Texas BWIM meeting urges women to lean into their callings

Women called by God into ministry must run to rather than flee from God and their callings, speakers stressed during Texas Baptist Women in Ministry’s annual meeting Oct. 13 in Dallas.

Texas BWIM held its first in-person event in more than a year and a half, noted Executive Director Anyra Cano. The organization collaborated with the Baptist House of Studies at Southern Methodist University’s Perkins School of Theology, which hosted the event, and Faith Commons, a Dallas-based organization that promotes public discourse rooted in the common values of many faiths.

During a worship service sponsored by the Baptist House of Studies, Lynn Brinkley contrasted the Hebrew prophet Jonah with Jarena Lee, the first African-American woman to preach the gospel, in the 19th century. 

Lee persisted in pursuing her calling to preach, even when male church leaders discounted her experience with God, noted Brinkley, associate director of Baptist Women in Ministry and previous staff member and adjunct professor at the Campbell University Divinity School.

Lee’s breakthrough in ministry came when she charged the pulpit and preached eloquently after a male preacher failed miserably, Brinkley said. She compared Lee to Jonah, who fled from God rather than preach to the city of Nineveh.

“Are you Jarena or Jonah?” Brinkley asked. “Do you run to or flee from God? People are fleeing many things and running to many things. When the call of God comes, do you run to or flee?”

The Bible provides a handbook for resisting people who deny the gospel—particularly proponents of white Christian nationalism, stressed Jennifer Butler, a Presbyterian minister and CEO of Faith in Public Life, a network of 50,000 religious leaders advancing social justice.

In the keynote address, she exalted the ancient Hebrew midwives Puah and Shiphrah, who out-smarted their Egyptian overlords to save Hebrew baby boys and launched “the first woman-led conspiracy in history.”

Butler, author of Who Stole My Bible: Reclaiming Scripture as a Handbook for Resisting Tyranny, praised Puah’s and Shiphrah’s faithful insight. “All social change begins with moral imagination,” she said. “We follow a God who hears the groans of slaves and who works with women. Do you know the power you have? It is your moral vision that will protect us from the tyrants of our day.”

During a lunchtime discussion, a panel of women clergy shared their callings into ministry. They included:

• Brinkley

• Butler

• Nora Lozano, executive director and co-founder of the Christian Latina Leadership Institute and former university theology professor.

• Missy Ward-Angalla, a Cooperative Baptist Fellowship missionary in Uganda and executive director of Amani Sasa, a ministry that protects urban refugees.

• Linda Wilkerson, a retired hospital chaplain and pastoral educator, pastor emeritus of Iglesia Bautista Bill Harold in Dallas, and chair of the Texas BWIM board.

In a breakout session, Butler urged participants to engage public issues and to shape public life. “We have to be ready to get heard,” she said, lamenting the fact white Christian nationalists fill a vacuum created when faithful Christians fail to speak up.

“Read and track issues you care about,” she said, calling on faithful Christians to educate themselves and then to develop and circulate public statements on important issues, talk to reporters who cover those issues, contact elected leaders, and hold rallies to raise awareness. 

“Bring your faith into the public square,” Butler said. “Speak your faith into the issues and show respect for all faiths.”

Lozano led a breakout session called “Claiming Your Voice.” She used the Disney movie’s story of the Little Mermaid as an example of the value of your voice. The sea witch Ursula makes a deal with Ariel, and as payment, all she wants is her voice.

Lozano explains that there will always be people trying to take away our voices, especially those of women or minorities. She encouraged the participants to be prepared for this, and to know how they want to use their voice. We have agency over our own voice and get to decide when and when not to use it.