Michigan Camp Meeting 2019: As a Witness, Matthew 24:14

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Michigan Conference of Seventh-day Adventists

Women in Adventist History: Roles, Relationships, and Rewards

Gina Wahlen

Women in Adventist History - Part 1

Dear Heavenly Father, what a privilege it is to come to you at this camp meeting here in Michigan.

We are so delighted to be here, to spend time together with friends and loved ones, and most of all to spend time with you, learning what you have to say to us through your word, through also looking at how you have led us in the past.

And Father, I just want to pray a special blessing upon this seminar, that it will be a real encouragement to all of us as we see how you have led your church in the past and you will continue to lead us now and into the future.

So Let's go back together in 18, in the 1850s and we will see what the Advent believers were experiencing, a little problem that was happening during that time.

Brethren, sisters, we just need to continue to believe that the Lord is coming soon, not withstanding the fact that we have been disappointed recently and We have been studying the scriptures to learn why we should hold fast our confidence.

I would just like to encourage you with a passage from Hebrews chapter 10, beginning with verse 35, which says, cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward.

For ye have need of patience, that after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.

For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry.

Now the just shall live by faith, but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.

But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition, but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.

Brother Johnson, he says he has new light.

The Lord does not need to come in a physical sense.

I can see Brother Johnson, you have a very important message.

So this was happening in various gatherings of Advent believers.

People would come, sometimes they were preaching the truth.

But sometimes people would just come and say they had a message for the Lord.

They had a message for the believers and they wanted to share it.

How could they know who they could trust?

Well, what they needed to do, there needed to be some way to tell that wherever they were, when they were gathered together, if a speaker came, he would need to have some sort of credentialing.

And so that is how and why the beginning of the credentialing process came about within the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

Now some people will say, well that just came, our pioneers, they were just going by the churches that they were in, and they were just copying that.

Some have even suggested, well, they took the Roman Catholic way of having bishops, you know, a pope, a bishop, and so on, and that's where ordination comes from.

But do you really think our Adventist pioneers, who had left, who actually had mostly been kicked out of their churches, Do you really think that they would have adopted something from the Catholic Church?

Do you think that even from the churches where they had been excommunicated from, would they adopt their way of governance?

So to begin with, to give us a solid foundation to get a clear picture of how women fit into Adventist ministry within the early Adventist Church, was there a place for women?

And I am so delighted that today my husband, Dr.

Clinton Walleen, can join us because he has done a lot of study on this, particularly in what's called gospel order.

Have any of you in Bible order, have you heard of Ellen White's visions on Bible order and gospel order?

Okay, maybe the rest of you are just too shy to raise your hands.

This is really the key to understanding something that we are still, some people are still confused about today.

If we can understand these visions that were given to Ellen White, and then follow up articles that were written by a number of pioneers, it is the key to understanding, in fact, what's going on today.

So I am really happy, Clint, that you're here.

He's an associate director at the Biblical Research Institute at the General Conference, and he'll be sharing with us now about women in gospel order.

This is the most important woman for me right here.

And so what I want to share with you this afternoon, as my wife mentioned, has been really clouded and confused in some cases and some places.

You know, our pioneers were very reluctant to be organized.

And that actually, if you think about it, is a blessing.

Because that means that they were not just ready and willing to take what they had in the organizations of the churches from which they came.

They wanted to make sure that everything they did had its basis solidly in the Bible.

Now, of course, there were many things that happened and took place in the late 1840s to establish our message before the steps of organization could be taken, before mission even could be undertaken.

And God, I think, providentially saw to that as well because they believed that Jesus was coming so soon, they just, what they needed to do was understand what the Bible had to say about it.

And so they weren't so absorbed with mission as with study of the message to start with.

Do we have to understand our message before we go on a mission?

And so God in his providence made sure that the message was solidly established on a firm platform of Scripture.

The first, second, and third angels message.

But then came a very important vision in Paris, Maine, back actually it was Christmas Eve, December 24th, 1850.

And Ellen White received this vision that I've labeled Bible order vision because she refers specifically to Bible order.

She says that Christ is the head of the church and that the church must move in order.

And then she also had a glimpse of the order of heaven.

And she said, how perfect, how beautiful the order, actually this is the words of an angel, how perfect, how beautiful the order in heaven, follow it.

She said, I saw if Israel, God's last day church, moves steadily along, going according to Bible order, they would be terrible as an army with banners.

Of course, quoting from the Song of Solomon, meaning that no enemy would be able to stand against them.

Moved steady along steadily along moving forward going according to Bible order.

But what if they didn't continue moving forward according to Bible order?

She also said, I saw that the burden of the message now was the truth.

The word of God, she said, should be strictly followed and held up to the people of God.

And it would be beautiful and lovely if God's people would be brought into a straight place to see the workings of God through exercises of visions." Now we don't use this language very often anymore.

Women in Adventist History - Part 2

Our Heavenly Father, today we just again so grateful to be here at Michigan Camp Meeting.

And we thank you for the many blessings you have showered upon us already, and especially that you have kept the rain away and that we are enjoying some nice sunny weather.

And so Lord, we ask for the presence of your Holy Spirit with us today in our seminar this afternoon.

Okay, so I thought it might be interesting to begin our time together today with a little surprise quiz.

But I do have some prizes for this surprise quiz.

So I will say when I ask the question, raise your hand and I'll recognize you and we'll have a person with a microphone come to you.

But I'm looking for as complete of an answer as you can give.

What we covered yesterday was really foundational for what we'll be talking about through the rest of the week.

And that's why I thought it would be good to start today with a little review of that, and we can talk a little bit more about it before we proceed and talk about the 2 pioneer women that we'll be focusing on today.

So I have—I'll show you the prize here.

So for the person who can answer the questions, and only 1 prize per person.

So if you've answered 1, then let someone else do it.

I have a gift copy of our book, Women's Ordination, Does It Matter?

So if you can answer the question correctly, we will be happy to give you a copy of our book.

Okay, So yesterday we talked about something very foundational, as I said, but the first question was, is why, please explain why credentials were needed in the fledgling Adventist movement.

And please stand up and tell us your name and where you're from.

And what is your name and where are you from?

And according to my memory, credentials were needed because there were a lot of people coming up with new light for people in the Adventist.

Actually, I don't think the Adventist church was established yet—that the Advent movement, there were many people who said, I have new light, and they wanted to come and they wanted to share the new light with everybody.

And It was hard to discern which light was true and which light was not true.

And so they established a system of credentials so that they knew that these people were spreading a valid message.

In the late 1840s, early 1850s, as the Advent movement was growing, it was wonderful because more and more people were learning the message, but along with that came the problem of some people claiming to have new light that was not according to Bible truth.

And they would go to various places where Advent believers were meeting, claiming to have this new light.

And so the church needed to have a way to distinguish, was this person really preaching and teaching the Advent truth, or was he not?

And so they recognized there needed to be a system in place to identify who would be presenting true Advent biblical beliefs, so that's why.

But then there's the question, how do you decide?

How can you decide, Should someone be ordained?

And so Ellen White had 2 visions, Bible order and gospel order.

And who can tell me, this is a tough 1, who can tell me what years did she have those 2 visions and What was gospel order?

What was revealed to her in those visions?

Okay, tell us your name and where you're from, what town.

And I don't remember exactly, I'm guessing 58 and 60.

I don't know if those are the right dates or not.

Tell you what, Tell you what, I'll give you the years, but you need to tell me what she learned in those visions.

The years were, the first 1 was in 1850, so that's pretty early.

So what, tell us now, what, And this is key, what was in those visions?

Well, basically, they came up with a Bible foundation that was totally unlike the churches that they had come out of and it was not Roman Catholic.

So they decided that men should be chosen who could rule their households well, that's founded in scripture, that they should be ordained to give the ordinances, which is baptism and communion, and that they should be men of experience, they should be meek and humble, yet able to teach and able to come against their opponents with a meek yet strong spirit and strong in the Lord.

And not only that, so that was for the ordained minister, but they also had what was called a credential for being able to preach.

So women were allowed, In 1869, Sarah Lindsay, a minister's wife, was chosen to receive the preaching credential, and this shows that they appreciated the gifts of women, but there was a differentiation of the roles of men and of women.

And it's important to note, if you Remember from the presentation yesterday, we outlined what was in the vision, and with each point of the vision, there is a biblical reference.

So it's not, well, Owen White just had this vision, and that's what we decided to do.

But it's very clear that it paralleled what she saw in the vision is absolutely parallel with what we find particularly in Timothy and Titus.

And it was not—they did not just adopt ordination from the churches from which they came or from the Roman Catholic Church, but it was biblically based, And it was through also the gift of prophecy.

And we also had other writers, you might recall, who there was a series in the Advent Review.

There was a series that a number of our pioneers wrote about this, establishing this.

So I want to encourage you, by the way, to go back to original sources.

Don't just believe because I'm saying it or my husband, Quentin Waleen, is saying it, but now with the advent of the internet and everything online, you yourself have the privilege to go back to original sources.

And if you go back on the internet, The General Conference has the Office of Archives, Statistics, and Research.

If you go to archives.adventist.org, you can find original source material.

Since yesterday's seminar, Is there anyone here who read the chapter in early writings called Gospel Order since yesterday's seminar, since we mentioned it?

Well, how many of you have read that chapter before?

May I suggest that before tomorrow's seminar, That would be very good reading.

Okay, so now we're going to go to the next 2 women who received licenses to preach.

Licenses to preach, and they were from the great state of Michigan, where we are right now.

I wish we had pictures of all the ladies we're going to be talking about, but it was kind of hard.

I don't know if some, they just didn't have a way to have a picture taken, but of some people we do have pictures.

And this is Ellen and Albert Lane from Michigan.

Women in Adventist History - Part 3

Our kind Heavenly Father, we come to you again with grateful hearts.

Thank you, dear Lord, for this wonderful Michigan camp meeting.

Thank you for the time to come apart and learn and listen.

We ask now for your special presence with us in our seminar today in your name we pray amen okay ready for the quiz okay So today we just have 1 question.

It's a very important question and it comes from yesterday's seminar.

And if you have already won a book, I would like to invite you to allow someone else to answer the question.

What is the difference between an ordained minister and a commissioned minister?

We have a lady right here And please tell us your name and where you are from, what city?

I'm Ann Sowers and I'm from Florida by way of Indiana in the summertime, so I came back home for camp meeting.

A commissioned minister is 1 that has been appointed as a local elder in his home church and he is given the privileges of acting as a minister where an ordained minister can do all the functions of our church as an overseer and it's a worldwide ordination.

He can go anywhere in the world and act as a minister of our church.

He can do the baptism, marriages, and the communion services.

And then the difference again for a commissioned minister?

He has to be appointed in the local church as an elder, and he can be commissioned to function as a pastor.

Okay, can a commissioned minister be a she, a woman?

So can the woman be ordained as a local church elder?

When you hear, well, what's the difference?

Why can't we ordain women when they do the same thing as men who are ordained?

The difference is a woman commissioned minister, according to policy, can only do the functions of an ordained minister if she has been ordained as a local church elder and has been voted in and is currently serving as a local church elder in a church and it is not a worldwide function that a commission minister can do, it is within the local church.

That may not always be what is practiced, but that is what was voted.

So today, stay tuned by the way, because tomorrow we will have another quiz and another book giveaway.

So today we have a very interesting story, and it's called The Case of Lulu Whiteman.

The Case of Lulu Whiteman and Her Husband John.

Well, she was a woman preacher who went from place to place.

But before we get there, I'll tell you a little bit about her family.

You know back then people usually went by their initials rather than full names, unless, well, women would often use their first name, but men often their initials.

So her 2 brothers were Casey Russell, who was a pastor, he was a conference president, and he was a general conference religious liberty secretary.

Russell, was also a pastor, and he served as a conference and later as a union president.

So she did come from a ministerial family.

However, she decided that she also would like to be a minister or at least a preacher and so she started preaching around in New York and apparently with some success, we have a timeline that I'll be showing you in just a little while, but she went from place to place with her husband, who incidentally was a newspaper editor or used to be a newspaper editor and he was very very good at promoting things and so when they would go from place to place he would be sure to contact the newspaper and put in an advertisement.

And of course, back at the turn of the century, in $2, 001 was a fairly big sum of money.

It says, $100 reward will be paid at the gospel meeting in the town hall Thursday evening, January 3, 1901, to any person or persons presenting 1 or more tests of scripture that read or prove that the first day of the week or Sunday is the Sabbath or that Christ or the apostles ever observed it as such.

The first day or the seventh day of the week.

Jesus said, if you love me, keep my commandments.

If thou will enter into life, keep the commandments.

And then he gives some texts here from Mark, Mark 2, 27 and 28, John 1, 3, Colossians 1, 16, and Ephesians 3, 9.

Inasmuch as the Fourth Commandment of the Decalogue enjoins the observance of the seventh day as the Sabbath, is it not a matter of vital importance whether we keep it or not.

A series of Bible lectures upon this great question for the Sabbath question is now 1 of worldwide agitation and important.

It will begin in the town hall on Thursday evening.

Even a criminal is guaranteed the right of a trial by jury.

So, clearly Her husband was an excellent writer, an excellent promoter, and he worked alongside her.

And they started back actually even before the turn of the century, and word went out that Lulu was preaching.

So now we're going to look at an interesting letter, a letter from J.W.

Raymond who according to the records of that time, was vice president of New York Conference, and they were holding tent meetings.

And this is in regard to Lulu and her husband, John.

"'Dear Brother Hinn, I have written Lula, ' but he means Lulu, she and her husband are now in Hornelsville.

The situation, giving her as terms that she will receive some remuneration for her service if she goes with us, but that she will be expected to abide by the action of the auditing committee as to amount, and that, in case her husband comes, he will be expected to do so without any expense to the conference.

So from this letter, does it sound as if the conference is very eager to have Lulu and John come and help with these meetings, these tent meetings?

We don't know the exact circumstances, but clearly it sounds that they will be giving some remuneration, but not for her husband.

And who decided, did you catch, who decided the amount of her remuneration?

So it wasn't just Elder Raymond who decided, it was a committee who decided.

Well, this is in 1896, and as I said, Lulu had been doing some preaching before that time.

And here is a letter that Lulu wrote back.

This is a portion of the letter that Lulu wrote back to Elder Raymond.

We have put it in the daily papers, probably something very similar to what I just shared with you.

We should be pleased to go with your tent company, could we make a living out of it.

But we are having grand opening here for our work." So, what Lulu wanted was for the conference to pay her a higher amount of money and also pay for her husband to come along.

But that's not what they had agreed to, the auditing committee had agreed to do.

So, now we have a portion of a letter from Elder Raymond, from the New York conference to P.

Hin who is said to have been the treasurer at that time.

He quotes Lulu's letter that I've just shared with you and then he says something really really interesting.

He writes, so it would seem that she has gone into ministerial work but somehow I feel a proclivity of adverseness to such procedure." What do you think that might mean?

As much as some people like to talk about Lulu Whiteman and all the wonderful work she did, and she may very well have, she did preach in the late 1800s.

But this is very interesting, what Elder Raymond wrote from the New York Conference.

So it would seem that she has gone into ministerial work.

In other words, separate from the conference, But somehow I feel a proclivity of adverseness to such procedure." He then, in the same letter, talks about a Sister Stowe, who is the wife of a minister.

And You might recall when we talked a couple days ago about who received ministerial licenses.

Women in Adventist History - Part 6

It's been good to be together in this place, learning from our history as Adventists, as well as some more current events.

And we just once again invite your presence here in a very special way.

Please Lord, help them not to see me, but only you, that they will hear your message today as we look through the various documents that we will see today.

And Lord, inspire each 1 of us for what you would have us to do.

And thank you so much for the gift of prophecy that you've given to this church through the ministry and gift of Ellen White.

White, she was indeed called by God at a very young age, really, 17.

And while she never herself identified herself as a prophet, she called herself the messenger of the Lord, which she surely was.

Was Ellen White the first woman that God ever called to be a prophet?

Who just shout out a name of another prophetess?

There are many women that God throughout history has called to the special ministry of being a prophet for him.

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Women in Adventist History: Roles, Relationships, and Rewards

Women in Adventist History - Part 6

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Recorded

Women in Adventist History: Roles, Relationships, and Rewards

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