Wichita ? Beatrice Cunningham was 9 when she got a divine call to enter the ministry. But it wasn’t until she reached 75 that she was ordained as a pastor. It happened in a historic ordination service in December at Tabernacle Baptist Church in Wichita.

Cunningham was ordained to be a pastor along with three other women who were ordained for general ministry.

The ordination of the four women was a first for the 120-year-old congregation, and Cunningham’s was an uncommon step in her denomination, which has few female pastors.

Now, she serves as assistant pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Wellington.

The ordination service reflects a growing tension in the National Baptist Convention USA, the nation’s largest black Baptist group, with estimates of several million members, about whether to open more doors for women in ministry — especially to serve as pastors.

“I didn’t come through life expecting that somebody owed me anything,” Cunningham said. “I just expected God to provide a way.”

Cunningham’s ordination added credibility for her to do general ministry, from speaking at revivals to leading outreaches to even pastoring a church.

Women pastors are few

National Baptist USA congregations, which are free to make decisions about ordaining women as pastors, have differed on this issue. Most have not ordained a woman as pastor.

The convention has no policy about it and doesn’t keep track of how many female pastors it has. It does have a women’s department, which includes some female pastors in charge of churches. Their numbers, however, are generally thought to be small.

Inez Daniels, left, hugs her mentor, Dilce Polite, during a service last month at Tabernacle Baptist Church in Wichita. Polite, who was recently ordained as a minister, is Daniels' prayer partner. Daniels is working toward becoming an ordained minister with her church.

National Baptist USA churches have ordained women for nonpastoral ministry, but few have done so with the idea that they pastor churches of their own.

The churches have tended to be structured according to a traditional view of the Bible that has top leaders as male, said the Rev. W.C. Thomas, pastor of Greater St. Mary’s Baptist Church.

He cited Bible verses such as Ephesians 5:23 in the New Testament for support: “For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the savior of the body.”

His church doesn’t allow female pastors, a belief Thomas said is shared by women and men alike in his congregation.

Going out on her own

The Rev. Brenda Ashley left National Baptist churches to establish SISTERS Ministries in 1997 in Shreveport, La., a church with a predominantly female membership.

Ashley trains women to be in all facets of ministry, including pastor. She was told by previous pastors that she couldn’t be a pastor in their congregations, prompting her to leave.

“You’re hindering the kingdom because of your ego,” she said she told her former pastors. “I know women have callings. It’s the move of God. It has nothing to do with whether our pastor agrees with it or whether Baptists agree with it.”

The Rev. Elois Burton is an ordained pastor of Straight Street Bethel Church, a year-old Church of God in Christ congregation in Wichita with about 20 members.

She grew up in Wichita in a National Baptist church before moving to Chicago and returned two years ago to start Straight Street, her first-ever church to pastor, along with a 24-hour prayer center.

She was ordained in 1992 in Chicago through the Church of God in Christ, a predominantly black Pentecostal denomination that has begun to ordain female pastors in recent years.

With its emphasis on the Holy Spirit, Church of God in Christ has allowed her to minister with greater freedom than the Baptist churches she grew up in, Burton said.

Her church is focusing on ministry to homeless people and ex-inmates, among others, she said.

“A pastor is simply a person who feeds God’s sheep,” Burton said. “You have to know for yourself that you have the call of God.”

Called at a young age

The Rev. Arlene Churn is a rare exception to ordination in the National Baptist Convention USA. Ordained to general ministry in the National Baptist denomination at age 7, she is believed to be the youngest woman ever to be ordained among black Baptist denominations.

As an adult, Churn pastored a National Baptist church in New Jersey. Although not ordained as a pastor, she was accepted by the congregation as its pastor.

During her ministry, she said she felt resistance from male and female members within the denomination.

“Many Baptist women are starting their own ministries, organizing churches and worship groups,” said Churn, 61. “While some are being called to churches, it’s nowhere near the ratio of men.”

Ordination required changes

For Cunningham to be ordained, Tabernacle Baptist had to amend its constitution last fall to allow female ordination, which it did by an overwhelming majority.

“It was a very affirming moment all around,” said Tabernacle Baptist pastor Lincoln Montgomery. “My intention was not to be a rebel, but I intended to be faithful.”

The ordinations encouraged Inez Daniels, who, though not ordained, makes visits to new members at Tabernacle Baptist.

She grew up in an era, she said, when women did not preach and was nervous when in 1990 God called her to be a minister. Finally in 1992, she shared her plans tearfully with the congregation during a worship service.

Daniels is taking theology classes locally and doing ministry as part of training for possible ordination.

In Cunningham’s situation, she said the Holy Spirit came over her in her home in Marion, Ind., when she was a child. She had a vision that thousands of people were standing outside her porch, waiting to hear a word from God. Since then, she has preached in churches in nearly every state.

For 20 years, she has never missed the 7 a.m. layman-led Sunday service at Tabernacle Baptist. Often, she was the preacher for that service.

Now, she shares preaching duties at Ebenezer Baptist and, with the official credentials of ordination, serves as one of its pastors.

“I’m the same person,” Cunningham said. “It’s only paper. You’ve got to have it in your heart.”