Recent events have reminded me of what a valuable contribution women make in our world. Seeing my wife every day is reminder enough. But I am also referring to what I saw and heard at a recent academic conference – the Society for Pentecostal Studies. How much poorer that conference would have been without the amazing contributions of female scholars, both seasoned and just starting out. Such a range of talents!
All my life, I’ve been blessed with a host of female mentors and coworkers and in turn I’ve been honored to play a small part in raising up the next generation of women leaders. But today my mind goes to 12 women from my own faith tradition who have had transgenerational and global impact. Most of them I’ve never met in person, but my faith has been greatly enhanced by every one of them.
We don’t have time for more than basic introductions. This is a quick survey for the uninitiated. Some these women have had books written about them – I’ve included a list of a few biographies. You will benefit from doing your own research on their lives and the impact they’ve had.
Most people in my faith tradition have heard of John Wesley – at least they know he founded Methodism. You might know that John is also the “grandfather” of the Holiness and Pentecostal/Charismatic movements. You might also know of his brother, Charles, who wrote such great hymns as “And Can It Be that I Should Gain” and “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing”.
But do you know about their mother, Susanna Wesley (1669-1742)?
Susanna was never a formal minister – couldn’t be in those days. And yet the ministries of John and Charles flowed directly from their mother. She saw everyone under her charge “as a talent committed to me under a trust.” More than 200 people often attended her Sunday afternoon services – meetings she started to ensure her own children were properly grounded in the faith. (She gave birth to 19 children.)
Through her own example, teaching, and writings, her influence spread. But it spread far and wide most effectively through the ministry of her sons who launched the Methodist movement.
I grew up in a Methodist town – in those days there was a Methodist church in every nook and cranny of South Jersey. I was not a Methodist, but as a Pentecostal, I knew my faith was rooted in John Wesley’s movement – and thus I was also an heir to Susanna Wesley’s faith.
A century after Susanna died, Phoebe Palmer (1807-1874) was preaching John Wesley’s doctrine of Christian perfection and launching the Holiness and Higher Life movements of the 19th century. Her Tuesday Meetings for the Promotion of Holiness had far-reaching impact, from Methodist bishops to common laity.
Palmer’s teachings on holiness and Christian perfection impacted generations to follow. She and her husband preached throughout the US, Canada, and the UK, but she outshone her husband behind the pulpit and the pen. Her writings are still read today.
One of the many people Palmer influenced was Catherine Booth (1829-1890), co-founder of the Salvation Army. Unlike Palmer who was a native of New York City, Booth never left the UK. As she began her ministry, she found the example she needed in Palmer and promoted women’s right to preach the gospel.
At first, Catherine preached in tandem with her husband, William, but eventually she came into her own, a rare phenomenon in the late 1800s. Her ministry included both the wealthy and those who were poor, and she had great influence on the social reform movements of the day. I love that she was derided as a socialist for her work among those in the margins of society.
Unlike the other women I’ve already mentioned, Hannah Whitall Smith (1832-1911) and her husband, Robert, were from a long line of Quakers. But they too were greatly influenced by the Methodist-Holiness revivals. While living in Millville, NJ – my hometown – they attended the first national holiness camp meeting in next door Vineland.
Together Hannah and Robert launched the Keswick movement in England, a parallel movement to the US-based Holiness movement. They traveled throughout Europe and North America. Her writings, especially her book, The Christian’s Secret of a Happy Life (1875) continue to be read around the globe.
I learned of Maria Woodworth-Etter (1844-1924) through archivist Wayne Warner, who eventually published a book about her life. Woodworth-Etter didn’t grow up in a Christian family and was first exposed to the faith in a local Disciples of Christ congregation. But the Disciples opposed women becoming ministers, so she found support among the Quakers.
Her faith healing ministry brought her into contact with the Holiness movement and eventually the Pentecostal movement and she helped found the Assemblies of God in 1914. She preached throughout the US to thousands of people at a time. In her 70s, she settled in Indianapolis where she founded what is today the Lakeview Church.
Lucy F. Farrow (1851-1911) played a key role in the birth of the Pentecostal movement in the US. The Azusa Street Revival of 1906-1909, which launched Pentecostalism into a worldwide movement, was led by William Seymour. Farrow, a niece of abolitionist Frederick Douglass, introduced Seymour to Pentecostal teachings.
Born into slavery, Farrow became a Holiness preacher, and by 1905 was pastoring a Holiness church in Houston, Texas. There she worked with Pentecostal preacher Charles F. Parham in the earliest days of the Pentecostal movement. During the Azusa Revival, she became known as the “anointed handmaiden.” Through her preaching and networking, she became a catalyst in the movement in Texas, California, Virginia, and Liberia.
Greatly influenced by the Azusa Revival, Carrie Judd Montgomery (1858-1946) grew up an Episcopalian in Buffalo, NY. As an adolescent, she ministered to neighborhood children until a debilitating sickness struck her down. But when she experienced healing, she launched into her own healing ministry. She became an itinerant preacher, traveling internationally, helping found the Christian and Missionary Alliance with A.B. Simpson, and ministering among many denominations. She faced opposition for being a woman preacher and for ministering to African Americans.
Eventually Montgomery joined the Pentecostal movement and the Assemblies of God. Her husband, a businessman, supported her work, helped her build The Home of Peace in California, and funded her travels. She was personal friends with Woodworth-Etter and Catherine Booth.
Canadian-born Aimee Semple McPherson (1890-1944) also had her roots in the Salvation Army and Methodism. As a teenager, she was introduced to Pentecost through Robert Semple, a missionary from Ireland, who became her husband. After Robert died of malaria while they ministered in Asia, she began ministry on her own. Influenced by Woodworth-Etter, she too preached to huge gatherings. Ordained by the Assemblies of God in 1919, she left the AG to found Angeles Temple in Los Angeles. The church quickly became, in modern lingo, a megachurch.
Like Woodworth-Etter and Montgomery, McPherson emphasized divine healing. And like them, she racially integrated her tent meetings and church services. Unlike Woodworth-Etter and Montgomery, McPherson was much more charismatic, some would say flamboyant. She grew her Angeles Temple into a new denomination, known today as the Foursquare Church, and founded what is now Life Pacific University.
I attended a meeting of Kathryn Kuhlman’s (1907-1976) in Tampa, Florida, as a college student in the early 70s. It was a memorable experience. I cannot forget the man sitting near me who was healed but still refused to believe in God.
Although Kulman grew up in a Methodist family, she was ordained by the Evangelical Church Alliance. She too began traveling across the US preaching to large gatherings, conducting divine healing ministry, and starting a weekly TV program in the ‘60s. Her ministry was considered a forerunner to the present-day Charismatic movement.
Born in New York City to Puerto Rican parents, Aimee Garcia Cortese (1929-1921) was named after Aimee Semple McPherson by her mother who consecrated her “to the Lord’s service.” Called to preach as a teenager, she was told “Las mujeres no predicant” (women do not preach). But her Pentecostal minister father encouraged her to go into the ministry. Which she did, serving as a prison chaplain and assisting former inmates with reentry.
For a time, Cortese served as a legislative aide for her brother, State Senator Robert Garcia, working as a community liaison with housing, welfare, drug, and rehabilitation programs. She and her husband, Joseph, also served with the Billy Graham Evangelistic Team in South America. Our paths crossed when I interviewed her for my doctoral research in 1987. By then, she had founded the multicultural Crossroads Tabernacle in the Bronx. She was frequently the lone woman speaker at national and international events.
I’ve written elsewhere about Dr. Edith Blumhofer (1950-2020). But I was reminded of her legacy at the recent SPS conference. A research mentor of mine in the ‘80s, her fingerprints are all over Pentecostal historiography. Harvard educated, her teachings and writings gave the study of American Pentecostalism a respected place in the history of religion and scholarly research.
One of her numerous books was a biography of Aimee Semple McPherson. Blumhofer became a bridge to evangelicalism, serving as Associate Director of the Pew-funded Public Religion Project, teaching at Wheaton College, and directing the Institute for the Study of American Evangelicals. She was, like the other women I’ve highlighted, a pioneer of the faith, albeit in academia.
There’s one more woman I want to feature, although you won’t find her on Wikipedia. Cora Olive Gregg Lockwood (1861-1937) was the first in a long line of women preachers in my family. When she was healed of heart disease at 18, she felt called to ministry and became a lay Methodist evangelist, preaching in churches in New York State. Edith Belle (Lockwood) Osgood, her daughter and my maternal grandmother, described her as a woman of prayer, through whom many others were healed.
As the Azusa Revival was beginning on the far side of the continent, Great-Grandma Lockwood had her own Pentecostal experience. 120 years later, more than 25 of her descendants (and descendants-in-law) have become missionaries, pastors, evangelists, and other ministers, 14 of them women, now into the 5th generation.
Diverse as these 12 women were, you can see common threads running through their lives. They all had connections with the Wesleyan faith tradition and all those alive after 1900 were part of the Pentecostal movement. They were pioneers and trailblazers. Almost all of them were preachers of the gospel, well, all of them if you count the academic ministry of Blumhofer, which I do. Most also were engaged in healing ministry and/or ministry to those in the margins of life.
And they were all – every last one of them – deeply devoted to Jesus Christ and his mission in the world. They knew they were called to preach – and they would not be denied their God-ordained mandate.
Each of these women had an amazing influence on the spread of the gospel and on impacting lives around the globe. I should say “has” not “had,” for their influence continues to bear fruit to this day. Even if you’ve never heard of them, you’ve likely been blessed by them.
I love that March is designated Women’s History Month. The theme this year is “women educating and inspiring generations.” These 12 women have done just that.
I highly recommend these 4 books. Each of the authors are impeccable in their research.
Edith L. Blumhofer, Aimee Semple McPherson: Everybody’s Sister (1993)
Jennifer A. Miscov, Life on Wings: The Forgotten Life and Theology of Carrie Judd Montgomery (1858-1946) (2012)
Wayne E. Warner, Kathryn Kuhlman, The Woman Behind the Miracles (1993)
Wayne E. Warner, Maria Woodworth-Etter: For Such a Time as This (2004)
In addition, you will find several of the women I’ve written about mentioned in my book, Ethics in the Age of the Spirit (2019). In my blog post of 2024.09.14, I write about Maria Woodworth-Etter: The woman evangelist ahead of her time. In another post from 2024.05.11, I write about Edith Blumhofer: Mother’s Day Taught Me that Women Belong in the Pulpit .
This post is part of my series on leadership. You can find my other leadership posts at Leadership – On a journey in the borderlands.
Photo montage: top l-r – Kathryn Kuhlman, Hannah Whitall Smith, Lucy Farrow, Aimee Semple McPherson; middle l-r – Phoebe Palmer, Susanna Wesley, Maria Woodworth-Etter; bottom l-r – Edith Blumhofer, Carrie Judd Montgomery, Aimee Garcia Cortese, Catherine Booth; missing – Cora Olive Gregg Lockwood.
Love this!