This coming Sunday, Watts Street Baptist Church, Durham, N.C., will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first ordination of a woman in a Southern Baptist church. On Aug. 9, 1964, Watts Street ordained Addie Davis to the gospel ministry. A recent graduate of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, Davis was ready to begin her first pastoral call at First Baptist Church, Readsboro, Vt.
On Sunday of this week, the preacher at Watts Street is Dorisanne Cooper, who began her ministry earlier this summer and is the first woman called as pastor by the congregation. After half a century of ordaining women, Baptists have come a long way in welcoming women’s pastoral leadership, but the gender gap remains woefully large.
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