William Booth statue
Mile End Rd, Bethnal Green, London E1 4TP, United Kingdom
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Celebrating 150th anniversary of the Salvation Army
Catherine wrote a pamphlet, Female Ministry: Woman’s Right to Preach the Gospel (1859), in defense of American preacher Mrs. Phoebe Palmer's preaching, whose preaching had caused a great stir in the area where the Booths lived. Female Ministry was a short, powerful apology for women's rights to preach the gospel. The pamphlet identifies three major principles on which her convictions rested. First, Catherine saw that women are neither naturally nor morally inferior to men. Second, she believed there was no scriptural reason to deny them a public ministry. Third, she maintained that what the Bible urged, the Holy Spirit had ordained and blessed and so must be justified.[2] She complained that the “unjustifiable application” of Paul's advice, “ ‘Let your women keep silence in the Churches’ (1 Corinthians 14:34), has resulted in more loss to the Church, evil to the world, and dishonor to God, than any of [its] errors.”
At that time, it was unheard of for women to speak in adult meetings. She was convinced that women had an equal right to speak. In January 1860, following the birth of their fourth child, at Gateshead, during William's sermon, she asked to "say a word". She witnessed to her timidity about claiming her calling, yet William announced that she would speak that night. It was the beginning of a tremendous ministry, as people were greatly challenged by her preaching.
She became a partner in her husband's work and soon found her own sphere as a powerful preacher. She also spoke to people in their homes, especially to alcoholics, whom she helped to make a new start in life. Often she held cottage meetings for converts. She eventually began to hold her own campaigns. Many agree that no man of her era, including her husband, exceeded her in popularity or spiritual results. Her first written article, the pamphlet Female Teaching was published in December 1859.
Catherine Booth was eloquent and compelling in speech, articulate and devastatingly logical in writing, she had for over twenty years defended the right of women to preach the gospel on the same terms as men. At first, Catherine and her husband had shared a ministry as traveling evangelists, but then she came into great demand as a preacher in her own right, especially among the well-to-do. A woman preacher was a rare phenomenon in a world where women had few civil rights, and no place in the professions. Catherine Booth was both a woman and a fine preacher, a magnetic combination that attracted large numbers to hear her and made its own statement about the validity of women's ministry.
from Wikipedia