Swartz: Thou Art

The ofWomen Minisitersl:3rlethren m

Nineteenth-Century MennoniteChurch

Fl'Ont (L-R): Elllllla Swank, Lena Hall, Rose Lallibert, Alarv Tallllage, Ella Rl/(!)'. Back:Edith Schryet: Elllllla Sando, lV!argaret Weilllel: Cor)' RlIdv, Vianna Longnecker

In 1933 Mae Shupe penned a striking challenge to evangelicalpatriarchy:

It really is only a square deal, is it not, that a womanwho can do just as good work as a man, and they can,should have the same rights and privileges, And theright to be ordained belongs to the woman who hasearned it by meeting the requirements in the way ofstudy and service.... The church needs women'sministry. It needs real women, strong intelligentwomen, consecrated women, who are willing to usetheir every talent and attainment to the glory of God.'

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Shupe was pastor for many years of a congregation inthe Mennonite Brethren in Christ Church (which comprised a large chunk ofwhat became the Missionary Church)---a circumstance that now seemsrather anomalous as historians look back at a theologically conservativechurch heavily influenced by and positioned within North AmericanProtestant fundamentalism. But there was a catch clearly evident in Shupe'stirade: neither Shupe--who liked to be called Reverend Mae-nor any ofthe other 500 women ministers who served from 1883 to the mid-1960s wasordained in the same sense as men were. She was first licensed, then"approved" or "dedicated" as a "ministering sister" in a separate two-stepprocess parallel to male licensure and ordination. Shupe also was notpermitted to officiate at weddings or work long-term as senior pastor of herchurch. Public ministry-even spiritual leadership-did not mean fullequality.

Still, Shupe and the other women leaders in the MennoniteBrethren in Christ Church enjoyed significantly more ministry latitude thanmost women in evangelical churches. Not being ordained in the same waymen were didn't keep MBC women from engaging in an expansive range ofchurch responsibilities. They wrote testimonies and articles in theirdenominational paper, organized and preached at camp meetings, foundedchurches in inner cities, taught as faculty members in denominationalcolleges, served as senior pastors, and converted and baptized newbelievers. In one year alone, 190 I, a mission in Owen Sound, Ontario, led bywomen recorded 280 meetings, 774 visits to saloons, 57 cottage prayermeetings, seventeen children's meetings, and eleven open-air meetings. 2

Their feats were chronicled at length in the Gospel Banner, the publicationorgan of MBC, usually through bi-monthly mission updates andoccasionally in multi-page spreads with photographs and accompanyingstories. As it turned out, a full one of every eight churches in the MBCdenomination was founded by a woman preacher.]

Had Mae Shupe grown up in the more patriarchal setting of herdenomination's forbears, the Mennonite church, her words would havesounded even fierier-if they had sounded at all. Most traditionalMennonites in the late 1800s not only banned women from speaking duringa church service but also enforced segregated seating during churchservices. Men and women in many Mennonite congregations rituallyentered and exited the church building through separate doors. Certainlyteaching, preaching, and testifying were out of bounds to women. In fact,many Mennonite leaders opposed the innovation of Sunday school partlybecause women were sometimes allowed to teach." Female leadership waslimited to organizing women's sewing circles to support mission workS

Swartz: Tholl Art

The Mennonite Brethren in Christ Church was founded in 1883 bythe merging of the Swankites and the Evangelical United Mennonites, bothof which had roots in Mennonite patriarchy and neither of which includedwomen in public ministry. But that quickly changed. The number oflicensedwomen ministers in MBC was five by 1890, nineteen by 1895,94 by 1900,and 220 by 1910.6 For a denomination with only 37 churches in 1883 and 133in 1908 and a church membership of2,076 in 1883 and 6,351 in 1908, thenumber ofwomen in public ministry was remarkable. 7

The statistics on licensed women in MBC by the advent of thetwentieth century point, then, to a striking departure during the 1870s,1880s, and 1890s from the denomination's Mennonite roots. sThis raises thequestion of how early leaders ofMBC acquired their progressive views.Given the denomination's Mennonite patriarchal heritage, how did theMennonite Brethren in Christ Church (a predecessor to what is today theMissionary Church) so quickly and almost completely embrace femaleparticipation and leadership in its ecclesiology? The answer to thisquestion begins to form when three aspects of MBC ecclesiastical life areconsidered: The MBC included women in ministry so early in its historyand with such ease because of: I) the denomination's strong affinity withholiness groups (despite not joining them); 2) the denomination'ssympathy with nineteenth-century social reform efforts; and, 3) the abilityof the denominational leadership to compromise between two competinginclinations among its constituents.

Holiness TiesThe initial wave of women ministers in MBC clearly resembles the

revivalist sensibilities of the holiness movement. First, the social andtheological nature of holiness groups and MBC contributed toward an anti­traditionalism that worked to encourage female participation. Second, therevivalist-influenced emphasis on experience-in the form of free-flowing,emotional camp meetings-lent itself to the rise of women in MBC. A thirdMBC resemblance to holiness orientation was the adoption of a theology ofperfection. Finally, the pro-woman rationale ofthe founding leaders and thewomen ministers themselves mirror the staunch biblicism of Methodism, adenomination heavily influenced by holiness ideals. Specifically, argumentsgrounded in biblicism from Methodists were echoed (and often literallycopied from publications like Guide to Holiness) by MBC advocates.

Protest TraditionalismMany religious groups in the nineteenth century, particularly small

or emerging traditions like the Quakers, Unitarians, the Seventh-DayAdventists, and Christian Scientists, were in protest against the hierarchies

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ofthe traditional church." holiness groups no R.Y.Pierard notes that an number of holiness ev,m§;ellsts pre:ac'lllngJohn of entire sanctification and Christian npdi'f'llnn

circulated throughout the United States in the mid-1800s. These ev,m§;ellstswere not commissioned their denominations (usually Methodist) andbegan a program of camp presses, andnondenominational associations. lo The rebellious nature of the nascentAmerican holiness movement encouraged the development of practicescontrary to their ecclesiastical roots. One of those innovative practices wasthe participation of women in religious leadership.

MBC emerged out of a hierarchical tradition staunchly opposed towomen in leadership. The story of Mennonite women through the turn ofthe century is one of maintaining traditional roles. In keeping with thegender sensibilities of broader American women were relegated tothe home, where they cooked food, laundered clothes, bore and nurturedchildren, and created a comf~lrtable abode for her husband and children.They rarely worked outside their own homes, except perhaps to helpanother woman in a different home or to help her husband with field work.But women seldom, represented her family in business aflairs. AsSharon Klingelsmith aptly puts it, "Mennonites have been a quiet peopleand the women among them have been an even quieter group. "II Thisquietness was grounded in keeping men and women in separate spheres:women in the home and men outside it. This is not to say that women hadno influence; it was simply channeled through their husbands and childrenby way ofthe home.

In the religious sphere women were similarly quiet. Through thelate 1800s, women and men sat apart in church to keep from beingdistracted by--and from distracting·--the other gender. Woman rarely, ifever, spoke during a church meeting. When they did speak, it was only toteach other women or young children during the Sunday schools that werenourishing by the I890s. Interestingly, church authorities were morerelaxed about the print media, but even there men predominated. John F.Funk, a Moody associate who began a new church journal called Herald oj'Truth in I published five articles by women in that first year. Thosearticles comprised 1% of the paper's volume. That modest figure rose to3.8(% by 1884 and 11.6% 1904. 13 Rarely, however, did women writeeditorials, conference reports, or articles of theological import. 14

Mennonites based their subordination of women on certainpassages in scripture. They took literally Paul's injunction in I Timothy 2: 12to silent during meetings: "But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor tousurp authority over the man, but to be in silence." If a woman did have aquestion, she was to ask her husband at home (I Corinthians 14:34-35). As

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Jim Juhnke in the Old Testamentstory of creation and in for women to besubordinate and silent in the church, Based on definite theologicalass;unlptiorls and enforcement of these restriction ofwomen involvement in the ecclesiastical of Mennonite churchesand conferences was

Certain pressures, threatened male hegemony in the mid-1800s, The Great of the nineteenth century featured a handfulof traits foreign and hostile to the Mennonite ethos of formalism,

holiness and with their accompanying chaotictecldencles, worried Mennonite leaders, younger Mennonites wereattracted to revivalists outside their ranks who preached a more vibrant,missions-oriented spirituality, Beulah Stauffer Hostetler notes that "many ofthe young people, normally not baptized until in their twenties, wereattending revival held other denominations and subsequentlyjoining those churches,"16 In Milford, Pennsylvania, William Gehmanin 1853 began holding prayer meetings in which a new spiritual awakeningwas nurtured along by Sunday afternoon and services of prayerand exercises,"I/These exercises were characterized by1Vl(~t110dlst-style conversions, protracted meetings, and the mourner'sbench, Such innovations were allowed at the Mennonite congregation in

Milford, but after resistance and more than a little controversy,Gehman and his followers at Milford formed the EvangelicalMennonites in I with a group called the United Mennonitesin I and finally merged with the "Swankites" to form the MBC in 1883,

Mennonite communities in Ontario and Indiana experienced similarlllsur,[~enICl(~S as Methodists and revivalists spread in geography andinHuence, encounters between Mennonites and revivalistsoccurred by way of regional and national holiness associations, FreeNlI"tll0clIStS, United and other groups, 18 One suchgroup was the the German counterpart to theMethodist movement, which held in far-flung places such asOntario and Indiana, 19 This denomination proselytizedIVlc~nnonlte:s,whom considered in spiritual depth, EvangelicalAssociation leaders noted that Mennonites "endeavored to lead a quiet,virtuous, life. But as the spiritual life that comes from

the new birth and the renewal of heart by the Holy Ghost, they weregeJlerally ignorant. , , , were dead and cold, In 1869 the EvangelicalAssociation won over Solomon a Mennonite preacher with thirteenyears of who soon began holding protractedm(~eLll1i1~s himself was excommunicated from the Mennonite churchseveral years later for his revivalist views and practices,

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The most dramatic transformation-and the one with the moststaying power-occurred near Indiana. The crisis was precipitatedwhen Daniel Brenneman and John Krupp visited Solomon Eby's revival inOntario. When they returned to Indiana, Krupp immediately began holdingmeetings near Elkhart in which women testified. More cautious than Krupp,Brenneman made a second trip to Canada to investigate. Upon his return,he discovered that Krupp had been excommunicated because "he favoredprotracted meetings and even allowed women to testify."22 Instead ofshunning Krupp, Brenneman decided to work with him.

For Brenneman, things boiled over when John F. Funk, a co-laborerwith Brenneman in innovative evangelism and perhaps the strongestMennonite leader in the region, visited one of the Krupp-Brenneman revivalmeetings. The emotionalism and techniques employed were too much evenfor the otherwise-progressive Funk. He described the meeting in his diaryon March 15, 1874: "The meetings held were such prayer meetings in whichmuch ado was made, loud crying and weeping-howling that could beheard a long distance-haifa mile. Sitting or lying on the tloor and making agreat confusion. S. Sherk said, there comes the Lord! Catch Him quick­folly, when the Lord comes he will come injudgment."2J Funk's primaryconcerns upon observing this meeting were its potential for impuretheology and for disunity in the denomination. 24

The revival meetings continued, and Funk began to preach againstthem in church services. During one of the meetings called to resolve thecontlict between Brenneman and the majority of the preachers, "DanielBrenneman was weeping bitter tears" defending his revivalist techniques as"Funk with both hands in his pockets paced the tloor, and with all thelanguage at his command, gave reasons for deferring progressivemethods. "25 Brenneman, who fainted when he heard the news, was ot1lciallyexpelled from the Mennonite Church at the Indiana District Conference onApril 25, I874.2!' Among the reasons given by the ministers was thefollowing: "He began to teach and practice customs which we holdunscriptural (l Timothy 2: I 1,12; I Corinthians 14:34-35) and which neverhave been sanction [sic] by the church." Thus, the innovation of womenvisibly participating in the religious life ofthe church helped launch MBCand a generation of "ministering sisters."

Brenneman declined to join the groups-the MethodisticEvangelical Association or the Free Methodists-that had intluenced hisrevival because they allowed warfare, baptized infants, and didn't practicefeet-washingY Instead, Brenneman allied with like-minded disenfranchisedMennonites to form their own association that combined Mennonite andMethodist teachings. 28 The new group was formed in 1883 and wascomprised of preachers primarily from the East. These preachers held

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various affiliations including River Brethren in Christ of Ohio ("Swankites"),Evangelical Mennonites from United MennonitesMennonites from Ontario and Reformed Mennonites from Ontario andIndiana), and Evangelical United Mennonites (formed from EvangelicalMennonites and United Mennonites).

This new denomination, the Mennonite Brethren in Christ, wasfashioned out of the above groups with a disparate geography, but all inprotest against the formalism and hierarchies of the Mennonite Church.Brenneman represented many of these disgruntled Mennonites ready forchange. The inOuence of holiness groups made them impatient for four-partsinging, camp meetings, Sunday School classes, and services spoken inEnglish. The traditional view of women in leadership was one of thosepoints of impatience. Still, that MBC began out of conOict with a traditionalmother church made it easier to incorporate the innovation of female leadersinto their ecc lesio logy.

Emphasis on ExperienceOne of the distinct points of conHict with the Mennonite Church

for founding MBC leaders was the nature ofreligious expression. The free­nowing, emotional character ofMBC worship with its emphasis onexperience stood in stark contrast to the formalism of Mennonites, whotook pride in their long, austere services. This new way to express faithcame from holiness and Methodist inf1uences and advanced an ethos inwhich women could participate publicly in the life of the church.

Contact in the late 1860s and 1870s with regional holinessassociations in Pennsylvania, Ontario, and Indiana launched the newdenomination and initiated the emphasis on experiential spirituality.29 AndMBC quickly learned the language and practices of its tutor. Preachers andwriters invoked the Holy Spirit more frequently than before, warningbelievers not to suppress its inHuence. B. Bowman wrote in the GospelBanner, "If~ however, the Spirit comes as a rushing mighty wind and any areswept away, and act like drunken men, as they will likely do, be submissive,don't try to rule out the Holy Ghost as many do."30 Actions that mightaccompany the indwelling of the Spirit, Bowman suggested, includedrunning, shouting, laughing, screaming, jumping, and the loss of strength.MBC leaders did not talk about these manifestations as hypotheticalpossibilities. The Gospel Banner was full of testimonies of the Holy Spirit.One woman wrote, "The power of the Lord came upon me, I fell over, waspowerless, they said, for an hour, and glory be to God, when I recovered theburden was gone."3l Such words and actions were commonplace in therevivals and camp meetings of the Great Awakenings of the nineteenthcentury.

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· Preachers IIlId Prpnd,;""

The MBC camp of theirec,cles]()!ogyalmost upon its !Olmc!mg.mE~etJl11g~s " ... an beneficial means toand " denominational leaders added camp mE~etll1.~~s

their The first camp at Fetter's Grove in Elkhart m1880, had the markings of authentic tent revivalism: nineteen tents in agrove of maple trees, hundreds of rows of plank seats, oat and wheatstraw for the "sawdust trail," and a mourner's bench. J2 The first of manycamp meetings to be held at Fetter's Grove drew more than 3,000 people forten days. Observers called the "usually intense and emotional.

Amid the din of physical in such an unorthodox setting,women found less opposition to public Just as women began to

and even preach in holinessrevivals, women also began to participatein the emerging MBC denomination.After all, it was a short step from a shriekto a coherent utterance, particularlywhen a woman could hold the Spiritresponsible for her behavior. So womenin the MBC began to publicly speak andteach almost immediately. And likeholiness women before them, theymaintained that the Spirit mandated theirspeech: "Must I not take heed tothat which the Lord hath put in mymouth,?"J4

Reliance upon the Spirit in structuringbehavior in church soon made its impacton the selection of ministers. In 1875 oneof the denominations that later fed intothe MBC made a change in how ministerswere chosen. If a brother "believedhimself to have been called of God to the

Jallel Dougills ministry," he was to make that callknown, and the church would then approve that call. This was a strikingdifference from their Mennonite heritage in which a man would wait toverbalize a call until he had been chosen and elected the church, oftenby way of the lot. Each individual in a Mennonite congregation nominatedcandidates. The top vote-getters then pulled songbooks from a table duringa church service. The candidate who found a slip of paper with a verse in itCThe lot is cast into the lap; but the whole disposing thereof is of theLord. ") became a minister. Through both methods the Spirit was allowed

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to operate, but on the eXIJer'le11ce and call of theindividual. So while the 1875 resolution made no for the selection

'~'-""'0ll. it was a critical step toward that IJV";:'lUllll

From the start of the MBC movement women were encouraged toQ{'1,v,'!v verbalize and demonstrate j~'1ith. But it took a nearly a decade fromthe time most ofthe founding members ofMBC were excommunicated fromthe Mennonite body until women were able to formalize their new freedomthrough licensure. In 1883 22-year-old Janet Douglas become the firstwoman preacher in the new denomination. Just two years after beingconverted, Douglas heard a call from God to preach. Initially, she resisted.But soon she rented a small hall in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and preachedto contacts she made by visiting homes in surrounding neighborhoodswith holiness evangelist S.B. Shaw. A history ofthe United MissionaryChurch written nearly a century later described her nascent ministry: "MissDouglas scarcely knew how to preach, her services consisting mainly oftestimonies, followed by a ten- or twelve-minute sermon. God blessed themeetings, however, and more than one hundred professed to be converted.

"37

Denominational leaders encouraged her first wobbly steps bothecclesiastically and theologically. The April I, 1 issue ofthe GospelBanner describes her licensure by the Indiana-Ohio-Michigan ConferenceofMBC:

Janet Douglas, of Kent County, Michigan, havingreceived a permit from the quarterly conference of thatplace to labor as an evangelist, has, during her severalmonths' labors, been the means of leading seventysouls to Christ. Hence, upon the evidence of her goodmoral character and devotions to the cause of Christ,and of her efTiciency as a co-worker in the vineyard ofthe Lord, is recognized by the conference as anevangelist. 38

The following year the Indiana District ofMBC named Douglas a "missionworker, sent her to Grand Rapids, Michigan, and approved a resolutionthat "women have a right to go forth and labor in the vineyard ofthe Lord.

"39

Douglas's disclosure of her call and her subsequent foray intopublic religious service launched a rapid increase ohvomen preachers. Bythe end of 1885, the number of women preachers had grown to three,possibly four, within the conferences ofMBC. One of them was Mary AnnHallman from Ontario, where Solomon Eby was continuing his revival

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ministry. She felt a conviction to preach so deeply that she was compelled"to go or to lose her soul." The daughter of members of the Old MennoniteChurch from which Eby had been expelled, Hallman risked parental wrath ifshe acted upon her call. Her parents were "bitterly opposed to womenpreaching, and although pious people, looked upon the conduct of theirdaughter as a disgrace."4IlThey threatened to toss her out of their home ifshe continued.

This opposition to Hallman and the ministry of women in generalwas replicated throughout areas where the early MBC church ministered.But the growing importance of subjective experience mediated by the Spiritgave many women the courage to act upon their calls. A culture of womentestifying in public coupled with the transition in how ministers wereselected both worked powerfully in leading women to more significantspiritual leadership.

Theology of PerfectionThe holiness emphasis on perfection and entire sanctification

added theological grounds to the ecclesiastical support lent to MBCwomen. John Wesley introduced into the American context the idea that abeliever can arrive at a state of perfect love and obedience to God. Distinctfrom and experienced after justification-or "getting saved"-the arrival ata state of perfection was variously called entire sanctification or the"second blessing." Historian Donald Dayton argues that the theologicalparticularity of perfectionism is critically important, that it "is the clue thatunlocks many mysteries of this period" in regard to women in ministry inthe 1800s.41

Previously ignored by Mennonites, perfectionist theology wasquickly assumed by MBC as conveyed to them by the Methodistevangelist Phoebe Palmer and from the writings of other holiness advocateslike A. Sims, George D. Watson, and John S. Inskip.42 Even in its earliestconstitutions, MBC emphasized this "instantaneous act of God" that"excludes depravity and all unrighteousness from the heart. "43 And theyused the theological basis of this doctrine to defend a prominent role forwomen.

Specifically, advocates of perfectionism heralded the newness andtransforming power of the Spirit to form a new "dispensation" in individualsand societies. Jesus's coming and the establishment of the New Testamentchurch, perfectionists asserted, ushered in an era that hearkened back toEden. In addition to the possibility of persons reaching sinless perfectionlike Adam and Eve before the Fall, the new dispensation also meant thatnew and better societies could be formed. Perfectionists taught that Jesustrumped the old, imperfect covenant of Hebrew scripture (and even the

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Jewish-inspired Paul). Thus, institutions like and male dominancewere open to severe critique. Perfectionists distinguished between the waythings were as opposed to the way they ought to be. So even thoughslavery might have been employed in the Old Testament, Jesus mandated anew way of structuring society. Dayton writes that for advocates ofperfectionism the subordination ofvvomen "was merely descriptive of thesinful state in which we find ourselves and without any normative value."44

That contemporary culture (and biblical culture) subordinatedwomen didn't make subordination-or even restrictions offemale publicleadership-a right doctrine, holiness thinkers reasoned. In fact, theybelieved, women should be released and commanded to pursue activepublic service to God, though many disapproved offull equality with men.Palmer, in her defense of women speaking in public, The Promise oltheFather, argued that everyone was charged to preach the Gospel of Christ.And the same Spirit which commanded every man, woman, and child in NewTestament times was still available in this continuing dispensation.45 It wasnot a long step from this assertion to Palmer's striking conclusion: "0, theendless weight of responsibility with which the church is pressing herselfearthward through the depressing influences of this error! How can she risewhile the gifts of three-fourths of her membership are sepulchred in hermidst,?"46

This logic was t~\miliar to MBC; they had been using reasoningsimilar to perfectionism to defend their nonresistant stance. A newdispensation, distinct from the bloody Old Testament, ushered in by thefirst coming of Jesus brought peace and an end to the violence of the olddispensation. Not surprisingly, MBC saw the same phenomenon at work inregard to the subordination of women. In an 1881 Gospel Banner article,Elizabeth Risdon wrote,

Thanks be to God for the Gospel of our Lord JesusChrist, who maketh all equal in Him, whether high orlow, rich or poor. We find that in heathen countrieswoman is no better, yea, even treated with greatercontempt than a gaily [sic] slave, and nothing but theGospel of Jesus Christ entering into these benightedhomes, can restore her to be, indeed, a true helpmeetfor man, his equal, as God designed her to be in thebeginning. The curse of bondage is removed and sheis freeY

An article in the Gospel Banner four years later similarly read, "Butwhen the fullness of the time came, and God sent forth his Son to be born

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ofa woman, as well as under the then was womanand restored to her with man.

To be sure, not all MBC leaders and members viewed women asunder "the curse of like Palmer and Risdon did. As I contend

some MBC constituents sounded patriarchal and anti-femaleleadership rhetoric that compromise was needed in the denomination. Butthe holiness-inspired perfectionism of many MBC leaders led them tounderstand the coming 0 I' Jesus as releasing women for extensive serviceas the Church moved toward a final consummation with God. For many, thepossibility of perfection in a new dispensation demanded that all believerspreach the Gospel.

A Staunch BiblicismNot just protest against traditionalism, the ecstasy of experience,

and a theology of perfection shaped MBC's ecclesiology; MBC was also adenomination of the Book. MBC inherited this strong loyalty to Scripturefrom the holiness tradition, which many used to defend vigorously thepractice of women preaching. 49 Nearly a dozen lengthy articles in the 1880sand 1890s appeared in the Gospel Banner defending the right andnecessity of women in public ministry, each quoting Scripture extensively.

John Krupp, one of the founding ministers, emphasized instancesin the Old and New Testaments of women prophesying and "laboring" (touse MBC nomenclature) for women ministry. Even more passionate wereMBC's refutations of Paul, particularly his writing in I Corinthians to "Letyour women keep silence in the churches, for it is not permitted unto themto speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also says thelaw."50 Krupp and others typically advanced the argument that Paul wasaddressing only disorderly conduct by women. He and others also arguedthat to be consistent, advocates of female silence in church must alsopractice the holy kiss, an activity that MBC members apparently were notpracticing. 51 In a talk given before the Pennsylvania conference of the MBCin 1894, C.H. Brunner said, "He [Paul] has in view not those under theint1uence and command of the Holy Ghost, but the disobedient anddisorderly, pronouncing shame upon them for causing confusion ... "52 Inshort, Krupp, Brunner, and others argued that these biblical passages wereto be taken literally by the Corinthians, but were non-binding for today'sbelievers. Combining the authority of the Spirit and the denial of Paul'scommand as a trans-dispensational rule, MBC leaders insisted that Paulinemandates to women be understood in the context of broader biblical themesand contemporary experience.

The embrace of perfection, an experience-oriented faith, andstaunch biblicism as well as a rejection of traditionalism within MBC were

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all rooted in holiness influence. And each worked to encourageMBC women to assume roles The MBC-holinessex!cmll1t~e also demonstrates about the nature of the holinessmovement-that it was and even on gh\~tt()ed

groups like discontented Mennonites.

SVlrnoatl1IV with ReformA force less intluential than holiness but still significant also drove

MBC toward advocacy of a greater participation of women in churchleadership. This was not primarily a scriptural-based appeal. Rather, it wassympathy with the feminist reform efforts of women like Frances Willardand Catherine Booth, and it showed itself in equal-rights languagepromulgated in the Gospel Banner. Once holiness had broken new groundfor women, this new rhetoric helped push even more ofthem into activeministry in refCll"t11, evangelism, and pastoral roles.

Through the 1890s the Gospel Banner devoted an entire pageeach issue to reform concerns. Topics ranged from advocacy of temperanceto anti-smoking to labor reform. The articles often cited reform-orientedjournals, and editors frequently reprinted selections from papers such asChristian Cynosure, British Workman, and the National TemperanceSociety. Women held an integral position in these reform initiatives, oftenwriting articles or responding to articles in subsequent issues. They alsopioneered the implementation ofthis rhetoric, moving to large and mid-sizecities like Pontiac, Cleveland, Grand Rapids, and Dayton to work towardspiritual and social reform. Denominational historian Eileen Lageerdescribes how single women "moved into a town two by two, rented a storeor empty hall and took up residence ..."53 They held services nearly everynight of the visited the gave food to the poor, and invadedsaloons trying to dissuade patrons to up alcohol. Reform effortsworked in tandem with preaching the though conversion, in MBC'seyes, was always the most effective tool toward reform. It was alsomore important than reform.

Scholars are discovering, though, that this new rhetoric came froma not-so new source. Carolyn DeSwarte Gifford, for example, thatone of the most prominent reform organizations, the Woman's ChristianTemperance Union was rooted directly in Methodism.Methodist representation in WCTU was common, and the leader ofFrances Willard, was a eard-carrying holiness convert. None other thanPhoebe Palmer had converted Willard during an evangelistic meeting inEvanston, Illinois, in the 1860s. GifTord notes that Willard and others inWCTU and similar reform organizations used language and behaved inways that make known their evangelical/holiness commitments. This

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holiness-reform connection was the hook that snagged many inMBC and led some in the denomination to adopt more than holiness ideas.

Association and identification with the reform movement exposedMBC to some of its more radical feminist figures and sentiments. Willard,for instance, opposed non-inclusive language and a woman'ssubordination to her husband, and she advocated women's ordination, astep MBC was yet unwilling to take. 55 Willard's rhetoric made its mark onMBC women and men. The Gospel Banner published several of Willard'sarticles recognizing that terminology shapes views of gender. One sucharticle used rather f1amboyant language to denounce the word "female,"declaring it disrespectful to women. Current usage of"female," Willardwrote, "applies equally to a hen and to the mother of Oliver Cromwell."5!> Inan article aimed at keeping women from abuse in factories and fromprostitution, she wrote, "Let a woman be called a woman, and if I had thepower a statue should declare it."57 Exposure to this brand of activistrhetoric triggered new language and a broad expansion of women's activitywithin MBC itself.

This more insistent pro-woman rhetoric stemmed from two newfundamental claims: the assertion that men were morally corrupt and lazyand the recognition of women's capabilities. Women in the Gospel Bannercalled for "real men," men who were "clean from the smell ofwhisky, freefrom the fumes oftobacco and delivered from the bonds of a double life."Accusations of male hypocrisy abounded: "There are too many men to-dayliving the life of the double standard, demanding of their wives and sisters amorality they have no thought of living up to themselves."58 Men wereportrayed also as lazy, even stupid: "While men are scratching their headsand proving what is not the work of women, the way is being prepared forthe coming of the kingdom. Mark you, while they do the theorizing and saywomen are not to do this, the churches are sending them."59 Women, on theother hand, were characterized as having already reached a level of puritytoward which only a repentant, reworked man could aspire. One writercalled for this reformation of men so they could be worthy of greeting a"bride in the whiteness of her unspotted womanhood ..."60

Perceptions of the virtue of women thrived in MBC and becamethe basis for the extension of female inf1uence outside the home. Ideas ofvirtue and purity triggered visions of women doing great things for Godand society. One MBC leader proclaimed, "Under the blessed spirit ofChristianity they have equal rights, equal privileges, equal blessings, andallow me to add, they are equally useful."6l The visions quickly turned toreality before their very eyes. Not only did thousands of MBC membersread hundreds of testimonies and articles by and about women preachers,but an increasing number of members also experienced female pastoral

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leadership themselves. Jacob who later became an MBC preacherhimself (and then a professor at the denominational school, Fort WayneBible Institute), was converted by the holiness preacher Laura Mains. In histestimony printed several years later in the Gospel Banner, he wrote, "Thejoy was not so great immediately, but the following day an unutterable joyfilled my soul as I sent the news by numbers of letters to my friends inIndiana. My prejudice against women speaking received a terrible blow thatnight, having been converted among only women ... "62 The positive natureof women was bolstered, and this resulted in an environment conducive towomen in ministry. Though opponents of female spiritual and ecclesiasticalleadership might muster theological or biblical arguments, they could hardlydeny the effective and sweeping ministry of MBC women throughout theMidwest. Souls were being saved, and God seemed to be blessing theirministry.

Unusual about the new retorm intluences was that it created arationale for women in MBC to begin to break out of a separate-spheresgender model. Not only could women preach, but they could earn moneyand be equal to men too. One writer asserted, "Now, we say ifthere be anypreference in occupation, let woman have it."63 Whether or not women inMBC began to assume bread-winning roles is unclear. What is clear is thatthis equal-rights language provided further ideological support tor theburgeoning ministries ofwomen like Janet Douglas and Mary Ann Hallman.These two pioneers were quickly joined by dozens of women. From 1890 to1910 licensed female ministers in MBC rose from five to 220, a remarkablejump of4,400%. Many MBC writers began to claim in the 1890s somethingmuch more than the right of women to preach; they argued that womenwere inherently equal to men and deserving of the same opportunities. Thedenomination as a whole didn't accept the claim, but these assertionsinspired many women like Mae Shupe to work as if they were.

Denominational CompromiseThat women were newly permitted to share in the privilege of

ministry with men in MBC reflects the transformation of ideas of gender inbroader society as well as in some segments of the church. As theproportion of employed women in the United States increased from 14.7 to24.8 percent from 1880 to 1910,64 patterns of rhetoric and practice withinMBC reveal a denomination caught between the competing tensions of atwo-sphere model and an impulse offemale equality. Beyond associationwith holiness theology and a reform ethos, certain denominationalparticulars provided for a rise in female participation in ministry. Ironically,traces of restraint and compromise on the part of denominational leaders

33

Re,'Iellio"s' Preachers a"d Prelll'him'

interested in women for in the end allowed women toand exhort with and sway.

denominational leaders women inministry. Daniel Brenneman, in facilitated training for women andhelped launch their ministries. As many young MBC women attendedholiness Bible schools, Brenneman organized several groups ofthem intoministry teams. One of them remarked, "It was easy to go to him with ourtroubles and dilJiculties."65 The nurture ofMBC leadership toward womengave women nearly unrestricted access to every kind of ministry in thedenomination. Within years of its formation, women preached in citymissions, camp meetings, and in denominational gatherings. They wrote inconference journals, including the Gospel Banner, which was edited byBrenneman. They founded and administrated city missions, schools suchas the Michigan Holiness School, and organizations such as the GospelWorker Society. And they were sent abroad as missionaries. The pages ofGospel Banner are full of energetic reports of success and failures ofwomen. By l~lcilitating a support network for young female preachers, MBCleaders launched an unprecedentedjump in ministry activity by women.

But even within this welcoming constituency, MBC harboredpockets of opposition. Much of the opposition cropped up in traditionalMennonite communities, and much of it from members with a traditionalMennonite background. One denom inational historian wrote of JanetDouglas, "In some quarters she received little encouragement, and on oneoccasion a lady advised her to 'let the men preach, and go home and helpyour mother. In Muncy, Pennsylvania, an MBC woman preacher, a Mrs.L. Musselman, was accused of being a witch, undoubtedly the result oflocals unt~lll1iliar with seeing a woman preach with such popularity andeffect 67 J.A. HulTman, another denominational historian, notes that "theopposition to women preaching was quite general, at first, despite theevangelistic spirit of the church, but the prejudice was gradually overcome.Those who received a call of God to preach later did not have this difficultyto encounter.

If some MBC members were uncomfortable at first with womenpreaching, even more were uncomfortable with the equal-rights languageused in the Gospel Banner in the 1890s. Articles lauding domesticity,homemaking, and submissive wives proliferated, running alongside equal­rights rhetoric. A model wife, one writer asserted, is one "who looks afterhis household, and makes her hospitality a delight to him ... "69 Anotherdefended homemaking as a legitimate occupation: "It is as honorable tosweep the house, make beds or trim hats as it is to twist a watch-chain. "il)

Even those who extended a woman's right to work outside thehome as a preacher or worker assumed that she would continue to keep

34

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Swartz:

house. While the of women to work outside the oneMBC writer the fact that women work outside the home wrote,"How can there be a proper home with the wife and mother at work all

111 a Another writer took a mediated position of encouragingwomen to "publish salvation"-to to "be domestic.

This incongruity in views of gender roles in MBC held thepotential to quash the rise of women in ministry. Instead, thedenominational leadership's ability to compromise between two competinginclinations among its constituents resulted in numbers of womenpreachers and church workers that dwarfed most other denominations.

First, MBC leaders modestly limited the responsibilities of womenin leadership. From the beginning of the denomination, women wereexcluded from full ordination. The constitution adopted in 1880 stated,"They shall be received ... except ordination. Like men, they wereofficially licensed as evangelists, helpers and missionaries. But beyondlicensure women, upon passing a reading course (the same one as mentook) satisfactorily, were recognized only as "approved ministeringsisters."!4 An amendment to the MBC constitution in 1885 clarified that "wepermit a sister, chosen of God, to preach and to labor for the salvation ofsouls, under the supervision of a minister or presiding elder."!5 Thissubordinate position did little to limit women in their work as pastors,keeping them only from performing marriage ceremonies and keeping themunder the supervision of male headship. These limitations were self­imposed; no legal restrictions by the state kept women from otliciatingweddings.

Furthermore, MBC policy stated that women were to be replacedas pastors of church plants once the congregations were more firmlyestablished. Denominational leaders, feeling heat from gendertraditionalists, declined to go completely egalitarian. Even though womencould officially fill the otlice of church pastor, it was expected to betemporary. So despite an increase of women in the middle strata ofMBCleadership, subordination did not completely end.

Had MBC leaders in favor of full ordination and equal status forwomen not limited their goals, traditionalists might have revolted. Therhetoric of separate spheres was strong and indicated a sizeableconstituency in opposition to full ordination--part of which didn't atlirmwomen preaching at all. As MBC matured as a denomination andincorporated traditionalists into its midst, the reality of competing partiesmoderated the founding impulse in favor of women in ministry. Thecompromise that excluded women from full ordination also allowed forwidespread and intense institutionalized participation by women to anextent unprecedented in nineteenth-century America.

35

36

· Preachers and PI'i'IIr'!,;""

Too many studies of women's role in the church don't considercases in which women aren't fully released; otten they just consider casesofformal denominational policy granting full clergy rights to women. Thecase of MBC suggests that its "almost equal" policy actually resulted inmore inclusive practice toward women than denominations that endorsedfemale ordination. Congregationalists, Unitarians, and Disciples of Christ,each of which had granted full clergy rights to women by 1888, didn't havea "broad progressive spirit permeating the denomination" or all that manywomen preachers, missionaries, and city workers. 76 MBC, on the otherhand, did. MBC enjoys a different, perhaps more important story-a storyof female progressivism that actually released women preachers, pastors,and activists to do God's work.

Epilogue

Vibrant public activity on the part of women didn't last long.Within fifteen years of Reverend Mae's fiery egalitarian rhetoric in 1933,just a handful of women ministers remained. Only one woman was licensedin MBC (by then known as the United Missionary Church) after 1955. Ayear later the Canadian Northwest Conference stripped the right to votefrom women ministers whose husbands were also pastors because "theyhave their interests duly represented through their husbands. "77 By 1989women were removed from positions as senior pastor except "in situationsof need," though this rule was already a defacto reality. Tim Erdel writesthat "by the time the statement was written, the text was actually seen as abit 'liberal' by some who were by now convinced women had no businesswhatsoever in formal ministry. "78

Why the interpretive U-turn after nearly half a century of JanetDouglases, Mae Shupes, and near egalitarianism? What about the holinessties, the affinity with reform efforts, and strategic compromise that allowedMBC to include women in ministry leadership so early and with such ease

in the late nineteenth century?Perhaps the very real, but gaudy numbers and flashy exploits of

MBC women in the early years ofthe denomination are a bit misleading.Perhaps the compromise between two competing inclinations that served toelevate the position of women at the same time constructed it on afoundation shakier than the foundations of denominations that recognizedfull clergy rights. Paradoxically, the pragmatism and political expediencythat triggered an unprecedented level of responsibility for women indicatesthat there wasn't a principled stand at a formative time in its history.

When fundamentalism hit the scene in the early- and mid-1900s,there was little holding MBC to the inclusion of women in leadership. In

Swartz: Thou Art

essence, fundamentalism replaced holiness as its primary reference group.MBC certainly retained much holiness doctrine, but its primary associationwith Methodism, revivalism, and Simpson's fourfold gospel was displacedby D.L. Moody,R.A. Torrey, dispensational ism, and an emphasis on biblicalinerrancy and rules of order.

These formidable pressures, chronicled by Margaret Bendroth inFundamentalism and Gender; overwhelmed MBC women's public roles bythe 1950s. Once-flourishing, progressive views of gender were not deeplyrooted enough to allow women a prominent, public role past its firstseventy years of existence. MBC's middle-ground position betweenreformist views of gender and traditional Mennonite views of gendereventually silenced radical voices in the wilderness like Shupe, whodemanded "rights and privileges.... And the right to be ordained ..." ForShupe and her would-be successors, ordination-and even preachingitself-ceased to be an option because of a pragmatic compromise half acentury earlier.

*** An expanded version of this article appeared in the Fall 2006 issue ofthe Wesleyan Theological Journal. Thanks to Bethel College's TimothyErdel for his encouragement and guidance as I explored this topic.

David R. Swartz is a Ph.D. candidate in History at the Universi(y of'NotreDame.

Notes

1 Mae Shupe, unpublished paper (1933), Missionary Church Archives.

2 Eileen Lageer, /v!erging Streams (Elkhart, IN: Bethel Publishing, 1979),75.

3 Everek Richard Storms, Histor,V of the United /v!issionarv Chureh (Elkhart,IN: Bethel Publishing, 1958), 251.

4 Theron Schlabach, Peace, Faith. Nation (Scottdale, PA: Herald Press,1988), 227.

5 Ibid., 300.6 Jason C. Garnaat, "In Memory of Her": A List of Over 500 Women in

North American Missionaries in the Missionary Church and its Predecessors,Reflections. 3.2 (Fall 1995): 4-9.

7 Storms, HistOlY of the United iVfissionmy Church, 63.8 The history of the Missionary Church is not atypical in their large

numbers of women preachers. Studies of womcn in American religious life, particularlywithin evangelicalism, have proliferated in recent years. What scholars haveuncovered has surpriscd many who view contemporary evangelicalism as uniformlyhostile to women in church leadership. T'o note just a few examples: Catherine Brekusreinserted into religious history the stories of more than one hundred female preachers

37

-----------------ZU1,--,--"-----,--,,--,--,,---------,,--,---,--,--,,,---"-~--------<~

from 1740,1845 forgotten by modern,day historians, Janette Ilassey uncoveredthousands of female preachers in revivalist, proto,fundamentalist circles-some evenat Moody Bible lnstitute",-in the nineteenth century. Nancy Hardesty argued that thenineteenth,century American woman's rights movement had its roots in evangelicalrevivalism. And Margaret 13endroth traced the decline of women in public ministry infundamentalism far into the twentieth century-a decline that demonstrates howwomen enjoyed significant roles in the first place. Even this increasing hostility wastempered, 13endroth writes, by the movement's dependence on women to bolsterinstitutional growth. The history of "ministering sisters" in the Missionary Church,

then, adds to this growing literature.

9 Melvin Easterday Dieter, The Holiness Revival or the Nineteell/h Centlll)'

(Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1980), 44. Dieter discusses wings of Methodism thatchallenged the opposition to women leadership.

10 Donald W. Dayton, The American Holiness Movement (Wilmore, KY:B.L. Fisher Library, Asbury Theological Seminary, 1971). Dayton also suggests thatthe anti-traditional nature of the holiness movement made possible the rise of femaleparticipation in leadership.

11 Sharon Klingelsmith, "Women in the Mennonite Church, 1900-1930,"Mennonite Quarterlv Review 54 (July 1980): 163.

12 Ibid .. 164.

13 These fIgures do not rellect anonymous articles and obituaries possibly

written by women.

14 Theron Schlabach, Peacc. Faith. Nation (Scottdale, PA: I'leraid Press,

1988),311.15 James C. Juhnke, "The Role of Women in the Mennonite Transition

from Traditionalism to Denominationalism," Menllollite Lifc 41 (September 1986):17.

16 Beulah Stauffer Hostetler, A Community Paradigm: AmericallMenllollitcs alld Pl'Otestant Movemellts (Scottdale, PA: Herald Press, 1987), 167.

17 Samuel Floyd Pannabecker, OPCII Doors: The HistOfY of the GelleralCOllji'rellce Mellnollite Church (Newton, KS: Faith and Life Press, 1975), 34.

18 Charles Edwin Jones, Per/ectiollist Persuasioll: The Holilless ivlovcmentalld Americall Methodism, 1867-1936 (Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1974),60.

19 William Ward Dean, "John F. Funk and the Mennonite Awakening"(Ph.D. diss., University of Iowa, 1965), 260.

20 R. Yeakel, History of the Evallgelical Association (Cleveland, OH:Mattlll & Lamb, 19(2),409.

21 C. Henry Smith, lvlellllollites of America Goshen, IN: published by theauthor, 19(9), 312.

22 Storms, HistOf)' of the Ullited lvlissionw)' Church, 43.23 Diary, 15 Mareh 1874. Quoted in Dean, "John F. Funk," 259.24 Dean, "John F. Funk," 257.25 Timothy Brenneman, "Reminiscences of John F. Funk," /vlennonite

l/istorical Bulletill 9 (July 1948): 2.26 Tom Price, "Sehism! Snnday School Divided First Mennonite Chureh,"

Elkhart Truth, 3 June 1995, B4.27 Schlabaeh, Natioll, 114.28 One of the other Mennonite groups, the United Mennonite Church,

nearly joined the Northern Indiana Eldership of the Church of God, a holinessassociation, but never consummated the merger despite having agreed upon all thenecessary resolutions.

us

Swartz: Thou Art

29 In Perfectionist Persuasion, Charles Jones also cites influence from FreeMethodists, United Brethren, and Evangelicals in the northern Midwest (60).

30 B. Bowman, Gospel Banner January I 3.3 I Esther Sherk, "Testimony," Gospel Bannef: May 1879, 5.32 Lageer A}erging Streams, 66.33 I()() Years oj Spiritual Growth (Elkhart, IN: Bethel Publishing, 1980),5.34 Elizabeth Risdon, "l.,etter," Gospel Banner, 15 April 1881,62.

35 Jasper Abraham Huflinan, HistOfY 0/ the Mennouite Brethren in Christ

Church (New Carlisle, OJ-!: Bethel Publishing Co., 1920), 163.36 Juhnke, Vision, Doctrine. War, 63.37 Everek R. Storms, HistOfY 0/ the United lvlissiono!")' Church, 25138 Gospel Bonner, I April 1884, 52.39 Eileen Lageer, iHerging Sfreams, 76.40 Huffman, History oj the iVfennonite Brethren in Christ Church, 151.41 Dayton, Holiness hocts, )'ii.42 Huffman, HistOfY 0/ thc /I/fennonite Brethren in Christ Church, 163.

43 Constitution oj General Conference 0/ the /vfennonite Brethren in Christ

Church (1885), 21.44 Dayton, Holiness 7hlets, viii.45 Lucille Sider Dayton and Donald W. Dayton, "'Your Daughters Shall

Prophesy': Feminism in the Holiness Movement," Modern Alllericon Protestontisllland its World: WOlllen and WOlllen:\' fssues (New York: K.G Saur, 1993),241.

46 Phoebe Palmer, The Prolllise oj the Father (1859), 347.

47 Elizabeth Risdon, "Letter," Gospel Banncr, 15 April 1881, 62.48 Boardman, GD. "Woman's Place in the Early Church" Gospel Banner,

15 September 1885, 12. Reprinted from S.S. Tillles.49 See Brekus, Strangers and Pilgrillls, 6-7 and Nancy Hardesty, WOlllen

Called to Witness: Evangelieol Felllinislll in the Nineteenth Century (Knoxville: TheUniversity of Tennessee Press, 1999), 54.

50 John Krupp, "Women Speaking in Church," Gospel Banner, October1878, 5.

51 "The Devil goes to Prayer-Meeting," Gospel Banner, 26 March 1895,205.

52 C'.H. Brunner. "What was the Sisters' Work in the Apostolic Church'!"Gospel Banner, 27 February 1894, 14.

53 Eileen 1.,ageer, /vferging Streallls (Elkhart, IN: Bethel Publishing, 1979).54 Carolyn DeSwarte Gifford, "Sisterhoods of Service and Reform," Modern

American Protestantislll and its IYorld: WOlllen and fflrJmen:S- fssues (New York: K.G.Saur, 1993), 174.

55 Janette Hassey, No Tilllc fiJr Silence: Evangelical fflrJlnen in PublicMinisli)' around the Turn oj the CentlllY (Grand Rapids, M1: Academic Books, 1986):101.

56 Frances E. Willard, "Work for Purity," Gospel Banner, 26 November1895, 15. Reprinted from the Philanthropist.

57 Ibid.58 "The New Man," Gospel Banner, 3 December 1895, IS.59 "Women's Work," Gospel Banner, 9 January 1900, 5. Quoted from The

Revivalist.60 "The New Man," Gospel Banner, 3 December 1895, 15.61 C'.H. Brunner, "What was the Sisters' Work in the Apostolic Church?"

Gospel Banner, 27 February 1894, IS.

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P,·p(ll·h./"·\· and P"('(I,ohiIlV

62 Jacob I-lygema, "Letter," Gospel Banner, I October 1895, II.63 "Women's Opportunities," Gospel Bannel: 3 December 1895, 6.

Reprinted from Christian Herald.64 Betty A. DeBerg, Ungodly Vfr,Jmen: Gender and the First IVilve 0/

American Fundamentalism (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1990), 25.65 Eileen Lageer, Merging Streams, 76.66 Storms, HistOlY oj'the United Missionarv Church, 251,67 "Ho! IIo! What Next! Muncy again taking the lead," Gospel Banner, 26

December 1899, 10.68 J.A. Huffman, HistOlY oj'the Mennonite Brethren in Christ Church, 152.69 "What is a Model Wife?" Gospel BannC!', 21 March 1893, 4.

70 "Women's Opportunities," Gospel BannC!', 3 December 1895, 6.71 Mary G. Stuckenberg, "Our Working Women," Gospel Banner 19 (March

3, 1896) 14, reprinted from Union Signal.72 "A Bible Portrait of Woman," Gospel Banner, 23 August 1902, 6.73 The Doctrines and Discipline oj'the Evangelical United lv!ennonites,

(Gosheu, IN: E.U. Mennonite Publishing Society, 1880), 72.74 The Doctrines and Discipline oj'the Evangelical United Mennonites,

(Goshen, IN: E.U. Mennonite Publishing Society, 1880), 72.75 MBC Constitution, (1885), 6. Archives of the Missionary Church.76 Chaves, Ordaining Women, 28.77 Jason C. Garnaat, "Women in Ministry in the Mennonite Brethren Il1

Christ" (paper, December 1995), 8, Missionary Church Archives.78 Tim Erdel, "Pedagogy, Propaganda, Prophetic Protest, and Projection:

Dangers and Dilemmas in Writing an Authorized Denominational History," (papergiven at Conference on Faith and History, Huntington College, Huntington, IN,October 2(02), 6, Missionary Church Archives.