During the 2026 Annual Conference session, Cal-Pac COSROW Co-Chairs Rev. Stephanie Rice and Ellen Evans Agee led a celebration of the 70th Anniversary of Women’s Ordination in the Methodist Tradition.
During the first plenary, Rev. Rice and Ms. Agee shared a bit of history about women preaching in the Bible, in our Christian tradition, and in Cal-Pac. Rev. Dr. Faith Conklin was the first woman to be ordained an Elder in 1974, but Cal-Pac has a history of giving women “local” ordination status as early as the 1910s, and they celebrated “all of us who have come since, and all who will come after us, we do celebrate this anniversary with joy.” Women currently make up 40% of all clergy in Cal-Pac, and Rev. Rice also acknowledged the hardships that women still face when answering their call to ministry.
During Thursday’s Praise & Worship, Rev. Rice led the group in an Affirmation of Faith provided by Rev. Stephanie Arnold, the General Secretary for GCSRW. Rev. Rhodes-Wickett also led those gathered in prayer.
Celebratory T-shirts were available for sale, which shared the message that proclaimed that “Women Lead, Preach, Teach.” All were invited to purchase and wear the shirt, and the Cal-Pac clergywomen gathered on Thursday afternoon to take a picture together in the shirts.
Two weeks before Annual Conference, Westwood UMC Westwood UMC celebrated the 70th anniversary of women’s ordination within our Methodist tradition. They welcomed several of the women clergy and resident Bishops, including Bishop Dottie Escobedo-Frank, Bishop Mary Ann Swenson, Rev. Dr. Sharon Rhodes-Wickett, Rev. Jane Voigts, Rev. Dr. Natalie Houghtby-Haddon, Rev. Kathy Cannon, Rev. Molly Vetter, and Rev. Blair Stowe.
Several of them preached a joint sermon during their Sanctuary worship and joined the following service in The Loft for a sit-down conversation about the past, present, and future of the UMC. The church also recorded a special episode of The Progressive Christians Podcast with Bishop Escobedo-Frank and Rev. Molly Vetter to have an honest conversation about what’s changed and what hasn’t, and to ask what they think the next 70 years of the UMC will look like. Ellen Evans Agee, also the chair of church council at Westwood UMC wrote an essay describing how the church came up with the idea for the celebration and hopes for the future.
As Rev. Rice and Ms. Agee shared, “This is an important milestone for us as Methodists, both to celebrate how far we’ve come and to remind us how far we still have to go. We hope this celebration was encouraging and empowering as we continue working toward the full and equal participation and dignity of women in the church.”