Black women preachers

This Week in Black Faith History – Minister Jarena Lee

Blackpast.orgFebruary 27, 2019

Minister Jarena Lee was the first authorized female preacher in the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church. Lee, whose family or maiden name is unknown, was born to a poor but free black family on February 11, 1783, in Cape May, New Jersey. In 1790 at the age of seven, Lee was sent to work as a live-in servant for a white family named Sharp. Lee moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania as a teenager and continued to work as a domestic servant. One afternoon, Lee attended a worship service at Bethel Church where Bishop Richard Allen, founder of the AME Church, was scheduled to preach. After hearing the powerful sermon delivered by

Religion

Brookins Reflects on Her Service to God and His Church

Cora Jackson-Fossett, Religion EditorOctober 17, 2018

God has abundantly blessed the ministry of the Rev. Dr. Rosalynn Kyle Brookins since she answered His call to preach 14 years ago. The wife of the late Bishop H.H. Brookins, she became the first retired AME episcopal supervisor to be appointed as a pastor in 2011 and in May 2018, she was the first female to earn a Doctor of Ministry degree from Payne Theological Seminary. The members of Walker Temple AME Church in Los Angeles responded to dedicated spiritual leadership by hosting the seventh pastoral appreciation for Brookins on Oct. 21, where scores of people expressed gratitude for