Celebrating the Ordination of Women

2006 marks some important anniversaries for the ordination of women in the Presbyterian Church. The United Presbyterian Church of North America (UPNA) voted to allow women to serve as deacons in 1906. This year marks the 100th anniversary of that event. 1930 was the year women were welcomed as elders in the PCUSA, making this the 76th year for women to serve in that capacity. In 1956 the 167th General Assembly of the PCUSA voted to allow women to serve as ministers of the word and sacrament. On October 24, 1956, Cayuga-Syracuse Presbytery ordained Margaret Towner in First Presbyterian Church of Syracuse, New York. By 1964, the Presbyterian Church in the United States followed, allowing women to be ordained as deacons, elders and ministers of the word and sacrament. On May 12, 1965 Hanover Presbytery ordained Rachel Henderlite at All Souls Presbyterian Church in Richmond, Virginia. For a telling of this history which captures all the controversy and follows the paths of some of the women who pioneered the road to ordination see Celebrating Our Call: Ordination Stories of Presbyterian Women, edited by Patricia Lloyd-Sidle.

The history of women in ministry is filled with troubles and blessings, tears and joy. How that history has played out since those momentous decisions by General Assemblies years ago have had profound impacts on the lives of women and men and upon the mission of the Presbyterian Church. The journey has been long, however, and many wonderful relationships and much work has come from it. The story of four Presbyterian clergywomen in Maryville, Tennessee does much to show us where we have been, where we now find ourselves and gives us hope for the work of the future.

Emily Anderson, Anne McKee, Ann Brunger and Wendy Neff
 

Ann Brunger graduated from Yale Divinity School in 1977. She set about seeking a call all over New York City, longing to serve a congregation. In the end she directed a senior center and was ordained to that position. In 1982, Ann, her husband and 3 small boys moved to Maryville so Ann’s husband could teach at the college. With this move, Ann “gave up”, knowing she would never receive a call in east Tennessee. She and her family settled into worship at Highland Presbyterian Church until Ann was asked to fill the pulpit while the interim pastor was away. And that was all it took. The search committee began to badger Ann until she finally turned in her paperwork and, much to her surprise, they called her as their pastor. She was the first woman to serve in an installed position in the presbytery. That was in 1983. Ann was the pastor of Highland until 2003. During those years, whenever a woman was approved for candidacy by the presbytery, Ann would stand and make a speech: “We are deceiving this woman and ourselves because there is not a church in this presbytery that would call her to serve.” The presbytery was to hear this speech repeatedly through the years.

Next came Anne McKee. She, too, is a Yale Divinity School graduate and served a church in Minneapolis where she was serving as associate at one of the most liberal churches in the denomination. There were 50 women on the rolls of the presbytery. An academic spouse who came to teach at UT Knoxville brought Anne to east Tennessee into a conservative presbytery. When Anne joined the presbytery there was one other woman on the rolls: Ann Brunger. She was called as the interim pastor of a new church development in March of 1994. After a difficult examination on the floor of presbytery with Anne eight months pregnant, the call was approved. She was next installed as associate pastor at Farragut from 1994-2001. In the spring of 2001 Anne was called as the chaplain at Maryville College.

In 1999 Emily Anderson was called to New Providence Presbyterian Church in Maryville. It took Emily two and a half years to receive her call to a church as head of staff. She experienced seeing many men with the same years of experience and ability as she receiving calls much sooner. Upon her call, one man left the church in objection to her gender. Needless to say, Ann Brunger was thrilled to have a female colleague down the street.

Highland church called Wendy Neff as their pastor in June of 2005. Wendy was born in Birmingham, Alabama in 1972, which is the same year that the Presbyterian Church in America formed its first congregation in that same city because of the ordination of women. Wendy grew up around women elders and pastors, watching them serve and hearing them preach. Surrounded by supportive and strong roll models, it never occurred to Wendy that ministry was not an option for her. She is that next generation of clergywomen whose way was smoothed because of women like Ann Brunger and Anne McKee. When Wendy was received into East Tennessee Presbytery that Ann Brunger stood up on the floor and said, “I will never again stand on this floor and declare that we are deceiving the young woman before us because as of today, I no longer need to.” Ann ushered in one era and Wendy the next.

These women show us our own history, the evolution of our church and point the way toward a bright future of mission and service for the denomination.