Christian Church(Disciples of Christ)
Christian Church
(Disciples of Christ)
Contact: news@cm.disciples.org
ST. LOUIS (RNS) -- Despite the increasing number of women in religious leadership, African American women clergy of historic black churches still find acceptance difficult, according to the Rev. Delores Carpenter of Washington, D.C.
The growing number of women in positions of religious leadership was a major topic of a joint Oct. 27-29 conference here of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion and the Religious Research Association. Carpenter, a professor of religious education at Howard University Divinity School in Washington, was among 300 scholars and sociologists taking part in the event.
Since many predominantly black denominations do not ordain women or hire women clergy, there has been a gradual movement of African-American women into traditionally white mainline denominations especially Presbyterian and United Methodist churches where they can serve as pastors, said Carpenter.
These black women pastors are different in several respects from their white counterparts and will have a significant impact on their church bodies, said Carpenter, also pastor of Michigan Park Christian Church in the district. Black women pastors have a stronger bent toward political activism than white pastors. They also are more likely to emphasize preaching in their ministries and to be open to Pentecostal and charismatic practices, such as healing ministries and prophecy.
Carpenter concluded that black women pastors in mainline denominations may have the most impact on their former black denominations, as officials of those denominations view the women's ministries as test cases for women's ordination.
"Though we are not missed, we're being carefully watched," Carpenter said.
The decline of mainline Protestantism and the growth of conservative Christianity also pose new challenges for women clergy, despite their increasing roles, scholars said.
Patricia Chang, a researcher at the Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame, presented research showing that women have made substantial gains finding parish employment after leaving seminary. Before 1970, about 60 percent of qualified female clergy did not get jobs as pastors almost two years after leaving seminary, according to Chang, who conducted her study while at Hartford (Conn.) Seminary's Center for Social and Religious Research.
The length of time between leaving seminary and finding employment is often a factor in whether prospective clergy can find a "fast-track" position that can lead to career advancement later on, according to Chang.
The gender gap between men and women finding employment shortly after they attended seminary also has narrowed. It went from being almost three times higher for men than women in 1970 to about 1.5 times higher in 1980, according to Chang. From 1980 to 1990, as denominations became more accepting of women clergy, the gap narrowed to about 1.2, and the trend continues today.
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