The following letter to the editor of the fellowship! magazine was sent by Molly Marshall, president of Central Baptist Theological Seminary.
I received the latest issue of the CBF Fellowship! with a sense of gratitude. As the first woman to lead a Baptist seminary among the schools accredited by the Association of Theological Schools, I readily identify with these women who have broken through the “stained-glass ceiling.” I am grateful for organizations like CBF and Central Seminary which are committed to supporting women in ministry. I am also grateful to God for the opportunities for women to find ways to serve as they feel called.
Central Baptist Theological Seminary has been training women for ministry since 1901. There were women among our first graduating class, and consistently women have found a place to nurture their call at Central. Over the last ten semesters the percentage of women of all students taking classes at Central has ranged from 42 to 54 with an average of 49%. Women graduating from Central have gone on to be missionaries, chaplains, lead pastors, associate pastors in a variety of ministerial emphases, professors, as well as to serve in many other ministry roles within and outside the church.
Central encourages women to seek to fulfill the call God has made on their lives and to discern what that call might be without regard to limitations imposed from without. Unfortunately our women graduates face many obstacles upon leaving the seminary environment. Organizations like the CBF help to eliminate those obstacles with issues such as the recent Fellowship! and their deliberate efforts to support women in ministry. These are some of the good reasons why Central Seminary is grateful for their partnership with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.
Faithfully,
Molly T. Marshall
President
and Professor of Theology and Spiritual Formation
I have been privileged to work with the Central Seminary teaching site in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, for the last three years. This site embodies values that CBF has embraced–gender inclusive, multi-racial, and ecumenical. Students are female and male, African-American and Euro-American, and from several denominations. CBTS and CBF are a good match! Thank you, Dr. Marshall, for making this possible.
As one of those fairly recent graduates Dr. Marshall spoke of (2003), I can attest to the wonderful nurturing of women students at CBTS! I thank God for Dr. Marshall and for all the marvelous professors that gift the students who attend CBTS. I was blessed to be called from out of my congregation for pastoral ministry. Not many women have that opportunity. May God continue to work in the hearts of those who still cannot see their way to call a woman as pastor. Thank you CBF for all you do to help this along.
Holmeswood Baptist (KC-MO) has wisely chosen to share the journey with two women who have been trained at Central Seminary. Rev. Kathy Pickett graduated with her MDiv in 2005 and Rev. Tammy Jackson will graduate with her MDiv sometime in the near future. Both are excellent ministers and we are the recipients of their energetic and active ministries. I love sharing the work of ministry with my colleagues and am challenged daily to be a better minister myself! I’m glad our church has risen to the challenge to not only talk about equality in God’s good world but to see the wisdom of putting that kind of equality to work in our church staff.
Amen.
CBTS ’04