I FIRST PERCEIVED THAT I WAS CALLED to the ministry of the Word while I was in college. However, it was clear to me at that time that I should not immediately go to seminary but rather allow my ministerial skills and abilities to develop through the actual experience of preaching, teaching Sunday school, leading Bible study groups, and doing campus ministry. I joined the ministerial staff of my home church, Third Street Church of God, in Washington, D.C., and participated in Bible study groups with government workers and with undergraduates at Howard University.
Eventually I moved to Boston to pursue a Master of Divinity degree and a doctorate in theology, preparing myself thoroughly to pursue a dual calling to pastoral ministry and teaching ministry. A precipitating factor in this pursuit was my conviction that seminary professors ought to bring to the classroom concern for and involvement in parish ministry, and that pastors ought to bring to parish ministry a forthright commitment to excellence in religious education. I see myself now as being in an ideal position to advocate for women's concerns in the church and to promote feminist scholarship in the seminary.
I was ordained to the ministry by the Church of God. The Church of God has acknowledged the call of women to preaching and pastoral ministry throughout its more than 100 years of existence, so ordination of women has not been an issue. However, women have had difficulty finding placement as pastors in Church of God pulpits. It is ironic to note that there were proportionately many more women pastors in the early days of the Church of God than at present.
My first opportunity to become a pastor came when the pastor of the First Church of God in Boston, with which I was affiliated during seminary, announced his resignation. Of the several ministers serving the church at the time, I was the only one with ordination and a seminary degree, so the church leaders asked me to serve as pastor until a new pastor could be identified and called, a process which took two years.
My assignment was complicated by the fact that the congregation underwent a painful split as a consequence of the resignation of my predecessor, so one of my initial concerns was to bring about healing and reconciliation. Moreover, my youth was as much a hindrance as my being female in gaining the people's confidence and respect. But in time we were able to forge a new identity as a congregation and to develop some more inclusive notions of ministry.
During my years of pastoral leadership, the congregation was willing to become much more deeply involved in community activism and outreach, primarily in the areas of anti-drug activity, prison ministry, and the start-up of a Christian preschool. One of the highlights of my ministry was an anti-drug demonstration at City Hall, when the members of the deacon board and trustee board not only took leave from their jobs to carry protest signs but stood ready to post bail in case I got arrested.
Moreover, they were quite willing to allow our church facilities and finances to be made available to the community at large to plan and strategize for social, political, and economic change. I found the church to be an exciting place to test out ideas that grew out of the social activist orientation of my campus ministry and seminary work.
My appointment to the faculty of Howard University School of Divinity began on the day following my resignation as pastor of First Church of God. As promised, I had served there until the new pastor was called; however, I must add that the pulpit committee did not give consideration to any female candidates aside from me.
I resumed my position on the ministerial staff at Third Street Church of God upon my return to Washington. I have found both pastor and parishioners there very accepting of all aspects of my ministry, and I have not been hindered by sexism in fulfilling my ministerial vocation.
THE TWO WORDS THAT perhaps best summarize my experience as a churchwoman and leader would be preparation and openness. By preparation I mean at least three things: the mental discipline of formal academic training; the spiritual discipline of personal prayer, fasting, and Bible study; and a willingness to engage in a broad range of hands-on experiences in ministry, including preaching, teaching, counseling, cooking, serving tables, holding community meetings, taking to the streets with protest signs and songs--in short, whatever tasks present themselves as opportunities to learn and to serve.
By openness, I mean a constant effort to be sensitive to the leading of the Spirit of God, and to be responsive to the help and encouragement received from people, regardless of who they are or what credentials they may or may not possess. My students, colleagues, and mentors have been both male and female, both laypersons and clergy, from the Church of God and of other denominations. Such openness bears some risks--sometimes I have been rejected and hurt by those I perceived to be friends--but thankfully at other times I have received support from some of the least likely sources, all as a consequence of being open.
It is my hope that in the future progress can be made to increase communication and cooperation among Christian women, who above all should be allies and not enemies.
Cheryl J. Sanders was associate pastor for leadership development at Third Street Church of God in Washington, D.C., and assistant professor of Christian ethics at Howard University School of Divinity when this article appeared.
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