Leading the Way for Spirit-Filled Women
by Sheryl Young

Sheryl Colter pastors Monroe FMC and is the first woman senior pastor in the Southern Michigan Conference’s 47-year history. And her kingdom role is expanding.

Recently appointed to lead the conference’s new Women in Ministry Task Force, Colter serves as a liaison between conference leadership and local churches in helping women fulfill God’s calling. And in July, she was elected president of Wesleyan/Holiness Women Clergy International (WHWC).

Although Colter attended church throughout her childhood and had a grandmother who taught Sunday school, her personal relationship with Jesus didn’t begin until later. “During a family crisis when I was about 15,” she recalls, “I dreamt that Jesus asked me to follow Him. I was rebellious, but even in my nursing career there was something missing deep inside.”

In 1988, while sporadically attending Ypsilanti FMC with her husband Bob and her children, Colter heard a sermon on total commitment: “Be holy, because I am holy”
(1 Peter 1:16). “I felt like a failure,” she says. “How could I serve the Lord, much less be holy?” Six months later on a family hunting trip, she surrendered her life to His will.

Q: When did you realize your call into ministry?

A: Around 1992, I was working as a nurse and helping with kids’ club at church. I felt the sense of calling and assumed it would be missions nursing, but the children’s director stepped down and they asked me to take over. When bumpy times led to a pastoral change, I was a delegate in the transitional period. Paying attention to godly men around me, I felt drawn into pastoral ministry.

The Female Pastor: Is There Room for the She in Shepherd? A new booklet by Bishop David Kendall and Associate Professor Karen Strand Winslow reexamines critical Bible references and denominational history to make a case for women in ministry at all levels. In the foreword, Bishop Emeritus Donald N. Bastian dubs the new arrival “a deserving read for those who may be perplexed and who wonder what biblical perspectives they should embrace on this subject …” Available individually ($1.50) or in 10-packs ($13.99). Order online at www.llcom.net — click on Store, then FM Resources.

Q: Was it a struggle to become a female pastor?

A: My original pastor wasn’t supportive, but our superintendent told me about a training conference at my own church! I completed ministerial candidate studies and when the new pastor wanted a Christian education leader, everyone looked at me! It was clearly God’s plan. People who saw the transformation from my ‘run-around’ days really encouraged me.
In 2000, with a bachelor’s degree in family life (Spring Arbor University) and master’s of divinity degree (Asbury Theological Seminary), I was appointed senior pastor of Pulaski FMC, and then called to Monroe.

Q: Are there other female senior pastors?

A: This is my sixth year and I’m still the only one in our conference. Across the denomination (according to recent statistics), 147 women serve as elders (some as senior pastors), 33 are deacons and 170 are conference ministerial candidates.

Q: What is your advice for women aspiring to the pastorate, and are you mentoring any?

A: Listen to God. Verses that helped me were: Joshua 1:9 (be courageous), Psalm 139 (whose I am), 2 Corinthians 9:8 (abounding grace) and Galatians 6:9 (don’t grow weary).
I’m working with two women who desire ministerial positions, and their pastors are very supportive. One WHWC role is mentoring women on the board and various committees.
I’d like to assure people that WHWC has no ‘feminist agenda.’ We believe God is the Author and Perfecter of the call to ministry regardless of gender, ability, race, age or any other imposed barrier. We desire to help the body of Christ fulfill its responsibilities as a partner in God’s redeeming work in the world” (Ephesians 4:11-13).

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Editor's Note: Here's a bit more of our exclusive interview with Sheryl Colter, and additional information about this effective FM family.

Q: How did your act of giving yourself over to the Lord affect your family at the time?

A: Within a year, my husband saw the change and gave his life to the Lord, and within two years all four of our children – Christopher (Bob’s son), our daughter Bobbie Elizabeth, and sons Adam and David – followed.

Q: You don't work in nursing now. Is there any way you can still use that education?

A: It’s very useful in helping church members navigate through difficult medical episodes in their lives.

Q: Do you have a message for your beloved church family and The Church in general?

A: It’s time to earnestly seek God’s face, drop our own agendas, draw together and seek Christ. Apart from this, the church cannot be effective.

Colter’s family is still very active in hunting and archery. She and her husband entered a statewide archery competition in 1995 which she won! Together, they also started the “Christian Archers of Kentucky” ministry and for many of the folks involved, that was their church.