Female Founders in Charismatic Churches
- Elaine R Kelly
- Feb 29, 2024
- 7 min read
Updated: May 9
When God called women to preach, they preached.
When recognized denominations would not ordain them, sometimes they travelled as itinerant preachers. Sometimes they founded their own congregations. Sometimes they founded a Megachurch. Sometimes they founded a church denomination.
There were female founders of charismatic churches a hundred years ago - so how did it happen that female freedoms were reduced? Why were women later limited in their ministries?
"You were running a good race. Who cut in on you to keep you from obeying the truth?" Galatians 5:7 NIV
The Holy Spirit Led the Missionary Alliance Church to Honour Male and Female Leadership
Dr David Fitch, of the Christian and Missionary Alliance denomination, explains that historically, charismatic denominations were led by the Holy Spirit, who distributed the gifts and anointed leaders. Since the congregation followed the Spirit's gifting, women and men traditionally had equal representation in leading charismatic churches.
Pentecostals, another charismatic denomination, also has a history of women and men sharing leadership. In her summary of Pentecostal women in ministry, Sheri Benvenuti explains that early Pentecostals fully believed that the Holy Spirit was the authority who led the church, and the Spirit gifted and anointed those who would serve and speak.
White Pentecostals saw Women Speaking in Tongues, Not as Pastors
The Pentecostal denomination was co-founded by Charles F. Parham and William J. Seymour. Both saw women gifted by the Spirit.
Charles Parham is recognized as a founder of Pentecostalism, being an instructor and witnessing his student, Agnes Ozman, as the first person to speak in tongues in 1901, igniting the movement. Parham trained women for ministry and commissioned them to found churches and serve as pastors. His sister-in-law, Lilian Thistlewaite, conducted meetings and spoke at gatherings.
William Seymour wanted to study form Parham, and Parham agreed to leave his classroom door open so that Seymour, a Black man, could sit in the hall and hear his lectures. Seymour founded the Azusa Street Mission in California in 1906. Lucy Farrow was instrumental in the early foundations of Pentecostalism and the first African American person to be recorded as having spoken in tongues. Parham hired Lucy Farrow as a family governess; he did not see her as a pastor.
Since Parham opposed the mixing of races, Pentecostals divided into the mixed-race Church of God in Christ and the primarily whites-only Assemblies of God. The Assemblies of God USA does not ordain women and has no women in leadership throughout the Church.
Black Pentecostals approved women and men in Preaching and Teaching
"Brother Seymour was recognized as the nominal leader in charge. But we had no pope or hierarchy ... The Lord Himself was leading ... We did not honour men for their advantage, in means or education, but rather for their God-given 'gifts...' - Frank Bartleman
Brother Seymour's co-workers at the Azusa Street mission included Florence Crawford and Clara Lum, who shared in preaching and in preparing and sending a newsletter called The Apostolic Faith.
Florence Crawford founded the Apostolic Faith Church in Portland, Oregon, in 1907. Similar to the Azusa Street mission, it is a charismatic or Pentecostal denomination. With the permission of Brother Seymour, but not the board of elders, Mrs Crawford took the mailing lists of the Azusa Street mission with her to Oregon. Financial and prayer support was redirected from Azusa Street to the Apostolic Faith Church.
Female Founder of the Foursquare Church Denomination
Aimee Semple McPherson preached as an evangelist for ten years and then purchased a property in Los Angeles in 1921 and founded Angelus Temple, which seated over 5,000 people! It was established as an ecumenical centre attended by people of many denominations as well as seekers or secular guests. The Pentecostal movement was unpopular, perhaps because other denominations rejected speaking in tongues and faith healing, and McPherson aimed for a more mainstream audience.
McPherson established the first Christian radio station in the United States, a Bible College, and ultimately founded the denomination called The International Church of the Foursquare Gospel.
Women Ministers at Baptist and Assemblies of God Denominations
Mae Eleanor Edick Frey was a newspaper reporter who became an American Pentecostal minister, evangelist, leader, and writer. In 1905, she became the first woman ordained in the Northern Baptist Convention, and she served as a pastor and preacher. She evangelized and converted many as a preacher at tent revivals. After learning about the charismatic movement, she and her husband, P.I. Frey, joined the Assemblies of God (AG) denomination in 1920. The AG denomination prohibited women ministers, but allowed her to hold an Evangelist Certificate and be employed as a temporary pastor.
She advocated for women in ministry:
"... for God-fearing, intelligent, Spirit-filled women, upon whom God has set his seal in their ministry, to have to sit and listen to men haggle over the matter of their place in the ministry is humiliating to say the least." - Mae Eleanore Frey
"God Almighty is no fool- -I say it with all reverence--Would He fill a woman with the Holy Ghost--endow her with ability--give her a vision of souls and then tell her to shut her mouth? - Mae Eleanor Frey
Women Church Planters
The Mennonite Brethren in Christ permitted Janet Douglas to labour as an Evangelist in 1884. She was the first female Mennonite Evangelist and pastor in North America, but was not ordained. She founded a city mission in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and then moved to Ontario, Canada. In the 1880s, she founded two Mennonite Brethren in Christ congregations in Dornoch and Kilsyth, Ontario. One after another, she planted these new churches, raised funds for their building, and was their lead pastor. Over time, her public ministry decreased as her denomination (now known as Evangelical Missionary Church of Canada) shifted away from its charismatic roots and towards a theology that opposed women pastors.
Charismatics Later Began to Limit Women
Charismatics traditionally acknowledged the freedom and responsibility of women called to ministry roles. Where the early charismatic movement believed the Bible supported women's freedom to use their gifts in any ministry, their association with evangelicals and Reformed thinkers led charismatics to place limitations on women in ministry.
Evangelicals often disparaged the charismatic movement, viewed speaking in tongues as suspicious, called charismatics unbiblical, and criticized them for prioritizing the Spirit over the Bible. Reformed denominations, which follow strict confessions of faith, set authority structures, education, and a requirement that clergy be males, also sidelined charismatics, not recognizing them as valid Christians.
Limiting women's roles was one way for Charismatics to gain acceptance and credibility with Evangelical and Reformed movements. Charles H. Barfoot and Gerald T. Sheppard wrote about the Changing Role of Women Clergy in Classical Pentecostal Churches, explaining that as Pentecostals formalized church structure, they questioned women being in positions of authority over men.
Sheri Benvenuti explains that Pentecostals have generally allowed women more freedoms than evangelicals. The early charismatic movement believed the Holy Spirit had absolute authority, and the Spirit anointed whoever it chose. Sheri Benvenuti explains that at the beginning of the charismatic movement, authority was not part of the discussion:
"Men and women of that day seemed to be grounded in the understanding that because God chose women to participate in the New Testament Holy Spirit baptism experience, it was only logical that they, too, should carry the message of the gospel."
Pentecostals gained acceptance and respectability by adopting biblical interpretations and church structures in keeping with the National Association of Evangelicals. Cecil M. Robeck states:
"as evangelical values have been adopted by Pentecostals, the role of women in ministry has suffered."
Limitations Put on Women in Ministry
How has the movement of women in ministry suffered in the charismatic movement?
Women are usually limited to ministry with women and children
A woman pastor may be limited to a role as a co-pastor under the authority of her husband
Charismatic denominations or non-denominational charismatic churches may or may not ordain women as ministers
Pentecostals in Canada
Back in 1919, in a list of 15 Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada (PAOC) missionaries, seven were female. However, the PAOC did not ordain women, which meant they could not perform certain functions, such as weddings and preaching. They did not have the responsibility or compensation of lead pastors. The ordination of women was discussed and denied at several national councils.
Finally, in 1984, the PAOC determined to ordain women or men. In 1984, C. M. Ward declared,
“This step of opening the pulpit to women is not only morally correct but morally mandatory…. It is the will of God to reach souls regardless of the gender employed."
As of January 2016, approximately six percent of credentialed lead pastors in the PAOC were female. In 2018, the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada (PAOC) affirmed the equality of women and men in ministry and provided an egalitarian exegesis of controversial passages that appear to oppose women in ministry. They do not simply leave it up to local congregations but encourage local churches to teach and implement egalitarian positions and to provide resources to that end.
Conclusion
From the beginning of the Charismatics movement, there were women speaking in tongues, preaching, evangelizing, leading, ministering, and church planting. The movement did not consider whether the person was male or female, but whether the Spirit had gifted the person for a specific task. At that time, many charismatic women were effective preachers and church planters. Over time, possibly to gain the acceptance of Evangelicals, Reformed, and Fundamentalist movements, Charismatics abandoned their views of women in ministry and complied with new restrictions on women in ministry.
Imagine Junia, named as an apostle in Romans 16, travelling in Asia Minor as an evangelist and church planter! That's the story in Elaine Kelly's latest fiction, Finding Her Voice.
Elaine Ricker Kelly Author is empowering women with historical fiction about women in the Bible and early church and Christian blogs about women in leadership, church history and doctrine. Her books include:
Forgotten Followers from Broken to Bold, Book 1, A Novel (2022)
The Sword: A Fun Way to Engage in Healthy Debate on What the Bible Says About a Woman's Role (2023)
Because She Was Called from Broken to Bold, Book 2, A Novel of the Early Church (2024)
Walk with Mara on Her Healing Journey: 21 Steps to Emotional Resilience (2024)
Finding Her Voice from Broken to Bold, Book 3, A Novel of the Earliest Female Apostles (coming October 2025)
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