Constance: Pioneer, Pastor, Preacher

Constance

Pioneer, Pastor, Preacher

Edited by Janet Wootton

This book is a celebration of pioneers – of one particular pioneer, the Revd Constance Coltman, but also many wonderful pioneers in our own day, wonderful women and men.

"The legacy of her courage is a perpetual challenge to the many churches who are yet to embrace the ordination of women." Lydia Neshangwe, Moderator of the Council for World Mission 2020-24, the first African woman to serve in this role

"My prayer is that as you read this book, you too will be influenced, challenged and inspired by the stories of faith and courage to live out your calling and be true to yourself." Yvonne Campbell, General Secretary of the Congregational Federation, the first woman to serve in this role

"When a door long barred finally begins to open … the first one to slip through it quietly is easy to overlook. Constance: Pioneer, Pastor, Preacher is to be commended for shining a timely light on the life and ministry of Constance Coltman." Kathy Galloway, writer and activist, the first woman Leader of the Iona Community

"In exploring the life of Constance Coltman, and the pioneering ministry of women in a whole variety of contexts, this book reminds us of the real diversity of the witnesses who surround us." Clare Downing, Moderator of the General Assembly of the United Reformed Church, 2020-2022

Published by the United Reformed Church on behalf of the Council for World Mission, the Congregational Federation and the Ecumenical Forum of European Christian Women.

INTRODUCTION by Janet Wootton

This book is a celebration of pioneers – of one particular pioneer, the Revd Constance Coltman, but also many wonderful pioneers in our own day, wonderful women and men. The glory is in the inspiration they give, by their enthusiasm and perseverance, for which God be praised. The shame is that pioneers are still needed in the cause of women’s freedom to exercise their God-given gifts of leadership, for which, God forgive us.

It is a book full of deep thought and exciting discoveries, of celebration and concern. There are stories, art, poems and worship material alongside talks by inspirational global figures and scholars: a rich mix, to read at leisure, or dip into for a moment of encouragement.

What is a pioneer? For sure, it is someone who does something for the first time, something that no one else has done: the first human being in space; the first person to ‘conquer’ Everest; or, as a class, pioneers of modern medicine, using groundbreaking new techniques. They are explorers, people who go against the grain of what everybody else believes or is doing. In a sense, they are our heroes, and so we see them as people to follow, to try to live up to.

But they are complex figures as well. They are people chosen by posterity to represent a major advance. And their very prominence means that a host of forerunners, colleagues and supporters lie forgotten in their wake. We are beginning to understand the dangers inherent in reading history this way. The ‘pioneer’ explorers of the Victorian age were ‘discovering’ lands whose indigenous inhabitants had known and understood them for generations, and by ignoring or devaluing that knowledge, the so-called pioneers caused the destruction of cultures and, sometimes, whole communities of people.

Of particular relevance to this book is the the concept of the pioneer hero as part of a male-oriented narrative of history. There are very few heroines in that grand narrative, and their part is often that of the plucky sidekick, forced into the leading role when the real hero is no longer available.

This leaves room for a new layer of pioneers, as those who have been excluded from the narrative begin to play a part: the first woman in a role heretofore reserved for men; the first Black or Asian or Indigenous person, the first person with a disability, or with a different sexual orientation to occupy a position which societal pressure has kept repressively ‘normal’.

Mia Smith raises a question in her sermon at Somerville College, where Constance Coltman was one of a pioneering generation of women scholars: ‘Why are we not celebrating 2,000 years of women’s ministry?’1 Alongside the celebration of women’s pioneering, there is in this book a place for lamentation and anger at the appalling fact that women, along with other excluded groups, are still facing adverse discrimination; we still need women pioneers, and in fields from which they have been unjustly excluded for hundreds, if not thousands of years.

Constance Coltman was acutely aware of the injustices that she was combating, and the complexity of the broader movement for social justice. Women’s ordination was only one element in a great campaign for women’s rights in politics, education, the professions and family life. Like many pioneering women, Constance was a campaigner for wider human rights: a pacifist, suffragist and feminist, a supporter of women’s education, as well as successfully seeking ministerial training and ordination.2

The book arises out of a series of events marking the centenary of Constance’s ordination, a true pioneer in women’s ministry. We tell her remarkable story in these pages, from a number of different perspectives. We also hear many other stories of women pioneers, and the issues surrounding the global struggle for women’s rights, up to the present day.

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