They Also Served: Stories of Adventist Women

In the final episode of They Also Served, we shift our focus from the trailblazing women of the past to the women shaping the church today. Historian and host Dr. Heidi Olson Campbell sits down with educators, administrators, theologians, and seminary students from around the world to explore what inspires their service, who mentored them, and how they’re mentoring others. From breaking barriers to building up the next generation, these women remind us that the call to serve didn’t stop with history—it continues. Because women didn’t just serve. They still do.

The Progressive Era in the United States brought many social and political reforms. Many professions that were previously closed off to women and people of color became more accessible and for Seventh-day Adventist women, the medical field brought opportunity for mission-minded work both domestically and abroad.

But this new era didn’t last forever. A new set of challenges for these women - nurses, doctors, and health educators - was on the horizon. 

In this episode, we explore the lives of Mary Britton, Lottie Blake, and Ruth Temple - who blazed trails as some of the first black female physicians in the United States. 

This episode mentions Lottie Blake, Mary Briton, and Ruth Temple.

Guests: Dr. Ella Smith Simmons, Dr. Lisa Clark Diller, and Dr. DeWitt Williams.

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 In the marketplace, on boats and on streets in late 1890s India, male missionaries found open doors: men interested in hearing their message or reading their material. But when it came to entering people's homes and evangelizing women, doors were shut in the male missionaries’ faces.  In some countries, including India, it was against cultural customs and norms to allow foreign men to talk to their daughters and wives.

These closed doors for male missionaries provided open doors for female ones. And one such woman, Georgia Burrus Burgess, was able to open these doors through a special gift: language. 

Guest: Dr. Edward Allen, retired professor of religion at Union College. 

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 Few 19th century Protestant missionaries arriving in China realized that Christianity had first come to China over a thousand years before they had. Even fewer realized how much they had to learn. Not just the language-and that would prove hard enough-but thousands of years of culture. They wanted to change the world.

Most missionaries arrived with a racial bias and assumed that Western culture was superior to Chinese.  But they had a lot to learn and would find that if they would succeed in their conversion mission, they needed to adapt their methods.  

In this episode, we explore the largely unknown legacy of the Bible Women—Chinese Christian women of the 19th and early 20th centuries who served as Bible teachers, caregivers, and evangelists. These women went where foreign male missionaries could not: into the inner lives and homes of Chinese women. 

This is Part 2 of a two-part series on Christian Women in China. 

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Christianity has been present in China since the 7th century—long before the arrival of Jesuit or Seventh-day Adventist missionaries. Yet for much of Chinese history, social norms meant women lived relatively private lives, interacting mostly with one another. “When I was reading Chinese Christian history,” guest Dr. Susangeline Patrick recalls, “I didn't initially see a lot of women's stories.”

And yet today, women are the backbone of China’s Christian movement—serving as pastors, leaders, and patrons. So what changed?

In this two-part series, we explore the surprising origins and growth of Christianity the 16th and 17th century China and the role women played in it. 

This is Part 1 of a two-part series on Christian Women in China.  

Guests: Dr. Joseph Lee and Dr. Susangeline Patrick.

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Petra Tunheim could have lived an ordinary life. She died on a ship to Singapore, traveling back to the island that she loved - Java - but she was born far from Java in Norway. 

Her childhood was far from extraordinary. She was born to an ordinary couple with already a large family in an ordinary town in Norway, raising sheep and keeping up with her nine brothers and sisters. 

But at 17, her life took one of the many turns that would make it extraordinary and lead to her living on four continents and learning seven languages. 

Guest: Dr. Donny Chrissutianto, Assistant Professor of Historical Studies; Master of Divinity Program Director - Adventist International Institute of Advanced Studies

Show Notes

Article | "Petra Tunheim," ESDA - https://encyclopedia.adventist.org/article?id=BAWT 

Article | "Women conference presidents: a forgotten history," Adventist Record https://record.adventistchurch.com/2020/12/17/women-conference-presidents-a-forgotten-history/ 

Missionaries in the late 19th and early 20th century often didn't speak the language and didn't know anyone in the new country they were going to, at least at first. Missionary boards typically sent couples like Joseph and Jennie Westphal into the field together so that they would not have to go it alone. 

But this didn’t stop single women missionaries in South America like Lucy Post and Olive Westphal from carrying out their calling of service. They found ways to build support networks of community, friends and other family members so their work was impactful and long-lasting, laying the foundation for medical clinics, hospitals, churches and universities that are still present today. 

Thank you to our guests, Dr. Silvia Sholtus & Pastor Kayla Goodman. 

Special thanks to Ashlee Chisholm from the General Conference Archives for helping us find photos of Jennie Westphal and Lucy Post. 

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This episode mentions Lucy Post, Luisa Post, Frank and Mary Westphal, Joseph and Jennie Westphal, Olive Westphal, River Plate University, Argentina, Brazil and South America.

As women contributed to the cause of the church in the early 20th century, they faced the challenge of juggling professional and domestic tasks, often caring for multiple generations while providing financial for the family, yet were often paid less - even half as much - as their male counterparts. 

Despite working themselves into the ground, women continued to work for the benefit of their church, and Alma McKibbin was one of them. But Alma barely made it out alive. 

Thank you to our guest, Laura Wibberding, Assistant Professor of History and Department Chair, Pacific Union College. 

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This episode discusses Alma McKibbin and Sarah Peck, Jenny Irland, Minnie Sipe, and Alonzo McKibbin. 

Anna Knight always wanted an education. Born in 1874 to a white, defected Confederate soldier and an emancipated slave of mixed heritage, she grew up in a post-Civil War South where education for Black children was severely restricted—or outright banned.

Yet, Anna’s unwavering determination propelled her beyond these barriers. Once denied access to basic schooling, she rose to become a nurse, educator, and administrator, earning recognition as a trailblazing leader among Black Seventh-day Adventists, Black women worldwide, and the entire Seventh-day Adventist community—Black or white, male or female.

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This episode mentions Anna Knight, Newton Knight, and John Harvey Kellogg.

Many women in the Millerite Movement had eagerly hoped for Christ to come on October 22, 1844.  They had dedicated their time, energy and resources to spread the good news of Christ's soon return through print and by mouth. But what happened after Christ didn’t return on October 22, 1844?

Did women return home to be the “angels of the household”?

Or did they play a role in the formation of the churches that came out of the Millerite Movement, shaping the landscape of American Christianity forever?

Guests: Dr. Cindy Tutsch, Author and retired Associate Director of the Ellen White Estate. Dr. Michael Campbell, Director of Archives, Statistics and Research at the North American Division of Seventh-day Adventists. Celeste Ryan Blyden is the Executive Secretary for the Columbia Union. 

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This episode mentions Mary Frances Maxon, Annie Rebekah Smith,  Adelia Patton Van Horn, Minnie Sipe, Sarah Lindsey,  Martha Byington Amadon,  Maude Sisely Boyd,  Ai Araki, and Ellen White.