Devotional: Women and Church Leadership

Dear God of Justice and Restoration,

In 1853, Antoinette Brown Blackwell stood before her congregation in South Butler, New York — the first woman ordained by a mainstream Protestant denomination in America. Her hands trembled. The pews held both allies and skeptics. And yet, the prophet Amos had already spoken: "Let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream."

Lord, that river has never stopped flowing. It carried Jarena Lee when she preached her first sermon in an AME church after being told women could not speak. It carried the unnamed deaconesses of the early church whom Paul greeted by name — Phoebe, Junia, Priscilla — women whose gifts You refused to leave dormant.

Forgive us when we have dammed that river with our own fears. Forgive us when we have mistaken cultural comfort for biblical faithfulness. Open our eyes to see the full image of God reflected in every person You have called and equipped to lead Your people.