EVANGELICAL WOMEN IN THE SECOND HALF OF 1800; DR SARAH ANNE GRANT P/6

                                                                                    Read Part One HERE                

In this story I will focus on a woman named Sarah Anne Grant. She lived from 1845 - 1916 and served as an evangelist in Northern Indiana, Iowa and Oklahoma for the Free Methodist Church. While she appears as a licensed evangelist for the Northern Indiana Conference in 1890 and 1801, her ministry in Iowa and Oklahoma appears to have been more informal.

In 1911, Sarah again appears as a licensed evangelist in the Southern California Conference. And in 1912 - 1913, she serves as the pastor of the Methodist church in San Diego, which was a rough place to minister in. At that time Sarah was active working with women in the red-lights districts. Some of the male tourists, who had visited the red-light districts ended up coming to her church when they heard the gospel and were converted.

Sarah's time as pastor of the San Diego church came during a time in the denomination where countless women were pursuing evangelists' licenses and serving in ministry. In 1910, 81% of all licensed evangelists were women, which was an almost 50% increase from five years ago in 1905 when only 33% were women. By 1910, women evangelists who were appointed to a church, like Sarah was, and served in the post for two years, could also be appointed as ministerial delegates to the quarterly and annual conferences. Previously, they had only been allowed to serve as lay delegates. The designation of "ministerial delegate" was just another acknowledgement of their important work within the denomination. However, it is ironic that women could be appointed to the same delegate position as ordained male elders but were still not allowed to become one.

Read Part Seven HERE