Women have long been an important aspect to religious culture down through history and even within the Christian Faith. Women have and still currently make up the majority of membership in Christian assemblies and churches. This current post though is focusing on four women in the African American Christian experience specifically the Pentecostal movement. These women come from similar backgrounds of the Reconstruction Era of the American South. These women have also shared in the same Christian experience and denominational persuasion and many of their core doctrinal beliefs are very similar and the same in most aspects. Yet in the sphere of Church leadership and Christian ministry these women's views are vastly different and their functionality in ministry are diverse as well. These women are as follows Emma E. Craig of the United Holy Church of America, Lizzie Robinson of the Church of God In Christ, Ida B. Robinson of the Mt. Sinai Holy Church of America and Sarah King of the Christ Holy Sanctified Church.
1. Evangelist Emma Elizabeth Craig of the UHCA "Co-Partner Ministry": Emma E. Craig was born in 1872 was the daughter of newly freed slaves in the state of North Carolina. She married her husband in 1892. Emma E. Craig was a graduate of Shaw University and served as an educator prior to her marriage. Once married she and her husband joined St. Jospeh AME Church yet while there they experienced "entire sanctification" and thus believed they were purged with "holy fire" and filled with the Holy Ghost to live holy and sanctified lives unto God. They where thrown out of the St. Joseph Church for their holiness testimony. They both being ministers join in house to house prayer meetings and in 1894 organized the first "Holy Convocation" of the Holy Churches of North Carolina which was a union of several independent Holiness churches. This organization later changes their name to the United Holy Church of America and Emma Craig and her husband serve as evangelists for this organization. Evangelist Emma Craig co-established with her husband Elder Charles Craig 16 churches many which to their note still stand today. Evangelist Emma Craig established and pastored Mt. Calvary UHCA in Philadelphia. Emma Craig in 1917 established the Holiness Union the official magazine known as the official Church organ of the United Holy Church. Emma Craig also established the Women's Home & Foreign Missionary Convention of the United Holy Church and served as its President (one of the most prominent positions for women in the organization at the time), and she was also appointed General Church Mother of the United Holy Church. Emma Craig's ministry style was that of a Co-partner ministry focusing mainly on evangelistic and missionary efforts.
http://www.uhcoa.org/: website to the United Holy Church
2. Mother Lizzie Robinson of the COGIC "Teaching Ministry": Lizzie Robinson was born in the Reconstruction Era of the American South. She was married to a man named Elder Robinson. She was an educator and matron of the Baptist Academy in Dermount, Arkansas. Bishop Mason the founder of the Church of God In Christ sought her out while looking for a woman to lead the women in his growing organization. He taught Lizzie Robinson the gospel of Jesus Christ and she received the Pentecostal blessing. She was appointed as General Mother and Overseer of the COGIC Women's Department. Lizzie Robinson was a strict interpreter of holiness and focused on as she called it "teaching the saintly women, young children and people of God". She is recorded as not believing that women were called to preach as she told many women that God did not call them to preach but serve and teach other women and children. Through her leadership she established COGIC Bible and Prayer bands in which women either taught the Bible and Holiness to other women and young children or were dedicated to prayer. She also established purity classes for the young women and appointed senior women to District Women Department supervisors while she served as the General Overseer. She taught that women's roles were according to her interpretation of the Bible restricted to "prophetesses, mothers, help mates and missionaries" and later on evangelists. She also helped shape the COGIC ban on female ordination. Lizzie Robinson's ministry style was that of a teacher focusing on subordination and women's conduct and holiness instead of public preaching and ordination.
http://www.cogic.org/womensdepartment/general-supervisor/past-leaders/: website of the Church of God In Christ
3. Bishop Ida B. Robinson of the Mt SHCA "Domination Ministry": Ida B. Robinson was born in 1891. She married a fellow preacher by the name of Oliver Robinson. Her first ministerial efforts were as an associate or lay minister of a small Holiness church under the leader of Elder Benjamin Smith. Ida Robinson filled in for him when he was not present and due to her animated preaching style the small congregation began to grow yet internal strife within the church led Ida to leave and began fellowship with the United Holy Church of America. She was given the pastorate of a small mission church called Mt. Olive and she was ordained an elder by the presiding Bishop of the United Holy Church Henry Fisher. In 1924 she believed that God was calling her out of the male dominated United Holy Church to establish an organization that would give equal ordination and ministerial rights to men and women and to expand the preaching of the gospel and holiness. Thus she established the Mount Sinai Holy Church of America and during the organization's first Holy Convocation she was consecrated to the bishopric and made the Senior Bishop and presiding prelate of the organization. Since her leadership all of the organization's presiding prelate have been women. Bishop Ida Robinson believed in preaching Jesus, living by holiness standards through the power of the Holy Ghost and equality of ministry for women and men. Ida Robinson's ministry style was that of domination or main leadership and vastly different from that of the other women listed.
http://www.mtsinaiholychurch.org/history/bishopidarobinson.html: website to Mt Sinai Holy Church of America
4. Reverend Sarah King of the CHSC "Help-Mate Ministry": Sarah King was born in the year of 1877. She married a man named Judge King. She was a soft spoken woman yet when she spoke the Word of God preached with much power and conviction. Sarah King was one of the first to speak in tongues while speaking in the Methodist Church. She was branded as a deluded person because the people in the area knew nothing of this new, astounding kind of religion. Strange things happened – she could not control herself (the Holy Ghost.) People said, “Satan had taken over in her. She was weird.” In later years, she was persecuted (even by her own husband). He threatened to break up the marriage and leave home because of this strange religion. It is recorded that one afternoon, Sarah King was sitting in the front room of their home quilting with of the women, who were new converts. She looked out the door and seeing her husband, Judge King, said, “Here comes my husband and he’s sanctified and filled with the Holy Ghost.” As he came in the front door, the Holy Ghost fell on her and began to speak through her. From the time Judge King became sanctified and filled with the Holy Ghost, Sarah King worked faithfully by his side. In those early, pioneering days, it was remarkable to see fifth-graders in the Louisiana Territory and Sarah King, who had been educated through the ninth grade, set up and established a school naming it after Jim Murray, a good man of that area who gave them 20 acres of land. She taught the three “R’s” and that marriage was honorable. The challenges of getting a building up were great, but they brought good citizens and businesses together to help Sarah. The Methodist Home Missionary Society of Shreveport also contributed. This inspired Sarah King to set up a Home Missionary Department among the small group of women she had gotten together from the surrounding farmlands. Sarah King suffered for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. One night while she was preaching, a man burst into the service and shot her down. As she fell to the ground, Judge King stood up and instructed the deacons and mothers to attend to her. This anointed man of God continued on with the topic from which his wife was preaching. Many were saved and filled with the Holy Ghost. Mother Sarah King fully recovered from her gun shot wounds and lived to be 95 years old. Sarah King's ministry style was that of a true "help-mate ministry".
http://www.chschurch.org/about/sarah-king/: website of Christ Holy Sanctified Church
In conclusion, each of these women had a unique style of ministry that shaped the organizations they served. Each of these women were Christian and true women of faith and the Word. These women believed that God in Christ Jesus had empowered them through the Holy Spirit to do the work of ministry and to promote, preach, teach and live holy before God and men. They impacted and placed their imprint on the American religious scene and the Christian faith as a whole. Not only were they pioneers in the African American community, or even just the Pentecostal movement but to the Christian Faith as a whole as examples of faithful women committed to Christ, the Bible, holiness and ministry!
1. Evangelist Emma Elizabeth Craig of the UHCA "Co-Partner Ministry": Emma E. Craig was born in 1872 was the daughter of newly freed slaves in the state of North Carolina. She married her husband in 1892. Emma E. Craig was a graduate of Shaw University and served as an educator prior to her marriage. Once married she and her husband joined St. Jospeh AME Church yet while there they experienced "entire sanctification" and thus believed they were purged with "holy fire" and filled with the Holy Ghost to live holy and sanctified lives unto God. They where thrown out of the St. Joseph Church for their holiness testimony. They both being ministers join in house to house prayer meetings and in 1894 organized the first "Holy Convocation" of the Holy Churches of North Carolina which was a union of several independent Holiness churches. This organization later changes their name to the United Holy Church of America and Emma Craig and her husband serve as evangelists for this organization. Evangelist Emma Craig co-established with her husband Elder Charles Craig 16 churches many which to their note still stand today. Evangelist Emma Craig established and pastored Mt. Calvary UHCA in Philadelphia. Emma Craig in 1917 established the Holiness Union the official magazine known as the official Church organ of the United Holy Church. Emma Craig also established the Women's Home & Foreign Missionary Convention of the United Holy Church and served as its President (one of the most prominent positions for women in the organization at the time), and she was also appointed General Church Mother of the United Holy Church. Emma Craig's ministry style was that of a Co-partner ministry focusing mainly on evangelistic and missionary efforts.
http://www.uhcoa.org/: website to the United Holy Church
2. Mother Lizzie Robinson of the COGIC "Teaching Ministry": Lizzie Robinson was born in the Reconstruction Era of the American South. She was married to a man named Elder Robinson. She was an educator and matron of the Baptist Academy in Dermount, Arkansas. Bishop Mason the founder of the Church of God In Christ sought her out while looking for a woman to lead the women in his growing organization. He taught Lizzie Robinson the gospel of Jesus Christ and she received the Pentecostal blessing. She was appointed as General Mother and Overseer of the COGIC Women's Department. Lizzie Robinson was a strict interpreter of holiness and focused on as she called it "teaching the saintly women, young children and people of God". She is recorded as not believing that women were called to preach as she told many women that God did not call them to preach but serve and teach other women and children. Through her leadership she established COGIC Bible and Prayer bands in which women either taught the Bible and Holiness to other women and young children or were dedicated to prayer. She also established purity classes for the young women and appointed senior women to District Women Department supervisors while she served as the General Overseer. She taught that women's roles were according to her interpretation of the Bible restricted to "prophetesses, mothers, help mates and missionaries" and later on evangelists. She also helped shape the COGIC ban on female ordination. Lizzie Robinson's ministry style was that of a teacher focusing on subordination and women's conduct and holiness instead of public preaching and ordination.
http://www.cogic.org/womensdepartment/general-supervisor/past-leaders/: website of the Church of God In Christ
3. Bishop Ida B. Robinson of the Mt SHCA "Domination Ministry": Ida B. Robinson was born in 1891. She married a fellow preacher by the name of Oliver Robinson. Her first ministerial efforts were as an associate or lay minister of a small Holiness church under the leader of Elder Benjamin Smith. Ida Robinson filled in for him when he was not present and due to her animated preaching style the small congregation began to grow yet internal strife within the church led Ida to leave and began fellowship with the United Holy Church of America. She was given the pastorate of a small mission church called Mt. Olive and she was ordained an elder by the presiding Bishop of the United Holy Church Henry Fisher. In 1924 she believed that God was calling her out of the male dominated United Holy Church to establish an organization that would give equal ordination and ministerial rights to men and women and to expand the preaching of the gospel and holiness. Thus she established the Mount Sinai Holy Church of America and during the organization's first Holy Convocation she was consecrated to the bishopric and made the Senior Bishop and presiding prelate of the organization. Since her leadership all of the organization's presiding prelate have been women. Bishop Ida Robinson believed in preaching Jesus, living by holiness standards through the power of the Holy Ghost and equality of ministry for women and men. Ida Robinson's ministry style was that of domination or main leadership and vastly different from that of the other women listed.
http://www.mtsinaiholychurch.org/history/bishopidarobinson.html: website to Mt Sinai Holy Church of America
4. Reverend Sarah King of the CHSC "Help-Mate Ministry": Sarah King was born in the year of 1877. She married a man named Judge King. She was a soft spoken woman yet when she spoke the Word of God preached with much power and conviction. Sarah King was one of the first to speak in tongues while speaking in the Methodist Church. She was branded as a deluded person because the people in the area knew nothing of this new, astounding kind of religion. Strange things happened – she could not control herself (the Holy Ghost.) People said, “Satan had taken over in her. She was weird.” In later years, she was persecuted (even by her own husband). He threatened to break up the marriage and leave home because of this strange religion. It is recorded that one afternoon, Sarah King was sitting in the front room of their home quilting with of the women, who were new converts. She looked out the door and seeing her husband, Judge King, said, “Here comes my husband and he’s sanctified and filled with the Holy Ghost.” As he came in the front door, the Holy Ghost fell on her and began to speak through her. From the time Judge King became sanctified and filled with the Holy Ghost, Sarah King worked faithfully by his side. In those early, pioneering days, it was remarkable to see fifth-graders in the Louisiana Territory and Sarah King, who had been educated through the ninth grade, set up and established a school naming it after Jim Murray, a good man of that area who gave them 20 acres of land. She taught the three “R’s” and that marriage was honorable. The challenges of getting a building up were great, but they brought good citizens and businesses together to help Sarah. The Methodist Home Missionary Society of Shreveport also contributed. This inspired Sarah King to set up a Home Missionary Department among the small group of women she had gotten together from the surrounding farmlands. Sarah King suffered for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. One night while she was preaching, a man burst into the service and shot her down. As she fell to the ground, Judge King stood up and instructed the deacons and mothers to attend to her. This anointed man of God continued on with the topic from which his wife was preaching. Many were saved and filled with the Holy Ghost. Mother Sarah King fully recovered from her gun shot wounds and lived to be 95 years old. Sarah King's ministry style was that of a true "help-mate ministry".
http://www.chschurch.org/about/sarah-king/: website of Christ Holy Sanctified Church
In conclusion, each of these women had a unique style of ministry that shaped the organizations they served. Each of these women were Christian and true women of faith and the Word. These women believed that God in Christ Jesus had empowered them through the Holy Spirit to do the work of ministry and to promote, preach, teach and live holy before God and men. They impacted and placed their imprint on the American religious scene and the Christian faith as a whole. Not only were they pioneers in the African American community, or even just the Pentecostal movement but to the Christian Faith as a whole as examples of faithful women committed to Christ, the Bible, holiness and ministry!
