Dogs Walking on Hind Legs and Women Preaching

"A woman’s preaching is like a dog’s walking on his hind legs. It is not done well; but you are surprised to find it done at all.” (Samuel Johnson, 1709-1784, English writer).

"It is no harder for a woman to teach a mixed audience than to only women when one gets used to it. For there is neither Jew nor Greek; there is neither slave nor free; there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Jesus Christ." (Miss Abbie M. Colby, Missionary to Osaka, Japan, as quoted in Life and Light for Woman, March, 1888, p. 87).

In our day, when some evangelical Christians hear women preach, they feel like Samuel Johnson did almost 200 years ago.They're surprised, and they don't like it.

Allow me to introduce you to Frances Elizabeth Willard (1839-1898).

The famous evangelist, D.L. Moody (1837-1899) supported Frances E. Willard (1839-1898) in her pioneering attempts to change laws that forbade women from voting in public elections. After working with Willard on suffrage, Moody learned of Willard's ability to "walk on her hind feet" (e.g. "preach").

Moody believed in Willard's spiritual gift to proclaim the Word of God so much that he invited her to join him in his itinerant work as a fellow preacher. After traveling with Moody, preaching from pulpits across America, Frances Willard wrote her own superb defense of women preachers, a short pamphlet entitled Woman in the Pulpit,

A couple of well-known evangelical pastors commended Willard's book Women in the Pulpit with the following written statements:

"About the subject of a woman's preaching, let me say that I do not think the story of the Gospel will be fully told until Christian women all around the world tell it." (T. De Witt Talmage, 1832-1902, a prominent Presbyterian preacher in America)

"I cannot but feel that women have a greater Christian work to do than many of us have yet realized or admitted, and that they have it to do for the simple reason that they are divinely qualified to do it." (Joseph Parker, 1830-1902, Pastor, The City Temple, London).

Frances Willard graduated from Moody Bible Institute. Yes, that Moody.  The flagship of evangelicalism education in the 1800's, Moody Institute was founded by a woman, Emma Dryer, and D.L. Moody became, in effect, its first dean.

In addition to Moody Bible Institute, Wheaton College, Wheaton Illinois, was founded in 1860 by abolitionist pastor Jonathan Blanchard (1811-1892). Wheaton, upon opening its doors, became the first college in America to open all courses and programs to males and females, something Harvard University didn't do until 1943, and only then because of the pressures of World War II made male student enrollment impossibly low.

In a superb article published by the Reformed Journal, author and theologian Timothy Larsen talks about what happened at Wheaton in the late 1800's.

"There were women faculty members at Wheaton even in its first decade (1860s). Frances E. Townsley, a student at Wheaton beginning in 1867, was particularly influenced by Helen S. Norton, who taught her Latin. Townsley gave a paper at Wheaton College’s Aelionian Society that was so moving that it prompted Jonathan Blanchard (1811-1892), founder of Wheaton, not only to weep openly, but also to give her a semester of free tuition!

Townsley became a school teacher after her Wheaton days, but she subsequently received a call to ministry. She had already been teaching men in an adult Sunday school class for years. Her first Sunday morning sermon was at Lincoln Park Congregational Church, Chicago. She then began to preach regularly in Congregational and Baptist churches. One minister, who subsequently came to endorse her ministry, approached their first meeting with suspicion and hostility. He protested that men who desire to preach first went to college. Recalling that almost no colleges accepted women at this time, he was considerably disconcerted to learn that she had already fulfilled that requirement. He next protested that the men study courses directly related to the work of public ministry such as theology and homiletics. The astounding reply was that so had she. Again, Wheaton was probably the only college in America at that time where a woman could take a homiletics class. He then proceeded to test the mettle of her theological education by asking if she had read Walker’s The Philosophy of the Plan of Salvation, the leading evangelical work in the field of apologetics at the time. She was able to reply that not only had she read it, but she had been taught by the author (who was a member of the Wheaton faculty) personally, and that he had written to her to confirm and endorse her call to ministry!

In the mid-1870s, Townsley became a full-time preacher and evangelist. Numerous people were converted through her preaching. She specialized in reviving dying churches. This led on to serving as interim pastor for a succession of Baptist churches in need of a minister. In the late 1880s, she was called to be the settled pastor of the Fairfield Baptist Church in Nebraska. She refused to administer Communion, however, as she was not ordained. Townsley observed that Baptist men who were aspiring to ministry but had not yet been ordained often presumed to officiate at the Lord’s Supper at that time, but she “was a stickler for church order.” Her Baptist church therefore unanimously voted that she should be ordained. Following Baptist custom at that time, she was examined as a candidate for ordination by a council that included the ministers and other representatives from no less than 14 Baptist churches from the surrounding area – far larger and more representative council than was the norm. This Baptist council again voted unanimously that she was a suitable candidate for ordination. This decision was praised in the National Baptist newspaper (published in Philadelphia), which added, 'There is not a pulpit in the land she would not grace.'" 

I recently announced that a woman would be "preaching" at Emmanuel Enid.

One of our church members, very politely, stated objections to "a woman" preaching. I listened intently (this person objecting is a friend), and then responded to the objection that "women have their roles" (which does not include preaching), and only "men have authority to preach, not women" by just as politely stating the following points.

1. I used to believe what you believe because I was taught it. After examining the Scriptures for myself, I believe with all my heart that leadership in God's Kingdom is shared by men and women with the requirements being humility, not honor; gifting, not gender; and character, not control (see 5 Reasons Why Women Can Pastor God's People, Divine Authority Is Never Office or Gender Based, and more...).

2. The best argument against a woman not preaching at Emmanuel Enid is that it might violate "the convictions" of some church members (a few, but definitely not the majority). I must then choose between following what I believe to be the leadership of the Holy Spirit or peace with my friends. I believe I know what I must choose.

3. I never seek to "persuade" someone else that I am right - and they are wrong - on the issue of shared leadership based on spiritual gifts. On the other hand, since I am Lead Pastor, I must do what I believe the Spirit and Scripture demands. 

4. I suggested that my friends "take a break" on the Sunday a woman is preaching (three times in 2020), and I would understand (thought I don't like it), if they had to leave Emmanuel Enid because their convictions were different. My conscience is bound to the Word of God, not the approval of men. 

My granddad used to have a lame dog who learned to walk on its back feet. I had much respect for that dog. So too, I respect gifted women preachers proclaiming the risen Christ.

I've grown used to it.

It's biblical.

It's Kingdom oriented.

It's a sign that Spirit-led revival is coming.

"In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams" (Acts 2:17).