Book Reveals Research on Church of God Women Ministers
What Women Want: Pentecostal Women Ministers Speak For Themselves reports on the first ever empirical research on the beliefs and experiences of Pentecostal women ministers in the Church of God.
Dr. James Bowers, vice president for institutional development at William Seymour College and former professor with the Pentecostal Theological Seminary, conducted the research during a Sabbatical year at Duke University in 2012. Research findings, including personal stories from many Church of God women ministers, were analyzed and published in a book co-written by Dr. Bowers and Dr. Kimberly Ervin Alexander (Regent University) and edited by Church of God minister-scholar, Dr. Estrelda Alexander (William Seymour College).
Survey data from over 700 women ministers and about 160 male bishops are featured in analytical discussions with responses from women ministers. A chapter by Cynthia Woolever, Research Director of the U. S. Congregations Research Project, and a never before published paper, “Limited Liberty,” by David Roebuck (Church of God Pentecostal Research Center) are included in the groundbreaking book. The most important finding? “Many more women pastors than men plant churches,” noted Dr. Bowers. He and Dr. Alexander presented the research at the 2013 Society for Pentecostal Studies meeting in Seattle, Washington.
“Nothing prepared me for the overwhelming response of these Pentecostal women ministers to the opportunity to be heard,” Dr. Bowers observed. “As insightful and important as the research findings are, the stories of personal determination to follow God’s call are even more powerful.”
The book is published by Seymour Press and available on Amazon.com.
