory, 3rd ed. Los Angeles: Sage, 2008. Williams, Joseph W. Spirit Cure: A History of Pentecostal Healing. New York: Oxford University Press, 2013.

Afterword Margaret English de Alminana Within the stories of these Pentecostal and charismatic women are found themes of empowerment and lessons based on privilege, power, and justice. The testimonies in this volume suggest that authority, power, position are never static. They are part of an ongoing dance of negotiation and renegotiation. Pentecostal women are unique in that they were largely shaped by two sources, the call of faith and ministry that they considered to be sourced in the divine, and the human ecclesial authority structures that held a long tradition of privileging males and subordinating females. The story—her Pentecostal-charismatic story—is important because it offers the possibility of assessing human agency in response to limiting structures. We witness how individuals negotiate and respond, resist and acquiesce to this ongoing dance. Pentecostal women struggled to form an identity that was both integral to their own personal beliefs and to their own internal need to be free, autonomous human beings within the ecclesial traditions in which they found themselves. The historical leadership accomplishments of Pentecostal and charismatic women have been largely under-represented in the overall historical record. Their story represents a considerable omission that must continue to be researched and developed. They challenge long-held and reemerging ecclesial authority strictures and fuel an ongoing existential re-examination of both religious and secular anthropology. That so many of the early Pentecostal women lived in two paradigms—with one set of authority expectations for the home and one for the church community—creating a tightrope that could not be easily traversed—offers considerable and compelling insight into their reasoning and choices. The resultant relational damage has not been fully assessed. The implications for home and family of the anthropological assumptions based in the imago Dei need to be fully considered. A standpoint narrative of Pentecostal and charismatic women waits to be completed. The prospect of creating a standpoint theory based upon the unique experiences of women Pentecostals and charismatics offers unlimited opportunities for further study and examination that will inform the wider Pentecostal/charismatic metanarrative and help to advance social justice for those whose labors have long been finished, and for those whose labors are yet to begin. José Medina argues that certain epistemic advantages are resident in the experiences of the hermeneutically disadvantaged because their existence can become “the springboard for learning processes that can lead to alternative

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epistemic perspectives or the expansion of existing ones.”1 The unique benefit of such standpoint perspectives is that the possibility of gaps in information and assessment together with biases and blind spots are easier for the marginalized to see. The marginalized, according to Media, “will be better positioned to be attuned to the hermeneutical gap, to exhibit an inchoate sensitivity to what is missing, reacting to their own inability and that of others to name and communicate about something that in some sense feels real.”2 Additional research and analysis of primary materials will need to be accomplished in order to correct the veracity of the record as well as emancipate it from the male-centric framing of traditional approaches. Finally, the scholarly dialectic between the work of feminist scholars such as Fricker and others and Pentecostal women scholars has only been introduced, but much more work needs to be done. The epistemological implications with respect to social justice for women and other groups based upon one’s anthropological rootedness in the imago Dei is demonstrated to have been an early shaping factor in Pentecostalism that was lost. How this rootedness might impact the discussion of epistemology and social justice may be a rich field just waiting to be developed and harvested. With respect to further study, additional work needs to be accomplished to learn how those in silencing situations and traditions might develop strategies to work within those systems while attempting to bring change. Regarding ministry to Muslim women: Say Hello ministry offers a unique approach to female ministry, and based on its egalitarian format seems less encumbered with the traditional trappings of colonialist, authority, and powerdriven ministry structures that typify male-leadership. Further reflection and research on how ministry as a whole might change if empowered women leaders were fully represented in the shaping and management of them presents interesting possibilities. Beth Grant’s chapter on human trafficking offers a glimpse at a new generation of Pentecostal activists whose faith is expressed in championing causes of social justice. The issue of female merchandizing and sexual slavery is an important subject that deserves continued rigorous exploration and discussion. Much additional historical work needs to be done in the study of the many women who built and advanced Pentecostalism but have been overlooked. The linkages between the various early us and global movements, such as the Women’s Temperance Union and the National Congress of Mothers and Women’s 1 José Medina, The Epistemology of Resistance: Gender and Racial Oppression, Epistemic Injustice, and Resistant Imaginations, (Oxford: Oxford Press, 2013), 73. 2 Ibid., 74.

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Suffrage should be investigated further. The involvement of these pioneering women in the creation and implementation of laws involving child labor, education, etc., is another prospect for additional study, as is the continued study and analysis of the early egalitarianism presented at Azusa Street and beyond. Further investigation needs to be made into the many women who started Pentecostal churches, but whose organizations were taken from them and given to male counterparts by their oversight organizations or by social pressure once the churches and outreaches were viable and able to sustain a pastor’s salary.3 Author Estrelda Alexander calls for the crafting of liberative theologies as a Spirit-empowered and enlightened academic pursuit that takes seriously the biblical mandate to be responsive to issues of justice. Her call is underscored by the narrative lessons in this book. In the final analysis, the Aussie pioneers, with their striking resilience and resistance, offer a model for creating real and lasting change. We all have a great deal to learn from them. Nevertheless, all of the women whose voices and testimonies form this narrative account demonstrate courage in their own ways and contexts in that they attempted to serve God and their fellow humans with the best from their lives. Although humanly flawed as are we all, their stories woven together create a tapestry of faith and devotion – despite and because of having faced many challenges – that earn them an enduring place in story us all.

A Final Word Concerning Justice

In an overarching sense, this volume has attempted to confront issues of justice with respect to women and their place, purpose, voice, and labors 3 Early in the denomination’s history, the first ag superintendent, E.N. Bell, “began to advance the idea that the works begun by women, often achieved through the most difficult phases of ministry development, were waiting for a male leader to come and to take them over. It was a smacking delegitimizing of the hard work and gifting these women brought to Pentecostalism. Bell became outspoken in his effort to see men come in and divest women of their achievements. One way in which he did this was by advancing the notion that the women were not created for such heavy labor, and that men should come in and lift the burden from their shoulders.” See Margaret English de Alminana, “A Biographical Survey of 20th Century Female Pentecostal Leadership and an Incipient Egalitarian Struggle” (PhD diss., Glyndŵr University, u.k.), 2011; Bell insisted that men were … “‘better adapted…to rule and govern assemblies and that God had wanted to ‘take these heavy responsibilities off [women’s] shoulders.’” see E.N. Bell, “Women Elders,” The Christian Evangel, 15 August 1914, p. 2; see also Edith L. Blumhofer, The Assemblies of God, 207.

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within the Pentecostal/charismatic systems. Some might suggest that issues of justice for women and justice regarding the legitimate gifts and callings of those who have struggled to be within patriarchal systems should be framed by the larger concept of justice, that either men or women might succeed or fail to exercise authority justly. Although it is indeed the case that men do and have operated justly toward women, and women have also operated unjustly toward men and vice versa, the rootedness of this discussion was intended to mine more deeply by examining and exposing the systems themselves. For although justice might occur in instances and events, systems, too, must be just. If a system portends to see itself as the body of Christ, by virtue of its self-identified being it must then be fully and justly represented by all of its members. To marginalize and exclude some moves the entire system away from the moorings of its own good intention and purpose. Therefore, this volume has not argued for acts of justice or retributive actions, and neither has it argued for disproportional positioning of any group. Instead, the justice concerns of this book have been targeted toward the ecclesiological system. The overriding justice concern of this book is best described by Elisabeth Moltmann, who answers the question: What do women want? “What women want is a new community in which those in power begin to listen to those without power. A community where there are opportunities for the powerless to express themselves and get organized. A community in which power is redistributed and those in power learn to give up their power—for the sake of justice. Women want a community which is not obsessed with profit and economic growth but concerned with the basic needs of all human beings.”4 Women want the church to more fully express the imago Dei.

4 Moltmann, Elisabeth and Jürgen, “Becoming Human in New Community,” State of Nature (Autumn 2007), 355.

Editor’s Note to Appendix A The following two appendices are personal testimonies and are offered as first-order discourse because of the academic value of reading first-hand testimonial material. They serve to remind the theorist that one cannot detach the academic study of theology from first order discourse. The first testimony is the personal narrative of Naomi Dowdy. As a child, Naomi Dowdy had a divine encounter where God gave her a glimpse of her life’s calling as a missionary. However, this remained buried in her memory as life’s realities—a single parent family, an impoverished background, and bullies at school—took their toll on her. As a working adult, this calling resurfaced and became the prime motivating force in her life. Even before receiving Bible school training, she began leading people to Christ, reaching out to alcoholics on skid row, and preaching on the radio. At age thirty-one, she left for the remote Marshall Islands in the South Pacific where she spent nine years as a missionary, evangelizing the islanders and mentoring young leaders. In 1975, Dowdy was invited to pastor a small church in Singapore. She resisted the call but lost her argument with God. In 1976, she pioneered Teen Challenge (Singapore) working closely with the government and Interpol to deal with Singapore’s growing problem of drugs. She founded many new, cuttingedge ministries, in addition to serving in many positions of leadership such as chairperson for the 15th Pentecostal World Conference in Singapore (1989). Over the years, Trinity Christian Centre grew into one of the island-state’s largest churches with over 4,000 in attendance and a wide-reaching missions program that touched more than thirty nations. The church now owns three properties, including the largest Christian complex in the nation. Dowdy also founded tca College, the largest accredited multi-disciplinary Pentecostal/ charismatic college in the nation. In 2005, after almost thirty years, she handed the church over to her successor whom she had mentored as a spiritual son. Since then, the church has continued to grow and now enjoys more than 7,000 attendees. During her years of ministry, Dowdy was the first woman elected to the General Council Executive Committee in Micronesia and Singapore. She led in the development and writing of training materials for effective discipleship used by churches in over twenty nations. Dowdy has written five books regarding the restoration of all of God’s gifts to the church and various articles dealing with issues facing the church today.

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Today, as Chancellor of tca, Dr. Dowdy, who turned 81 in 2016, continues to travel internationally, mentoring pastors, leaders, and business people. Her passion is to make disciples into leaders—most recently mentoring powerful female leaders, helping them navigate through traditional female stereotypes and work with men, for the purposes of God’s kingdom globally. The material that follows provides some brief excerpts of Dowdy’s ‘testimony.’ As described in this volume’s Introduction, testimony serves as a critical component of Pentecostal/charismatic life, focusing on oral or written transmission of the experiential dimension as a key to understanding and lived theology in order to deepen perception of what the Spirit of God is doing. Testimony for Pentecostal/charismatics provides the language of personal encounter and personal relationship rather than the language of the systematic theologian or the heavily theorized academic. Dowdy’s testimony that follows begins when she was a young adult.

Appendix A: The Testimony of Naomi R. Dowdy

Salvation and Calling

God began to ‘hunt me down’ when I was working in an aerospace company in San Diego, California as a young adult. While there, I met a Christian girl who was always talking about miracles, healing, and the Holy Spirit. Although I had gone to church while growing up, God and church had not been on my mind since my late teens. I thought my colleague’s relationship with God was wonderful, but I was uninterested and declined all but one of her invitations to attend church. One Saturday morning my colleague showed up on my doorstep with a friend. I invited them in and made coffee. We were chatting at the dining table when, suddenly, she stopped talking, looked me in the eye, and asked, “Don’t you want to receive Christ as your Savior?” To my surprise, I found myself saying, “Yes!” Before I even realized what was happening, they jumped up from their seats, came over to my side of the table, took me by the hand, and ushered me into the living room. They got me on my knees, and started laying hands on me, praying for me. They asked me to repeat the sinner’s prayer, which I did. As they did this, I flashed back to an encounter I had with God when I was nine or ten years old. I saw myself seated in a Sunday evening service at First Baptist Church, 7th and Broadway, in Nashville. There I was, singing an old hymn, and the chorus of the song went like this: “Let the lower lights be burning, send a beam across the wave. Some poor fainting, struggling sea man, you may rescue, you may save.” As I had sung those words as a child, I had cried. It had felt as if hot, burning lava was flowing down my cheeks, and I heard a voice say, “And that’s what I want you to do.” I remember turning to see who was speaking to me, but there was no one. When I looked around, the church seemed as though it stretched over a mile in width and length. I was like a remote island, far away from anyone else. I knew I had heard God’s voice, but did not know who to talk to about it. I decided to bury that word in my heart. Now as my colleague and her friend prayed for me, those memories emerged. Although I was unclear about the significance of my encounter with God as a child, I now received a sudden revelation: God was calling me to be a missionary. After this divine encounter, I was on fire for God and was baptized at twentyfour years of age and became active in the First Assembly of God Church in San Diego where I was given opportunities to preach to the homeless and © koninklijke brill nv, leiden, ���7 | doi 10.1163/9789004332546_035

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drunkards on Skid Row. I was crazy enough to believe that whatever God said, he would do. Fearlessly, I told drug addicts, “If you pray, God will clean you up.” I would declare boldly to alcoholics, “After we pray for you, you will not want any more alcohol.” I was excited about Jesus, and everyone could see it. One time the Lord gave me a night vision or a dream. I saw an island and a girl with long, flowing hair and with arms outstretched. No words were spoken in the dream, but as I rolled out of bed and got onto my knees to pray, it was like a Macedonian call. I knew I was called to go to these people. After that vision, whenever I opened my Bible, every scripture seemed to be about islands. I was sure God was calling me to some islands somewhere, but I did not know exactly where or when. I became impatient with Him. “God, when?” became my heart’s cry. As I prayed, I heard God say, “In three years.”

Spirit Direction and Empowerment

Around 1962, through a series of events, God moved me to Los Angeles. God worked in an unusual way. I had driven up to Whittier, California, to attend revival meetings at a Foursquare Church. Miracles were happening, people were coming to Christ, and there was just an awesome presence of God. I felt God wanted me to move to the area and be a part of this move of God. So I quit my job and moved in with a family living in the area. Since God had led me there, I believed He would provide a job for me. Sure enough, after a few months, I found myself working as a computer analyst and programmer for Autonetics, an aerospace company in Anaheim. My work was demanding and consumed most of my time, leaving me little time for ‘normal’ church activities. However, as I prayed, I realized that the three years God had given me now had passed. So I became desperate in my prayers: “God, you said three years. The time is up. Which islands do I go to?” Again, God arranged a divine appointment. As a busy twenty-nine-year-old, whenever I was free on Saturday nights I would drive people to Teen Challenge1 in l.a. for their service. That Saturday night, a young man named Sam Sasser was speaking. He was preparing to return to the Marshall Islands with his wife and children. As I listened to him speak, I felt as though a volcano was rumbling inside me. During the prayer time, I lay on the floor under the benches, crying out: “God, my three years are over. Which islands are for me?” 1 Founded in 1958 by David Wilkerson, “Teen Challenge offers Christ-centered, faith-based solutions to youth, adults, and families who struggle with life-controlling problems.” See “About,” Teen Challenge, http://teenchallengeusa.com/about.

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Within weeks, I had met with Sam’s wife Florence, and discussed my going to the Marshall Islands with them. I knew this was where God wanted me to go, because it was aligned with what God had been speaking to me. There was a peace. God was with me throughout my time in the Marshall Islands, and he took care of me, just as he had promised. On more than one occasion as we would meet in buildings, or even in structures made from coconut branches, the Holy Spirit would be moving, baptizing people. Worship would be so powerful, until people from some distance away would come running to help put out a fire they saw above our location. They would arrive only to discover that there was no physical fire—only the fire of God present. These were awesome years. After nine years, the time came for me to return to the States for a furlough in 1974. Although I did not know what I was going to do next, I felt my assignment there was over. I sensed God speaking to me about making disciples, but I was not sure exactly what He wanted me to do. I made a quick trip to Guam, and a group of leaders there prayed over me, prophesying that I was to begin making disciples. I considered myself an evangelist, so I was struggling with how to include disciple-making into my calling. God was clearly speaking, but I was uncertain about what he meant in practical terms. During my furlough, the Foreign Missions Department of the Assemblies of God gave me a new role as a missionary evangelist, traveling and preaching wherever I was invited in the Far East. In 1975, I attended a conference for all the missionaries and national leaders serving in the Far East. At that gathering in Taiwan, the national leadership from Singapore met with me, asking me to return to Singapore and minister in their churches. Through the Spirit’s direction, I was asked to take over the pastorate of Trinity Christian Centre, a small church, five years old, with forty-two members, and seventy-five problems. I agreed to stay six months. However, God had other plans. The church began to grow rapidly, and by 1977 and 1978 there was a shift in the spiritual atmosphere of the church. God showed up, and people were being filled with the Spirit. Miracles were happening. People were experiencing healing, financial provision, relationship restoration, and other types of miracles. Couples who had been divorced were now getting remarried. The church was doubling each year and continually relocating to larger auditoriums. Things were happening at such a rapid pace that I soon forgot about my promise to be there for only six months. As it turned out, God had me in the right place at the right time. Over the next two years, the Holy Spirit moved powerfully in Singapore and beyond. The Charismatic Renewal saw waves of revival meetings. Believers from the mainline churches received the baptism of the Holy Spirit and others became increasingly open to the gospel. The Charismatic

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Renewal opened more doors for women to lead and serve and also provided opportunities to break down denominational barriers. The Methodist churches invited me to teach on the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit came, touched people, and filled them. Today, almost every Methodist church in Singapore has two kinds of services: the usual, liturgical service as well as a more Charismatic service with prayer for Holy Spirit baptism and healing. These rapid, groundbreaking developments did not escape the notice of the local pastoral association, which was male-dominated and traditional in its thinking. The pastors debated among themselves about whether it was biblical for a woman senior pastor to be leading a church. One of the male faculty members at the Singapore Bible College responded with these remarkable words of wisdom: We see the evidence of an anointing and a ministry that is producing results. If the same miracles and growth were taking place under a male leader, we would be cheering and praising the Lord. However, because it is a woman, you are murmuring among yourselves. If we have problems with that simply because it is a woman, then perhaps we should be examining our theology. That was a timely word of divine wisdom, much like the word of wisdom Gamaliel gave to the Sanhedrin in Acts 5:34–39. God was at work to defend my ministry, and Singapore became my place of destiny.

Editor’s Note to Appendix B The history of Pentecostal missions is replete with testimonies of courageous women of faith—young and old—from varied ethnic groups and socio-­ economic backgrounds, stories both renowned and unsung. Such exploits are not solely the legacy of previous centuries but of this twenty-first century as well. Some have said that the ongoing narrative of Theresa D’Souza Greenhough of Kolkata, India, reads like a page from the book of Acts. The following appendix to this volume provides an excerpt of D’Souza Greenhough’s full narrative biography, as told to Barbara Cavaness Parks in the volume, Unbelievable … Yet True (Springfield, mo: Harvester, 2011). This testimony provides offers readers an opportunity to consider what may be ‘caught’ concerning Spirit-filled women in leadership who face and overcome many challenges. Cavaness Parks recounts how the biography came to be: “In my role as a missionary educator for the last forty years, I first met Theresa in Springfield, Missouri, where I was teaching at the Assemblies of God Theological Seminary. Her messages at our Pentecost, Prophecy, & Power Conference ministered to me, and we became friends. Meeting first on this side of the ocean and then in India, when I would come to preach or teach, we often talked about God’s working in her life. She felt I should be the one to put her experiences into writing. I agreed, believing that many more people would be blessed by the testimonies of her walk in the Spirit. Several years of interviewing her and listening to tapes resulted in the book Unbelievable … Yet True. This modified excerpt intends to give the reader a glimpse of a delightful present-day woman of faith and power, an articulate, anointed preacher, who lives and works in a part of the world where being female often means being powerless and voiceless. The following excerpts from the book (used by permission), intentionally weaves together my voice and hers, in order to condense the biography, yet to allow readers to hear her heart.” Cavaness Parks takes the reader back to the salient contributions of Pentecostal women to mission efforts around the world throughout the twentieth century, efforts largely responsible for laying the seedbed for the surge in global Pentecostalism experienced today. In her biographical narrative of longtime missionary to India, Theresa D’Souza Greenhough, this narrative brings the theoretical discussions of this present volume to life.

© koninklijke brill nv, leiden, ���7 | doi 10.1163/9789004332546_036

Appendix B: The Testimony of Theresa D’Souza Greenhough

Early Life

Born into a Roman Catholic family in Mumbai, India, Theresa D’Souza was the sixth in a family of nine children. While Theresa was still a child, her devout parents received the baptism in the Holy Spirit and became a part of the Catholic Charismatic Movement. Their home was turned into a house of prayer, where she regularly witnessed miracles of healing and deliverance.

Personal Encounter with God

Theresa, however, had plans that did not focus on God. She wanted to be a famous star and appear on tv. Her lifestyle included dancing and partying all night, and skipping college classes, though she trained six hours a day for the Olympic trials. She set new all-India records in long-distance running and high jumping. God got her attention, however, one day on her way home from running with a friend, when God miraculously spared her from an oncoming train. “When my feet touched the very first set of tracks, my body went limp and I was unable to move at all. It felt like electricity flowing through those tracks. Suddenly people were screaming from the bridge, ‘Don’t commit suicide!’ The train slammed on its brakes, and when it came to a stop, the driver climbed down. My girlfriend thought I was under the train and was crying her heart out. The driver picked me up from where I was still standing almost paralyzed and set me on my feet between the two sets of tracks. He looked straight into my eyes and said, ‘My child, I don’t know which god you worship, but your God has spared your life today. I didn’t stop that train. I’m near retirement. I know this engine inside out. It takes a few minutes of monitoring this engine before it can come to a perfect halt. Today this train stopped of its own accord. I didn’t touch one button in that engine.’” Sitting in her parents’ bedroom one night, she began shaking in repentance. “‘God, I’m a sinner,’ I cried. ‘I’m not worthy.’ I rushed from there into the kitchen, so as not to wake the family, and stayed there for hours. That night I was truly born again and baptized in the Holy Spirit. It was a tremendous encounter with Christ. From 10 p.m. until 2 a.m. I sang and worshiped him in tongues. I was so full of God; I became a changed person. I realized I was singing so © koninklijke brill nv, leiden, ���7 | doi 10.1163/9789004332546_037

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beautifully, and it was in a language I had not heard. I felt so clean. Then I offered myself for service to the Lord.”1

Dedicated to God and Ministering the Gifts of the Spirit

Theresa felt directed to join a Roman Catholic convent and became a postulant in Kolkata with the Loreto congregation. Then came two years as a novice, which included a time of intense prayer and study of Ignatian spirituality before assignment to Loreto Entally, a school attached to the training center. God continued to use her as a Spirit-filled nun. When her mother had a stroke, Theresa traveled home to pray for her, and her mother was completely healed.

An Unusual Call

After about five years, Theresa was sent to be the principal of the high school at Darjeeling, North India. Several years later, she moved to the Loreto High School in Shillong. God continued to use her there in words of knowledge and gifts of healing. Theresa worked in the same institution Mother Teresa had been with as a Loreto nun. God sent Mother Teresa back to that place one Sunday with a special message for a particular nun. Theresa had been restless and eager to make a change. Mother Teresa sought her out and said, “My child, the time has not yet come for you to leave the convent. When the time comes, God himself will reveal his plan to you. For right now, stay where you are.” So for thirteen and a half more years she waited, saw miracles, healings, and deliverance of people possessed by demons. She spoke in languages she had never learned. She gave medical advice and shared the good news in hospitals. She yielded to the Holy Spirit, ministering sixteen to eighteen hours each day. God moved her from position to position, from headmistress of huge institutions— schools with high standards—to principal of the Loreto Intermediate College in Lucknow. In 1991 and early 1992, Theresa had a recurring vision of herself standing behind a pulpit with her Bible and preaching to a sea of people: “They all wore different kinds of clothing. Their faces were different colors; I knew they were Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, and even Westerners. The Holy Spirit was beginning 1 All quoted passages are from Theresa D’Souza Greenhough and Barbara Cavaness, Unbelievable … Yet True (Springfield, mo: Harvester, 2011), adapted and used with permission of the authors.

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to do things in my life and in the lives of these people. As I was preaching the Word, I noticed people being touched by the Spirit, convicted, baptized, or slain in the Spirit. I saw people getting up from wheelchairs and praising God. I noticed the blind seeing, the deaf hearing, the dumb speaking, and lepers getting cleansed. In my vision, not one person was concentrating on me. They were all lost in Jesus. And then I heard these words clearly in my spirit. God said, ‘My child, I will take you to an international Bible college. I will ground you in the Scriptures, and I will bring you back to the land of many gods to tell the people of the one true God.’ Which group in Asia; which country has the most gods? India worships over 33 million gods; they need to know the one true God. Who will take the message to them?” Theresa had never heard of a nun preaching, so she fought the vision in the belief it had come from Satan. She went to an elderly Jesuit priest for counsel. With tears he said to her, “Sister, it is Jesus whom you have followed all along. Don’t you think this is Jesus calling you? It’s the same Jesus who’s calling you to follow Him. He wants you to leave the convent. The time has come for you; go and do his will outside now. The Holy Spirit wants to use you in these end times. Get up, leave the convent, and do what he is telling you to do.” She finally humbled herself and listened to God, leaving the convent after being a nun fifteen years. She stepped out into the unknown and put herself wholly in God’s hands, realizing that the same Lord who had been speaking to her in dreams and visions was still directing her steps.

Further Training

Theresa then determined that she would find a Pentecostal Bible college to get training to be a preacher. After being baptized in water, God opened the door for her to be admitted to Eastern Pentecostal Bible College in Peterborough and used her family and others to pay the fees. Within a year and a half, twenty-four members of her family had committed their lives to Christ and were baptized in water, without her preaching to any of them. God used her to bless the school, inspire the faith of fellow students, and accomplish assignments in miraculous ways.

Back to India

After graduating from Bible college and being ordained as a minister with the New Jersey District of the Assemblies of God, Theresa ministered on

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the radio five days a week and then preached in churches on Sundays. Once a year she would travel to India to minister. During one trip she was invited to go to a place called Vijayawada. She booked a train from Bangalore to Chennai. As Theresa boarded the train, she was the only woman. Soon five drunks got in beside her in the small sleeping compartment with bunks on each side. Talking among themselves plotting to rape her, the men did not realize Theresa could understand Bengali. Theresa quoted to herself the scripture, “God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind” (2 Tim. 1:7, kjv), remembering that God has angels—‘ministering spirits, sent forth to minister’ (Heb. 1:14) to her. “I was praying in the Spirit as the three men on the opposite side teetered toward me in their drunken stupor. … Then, above the screech of metal hitting metal, as the wheels of the express train moved faster on the tracks, I heard a voice behind me speaking in English: ‘Pastors, we are all scattered for the night. I will give you the seat numbers.’ I realized this was a group of five men—the same number of men who were in my part of the compartment. I looked up and saw an unusually tall gentleman, olive-complexioned and very well dressed. I said to him, ‘Excuse me, I happen to be a minister, too.’ He took my hand and shook it while greeting me. So I continued with holy boldness, ‘Would you mind, please, asking these men to change their seats for those of yours for the night?’ “He shook my hand again and said, ‘Sister, that’s a great idea.’ He bent down, still towering over me as I was seated, and spoke in some other language to the drunken men. I couldn’t understand the words, but like lambs, they quickly picked up their luggage, boxes, and bags, and then like lightning, they moved out of the area. He put the fear of God in them.” “The tall man was followed by four other gentlemen with white complexions into my section. That night we praised, worshipped, and gave glory to God; we didn’t sleep. They were on their way to hold a meeting further down the line than where I was getting off. I was very comforted in my spirit; I was not alone. We exchanged business cards and addresses. One pastor was from Indianapolis, another from Virginia. I told them I’d catch up with them within the next couple months in the States.” “Later, when I got back to New Jersey, I called the church in Virginia and asked for the senior pastor by name to greet him. The church secretary said, ‘Excuse me, what’s the name again?’ I told her and she said, ‘I’ve been here 30 years, and there’s never been a man by that name as senior pastor here.’ Every place I tried to contact, from the cards of those pastors, I got the same story. Only then did I realize that God had put warring angels around me.”

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God-Arranged Marriage

Theresa’s biography reads like the twenty-ninth chapter of Acts—miracles of healing, deliverances, words of wisdom and knowledge at the altar, prophecies, visions and dreams, and supernatural entrance into countries and cities as the Spirit has led. Even the way God led her to be married was extraordinary. David Greenhough, missionary to Jamaica, was raising funds to go and teach at a school in Tamil Nadu, India. As he waited outside a pastor’s office in Reno, Nevada, he picked up a copy of the Pentecostal Evangel. He opened the first page saw a photo of Theresa praying for people. The Holy Spirit said to him, “This woman will be your wife.” He called the New Jersey district to get her contact information and then began to try to introduce himself to her. At the time, she was on a preaching trip to India. She discarded his information. It wasn’t until God began to speak to her—five times on different continents and through different people—that she was convinced marriage to David was God’s plan. The couple had only three weeks together before holding a wedding with 700 guests. They left for India the same week and spent a year teaching at three Bible schools and preaching at different churches every weekend. Soon they felt led to open a free medical clinic in Bangalore and its surrounding slums. Next was a free school for street kids—beggars, garbage pickers, the homeless, children of drunkards, thieves, and prostitutes—providing baths, clothes, food, and the teaching of basic primary subjects and Bible stories. Eventually they were ministering to 150 Hindu children, and they established a boarding school. Soon they started a church in a shed in her brother’s garden. Invitations to minister came from China, the Philippines, Singapore, Hong Kong, Australia, and many parts of India and the us. In 2008, Theresa and David dedicated a three-story stone building for their boarding school, debt free. In 2013, they opened a community college for young women who could not afford to go to Bible school. The goal was to equip them for ministry as well as to train them vocationally so they might be self-supporting church planters. Theresa often counseled students to say the word or take the step that God was asking, and as they obeyed, he revealed the next words or steps, resulting in unlimited opportunities to walk in the Spirit. The story continues to the present, accompanied by signs and wonders at every step. Conclusion Today, Theresa ministers as a modern-day apostle, prophet, evangelist, and pastor-teacher as the Holy Spirit continues to bestow gifts in and through her.

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She is as comfortable ministering to thousands in a large city as to a handful of street urchins in a rural village. With great anointing, yet a humble spirit, she models faith, vision, and encouragement, and she champions the poor, the leper, and the powerless. From her living example of servant leadership and being used by the Spirit, many observers have ‘caught’ God’s message for their own lives as well.

Index Abplanalp, Marilyn 327, 344 adelphē 41–42 Alexander, Estrelda Yvonne 25, 36n, 57n, 75–76, 81n, 90n, 92n, 93n, 103n, 110n, 111, 116–117, 126, 130, 132n, 133, 218n, 297n, 320, 323, 387 Alexander, Kimberly 37n, 44n, 48, 49n, 153, 215n All We’re Meant to Be: A Biblical Approach to Women’s Liberation 234, 235n Althouse, Peter 26, 89, 94n, 189n, 368–370 Ambrose, Linda M. 24, 227, 229, 231n angels 18n, 83, 260n, 399 Angeles Temple 81 anomalism 5, 161 Anthony, Susan B. 104 Apostle Paul 237, 313, 336 views on women. See teaching, biblical on women. 241, 281, 348, 350, 354, 355n (The) Apostolic Faith 15, 75n, 76n, 88n, 106, 107n, 109n, 110, 112–113, 122–125, 127–129, 131 Apostolic Faith Mission. See Azusa Mission Archer, Kenneth 2n, 4, 33n, 37n, 153 Archer, Melissa 22, 33, 35 Artman, Amy C. 23, 163–164 Assemblies of God (ag) 4n, 15–16, 18–21, 24–25, 57, 70–72, 74, 76n, 79, 81, 83n, 84n, 85–86, 115, 130, 145, 149n, 150, 159, 206n, 208n, 209n, 210, 211n, 212n, 215, 216n, 217n, 231, 271, 293, 295, 296–298, 304, 316, 327n, 387n, 398 Assemblies of God Theological ­Seminary xi, 266, 295n, 311n, 395 Assemblies of God World Missions (agwm) 90n, 159n, 251 Department of Foreign Missions (dfm) 393 Austin, Denise 24, 203–204, 209n, 210n, 213n, 214n, 215n, 217n authentein 50–52 authority 3–4, 7–8, 35, 36n, 43n, 44, 46n, 48, 50–51, 58–61, 64, 67–68, 76, 79–87, 90, 92–95, 101n, 103n, 107, 112, 116, 126, 133, 142, 147n, 160, 162n, 163, 181, 185–186,

188, 193, 195, 198, 207, 212–213, 227, 237, 247, 309, 328, 330, 343n, 373, 385–386, 388 Azusa Mission, Azusa Street Mission, Azusa Street Revival, Apostolic Faith Mission 8, 10, 15, 23, 36n, 75–76, 81, 88, 101, 103, 105–106, 108, 110–113, 115–133, 144n, 151n, 159, 206, 293, 341, 368, 387 Ayres, Mary (Molly) 208 Bakker, Tammy Faye 160, 181, 185, 191–193 baptism/baptized (Spirit) 16–17, 37–38, 53–54, 85, 92, 93, 94n, 110, 132, 144–145, 152, 393–394, 396 baptism/baptized (water) 18n, 83 Barfoot, Charles 18n, 85–87 Bartleman, Frank 106, 110n, 115, 119–121 Bell, E. N. 79, 80, 93, 387n Benvenuti, Sherilyn 15n, 20n, 70n, 86–87, 95n Bhutto, Benazir 262 Bible. See Scripture biblical 2n, 4, 5, 22, 24–25, 33–34, 36–37, 41n, 46, 57–59, 64, 66–67, 77, 101, 104–105, 122, 159, 194, 227, 230, 235, 237, 248, 276n, 282, 295, 297, 306–307, 316, 320–325, 332–335, 338, 342–344, 348–349, 354–356, 359n, 364n, 387, 394 bivocational ministry. See ministry, bivocational Blumhofer, Edith 76n, 79n, 82, 83n, 306n, 387n Boko Haram 249 Booth, Catherine 64n, 65–66, 140, 233 boundaries 6, 11, 39, 43, 160, 169, 238, 279, 354, 357–360 fear-based 358 respect-based 348, 358–359 self-protection 358 Bowler, Kate 23, 183–184, 185n, 193n, 194n Boyd, Frank 83–84 Brooks, Geraldine 261 Brown, Marie Burgess 83 Brown, Robert 18, 82–83 Brusco, Elizabeth 205, 372, 373n

403

Index Buchanan, Leila 212, 216 Bushnell, Katharine C. 66, 101, 104–105, 141, 149, 233 Bynum, Juanita 194n, 196–198 Caine, Christine 219 Cartledge, Marie 215 Carver, Loyce 115 Catholic. See Roman Catholic Cavaness, Barbara (Parks) 36n, 50n, 51n, 71n, 90, 149n, 159n, 160n, 280n, 351n, 352n, 354n, 395, 397n Chapman, Velma 230 Charismatic(s) 1–13, 20–24, 26, 58, 71, 102, 140, 160, 162–166, 170, 172–179, 181–185, 190, 196, 227, 229, 231, 251n, 295, 309, 313, 320, 330, 333, 336, 338, 340, 368–371, 376–378, 381–382, 385, 388–390, 394 Charismatic Movement; ­Charismatic Renewal; Charismatic Renewal ­Movement 2, 91, 159, 161n, 162, 164–165, 175, 178, 214, 218, 238–239, 333n, 370, 393–394, 396 Child sexual exploitation 271–273, 277–280, 282–286 Christian(s), Christianity xxi, 2n, 3n, 6, 23, 26, 33, 37, 40–45, 48–49, 50n, 51, 63–68, 88, 90–92, 104, 111, 116, 141n, 152, 160, 162n, 163–166, 168, 170, 172, 174–179, 183n, 191–194, 199, 208, 214, 217–218, 220, 229–230, 233–236, 238, 241–243, 247–248, 250–260, 263–267, 271, 275, 278, 281, 284, 295, 297–300, 302–303, 310, 320n, 321, 323–328, 330–332, 335, 342, 343n, 350, 353, 355, 358n, 368, 370, 374, 375, 376n, 380, 389, 391 Christian scholarship 230, 233, 235, 239–240, 320 Christian and Missionary Alliance 16, 141n, 144–146 Christians for Biblical Equality (cbe) 22, 36, 58, 66n, 68n, 105 Church Multiplication Network 296 church planting 25, 150, 205, 217, 293, 295, 297–299, 304, 306–316, 362 Clifford, Anne 4, 5n, Cochran, Pamela 234, 237

co-gender ministry 26, 348–351, 353–360, 362–364 commodification of girls, women 275, 282 communication style(s) 361–363 convent 387–398 Cook, Glenn 107, 110–111, 121 Copeland, Gloria 190–192, 194 Council for Biblical Manhood and Womanhood 36 Court, Margaret 216 Cox, Harvey 14, 89, 117n, 121, 124, Crabtree, Loralie Robinson 20, 25, 293, 295–297, 314n Crawford, Florence 10, 15, 18, 23, 81, 87, 101, 103, 105, 107–115, 117–126, 129–133, 140, 159 Crawford, Ray 115 Crouch, Donna 218 Crouch, Jan 160, 181, 185, 191–192 cultural analysis. See missional helix Danvers Statement 36 Daughters of God, role of 272, 284 Dayton, Donald 14n, 85, 89, 143n, 145, 206n, 235n, de Alminana, Margaret English 1, 13n, 23, 385, 387n deacon 41, 45, 52–53, 63, 67, 80, 301, 355 deliverance 284, 287, 324, 377, 380, 396, 400 Dempster, Murray 85, 93–94, 205n deprivation theory 85, 89, 338 devaluation 58, 59, 64, 66–67, 275, 282 diakonon; diakonos. See deacon diacritical 3, 10, 25 divine healing; Divine Healing Movement  23, 143–146, 148–149, 151, 165, 172–175, 178, 186, 189n, 195, 371, 374, 377, 381, 391, 394 (The) Doctrines and Disciplines of the Azusa Street Apostolic Faith Mission of Los Angeles, Cal. 76n, 118n, 120, 341n Dotson, Kristie 10, 70n Dowdy, Naomi R. 4n, 389–391 du Plessis, David 231, 238n Durham, William H. 118–121, 132, ecstatic expression 4, 380n ecumenical feminism. See feminism

404 egalitarian(ism) 2, 9, 13n, 16–19, 22–23, 33–34, 36–38, 43n, 49n, 57–59, 64n, 65, 70, 72–75, 80n, 87–88, 92–94, 101, 103–107, 113, 115–117, 120–122, 132–133, 140, 181, 189, 193n, 206, 211, 247, 267, 275, 301, 309, 341n, 349, 352n, 355–356, 364n, 386–387 embodiment, body 2n, 60, 276, 369–378, 380, 382 embourgeoisement 23, 72, 74, 85, 88–89, 91 empowerment, empower, Spirit-empowered  7–8, 33, 38, 73, 109, 160, 182, 204, 205n, 249, 306, 336, 338–339, 364, 368–369, 373, 381–382, 386, 392 epistemology 4, 8, 10–12, 101, 102n, 321, 385, 386 epistemic counterpoints 3 epistemic friction 3 epistemic injustice 294, 320, 321n, 386n epistemic violence 8, 10, 12, 70, 101, 131, 271 epistemological gaps 8 epistemological process 2 equal, equality 1n, 33–34, 36, 43n, 45n, 54, 58–60, 64–68, 77–78, 81–83, 85, 87n, 90, 92–95, 104–105, 117, 131, 148, 181, 185, 193, 197, 199, 234, 236, 247, 274–275, 280, 301, 304, 306, 312, 325, 327, 329n, 331, 332n, 335, 348–350, 355, 359n, 364, 373 Equal Rights Amendment 182n, 190, eschatological, eschaton 23, 37, 43n, 72–75, 77–78, 80, 82, 84–86, 91–95, 123 Espinosa, Gastón 86–87, 150n Evangelical(s), Evangelicalism xxi, 17, 21–22, 25, 57–59, 64–67, 71, 73, 76, 77–78, 89n, 141n, 143n, 145, 147n, 148, 159, 160n, 167–168, 181, 185, 193n, 195n, 196, 199, 217n, 227–230, 233–237, 243–244, 297, 299n, 301, 303–304, 311, 320–335, 372, 373n, 381n evangelical feminism. See feminism. Evangelical Women’s Caucus 234–235 Everts (Powers), Janet. See Powers, Janet (Meyers Everts) Faupel, D. William 74–75, 189n Fee, Gordon 43n, 44n, 46n, 48, 50n, 52n, 53n

Index Feminine Mystique, feminine mystique 90n, 91, 159 femininity 14, 372 feminism, Feminist Movement 5n, 6, 8n, 9–12, 24, 33, 36n, 38, 76–77, 101n, 105, 159, 162n, 188–189, 194n, 204–205, 206n, 207, 211n, 215, 219, 227–230, 233–237, 239–240, 242, 244, 247, 293, 301, 303–304, 306, 309n, 323, 325, 330–333, 368n, 369–370, 371, 372n, 386 ecumenical feminism 234, 238, 242 evangelical feminism 234–235, 237, 242 Islamic feminism 262, 263n, 275 secular feminism 6–7, 227, 233–234, 240, 242 Finney, Charles 104, 147, 148n, 194n First Assembly of God, San Diego, California 391 First Baptist Church, Nashville, Tennessee 391 Fisher, Elmer Kirk 114, 119 Flower, Joseph R. 84 Foursquare Gospel, Church of 14, 15n, 16, 18, 20, 35, 70, 81–82, 213, 392 fresh talk 167 Friedan, Betty 64n, 90n, 91n fundamentalism 2–3, 17, 57, 159, 247, 260 Gause, R. Hollis 36n, 37n, 44n, 48, 49n Gaventa, Beverly 45 gay(s); gay rights. See homosexuality Gebara, Ivonne 5n gender 1n, 2–3, 6, 7n, 9n, 10n, 17–18, 22, 24–26, 36, 41, 43n, 44, 54, 57–59, 63, 65–67, 71n, 73–74, 76–78, 87–88, 94–95, 101–107, 117, 120, 131–133, 140, 142, 144, 153, 160–161, 162n, 164n, 193n, 203–206, 208, 211, 213n, 214, 219–220, 234–235, 240, 247, 252, 258, 260, 267n, 271, 273, 304, 320–321, 324, 325n, 330n, 331n, 335–337, 341, 343n, 348–351, 353–364, 368n, 369–373, 380–382, 386n gender bias 7, 10, 25, 57, 65, 101n, 102, 131, 220, 285–286, 310, 320, 355, 358, 386 gender paradox 369, 372–373, 381, 382 Genesis 43, 50n, 52, 57, 60–61, 66, 280 gentrified charismatic Christianity 177 Gerard, Bernice 227–244

Index Gimenez, Anne 193n, 199 gifts. See spiritual gifts girls. See women Global Initiative: Reaching Muslim ­Peoples 251–252, 263n, 266 God’s Women: Then and Now 36n, 50n, 51n, 280n, 351n, God’s Word to Women 66, 104, 233, Good News Hall Melbourne 206, 214, Gordon, Adoniram Judson (“A.J.”) 66n, 77, 93, 95, 146n, 306n Grant, A. Elizabeth (“Beth”) 24–25, 256, 285n, 294, 331n, 386 Greenhough, Theresa D’Sousa 4n, 395–396 Grey, Jacqueline N. (“Jacqui”) 24, 203–204, 207n, 212n, 213n Greer, Germaine; Greer’s The Female Eunuch 215, 242–243 Griffith, R. Marie 147n, 273 Haddad, Mimi 22, 58–59, 105n Hands that Heal: International Curriculum to Train Caregivers of Trafficking Survivors 285 Hardesty, Nancy 149n, 194n, 234–235, 237 Harding, Sandra 8, 12n Hassey, Janette 76, 77n Hausfeld, Mark 263, 265n Hausfeld, Lynda 24, 249, 251n, 252, 253n, 259n heal, healed, healing, health 2n, 23, 26, 40, 58, 110, 113, 143–146, 148, 149, 151–153, 160, 162, 164–166, 171–176, 178, 184–187, 189n, 194–195, 198, 205n, 206, 208–210, 240, 247, 256n, 278n, 283–287, 308–309, 312, 315, 328n, 329, 348–349, 351, 356– 357, 359, 364, 370–382, 391, 393–394, 396–397, 400 healing of disease 113, 284, 372, 374–376 healing from generational curses 377 inner healing, emotional healing 284, 302, 316, 333, 342, 368, 371, 373, 376n, 377–378, 380–382 medicine and healing 374 healing of memories 285, 377–378 physical healing 2n, 284, 373–374, 377, 382 therapy and healing 375–376, 380 Hebdo, Charlie 249

405 hermeneutical method 4 Higher Life Movement 93, 143n Hillsong Church 218–219 Hindu(s); Hinduism 274–275, 397, 400 holiness; Holiness (Movement) 4, 13–14, 17, 22–23, 50, 58–59, 73, 77, 84, 89n, 92–94, 104, 107, 109, 125n, 133, 140–144, 146n, 147, 149n, 206n, 214n, 327, 330, 340, 344 Hollenweger, Walter 78 Home of Peace 145, 150, 152 homosexual; homosexuality 7, 320, 325–326, 328, 333–336, 339, 342 hospitality 171, 247–249, 254–257, 266 hospitality ritual 171 host/hostess 162, 164, 167, 169–171, 179, 191, 238, 248, 257, 267n I Believe in Miracles television show 160, 162–166, 168, 170–173, 174n, 175, 176n, 177–178 imago Dei, image of God 12, 34, 37, 53, 54, 60, 81, 93, 348, 358, 364, 385–386, 388 imago Spiritus, image of the Spirit 34, 38, 54 institutionalization 23, 72, 74, 78, 85–86, 187, 193n, 208, 210, 307 Irwin, David and Debbie 251–252 isis 250–251 Islam(ic) 249–250, 252–254, 258, 260–263, 265–267, 274–275 folk Islam 265 honor in Islam 261, 274 radical Islam 249–251, 265 Iuliano, Anne 217 Jesuit(s) 398 Jesus 19, 37, 39–40, 45, 47, 49, 68, 76, 80, 106–107, 112, 154, 171, 186–187, 190, 216n, 218n, 220, 230, 232, 240–241, 248, 250n, 251, 256n, 258n, 264n, 266n, 281, 284, 287, 300–303, 307, 333n, 339, 342, 350–352, 358, 360, 373, 374, 392, 398 Jesus’ ministry to women 38, 40, 239–240, 252n, 272, 281, 348, 350, 352 Jesus’ ministry with women 38n, 40, 240, 348, 350–351 Jesus’ valuation of women 38n, 39–40, 235, 237, 239–240, 272, 281, 348, 351–352 Jewett, Paul K. 235

406 Johns, Cheryl Bridges 36n, 74–75, 85, 88, 93–94, 153 Jumaa Prayer Fellowship 252 kephalē 44 kingdom (of God) 40, 54, 68, 74–75, 78, 91, 94, 190, 266, 296, 309, 324, 337, 340, 342, 344, 351–352, 357, 359, 360, 371n, 390 Kroeger, Catherine and Richard 50n, 51, 52n Krstulovich, Donna 24, 249, 254n, 255n, 257n, 259n, 264n, 265n Kue, Eleanore 308, 312 Kue, Simon 312 Kuhlman, Kathryn 23, 246n, 147n, 159–179, 181, 213 Kyung, Chung Hyun 5 Lancaster, Sarah Jane 206–208, 212 leadership 1, 7, 9, 13, 15–22, 24–25, 34, 36–37, 41n, 43n, 44n, 48n, 49n, 51–53, 58–67, 71–72, 75, 80n, 81, 84, 90, 92n, 93, 101, 103–106, 108, 115–117, 120–125, 132, 140, 160–161, 181, 185, 188, 190, 193–194, 196, 199, 206, 208, 211–212, 214, 215n, 217n220, 227, 234, 236, 256n, 275, 293, 295, 297, 299, 301–302, 304–310, 313, 315–316, 320, 326n, 327n, 329–331, 334, 338, 348–350, 353, 355–364, 379, 385–386, 387n, 389, 393, 395, 401 leadership style(s) 106, 122, 348 lesbianism 7, 237, 325, 334–336, 339, 342 liberation, liberation theology 25, 93, 235, 283, 284, 287, 306, 320, 322–323, 325, 331–332, 334, 338–339, 341n, 343, 373 Lindsay, Freda 188, 190n, 191–192 Lubben, Shelly 278 Lum, Clara 110–111, 123–129 MacNutt, Francis 368, 370–371, 377, 380 MacNutt, Judith (Sewill) 370–371, 377n, 380 marginalized populations 1, 3, 9, 16, 63, 67, 74–75, 78, 85, 89, 102n, 131, 132, 141, 208, 210, 278n, 305, 320, 333n, 386 Martin, Bernice 369, 372–373 Marty, Martin 88 masculinity 372 Mason, Charles H. 115–116, 118, 123n, 129n, 320n

Index McClung, Nellie 233, 236 McKnight, James M. 238 McPherson, Aimee Semple 5, 13, 14–15, 18, 19n, 81, 82, 87, 140, 146n, 149, 151, 189, 208 Mernissi, Fatima 275–276 metanarrative 8, 26, 385 Methodist(s) 111, 206, 370 African Methodist Episcopal 338, 339n Free 21 Holiness 104 (in) Singapore 394 United 21 Meyer, Joyce 192, 195–196 Meyers Everts, Janet. See Powers, Janet (­Meyers Everts) Mick, Sandra and Joe 308, 312 ministry 3, 6, 13–14, 15n, 17, 18n, 20n, 22–26, 34–38, 40–43, 45–46, 48n, 49, 52–54, 58, 65–67, 70n, 72, 77n, 80, 82–84n, 86–87, 90n, 92, 93n, 95, 106–107, 109, 111, 113, 115–119, 121, 123–125, 131, 140, 142–144, 145n, 146, 147n, 148, 149n, 150n, 151–153, 159–161, 165n, 168, 171, 177, 182, 184, 186–187, 189–190, 193, 195–196, 205–206, 208n, 211, 213, 215–217, 220, 227, 229–234, 236–237, 240, 244, 247, 251–257, 259–260, 263–264, 267, 271–272, 282–287, 291, 293, 295–299, 303–316, 320n, 336, 341n, 348–351, 353–364, 368–371, 376, 379n, 380–381, 385–386, 387n, 389, 394, 400 bivocational 311, 313, 315–316 miracle(s), miraculous 117, 120, 146n, 160–178, 184–186n, 188, 198, 264n, 374, 391–394, 396–398, 400 miracle service/platform service 164, 168, 175 Miskov, Jennifer 23, 140–143, 144n, 147n, 149n, 151n, 153n mission(s), missional 10, 15, 19, 37, 39, 41, 50, 64–65, 71n, 75–76, 81, 88, 90, 101–103, 105–107, 109–114, 116–126, 128–131, 144, 147, 159n, 204, 206, 208, 212, 214, 220, 251, 257n, 263n, 266n, 272, 275, 281–282, 295–296, 298–299, 305–307, 309, 311, 313, 316, 323, 333, 336, 341, 351, 359, 371n, 389, 395

Index missional helix 25, 295, 297, 299n, 307–308, 316 missionary(ies) 14, 16, 25, 41, 42n, 64–66, 70, 73, 76, 77n, 79–80, 83, 90–91, 104, 112, 114, 126, 130, 141n, 144–146, 149–150, 159, 177, 188–189, 207n, 209, 211, 213–215, 231, 257n, 271, 275, 293, 297n, 298, 305, 315, 323, 333, 353, 368, 370, 389, 391, 393, 395, 400 Mitchem, Stephanie 5n, 6, 9, 11n Mix, Sarah 144, 146n, 151 Mohler, R. Alfred, Jr. 335 Montgomery, Carrie Judd 23, 140–153, 208 Morgan, Amos 109n, 110, 111n, 120–122, 126–127, 130 Morgan Howard, Concepción 150 Morgan, Jamie 314 Mother Teresa 397 Murphy, Emily 233, 236 Muslims. See Islam(ic) mutuality 36n, 54, 61, 259, 309 Myland, Wesley 80, 93 misogyny 331 Nance, Stephanie L. 26, 349, 359n narrative 1, 4–6, 8–9, 19, 23, 37, 40n, 51n, 58, 101, 105, 123, 125, 131, 165, 172, 178, 227, 281, 297, 332, 350n, 385, 387, 389, 395 National Congress of Mothers 103, 108, 386 Nelson, Douglas 123, 124n Obama, Barack 327, 328n, 329n Oduyoye, Mercy Amba 38n, 39 Okely, Judith 376n Olazábal, Francisco 146, 152 Olena, Lois E. 24, 247, 249, 256n Oleson, Ava K. 26, 349 ontological(ly) 43, 45, 57–59, 63–64, 66–67, 77, 85, 92–95, 326, 334 organizational culture 308 Osborn, Daisy 181, 184, 186, 191–193, 198 Osteen, Dodie 192, 194 Osteen, Victoria 195 paoc. See Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada Palmer, Phoebe 92–93, 95, 143n, 146n patriarchal, patriarchy 3, 7, 11, 12n, 17, 18n, 22, 33, 43, 48n, 59–63, 71, 73–74, 77,

407 82, 112, 140–142, 159–161, 181–183, 197, 203–204, 208, 227, 281, 295, 332–333, 349, 353, 355, 381, 388 patriarchal boundaries 6 Paul. See Apostle Paul Pearlman, Myer 83, 90 Pentecost Proclamation 57, 70, 71n, 72–73, 76–79, 81, 84, 87, 92–95 Pentecostal 1–26, 33–38, 43n, 44n, 46, 48n, 49n, 50, 53n, 54, 57–58, 70–95, 101–103, 105–106, 110n, 112, 114n, 115, 116n, 117n, 118, 121–123, 124n, 125n, 126n, 130n, 131–133, 140–142, 143n, 144–147, 148n, 149n, 150, 151n, 152–153, 159, 161, 162n, 163, 165, 172n, 173n, 181, 184–185, 189–194, 196–199, 203–220, 227–231, 238–239, 240n, 241n, 243, 247–249, 251, 264, 266–267, 271–272, 282, 284–285, 287, 293, 295, 296n, 297, 306, 309, 311, 313–314, 316, 320, 322–323, 327, 329–330, 332–336, 338, 340–343, 349–350, 359, 368–369, 370n, 371n, 372–373, 380n, 381, 385–390, 395, 398, 400 Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada 228, 230–231, 233, 238, 240–241 Pentecostal model 309, 313 political, politics 3n, 6n, 8, 11n, 12, 63, 87n, 101, 105, 106n, 166n, 177, 182, 185, 191, 199, 204, 218–219, 230–231, 236, 243, 262, 265, 324, 328n, 335, 339–341, 356n political nature of theology 335 pornography 273, 277–278 Powers, Janet (Meyers/Everts) 36n, 43n, 44n, 85, 92, 93n, 131, 205n, 297n (The) Prayer of Faith, the prayer of faith 144, 146n, 154 Prayer Rituals 369–370, 372, 376–378, 381–382 cutting free 378 exorcism, deliverance 375–377, 380 Father’s blessing 378–380, 382 healing, health 373–374, 377, 382 inner healing 373, 377–378, 382 Mother’s blessing 378–380, 382 resting in the Spirit 369, 372, 378, 380, 382 speaking in tongues 369, 372, 380, 382 surrender 380, 381–382

408 preach, preacher, preaching, 1n, 14, 18–19, 36, 51, 53, 58, 66, 73, 77, 79–84, 86, 90, 92, 94, 107, 109, 114, 116, 118–121, 140–141, 146–149, 152n, 160, 162, 181, 185–187, 189n, 191, 193, 195–199, 207, 209–211, 213–214, 232–233, 242–243, 282, 306, 321–322, 327, 330n, 331, 343n, 353, 362, 363n, 368, 389, 391, 393, 395, 397–400 Project Rescue 256, 271–272, 277n, 282–285 prophetic-priestly paradigm 18n, 85–89, 93–95 prophet(s), prophesying 1n, 15, 18n, 19, 23, 33, 37–38, 40, 43–48, 57, 61–63, 66n, 67, 70, 73–75, 76n, 77–78, 80, 82–83, 85–89, 92–95, 106–107, 122, 149, 185, 194n, 205n, 206, 211, 216, 227, 230, 236, 241, 249n, 260n, 264n, 281–282, 297n, 333, 342, 369, 372, 393, 395, 400 prosperity 24, 181, 184–185, 189–199 hard prosperity 194 prosperity gospel 181–182, 184–185, 188, 191–194, 198 soft prosperity 194 prostitution, prostituted 25, 65, 105, 271–272, 274, 277–279, 283–287 Identity, impact on 279–280 ministry to prostituted women, essential elements 271–272 ministry to prostituted women, role of community 256, 286 ministry to prostituted women, role of Pentecostal women ministers 284, 287 Sexual violence 195, 250, 271, 274, 276–279, 286, 331 Qualls, Joy E. A. 20, 25, 293, 295, 296n Querro, Mary 210 Qureshi, Nabeel 257, 258n racism 1, 18n, 57, 204, 210, 214, 326–327, 329n, 341, 342n Ramabai, Pandita 151 revival, revivalism 9–10, 16–17, 23, 36n, 75–76, 78, 101–103, 106, 110–113, 115–120, 120, 122–125, 128n, 130n, 143n, 144n, 147, 148n, 149, 151, 159–160, 165, 166n, 172, 181,

Index 184–186, 189n, 193n, 194n, 197–198, 207, 282, 293, 297, 331, 393 Robeck, Cecil M. Jr. 36n, 75–76, 82, 106, 116n, 128, 144n Roberts, Evelyn 181, 184, 186, 192 Roberts, J. Deotis 340–341 Roberts, Oral 163, 165, 168n, 174n, 185–186, 191 Robinson, Ida 81, 87, 93 Roebuck, David Grant 80n, 82n, 86, 92, 211 Roman Catholic, dialogue with 231, 238–240 Ross, Dick 168, 170 Ruether, Rosemary Radford 77–78, 93, 368 Sasser, Sam 392 Say Hello: Serving Muslim Women 24, 247, 251n, 252–255, 258, 261, 263–267 Scanzoni, Letha 234–235, 236n Scripture, scriptures, scriptural 4–5, 15, 22, 33–38, 46, 48, 53–54, 59–63, 66, 77, 79, 82–83, 91, 107, 220, 233–237, 241, 264, 271, 272, 280, 299, 301, 309, 321, 333–334, 337n, 342, 343n, 352–353, 359, 392, 398–399 second-wave women’s movement 204, 215, 233, 242 secular feminism. See feminism servant leadership 401 sexism 77n, 293, 301, 304, 369n sexual exploitation 104, 271–273, 276–280, 282–286 sexual slavery, sexual slaves 105, 250, 274, 277, 283–284, 285n, 286–287, 331, 386 Seymour, Jennie Evans Moore 15, 76, 116, 123–126, 129–130 Seymour, William J. 9–10, 15, 76, 81, 101, 103, 106–107, 109, 111–112, 114–125, 128–130, 132–133, 341 Sheppard, Gerald 18, 85–87 Shilling, Chris 371n, 373, 375, 376n, 382 sigatō. See silencing, silent signs 14n, 185, 400 silencing, silent, sigatō 1–2, 4, 8–10, 16, 44, 46–51, 53, 70, 77, 80, 186, 203, 218, 236– 237, 279, 294, 314, 320–321, 329–330, 350, 368, 386 Simon Fraser University 227, 232 Simpson, A.B. 16–17, 141, 144, 146n, 151–152

409

Index Singapore 389, 393–394, 400 Singapore Bible College 394 Sisson, Elizabeth 149, 151 slain in the Spirit, slaying in the Spirit 172, 174–175, 178, 398 slave(s), slavery. See also sexual slavery. 45, 59, 64–68, 104, 115–116, 118, 148, 274n, 283–284, 285n, 287, 329n, 335, 343 Smith, Marie 214–215 Spirit baptism. See baptism/baptized (Spirit) spiritual fathers 197 spiritual gifts 2, 7–8, 15–16, 19, 24, 43n, 45–47, 49, 84, 93, 106, 142, 188, 227, 230, 234–235, 243, 258, 281, 293, 302, 304–309, 315–316, 340, 343, 364, 381, 388–389, 397, 400 Stephenson, Lisa 36n, 37n, 38, 53n, 54n, 211n, 309n, strategy formation. See missional helix Summer Institute for Islamic Studies 266 Swidler, Leonard J. 239–240 Tackett, Zachary Michael 22, 72–73, 89n talk show 160, 164–172, 177–179 teach, teaching(s), teacher(s) 35, 50–53, 63, 67, 114, 119, 121, 145, 150, 181–182, 185, 191, 197, 199, 227, 230–231, 240, 248, 254, 256n, 257n, 260, 262, 264, 267, 283, 297, 362n, 377, 379–380, 394–395, 400 teachings, biblical and ecclesial about women 45, 47, 57, 63–64, 66, 92, 105, 107, 133, 159, 207, 213, 234, 237, 271–272, 301, 305, 343, 351–352, 357–359 teachings, false 51–52, 161, 162n, 208, 279 team model 293, 309 Teen Challenge 282–283, 389, 392 televangelism 181, 190–195, 198 television talk 164–172, 177–179 Todd, Douglas 229 Tomlinson, A. J. 80, 93, 146n tongues, speaking in tongues 2n, 15–17, 37, 44, 46–47, 58, 75, 125, 128n, 145, 166, 212n, 338, 369, 372, 380, 382, 396 trafficking, trafficked 25, 104, 219, 271, 274n, 277, 278n, 279, 282, 285n Trinity Christian Centre, Singapore 389 transformation(al) 38, 165–166, 174, 177, 195, 217, 254, 340, 373

Trombley, Charles 237 Turner, Bryan S. 373–374, 382 University of British Columbia 227, 231, 232, 239 (The) Upper Room Mission 114, 119 Vancouver, B.C. 227, 229–232, 244 Vanzant, J. C. 125, 128–129, 131 veil(s) 43n, 253–254, 258, 260n, 261 visions 4n, 122, 377, 398, 400 voice (female) 1–5, 7, 9–10, 12–13, 16, 25, 37n, 38n, 45, 74, 78, 83, 94–95, 140, 145, 151, 153, 194, 203, 218, 229, 235–236, 262, 299, 301, 320–321, 360, 362–363, 387, 395 Wacker, Grant 78, 89 water baptism. See baptism/baptized (water) Weber, Max 374 Whittemore, Emma 149 Willard, Frances 65, 66n, 101, 104–105, 140 Williams, Ernest Swing 71, 82, 115–116, 117n, 120–121, 130 womanist 6n, 9–10, 25, 320 women (and girls) as property 274, 276, 283 women as senior/lead pastors 20–21, 26, 71–72, 218, 293–296, 297n, 308–309, 312–314, 316, 320, 349, 394 women in the New Testament Apphia 42 Chloe 42 Damaris 40 Dorcas 40 Euodia and Syntyche 42, 353 Junia 42, 67, 353 Lydia 40 Mary and Martha 39, 239–240, 281, 352 Mary Magdalene 39, 281 Mary the mother of Jesus 39 Mary the mother of Mark 40 Nympha 42 Persis 42, 353 Phoebe 41, 47, 52, 281, 353–355 Priscilla 40–42, 47, 50, 282, 353 Rhoda 40 Sapphira 40 Tryphena and Tryphosa 42, 353

410 Women’s Christian Temperance Union 65, 101, 103, 104n, 105n, 108, 132 women’s liberation movement 24, 91, 234 women’s rights 16, 58, 77, 83, 84, 88, 90–91, 103, 141, 148, 160, 189–190, 199, 205, 208n, 275, 306, 331, 350, 364 women, theology of the value of 271, 280 Woodworth-Etter, Maria 14, 144n, 146, 147n, 149, 151, 189

Index word(s) of knowledge 173n, 175–176, 178, 397, 400 Wyatt, Evelyn 188n, 189n Yeung, Mary Kum Sou (Wong Yen) 209 Zschech, Darlene 218