Second Annual Women’s Stories Day Celebrates Those Who Came First

The year 2018 celebrates the confluence of important anniversaries for women in ministry in the Reformed Church in America. A century ago, the first overtures were sent to General Synod calling for all the offices of the church to be open to women. That same year, Ida Scudder opened Velore Women’s Medical College. The first woman was ordained to ministry of the Word and Sacrament 45 years ago, and, five years later, women were examined by classes for ordination for the first time. Three decades ago, the first African-American woman to be a minister of Word and Sacrament in the RCA was ordained, and this is the twentieth anniversary if the installation of the first woman professor of theology.

In celebration of this special year when the General Synod will be thanking God for the gifts and ministries of women in the church, the Reformed Church Center’s Women’s Stories Day, co-hosted by the RCA Office of Women’s Transformation & Leadership, will be sharing the stories of “First Women.” On Saturday, May 12, 2018, from 10:00 am to 2:30 pm, the Center will have its second annual Hazel Gnade presentation, with four of the first women sharing their stories.

Bernita Babb, the retired pastor of Mott Haven Reformed Church in the Bronx and the first African-American woman ordained in the RCA, is a graduate of Hunter College and NBTS, with a DMin from Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary. She taught for 27 years in New York City Public Schools and, in retirement taught in the public schools of Prince George’s County, Maryland, while preaching and teaching in congregations in the DC metropolitan area.
Carol Bechtel is Professor of Old Testament at Western Theological Seminary and a graduate of Hope College and WTS with a Ph.D. from Yale University. She has published extensively, served as president of the General Synod of the RCA in 2009 and moderator of the General Synod Council in 2010, and was the first woman ordained by the Classis of Illinois in 1988. In 1998, she became the first woman professor of theology.
The first woman full-time faculty member at New Brunswick Theological Seminary, E. Elizabeth Johnson holds degrees from Ohio University, Princeton Theological Seminary, and Yale University. She returned to Princeton to earn her Ph.D, was ordained  by the Presbytery of Greenbrier (PCUS) in 1977, and taught at Queens College (now Queens University) in Charlotte, NC, from 1979-83. From 1986 to 1998 she was on the faculty at NBTS, and, since 1998, she has served as J. Davison Philips Professor of New Testament at Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, GA.
Joyce Borgman DeVelder has spent her life in the RCA. A native of Fremont, MI, she attended Hope College and Western and New Brunswick Seminaries, then served at the Delmar, NY, Reformed Church 1977-80, being examined by the Classis of Albany in 1978 and then, after spending a year at the center of a General Synod controversy, was ordained in 1979. For the last 37 years, she has been pastor of Old Saratoga Reformed Church in Schuylerville, NY. She and her husband, Davd, have two sons, Nathaniel and Mikael.
Young Na is the first woman of Korean heritage ordained as a minister of the Word & Sacrament in RCA history, and the first to earn a Master of Divinity degree at NBTS (1989). She earned her DMin at NBTS in 2002, and is the senior pastor of Forest Park Church in Queens, NY, and an adjunct professor of basic biblical language courses.

In addition to hearing those stories, we hope to hear from women who were the first to serve as deacons and elders in their local congregations. Go to http://nbts.edu/student-life/reformed-church-center/rca-first-stories-project/ to find out how your congregation can take part in the RCA First Stories Project.

The only cost for the day is a suggested donation of $10.00 to help cover the cost for lunch. Lunch is free for seminary students and NBTS staff and faculty. Others for whom the cost is a problem should feel free to give what they are able. We do need everybody to please RSVP to jbrumm@nbts.edu by Tuesday, 8 May, if you plan to attend.