Pastor’s Blog: Midwives of a Movement Documentary

Pastor’s Blog: Midwives of a Movement Documentary

By Rev. Dr. Libby Grammer

In early October, Caroline and I attended the Baptist Women in Ministry Annual Meeting and 40th anniversary celebration in Louisville, KY. We got to meet the trailblazers in Baptist life who made the hiring of women possible. We also got to watch the premier of the documentary Midwives of a Movement: A Story of Challenging Baptist Patriarchy. Hearing the in-depth stories of the women on the front lines of creating space for female leadership in Baptist churches inspired us and also reminded us we still have a long way to go.

I’m grateful for the opportunity to have spent those holy moments with those amazing women. One of them came up to me afterward and we discussed the fact that she had connections to First Baptist Church of Martinsville. In fact, if you watch the documentary closely, one of the photos of her is one of her standing next to Dr. Chevis Horne, long-time and well-known pastor at FBC Martinsville. She told me it was Dr. Horne, who was her professor at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, who recommended her to his home church in North Carolina to be their next pastor. She served his childhood church for a number of years.

It takes a village to slowly change the trajectory of an institution, and I’m grateful for these women and for men like Chevis Horne who supported them on their journeys. I’m also grateful for a church that has historically held that God calls whom God wishes and the church should support that call in every way they can. Listening for God’s call is hard enough, but not being able to answer it because of the barriers of patriarchal structures makes it that much more difficult. Your work as a church to support and empower women to follow God’s call is a gift, and one I hope you’ll celebrate.

We have the amazing opportunity at FBC to host a screening of this new documentary in March. We are inviting churches all over SW/Southside Virginia to come and hear these powerful stories. Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of Virginia will be hosting the event with us, providing snacks and facilitating good discussion about the film. Please make plans to attend, and if you’re able, click the link below to sign up to attend. I’m excited to be able to share this story with you!

Documentary Screening at FBC

Midwives of a Movement

Sunday, March 3 at 3pm | First Baptist Church Martinsville Fellowship Hall

Follow the link here to add yourself to the interest list (all are welcome!): https://churchbenefits.org/bwimdoctour/

 

Join us for a screening of the new feature documentary film Midwives of a Movement, created with Good Faith Media and Baptist Women in Ministry.

Midwives of a Movement premiered on October 2, 2023 at Baptist Women in Ministry’s 40th Anniversary Annual Gathering in Louisville, KY.

The feature documentary film chronicles the stories of the women who boldly birthed a movement to seek greater visibility and opportunities for women in the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC). Despite great opposition, their courage blazed pathways for advancing women in ministry and leadership among Baptists. But challenging religious patriarchy, and specifically Baptist patriarchy, is not only a subject of the past. It is as relevant today as it was forty years ago.

In this film, audiences today will find heartfelt stories, painful anecdotes, profound insights, and lighthearted remembrances which will inspire continued confrontation of patriarchy and advocacy efforts so that women find equality and equity among Baptists.

To see a list of all screenings, click here: https://bwim.info/documentary/

Watch a Trailer for the film below!

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