Ellen G. White’s View of the Role of Women in the SDA Church

Chapter I—The Religio-Cultural Climate within the Adventism of EGW’s Contemporaries

The last half of the 19th Century saw SDA’s publicly involved in lively discussions and debates on all sorts of “reform” questions. SDA’s as a group were seen by other Protestant Christians as “breaking new ground” theologically: EGWVRWSDA 1.2

1. The observance of the seventh-day Sabbath instead of Sunday.

2. The feet-washing “ordinance” in celebration of the Lord’s Supper.

3. The advocacy of temperance enforced by civil/criminal statute.

This willingness to set aside the traditions of historical precedent in other areas seems to have “spilled over” into attitudes permitting (if not actually encouraging) women to preach from the pulpit. The SDA Church was co-founded by a woman who was very visible in the pulpit for 70 years. And there seems to have been a correspondingly broader acceptance of women in high leadership roles in general, and the gospel ministry in particular, during the last half of that century as compared with the last half of our own century, among SDA’s. EGWVRWSDA 1.3

Adventism, in the 19th and 20th centuries, experienced a somewhat broader acceptance on the West Coast of the USA than in some other geographical areas of the continent. Sociologists of religion would find a correlation between the breaking of traditional “roots” and life-habits on the part of immigrants to California from the east/midwest, and their apparent readiness to adopt new forms of religious thought and expression. EGW spent much of her ministry in the western USA during the last half of the 19th century. Her example in leadership roles undoubtedly had a profound impact and influence upon the public in general and her own denomination in particular. EGWVRWSDA 1.4

Examples of the “open” attitude toward women occupying places in SDA Church leadership—at all levels—during the last half of the 19th Century: EGWVRWSDA 1.5

1. Article (“Women as Preachers and Lecturers”) in The Review and Herald, July 30, 1861, Editor James White front-paged the article as the lead story for this edition; associate editor Uriah Smith wrote an editorial introduction. [Appendix A] EGWVRWSDA 1.6

2. The resolution on ordination of women, appropriately qualified, for the gospel ministry, at the 1881 General Conference Session: EGWVRWSDA 2.1

Resolved, That females possessing the necessary qualification to fill that position, may, with perfect propriety, be set apart by ordination to the work of the Christian ministry.

This was discussed by J. O. Corliss, A. C. Bourdeau, E. R. Jones, D. H. Lamson, W. H. Littlejohn, A. S. Hutchins, D. M. Canright, and J. N. Loughborough, and referred to the General Conference Committee.—Source: The Review and Herald, December 20, 1881 (Vol. 58, No. 25), p. 392. (For further discussion of this resolution, see under Sec. III, below. Cf. also Appendix B.)

3. Three of the first 11 Treasurers of the General Conference (between 1871 and 1883) were women. [Appendix C] EGWVRWSDA 2.2

4. Women held conspicuously prominent positions in church leadership at the highest levels. Of the identified editors (or co-editors) of The Youth’s Instructor, 11 of the 19 who served between 1852-99 were women (including two who also served as G.C. Treasurers: Adelia Patten-Van Horn, and Minerva Jane Loughborough-Chapman); and of the four editors who served 1899-1970, three were women. EGWVRWSDA 2.3

James White, 1852-1853, 1855-1857; Anna White, 1854; G. W. Amadon, 1858-1864, 1867-1869; Adelia P. Patten (later Van Horn), 1864-1867; G. H. Bell, 1869-1871; Jennie R. Trembley, 1871-1873; Jennie A. Merriam, 1873-1875; Mrs. Minerva J. Chapman, 1875-1879, 1884-1889; Mrs. Mary K. White and Miss V. A. Merriam, 1879-1880; V. A. Merriam, 1880-1881; Eva Bell (later Giles), 1882-1883; Editorial Committee of Eva Bell Giles, Adolph B. Oyen. Winnie E. Loughborough., 1883; Winnie E. Loughborough (later Kelsea), 1890-1891; “Editorial Contributors,” M. B. Duffie, P. T. Magan. J. O. Corliss, Fannie Bolton, 1891; no editor listed Dec. 30, 189l-Aug. 30, 1894, however, in his last editorial (42:400. Dec. 20, 1894) N. W. Lawrence, calling himself “the present editor,” mentions laying down the responsibilities he has carried “during the three years just passed”: J. H. Durland and M. E. Kellogg, 1895-1896; J. H. Durland, 1897; W. H. McKee and J. C. Bartholf, 1897-1899; Ade1aid Bee Cooper (later Evans), 1899-1904; Fannie M. Dickerson (later Chase), 1904-1922; Lora E. Clement, 1923-1952; Walter T. Crandall. 1952-1970. [Source: Seventh-day Adventist Encyclopedia 1976: pp. 1631, 1632] EGWVRWSDA 2.4

L. Flora Plummer served as the ninth “secretary” [director] of the General Conference Sabbath School Department (1913-36) during the last three years of Ellen White’s lifetime. She became an SDA in 1886. Shortly thereafter she joined the SS Department of the Iowa Conference. In 1900 she transferred to a similar post in the Minnesota Conference. In 1901 the SS Department was organized in the General Conference, and Mrs. Plummer was appointed the “organizing secretary,” and continued in the leadership of that department, including heading it for 23 years before retirement in 1936. EGWVRWSDA 3.1

5. A total of 31 women were licensed by the SDA Church to preach from its pulpits during EGW’s lifetime (see period 1878-1910 on the tabulation covering 1878-1975, Appendix D). [The] case of Lulu Wightman [is] particularly interesting: she and her husband were both ministers in the New York Conference. As she was the better preacher of the two (and doubtless also to capitalize on the curiosity value of a woman speaker to attract an audience into their evangelistic tent), Elder Wightman shared the platform in his campaigns with his wife: he acted as master of ceremonies, made announcements, called for the offering, led hymns, etc., while his wife did the preaching. When the time came for the baptism of converts, he officiated at the rite. (Interview with Armina L. Glascock, age 93, St. Helena, CA, June 4, 1986, who as a young girl attended a Wightman campaign; also Bert Haloviak, “The Adventist Heritage Calls for Ordination of Women,” Spectrum August, 1985, pp. 52-60, a condensation of his longer paper, “Route to the Ordination of Women in the S.D.A. Church: Two Parts,” unpublished, March 18, 1985.) EGWVRWSDA 3.2