EVANGELICAL WOMEN IN THE FIRST HALF OF 1900; ADDIE ELIZABETH DAVIS P/18

 

 

In this post I will focus on a woman named Addie Elizabeth Davis. She lived from 1917 - 2005. Addie was born to a Baptist family in Covington, Virginia, USA. In 1942, she graduated from Meredith College with a major in psychology and a minor in speech. She became an education director at First Baptist Church in Elkin, North Carolina, and later dean of women at Alderson-Broaddus College.

Addie's early career was interrupted in 1944 when her father's death forced her to return to Covington and help her mother with the family furniture store. While in Covington, she briefly served as the interim pastor of Lone Star Baptist Church.

In 1960, Addie began attending the Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, North Carolina. While in Seminary, Addie attended Watts Street Baptist Church, which, along with its pastor Warren Carr, was known at that time for social progressivism and participation in the civil rights movement. For a History of Christianity course, Addie wrote a paper on the issue of women's ordination. Addie graduated in May 1964 along with six other women.

In 1963, Addie was granted a license to preach by the Watts Street church. On 9 August, 1964, she was formally ordained at Watts Street Baptist Church after having been rejected by several other churches, becoming the first woman to be ordained as a Southern Baptist pastor.

Following the ordination, Addie and the Watts Street church were subject to some criticism. Nevertheless, her ordination was, in practice, "entirely unnoticed" within the Southern Baptist Convention as a whole.

Following her ordination, Addie was rejected by Southern Baptist churches as a pastor. She, instead, became pastor for a series of American Baptist churches. In June 1972, Addie became a pastor at Second Baptist Church in East Providence, Rhode Island. She later became president of the East Providence Clergy Association.