Throughout history, God has used women as vessels of His work of revival on earth. These women ministered with great success at a time in history where women preachers were an abomination. They rose above the status quo of women of that time and remained faithful to God’s call. Their steadfastness, courage and deep relationship with the Holy Spirit is of great encouragement to every woman in ministry today.
Some of these women preachers include:
Kathryn Kuhlman:
Kathryn Johanna Kuhlman was an American healing evangelist and televangelist. She was one of the most influential women preachers that walked the face of this earth. Born May 9, 1907, in Concordia, Missouri, she was one of four children. She was converted, when she was 14, at an evangelistic meeting held in a small Methodist church.
1947 was the beginning of the Healing Revival (sometimes referred to as the Latter Rain Revival). Kathryn had a weekly TV program in the 1960s and 1970s called I Believe in Miracles that was aired nationally. She had a 30-minute nationwide radio ministry of teaching from the Bible where she frequently featured excerpts from her healing services. She was diagnosed with a heart problem in 1955 and she died on February 20, 1976, in Tulsa. More of her sermons here.
Ida B. Robinson:
Another one of the pioneer woman preachers Ida B. Robinson, paved the way for Pentecostal woman to preach. She was the first African American woman to start a denomination to ordain women. Born in Hazlehurst, Georgia on August 3, 1891, she was an American Pentecostal-Holiness and Charismatic denominational leader. When she was 17 years old, she heard the Gospel for the first time and gave her life to Christ. She was the founder, first Senior Bishop and President of the Mount Sinai Holy Church of America, Inc. Robinson formed the organization in response to her vision and divine call. She secured an organizational home where women preachers would be welcomed and encouraged. She became very sick in April 1946 and died on April 20, 1946.
Aimee Semple McPherson:
Aimee Semple McPherson [Sister Aimee] was the most publicized Christian evangelist in her time. She was a Canadian-American Pentecostal evangelist, famous for founding the Foursquare Church. Born on October 9, 1890, she disappeared mysteriously on September 27, 1944. She put on theatrical church services and used ground-breaking radio broadcasts to teach the gospel.
Elizabeth Hooton:
Elizabeth Hooton was an English Dissenter and one of the earliest preachers in the Religious Society of Friends. She was born in Ollerton, Nottinghamshire in the 1600s. Elizabeth Hooton suffered a lot of persecution as the first Quaker minister. Quaker ministers were people who based their message on the religious belief that Christ has come to teach his people Himself. They stressed the importance of a personal and direct relationship with God through Jesus Christ. Beaten and imprisoned for propagating her beliefs, she kept pressing on. She challenged those who were unjust and using the opportunity to preach the Gospel to them. On January 8, 1672, she passed on peacefully.
Ivey Glenshaw Campbell:
Ivey Campbell was born on November 15, 1874, at Raccoon Township, Beaver County Pennsylvania. She was a seamstress, who became an early Pentecostal evangelist. She was one of the greatest women preachers, leader and revivalist to come out from the Azusa Street Revival in the summer of 1906. Campbell had experienced God personally in a life-changing way. After her encounter with the Holy Spirit, she traveled around ministering to others about their need for salvation, sanctification and baptism in the Holy Spirit. Negative rumors about her seemed to arouse the interest of people and bring them to her meetings where they encountered Christ. She preached and ministered in revivals throughout Ohio and Pennsylvania. Ivey Campbell died in Los Angeles on the 26th day of June 1918 at the age of 44.
Alice Belle Garrigus:
Born in Rockville, Connecticut on August 2, 1858, Alice Belle Garrigus was a Pentecostal evangelist. She founded the Pentecostal Church in Newfoundland and Labrador. The theme of her preaching was personal salvation through Christ and his imminent return for His people. Alice Garrigus remained in Newfoundland for the rest of her life. She continued to be a principal figure in the Pentecostal church. Alice died on August 30, 1949, at Clarke’s Beach, Newfoundland and Labrador.
Maria Beulah Woodworth-Etter:
She was born on July 22, 1844, in New Life Lisbon, Columbiana County, Ohio. Marie was an American healing evangelist. She became born again at the beginning of the Third Great Awakening at the age of thirteen. Maria immediately heard the call of God and began preaching the Lord’s divine will in healing. Her ministry style served as a model for Pentecostalism. In 1912, she joined the young Pentecostal movement and preached widely in Pentecostal circles until her death. She helped in founding the Assemblies of God in 1914. In 1918, she founded what is today Lakeview Church (Temple) of Indianapolis, Indiana. Her health declined, and she died on September 16, 1924, honored as a woman of God.