Ella Pearson Mitchell

( Interview from June 2006)

Gracious, gifted and witty, The Reverend Doctor Ella P. Mitchell (89) is a sought-after preacher, lecturer and mentor.  A pioneer educator and theologian, she was the first woman Dean of the Sister’s Chapel at Spelman College and is the editor of three of the four volumes of the Those Preaching Women series. She has been married to the Reverend Doctor Henry Mitchell for more than fifty years. In addition to jointly preaching dialogue sermons around the world, they have co-authored a book entitled Together for Good.

Tell me about your early years. Did you feel called to ordained ministry growing up?

Papa was a preacher and I used to ride around with him on his bike. Mama made a pillow for me to ride on the front bar and I would go with him when he would visit the sick. The older women would always bake something nice for the minister’s family. I enjoyed these visits so much.

When I was a student at Talladega College, Papa invited me to do the Youth Sermon. I was scared, at first. I really enjoyed public speaking and had just won an award in a public speaking contest, but preaching was different. I had never heard a woman preach before. I did not know what it would be like to give “the word of God to the people of God.” I was comfortable making public presentations and I could imagine how sermons should be arranged, but I had no formal training and I did not know how to prepare a sermon. I just followed Papa’s example and it was well received.

Papa was encouraging and wanted me to preach, but Mama spoke very little about it. I could tell she was not too happy. Mama did not love the idea of women preaching. All of the women she knew in religion were missionaries. She felt that I should have been a missionary and not a preacher. She was hesitant even when I spoke about going to seminary, but she would always come to hear me whenever I would speak. Papa was affirming. He was supportive mentally, spiritually and financially.

In the summers, the Presbyterian Church would host conferences at Hanes College in Augusta, Georgia and Bethune-Cookman College in Daytona Beach. I used to give the Vesper messages at some of these conferences. Two years ago, my husband Henry and I visited some friends and my friend Ruth said, “I remember Miss Pearson (Ella’s maiden name)! She used to preach at the summer conferences when I was a girl. I always looked forward to those sermons, she was always such a good speaker, and the services were so delightful.” I was not ordained yet, but I really enjoyed sharing the word.

After the summer conferences, I became a Sunday School Missionary. My job was to organize Sunday Schools in various areas in South Carolina. My main assignment was in Sumter and I branched out to Mayesville. That is where I met Mary McLeod Bethune. She would come to South Carolina to visit her family in the summer. We used to sit on the porch and she gave me a lot of counsel and good advice.
 
I Know You Graduated from Union Theological Seminary. What made you decide to attend seminary?

I wanted to be a religious educator but did not know enough about the bible. I sold my car to Yale. The admissions department at Yale told me they had no field work assignments for black women and referred me to Union Theological Seminary. They said they barely had sufficient assignments for black men and that I would fare better in a more metropolitan environment. I applied to Union and got accepted. The faculty at Union had not heard of Talladega College, so my acceptance to seminary was conditional. When I graduated from Union Seminary in 1943, I was the second black women to ever graduate from that institution. Eunice Jackson preceded me graduating in 1938. She worked at Concord Baptist Church in Brooklyn. I got my first job after seminary at St. James Presbyterian Church as Student Assistant to the Pastor. I was the first female staff person they had had. Actually, my husband and I both were interested in this job, but I was chosen.

I notice that you and your husband preach, write and travel together. How did you meet Henry Mitchell?

The day we registered at Union Seminary, we saw each other on the elevator. We looked at each other, but we did not speak to one another. In those days, we did not talk to strangers! I could not decide what kind of man he was—whether he was a student or staff. I was curious. After we got out of the elevator, we spoke. I asked him if he was a student. He said yes, and asked if I was. I was on my way to an interview in the Burke Library. I got the job and worked in the library 5 nights per week from 5-11. I was one of very few black students, but everyone was courteous to me. I got to know everyone while working in the library and Henry and I became good friends.

I was two years older than Henry, who was also very slight. He began to call me his big sister. He would tell people he was my little brother. We were very close and fell in love. Henry and I married two days after he received his BD (now the MDiv degree). Our wedding was at the St. James Presbyterian Church and we held a reception at the Church of the Master. We struggled in the early years, both of us worked and we lived very frugally. We had three children and I would sew their clothing—even their coats, when things were tight. In 1972, our son died after being exposed to radiation while a student in a national science program. He was 26 years old when he died and Henry and I were deeply affected by his death. We still have not fully recovered from the loss of our only son, but we did not allow this loss to create a wedge in our relationship. We grew closer to one another and came to trust that “All things work together for good.” We wrote a book entitled Together for Good that includes a chapter about our son.

So few women were ordained in the 1940’s. What kind of work did you do when you graduated?

Very few churches were able to afford a Minister of Church Education so I was fortunate to work for Church of the Master. Women who did have these jobs were paid very low wages. I worked there while we lived in New York. After that, I moved to Durham, North Carolina and then on to California. I worked for churches and schools as an instructor of teachers—both religious and secular. Henry and I worked for the Berkeley Divinity School before moving to Rochester, New York. I ran a large nursery campus for Eastman while Henry was the Dean of Students at Colgate Rochester Divinity School. From Rochester, we moved back to California. It was then that I decided I really wanted to preach and be ordained. I had already been licensed in 1945 at Church of the Master and had received a Doctorate in Ministry at the Claremont School of Theology while Henry was a scholar in residence there.

Henry and I were approached by Virginia Union. They wanted me to be Professor of Religious Education and asked Henry to be the Dean of the Seminary. We accepted and worked there together until I was approached by Spelman College in 1986. They asked me to serve as Dean of the Chapel and I did so with joy for two years. Henry was happy for me. For most of our lives together, I willingly relocated to accommodate his jobs, but this time, it was my job that sparked a move. Henry joined me in Atlanta and soon we were both teaching at the Interdenominational Theological Center. We taught there together for 12 years and were relieved to retire! Now we travel together and speak in many different venues. Our former students often invite us to preach. Once, Dr. Forbes at The Riverside Church invited us to do a dialogue sermon. He wanted us to preach together! Now, we have done dialogue sermons all over the world, including China and Japan! Our book, Fire and the Well, include six of each of our solo sermons and seven of our dialogue sermons.

What was your ordination process like?

While we were in Los Angeles, we were members of Trinity Baptist Church. I went to the Pastor to talk with him about my interest in ordained ministry. He did not respond to me at all. Henry and I were preaching all around at that time, so we were not in attendance at our home church every week. The next Sunday that we were in attendance, I approached the Pastor with my request again. By this time, the deacons and members were asking when I would be ordained. He felt compelled to respond to me because of this. Our daughter was working in the White House and she planned to join us for the ordination. It had been scheduled for October and I thought it was all set.

That summer (it was 1978) Henry and I went to a conference for Baptist ministers. A call came for Henry and I waited for him in the hallway with Rev. J. Alfred Smith. The call was from our Pastor, Rev. Elliot Mason. He told Henry, “Tell Ella we cannot ordain her. The Holy Spirit told me not to.” My husband came out of the office and reported what Rev. Mason said. Rev. Alfred Smith, who was standing there when Henry told me what our pastor said, wasted no time. “I will ordain you!” he said, right away. I was ordained that year with a white woman who had been serving in a church in San Francisco. She was a missionary and her pastor refused to ordain her as well. J. Alfred Smith ordained us both in a big service with guests who were local and national.

Some people were very happy about my ordination and some were not. Some of them are still unhappy. There are some that won’t have me in their pulpits, even today. Henry was a member of a national Baptist church in Atlanta whose pastor would not have me anywhere near his pulpit. I left and joined Ebenezer Baptist Church where we are both members. I was invited to preach there last Sunday morning.

What advice would you give to women who feel called to ministry?

I would tell them to wait on the Lord! You have no idea what God has in God’s agenda. Wait and listen to the Lord. Don’t wait impatiently, wait with patience. Twenty years ago, I spoke to a young woman who was employed in a professional field but felt she was called to full-time ministry. I told her wait prayerfully for God to make the call clear. The next year, she moved to New York City and attended seminary. She went on and got her Doctorate in Ministry and last Sunday, we attended the groundbreaking of her church in North Carolina. Twenty years ago, I advised her to “wait on the Lord.” Sometimes the process takes time, but doing God’s will, God’s way is worth the wait. We have our agendas, but we need to wait on the Lord. God will bring it to pass.