DURHAM, N.C. (ABP) — When Addie Davis was ordained to the gospel ministry Aug. 9, 1964, she and the supportive congregation were unknowingly making history. Forty years later, Watts Street Baptist Church in Durham, N.C., celebrated with Davis — now recognized as the first Southern Baptist woman to be ordained for pastoral ministry.
A soft-spoken minister from Covington, Va., Davis preached during the Aug. 8 service marking the 40th anniversary of her ordination. She urged listeners to hold firm to their spiritual commitments.
At least three people who participated in the historic ordination returned for the anniversary — Warren Carr, the church's former pastor, and R.C. Briggs and Luther Copeland, both former professors from nearby Southeastern Seminary who taught Davis at the time. Four clergywomen who are current members of Watts Street also participated in the anniversary.
In her brief message, Davis called for patience and affirmed that God's timing is perfect. “It is hard to wait. We want instant satisfaction,” she said. “Waiting is not one of our best characteristics.”
Davis told a local newspaper that some Southern Baptists sent letters of objection following her 1964 ordination. One letter writer, she particularly remembers, urged her to renounce her ordination. “He said I was to learn from my husband,” Davis told the Durham Herald-Sun, “The problem is that I have never married.”
Baptists have traditionally considered ordination to be a local church matter. However, the Southern Baptist Convention approved a revised doctrinal statement in 2000 affirming “the office of pastor is limited to men as qualified by Scripture.” The statement is not enforceable on individual Southern Baptist congregations.
American Baptist Churches USA and newer groups like the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and the Alliance of Baptists, formed in response to the rightward swing of the SBC, affirm women ministers.
Curtis Freeman, director of the Baptist House of Studies at Duke Divinity School in Durham, applauded the Watts Street congregation for creating “sanctified imagination to help women understand they are called and can serve.” He made the comments during a luncheon following the service that featured several clergywomen sharing their personal stories.
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— Laura Johnson is pastor of Sharon Baptist Church in Smithfield, N.C. John Pierce is executive editor of Baptists Today.