Leading the black church: Can it be a woman’s place?

CLEVELAND (RNS)—Imelda Ellison sits quietly in her pew as, one by one, dressed all in white, the members of the Emmanuel Women of Worship come down the center aisle.

Their heads held high, 15 women step and sway, clapping and singing. For a few mesmerizing moments, the women’s choir is the center of Sunday worship.

At times like this, Ellison—who feels a “burning” call to the ministry—envisions herself up front leading the flock in prayer.

But when the women take their seats near the pulpit, the male ministers seated on either side of Emmanuel Baptist Church’s pastor take over the service.

Pastor David Cobb Jr. started the women’s choir six months ago to increase the visibility of women in the service, but his congregation is not ready for women ministers, he said.

Black women activists say change is long overdue in their struggle for equal opportunities in their church. They can be trustees and teachers and can even be ordained as deacons and ministers in some black churches.

But like many evangelical churches, many individual black congregations still ban female clergy. And even among churches that accept women ministers, it is rare for a woman to be a senior pastor.

To be sure, there are success stories—three women bishops in the African Methodist Episcopal Church, for example. Yet they are mostly the exceptions. Many black churches such as Emmanuel still have all-male deacon boards to oversee the congregation’s spiritual life.

Tradition and a literal interpretation of biblical texts urging women to be silent are part of the reason women have been kept from the front of the black church, observers say.

There are concerns that women clergy could undermine the historic role of pastors as important leadership models for black men. The issue also is about power and sexism, some women insist.

“How can we say we love the Lord, and we oppress women?” Ellison asked.

In the late 1950s, an Emmanuel leader informed Doris Jamieson he would nominate her to be the only woman on the board of trustees, which oversees church finances and administration.

“But you got to learn to keep your mouth shut,” Jamieson recalls being told.

Today, a third of the 12 trustees at Emmanuel are women. And women there, unlike at many other black churches, serve the Lord’s Supper. Visiting women ministers preach on Women’s Day.

Cobb would like to find a more prominent role for women at his church. In coming months, he plans to feature women at least monthly in the service in roles ranging from reading Scripture to leading congregational prayer.

“I want everybody in the church to know they can play an important part,” Cobb said. “I don’t want it to appear the only thing women can do is cook and hand out clothes.”

Ellison teaches a new-member class and is part of the youth ministry team at Emmanuel. More than a month ago, she asked Cobb if she could be a minister at Emmanuel.

Cobb has not made up his mind on women as senior pastors, but he sees biblical support for women as associate clergy.

“Women have just as much right to preach and serve in leadership positions in church as do men,” he said.

Ellison, who is close to earning a bachelor’s degree in religious studies from Ursuline College, explored other churches before returning to Emmanuel in 2005.

“God was saying this was where he wanted me to come,” Ellison said. “It was very hard for me, really, to come back here, because I knew I wasn’t going to be accepted.”

Many black male clergy keep women from the pulpit based on Bible passages that emphasize female submission.

This has led many black women to turn to predominantly white mainline churches such as the United Church of Christ and the Presbyterian Church (USA).

Vassar College religion professor Lawrence Mamiya said studies by Delores Carpenter of Howard Divinity School showed substantial numbers of black women seminary graduates have switched to white denominations. More than half of the 380 ordained black women in one study turned to white denominations.

Mamiya noted the number is declining slightly with the opening of opportunities in historically black denominations such as the African Methodist Episcopal Church.

“However, denominational switching still remains a significant factor for black women in ministry, and black church denominations are losing,” he reported.