“In My Mother's House”: A Glimpse of Baptist Women in Ministry on its Twenty-Fifth Anniversary

Abstract

During the early years of the Southern Baptist controversy, a national organization for women ministers was founded that would come to be called Baptist Women in Ministry (BWIM). In 2008, the organization observed its twenty-fifth anniversary by hosting a dinner and celebration. The focus of this article is on the BWIM and its role within the Southern Baptist controversy and its struggles during the early years after the formation of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. The article traces BWIM's journey through the lean years of the 1990s when the budget allowed for little more than a newsletter and an annual worship service to the floundering years of the early twenty-first century, when BWIM had meager monetary resources and a skeletal structure. By 2003, a vote was taken to see if anyone was even interested in keeping the organization running. The result was a surprising and resounding yes. The article concludes with a recounting of the anniversary celebration. By its twenty-fifth year, BWIM had a new generation of leaders—young female seminarians and pastors who had picked up the dream, revived BWIM, and breathed new life into the organization. At the 2008 Cooperative Baptist Fellowship assembly, the energy of BWIM and its women was palpable—and quite different from previous assemblies. The organization's “This Is What a Preacher Looks Like” T-shirts were everywhere and sold quickly. Women participated equally in the assembly worship—preaching, serving communion, commissioning missionaries, and reading from scripture. BWIM's sessions were standing room only.