Female Preachers

Anne Hutchinson was a Puritan religious reformer, spiritual advisor, and a prominent participant in the Free Grace Controversy, which shook the Massachusetts Bay Colony between 1636 and 1638. Anne Hutchinson is an important figure in the history of women in ministry and the history of religious freedom in the Thirteen British Colonies.

Jemima Wilkinson was an American preacher who later became known as the Public Universal Friend after becoming a genderless evangelist. The Public Universal Friend preached throughout the northeastern US. The Friend's teachings attracted several followers who became part of the Society of Universal Friends.

Ann Lee is remembered as the founder of the Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing, also known as the Shakers, for their ritual of shaking during worshipping. Born to a blacksmith in England, she initially worked at a textile mill and later ushered her movement into the U.S.

Born into slavery, Amanda Smith later stepped into freedom after her father bought his and his family’s freedom. Starting as a domestic help, she later became a missionary and a Holiness movement leader, who invested in women’s education wholeheartedly and even established an orphanage for Black girls.

The founder of the Maryknoll Sisters, a woman’s congregation that took up missions abroad, Mary Joseph Rogers was initially a zoology student but later devoted her life to her faith. Her group of Christian nuns were initially known as Teresians. The first foreign mission of the Sisters was in China.

Irish nun Mother Marie Joseph Butler is best remembered for establishing the Marymount Schools in the US and Europe. Part of the Roman Catholic order Religious of the Sacred Heart of Mary, she later became a US citizen. Her writings were posthumously published as As An Eagle.

Mary Hannah Fulton was a medical missionary who was sent by the Presbyterian Church to South China. She established a dispensary in Kwai Ping and also helped establish the Hackett Medical College for Women which aimed at training women in medicine. Mary Hannah Fulton also preached the Presbyterian faith in China and helped translate English medical volumes into Chinese.

The wife of televangelist Jim Bakker and The Jim Bakker Show co-host, Lori Bakker had previously led a reckless life. Following five abortions, she switched to spirituality and joined the Phoenix First Assembly. She later formed the Mourning to Joy Ministry, to help women survive post-abortion trauma.

Fidelia Fisk was a noted American missionary to Persia (Iran), who championed the cause of women’s education and health in Urmia, Iran. Initially a teacher, she had later moved to Iran to be part of the Nestorian Christians. However, she eventually went back to the U.S. with failing health.

Growing up amid Native American children, Laura Maria Sheldon Wright developed a love for their culture. After her marriage to a missionary to the Seneca Indians, she not only learned the Seneca language but also promoted education and agriculture among them. She also formed the Iroquois Temperance League.

American missionary Lucy Whitehead McGill Waterbury Peabody had been part of a several major Baptist missions across the world. She is remembered for her work in India. Back in Boston, she established the Farther Lights Society and the missionary magazine Everyland. She also headed the Woman’s Baptist Foreign Missionary Society.