Women’s Footprints in History
The year 1972 was a many first for the United Methodist Church.
It was the first full General Conference of The United Methodist Church after the 1968 merge of the Evangelical United Brethren Church and the Methodist Church formed the United Methodist Church.
It was the final chapter of segregated Central Jurisdiction Conferences by merging the remaining jurisdictions. The Commission on Religion and Race integrated, along with working on agencies and seminaries, to the standing regional jurisdictions [Central Jurisdiction was gone but most of the challenges which faced the old Central Jurisdiction were still here].
Wilbur Wong Yan Choy became the first Asian-American bishop.
And the first full General Conference creates the Commission on the Status and Role of Women [COSROW] as a four-year agency. In 1976 this Commission becomes a standing agency.
This Commission was created to commit to the full participation of women in the life and mission of the church. The commission serves as an advocate for, and on the behalf of, women; seeks to eliminate inequities in relation to women in the church; and monitors the general agencies, institutions, and connectional structures to ensure the inclusion of women.
By 1980, Marjorie Swank Mathews became first woman elected bishop in The United Methodist Church and in 1984, Leontine T.C. Kelly becomes the first woman of color elected bishop in The United Methodist Church [UMC].
Even though the founder of the Methodist Movement, John Wesley, was supported of women preachers, Methodist women have a yo-yo relationship within their church. Just see the box……
It has been 49 years since COSROW has been formed, but there is still a long way to see the numbers of female ministers match the percentage of laity female in the UMC. Today, female members of the UMC church outnumber the males, yet approximately 20% of ministers [Elders in full connection] are female while 79% are male.
This is compounded by the number of females of color. A study done in 2011, the same one that found the number of 20% UMC female clergy, uncovered less than 4% of UMC female of color are clergy.
It seems that female clergy lean toward being deacon in full connection at 76% to males at 24%.
As leaders, teachers, missionaries, and organizers, women have shaped the history of Methodism. In their work with the poor and disenfranchised, women have initiated important social and political reform. Nevertheless, women are not fully reflecting the world or the UMC.
At UCRP, our recent history has been blessed with female ministers – black and white. Even our current Coop of three churches have three strong females. What are we doing at UCRP that needs to replicate in our denomination?
Click here to return to WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH of UNITED METHODIST page