Women Preachers: Pastors vs. Missionaries

When Bishop William Bonner interviewed Mother Wheatley for his book, My Father in the Gospel, she remarked at one point that Harlem was "infested" with women preachers. This may seem harsh, but one of characteristics of Lawson's doctrine was his disapproval of female ministers. Differences of interpretation of the New Testament scriptures concerning women in church help precipitate Bishop Lawson's withdrawal from the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World. To this day, "no women preachers" is a fundamental point of doctrine for most of the church groups that came from under the Lawson umbrella. Some of these churches have recently begun the practice of ordaining women as elders, a practice that even the fairly liberal Church of God in Christ has yet to do.

Bishop Lawson's relationship with female clergy began in the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World, whose doctrine of gender-inclusive ministry was largely influenced by the egalitarian nature of the Azusa Street Revival. Women and men were considered equal in Christ, though ministerial titles differed. Women were known as "evangelists," while men were known as "presbyters," or "elders." Men, then as now, outnumbered women in the ministry; additionally, certain offices, such as district elder and bishop, were closed to women.

Bishop (then Elder) Lawson spent much of his early ministry traveling through the Mid-West and at least as far east as New York City. We know that he encountered a church in New York pastored by Mother Susan Gertrude Lightfoot (or 'Lightford'). Apparently Lawson preached for Mother Lightfoot's church, King's Chapel, though he did not endorse women preachers scripturally or experientially. When Lawson resigned from the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World and settled in Harlem, several of Mother Lightfoot's members 'defected' and began supporting his ministry.

According to Mother Wheatley's interview with Bishop Bonner, on more than one occasion women who were pastors ascribed to Lawson's doctrine and turned their churches over to male ministers. Interestingly, Mother Wheatley conceded that Lawson's teaching was not so much against women preachers as it was against women pastors, and went on to describe how she and a group of women were commissioned by God to begin a work in Mamaroneck, N.Y. (today known as Strait Gate).

In those days, a Pentecostal woman who became a missionary was not simply joining a women's auxiliary or a fundraising committee, but was acknowledging a calling to work alongside (but subordinate to) male ministers, at home or abroad, for the saving of souls. What kinds of activities typified the vocation of these called women? Let's find out by examining the work of several women who began their mission work under Bishop Lawson.

Women Preachers: Mother Lawson

Although Bishop Lawson as not in favor of women preachers, he was not wholly unsympathetic to the fact that women's efforts were essential to the success of the ministry. Unknown to many, for instance, is the fact that his closest and most trusted advisor was a one-time woman preacher: Evangelist Carrie Fields, later to become Mother Carrie Lawson. Lawson met his soon-to-be wife during his evangelistic work in the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World. She was at the time an evangelist, a female minister, from Leavenworth, Kansas. As Elder Lawson's views on church polity began to develop, to the exclusion of female pastoral duties, Mrs. Lawson apparently adjusted her ministry, phasing out her preaching ministry and concentrating on marriage and home life. Bishop Lawson suggested this when he responds to criticism from Bishop Smallwood Williams in the sermon "Ten Mistake Refuted":

As to my marrying a woman preacher, it is a poor argument for men to criticize a man's family relationship. I do not believe in women preachers or pastors. I never did, and I never will. However, I do not see where there is anything against me for marrying a woman who called herself a preacher, whom I understood would devote herself after marriage to home and husband rather than to the ministry. If such is not the case now, that was my conviction and mistake, and what I looked forward to when I married. (For the Defense, p. 274, par. 3)

Mother Lawson died 10 years before this sermon was delievered, but all written and oral accounts of her behavior support what her husband said. When they began to have children, Mother Lawson was known to sit in the back of the church during the services. Though an early participant in the Pentecostal movement, she was more active as a homemaker and hostess to Bishop Lawson's guests than as a church worker. Refuge Temple's annual picnic at the Lawson estate in Peekskills, N.Y., featured meals prepared with vegetables grown in Mother Lawson's garden.

There was one aspect of ministry in which Mother Lawson remained active: prayer. To the post-modern mind, this may seem of little importance. However, the whole of the Pentecostal movement, from Azusa Street to the birthing of Refuge Temple, began by prayer. Prayer was not considered something that just anyone did; indeed, speaking to God on behalf of others was a revered occupation, part of the mystique of becoming a cleric. Whatever Bishop Lawson may have thought of women preachers, he had tremendous respect for women who prayed. He had been saved and healed of tuberculosis through the prayers of an old woman, and though he expected the former evangelist to give up her preaching ministry, he encouraged her prayers.

Known in her time as "the praying mother of the air," Mother Lawson was the featured prayer during Refuge Temple's Sunday night live radio broadcasts. She would stand at the foot of the pulpit when the broadcast opened and wait to be escorted to the microphone by her husband or another minister. While Mother Lawson prayed, it is said that business in certain areas of Harlem would come to a halt. Drink orders dipped, and pool games paused: Mother was praying. She prayed for soldiers at war, for those in hospitals, for all that concerned WWII America. After prayer, she would step down from the pulpit and return to her seat.

Mother Lawson was an anomaly. She was obviously deeply spiritual, and can be viewed as an antecedent of the Department of Women's Missionary Work. However, she shunned the attention that came to so many other "mothers" throughout the Pentecostal movement. Sitting in the back of the church, she would clench her head with both hands, as though in pain. When once asked if she was sick, she answered, "I'm all right; I'm just praying that the message gets through." It is quite inconceivable that Bishop Lawson could have been successfully married to a woman who was not of such a high spiritual caliber.

All told, Bishop Lawson's relationship with his wife was unique. His dealing with other female ministers both within and outside of his organization is more revealing of his outlook on the woman's place in ministry, which is what we will examine next.

Women Preachers: "... Compass a Man"

One of Bishop Lawson's early doctrines was that of women in ministry. Lawson left the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World because of his disagreement with the prevailing practices of that day in Pentecost; women were allowed both to preach and to pastor. Lawson was one of G.T. Haywood's Bible students: he was constrained to read nothing but the Bible, and to read it six times in a year. Paul's exhortations to the the Corinthians, to Titus, and to Timothy seem to curtail women's authority to minister, but the apparent contradiction between these scriptures and others that seem to affirm women's rights to preach and pastor was not thoroughly explored.

Moreover, there was much ignorance in Pentecost at the time. There were "not many wise" in the new movement, and members were often discouraged from seeking education outside of scripture, including religious education. Bishop Lawson, who eventually went on to found one of the first Pentecostal seminaries, rebelled largely against the fact that the word of God not being rightly divided, much on account of a poorly informed reading of scripture. For example, oft quoted was the scripture Jeremiah 31:22, which contains the phrase "a woman shall compass a man"; this was interpreted as saying that women shall one day equal and even outdo men in ministry. Lawson replied in part on this wise:

Jeremiah ... did not have in mind "women preaching or the church, for he did not prophesy concerning the church, neither did he see the church age or our times. He prophesied rather about Israel his people, their then present state, and the immediate going into captivity and despair, and their future restoration and glory. ...
This is what is really meant by "a woman shall compass a man;" [sic] Israel the woman, seeking and wooing her Lord, Jehovah; [sic] who heretofore had sought and wooed her to whom she had been unfaithful and adulterous, yea, she in her last days shall seek her Lord; shall "compass" Him ... (For the Defense, p. 24, pars 2 and 4)

Bishop Lawson's thrust here is how people interpret the scriptures. In addition, the incorrect reading of the word "compass" also figured into Lawson's argument against this reading of that scripture. In the "Practical and Perplexing Questions" section of For the Defense, he addresses this most directly:

QUESTION 12:

Is Jeremiah 31:22 an endorsement of women preachers?
ANSWER:

No! "Surpass" means "outstrip". [sic] "Encompass" means "to go around" [sic] "Compass" mean [sic] to turn about. The women (Israel) who were once pursued will become the pursuer. The man (the Messiah), the once rejected suitor will be sought after by the women. (See Sermon "A Woman Shall Compass A Man").

Bishop Lawson deplored those who used this scripture, armed with an incorrect understanding of the word "compass," as implying that men were failing God wholesale; that women were somehow purer and therefore more fit for the Master's use; that women would have to save the church; and, most of all, that God was Himself unable to keep men (and His church) from falling.

Many of the beliefs that characterized Lawson's doctrine about women preachers were common among theologians of the day. Appeals were made to women being the weaker vessels, to her ministry being confined to the home, and to the Bible's requirements of bishops and deacons to be "husbands." We shall omit to discuss those here. It is sufficient to realize that Bishop Lawson's doctrine of limiting women's authority to ministry was based on a strict reading of the Pauline scriptures; was developed out of a need to address a gap between the scripture and the practice of the day among his Pentecostal cohorts; and was further strengthened by Lawson's desire to separate himself from perceived doctrinal instability and general uninformedness in the early Pentecostal church.

However, we shall see that the Bishop was not without sensitivity to the the spiritual desires of women to be used of God for the saving of souls.