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Called By God
ministry since that time. (Many were previously; see appendix B.) It seems unfortunate that in
order to keep the status of licensed minister financially viable for men, retaining the highly desirable parsonage allowance, the denomination chose to take away from women the highest position in ministry that they had been able to attain in most cases. Licensing to the ministry had
been available to women since the denomination began licensing ministers (see chapter 8) 100
years earlier.) Minnie Sype was one of 18 licensed ministers in a conference that
employed only eight ordained ministers. She thus functioned more centrally in the
mainstream of ministry than a woman minister who today is classified in a non-specific
category as a credentialed or licensed commissioned minister, set apart from her male
peers in pastoral and evangelistic work.
Being a woman and at the same time being called to fill a ministerial role in the
Seventh-day Adventist denomination today is at once rewarding and frustrating. The
work is rewarding because what God calls a person to do, the Holy Spirit enables her or
him to accomplish; and cooperating with the Spirit is an unsurpassed privilege. A bond
strengthens between the minister and God, the members served, and one’s peers and
superiors. The frustrations grow out of the opposition shown by some church administrators, pastors, seminary students, and members toward these ministering women.
Let me address the women ministers for a moment. I believe the message of
2 Timothy 1:6, 7 can with profit be called to your attention, as well as to that of the
male ministry. “Rekindle the gift of God that is within you through the laying on of my
hands,” (2 Timothy 1:6, RSV). Timothy was admonished. Woman minister, the laying
on of hands may be that accorded to a local elder only; nevertheless, it is sufficient in
the Spirit to fuel within your being a living flame.
When, humanly speaking, the future appears bleak or impossible, read the glorious
assurance of verse 7: “For God did not give us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of
love, and of a sound mind.” (2 Timothy 1:7.)
The Greek word σωφρονισµóς, appearing as “a sound mind” in the King James
Version, is rendered “self-control” in the Revised Standard. This word packs a lot of
meaning: it could be translated “sober good sense,” as well as “temperance.”
What a triad of characteristics to mark the woman minister as she faces an uncertain
professional future (and the words are certainly no less applicable to her male counterpart). God will provide power, shown by boldness in contrast to timidity, an intensity of
living and serving; love, the prime characteristic of God, the warm caring of self-giving
that can include “tough love” when needed; and a sound mind, characterized by temperance and self-control. Fred Gealy comments, “The Christian minister requires boldness
and courage, the power which derives from a confident faith; yet the exercise of power is
Christian only when fully joined with love, and these two with self-control.” (Taken from
Fred D. Gealy, “Exegesis,” 2 Timothy, The Interpreter’s Bible, on 2 Timothy 1:7.)
Anna Knight summoned power to combat ignorance and poverty by starting an
educational institution, evangelistic Bible schools, and adult classes in Mississippi; to
venture afar as a pioneer missionary to India; to carry the responsibilities of a depart-

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