Mother-Daughter Event : In Rare ‘First,’ Pair to Be Ordained Christian Church Ministers

The ranks of female clergy are growing so fast in mainline Protestant churches that there are hardly any “firsts” left.

Nevertheless, Gayle and Elaine Schoepf will lay claim to one distinction Sunday at First Christian Church of Fullerton.

It will be the first joint ordination ceremony for a mother and daughter in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)--and perhaps for any mainline Protestant denomination.

First Joint Ordination

Officials at the Indianapolis headquarters of the Disciples, as the members often are called, said they could learn of no other mother-daughter ordination ceremony from inquiries with the Episcopal, Methodist and other churches.

The Schoepfs (their name is pronounced “Shoff”) are not the first mother and daughter in the ministry, but the first to be ordained together.

The Disciples ordained their first woman minister in 1888, but their numbers have risen dramatically in recent years to 719 now, or 12% of the denomination’s clergy rolls. More women began seeking ministerial careers in the 1970s when the feminist movement was at its full strength. The Episcopal Church and two Lutheran bodies also approved women’s ordination for the first time in that decade.

Contrary to some recent reports that women ministers were running into resistance or rarely receiving more than assistant roles in churches, the Schoepfs said this week that pastoring opportunities for women appear to be improving.

“Each year we see more women being called to be the senior pastor or the sole pastor of a church,” said Gayle Schoepf, 57.

Getting More Usual

“My friends in the ministry are getting jobs and not running into the opposition that we thought would occur,” Elaine Schoepf, 27, said. “I think the more that people get exposed to women ministers the less afraid they become.”

Elaine graduated last month with a master of divinity degree from Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley and will become assistant pastor at First Christian Church of Ventura next week.

Her mother was already a “licensed minister” and has been associate minister at First Christian Church at Fullerton since 1982. She went part time to the School of Theology at Claremont and coincidentally completed her ordination education requirements in May.

“We always thought it was possible that we’d be ordained together but we didn’t know if we could plan for it until last fall,” Gayle Schoepf said.

Concerned About Studies

The mother, who is divorced, said she approached seminary studies with trepidation. “When I was in college I majored in extra-curricular activities. . . . I had to look the word hermeneutics up all first semester,” she said, referring to a term dealing with the meaning and interpretation of writings.

“It was fun to discuss our courses over the phone,” her daughter said. “We had a humongous phone bill.”

Neither woman said they felt out of place at the two California seminaries, where women make up about half of the students. The average age of ministerial candidates also has risen in recent years because of increased numbers of men and women seeking career changes, according to seminary officials.

In Gayle Schoepf’s case, she decided to return to school to “enhance” her ministry, she said. She had served as a licensed minister of education and music at Bixby Knolls Christian Church in Long Beach from 1974 to 1982. But licensed ministers, assigned to specific tasks at local churches, tend to have a second-class status among clergy. “I also wanted a broader theological education,” she said.

Official of Association

“Pay was not a factor; they’ve given me raises each year I’ve been here,” Gayle Schoepf said, referring to her ministry at Fullerton First Christian Church. She is also now vice president of the Fullerton Interfaith Ministerial Assn.

The ordination service will be at her church at 4 p.m. Sunday. The speaker will be the Rev. Ann Updegraff-Spleth of Indianapolis, who is vice president of the Disciples’ Division of Homeland Ministries.