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FROM THE PRESIDENT
Dear Friends:
It is encouraging that God continues to call men and women to
the vocation of Christian ministry. In good times and in bad times,
God raises up leaders to preach the gospel. In recent years thousands
of women have responded to God’s call. Seminaries all over
the nation have seen a dramatic increase in the number of women
who have come to equip themselves for the work of ministry.
ABSW, like other schools, has been affected by this influx of women.
We have seen a steady rise in the number of women applying for admission.
Some of the women have been older, having not been able to respond
to the desire to go to seminary until near or after retirement from
other work. Some of the women are young, just out of college. Others
have come to school in midlife having felt a new stirring of God’s
call on their lives. The women who come to ABSW are African-American,
Asian-American, Anglo, and Latina. This academic year about 60 percent
of our students are women, with the majority being African-American.
This action by God to call women and the response by women to heed
God’s call is both exciting and challenging for ABSW. It is
exciting to participate in the liberating process of ministry, which
is leading women to a new sense of entitlement about the work of
ministry. It is challenging to provide the resources and encouragement
necessary to teach these wonderful women of God. We have worked
to strengthen our own faculty so that now six of our 12 faculty
are themselves gifted women. We have significant resources in theology,
Bible, history, and the practice of ministry. We still need to strengthen
the presence of women of color on our faculty, but we are working
on that challenge.
We celebrate the significant number of women graduates of this
school who are serving as denominational leaders, pastors, chaplains,
teachers, and community organizers. We feature some of our graduates
in this issue.
As delighted as we are by the women whom God is sending to ABSW,
we are troubled by what appears to be a decline in opportunity for
women to serve in so many of our regions and churches. We Baptists
boast about our historical commitment to ordaining women, but we
have less to boast about when it comes to placing those same women
whom we ordain. As a matter of fact, Baptists as a whole run well
behind Methodists, Presbyterians, and the United Church of Christ
when it comes to providing opportunities for women to serve in the
churches.
We have in the last decade seen in the West a steady decrease in
the number of women who are serving in pastoral roles. There seems
to be fewer opportunities for our women than was true in the recent
past, and there seems to be a decline in advocacy for women in ministry
in some of our regions. This is a troubling trend.
Our challenge at ABSW is not only to provide an education which
equips men and women for ministry but to also serve as an advocate
and network for placement. We are working on placement issues for
all our graduates but know that placing our women graduates is a
very difficult task. The difficulty is not in the quality of the
candidate. Some of our most able leaders, teachers, and preachers
are the women whom God has sent us to train. The difficulty is in
finding regions and congregations who will consider women leaders.
We need you to be advocates for women in ministry in your setting.
God continues to call and we continue to train. Pray that we may
continue to create the reality of the Pauline vision in Galatians
3:28:
As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourself
with Christ. There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer
slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of
you are one in Christ.
Please join us in praying for the unity and liberation which comes
in Jesus Christ and which makes the gifts of ministry available
to men and women. Oh, that we in the churches would catch the vision
of our liberating Lord.
Faithfully yours,
Keith A. Russell
President
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