Emily W Dean

Why we need to remember the Mary Belle White’s of the SBC

Thinking about the legacy you leave has been heavy on my mind lately. Recently amid doing some research on the history of women in the SBC, my grandmother passed away, and I had the opportunity to share about her legacy at her service.

What first comes to my mind in thinking about the legacy of women in the SBC, is not the women of whom many in SBC life and the broader evangelical community are often familiar. Instead, I think about my grandmother, Mary Belle White. Her influence did not extend throughout the entire denomination, but it was wide, and it was deep in the lives of many people in my home church and throughout the local region of
Northeast Louisiana where she lived. Let me tell you a little bit about what I learned about ministry leadership from my grandmother and why we need to remember women like her.

When I think about examples of leadership, the countless ways my grandmother led women come to mind. She was doing ministry to women decades before it had an official title. My grandmother naturally had a heart for mentoring younger women, so she sought to do that in whatever way she could. I got to be her helper at more church bridal showers she hosted in her home than I can count, and I saw her organizing and leading women to help celebrate with people on their special occasions. Her hospitality was unmatched. She opened her home not just for special events but also for people serving
at our church to have a place to stay or for the countless people my grandfather would invite over for Sunday lunch. She told me she didn’t always know how many people would be eating at her table, but she always made a way to serve everyone.

I saw her serve on countless committees in the church and the community. Being in a church with strong congregational polity, she either served on or led just about every committee there was at one time or another! The one she chaired the longest was of course, the hostess committee. I saw her making sure that people were fed at special dinners and that the church had an inviting atmosphere. She had an eye for aesthetics
creating the most beautiful flower arrangements to decorate the church, and she was known for serving her dressing at the church Christmas dinners. In all these things she taught me how to lead, administrate, and organize people.

She was highly involved in the Woman’s Missionary Union (WMU) leading Acteens during the period they had formal events. Being a child of the Depression era and an excellent seamstress by necessity, when girls couldn’t buy a dress for these events, she would make them one. She even told me recently that she served on the state board for WMU in Louisiana during the time they oversaw construction of the Tall Timbers retreat center in Pineville. My husband preached at a youth camp there this past summer, and 15 students gave their lives to Christ in that one week. What a vision those women had to see that camp come to fruition.

I saw my grandmother leading women in studying the Bible. She taught the Bible in Sunday school for over 60 years because she loved the Word of God and believed it has the power to transform lives. Her love for teaching the Bible was something she and I shared and talked about often. Not only did she enjoy studying the Bible with other people, but even in her later years she often expressed her desire to lead others to put
its teaching into action.

She was a go-getter, working tirelessly to make the world around her a better place. She wasn’t one to talk about what she did for others. In fact, the only reason I know a lot about what she did is that women have shared with me over the years of
things she did for them. Rather, she led by seeing needs and taking initiative to meet them as she could. Her influence was felt deeply not only as a church mother, but in the
words of the local newspaper, as a “community matriarch” 1 whose impact in the community spread far beyond the church walls.

My grandmother was an extraordinary woman whose life and legacy will be felt for generations. Not only has she passed the baton of faithful leadership to me, but also now to her great-granddaughters (my daughter and my niece). And that gives me hope for the future. My grandmother did what thousands of other women like her across the SBC have been doing for decades, faithfully serving and leading as spiritual mothers in
their churches. I have met plenty of others in over two decades of ministry. This army of women quietly go about their lives making disciples as they go.

In teaching about leadership for women in the church, I often ask students to reflect on the women who have been influential in their lives. Like me, more often my students share about their mom, grandmother, or a special woman in their churches
who have impacted them. These are the legacies that may not be well known outside of local churches but need to be remembered.

One day we will pass the baton, and what will future generations remember about us? Though ministry in 2025 may look much different for us than it did for previous generations, may we continue to build upon the foundation they’ve laid for us. As we faithfully serve Christ in our churches, may we live lives worthy of a godly legacy.