Many of our ring members started out Baptist, but only a few are following God's call to ordained ministry in a Baptist church. Jennifer Harris Dault is a Baptist woman working on a book project, "
Priesthood of ALL Believers," for which she is collecting the stories of women who are Baptist ministers. In the post quoted below, Jennifer mentions a
Kickstarter page. She is almost at her goal!
You can follow Jennifer and the progress of her work on Twitter. Blessings to Jennifer as she tells these important stories. Feel free to leave a comment of support here or over at her blog, where she writes about her project:
In case you somehow missed it, I’m compiling a book. That book, currently referred to as The Priesthood of ALL Believers, is a collection of call stories from Baptist women ministers (if you happen to be a Baptist woman minister, it isn’t too late to share your story. See this post for details). The Baptist denomination is still in a place of decision-making where female clergy are concerned. Not too many years ago, the Southern Baptist Convention — the largest of the Baptist groups — stopped supporting the ordination of women. Many other Baptist groups, such as American Baptist Churches and the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, do practice the ordination of women. However, Pam Durso was recently quoted in an EthicsDaily article saying that only 145 women currently serve as pastors or co-pastors in Baptist churches. Because of this, Baptist women often do not receive a lot of support as they are discerning a call to ministry. The first time I heard a woman preach was the summer of my senior year in college.
This book is a chance to let Baptist women tell their stories. It is an attempt to raise awareness of the unique challenges that Baptist women ministers face, but it is also an opportunity to celebrate the way that God works in calling us all.
The Priesthood of ALL Believers has an interested publisher (my first choice!), but will require funds from me to begin the process. You can be part of making this book a reality by pre-ordering it from my kickstarter page before June 20. I would be honored to have you as a partner in sharing these amazing stories.
thanks for sharing this! as a friend of Jennifer, I know she has a true heart for ministry, the church, and justice. We believe God can work in and through the Baptist church to make sure there is truly a priesthood of All believers
ReplyDeleteDear Jennifer,
ReplyDeleteI prayed for you today during my morning run. As I thought about you I remembered my grandfather bringing me out to his front porch and telling me that God had definitely called me into ministry. He spoke to me of the scripture in Joel where God promises to pour out the Spirit on ALL flesh. My prayer for you this morning was that God would pour out the Holy Spirit upon you as you bring this message to a part of the body of Christ that needs to hear it, and that you would have God's favor and help as you do so.
Blessings to you sister!