Coloring Missions Pink

Women in ministry. It's a topic many people might perceive as over discussed. A topic that talking about is like beating a dead horse. However, it is one that has been following me this year. Everywhere I turn I am hearing and reading conversations regarding this controversial topic. As I read this edition of The Other Sheep, I could not help but notice that this issue that is still being debated today seems to be almost a nonissue in January of 1944. 
This edition begins with a story of three women missionaries setting out for Africa. The magazine continues to tell story after story of women serving as pastors in foreign lands. There is an articles speaking of the Nazarene missions work in Trinidad where a graduate of Eastern Nazarene College, Reverend Carlotta Graham, was pastoring two different churches. There is also an entire section of the magazine devoted to the Young Women's Foreign Missionary Society and the Women's Foreign Missionary Society. These two organizations not only have important roles on the field, but were also highly involved in fundraising for missionary endeavors. Women missionaries also were highly involved in the educating of children in missions. The Boys and Girls page is put together by a woman who signs each page affectionately as, "Your Big Sister." All of this female influence in the 1940s is striking when one looks at the current debates regarding women in ministry. I could not help but wonder what allowed for this acceptance of female participation so early in history. However, as I read I was reminded of the pro-feminine attitude that characterized this World War II culture. This approval, even encouragement, of women was seen as customary in this time period. Women were desperately needed. This perception of female involvement is one that we would be wise to remember in the current debate. Light and Life Magazine, a publication put out by the Free Methodist Church, centered their February issue around the topic of women in ministry. One article is dedicated to the women precedents within Christian history. It is important to remember these women and the attitudes held by the 1941 Nazarene missionaries, realizing that there certainly is a place for women in expanding the Kingdom of God.