A Whole Savior, Not a Half One
“If the man may preach, because the Savior died for him, why not the woman? Seeing He died for her also. Is He not a whole Savior, instead of a half one?” — Jarena Lee, 1849
In 1783, a free Black girl named Jarena Lee was born in Cape May, New Jersey. She would become the first woman authorized to preach in the African Methodist Episcopal Church, defying both the racial and gender barriers of her time. Her story burns with holy fire — the kind that ignites a life wholly surrendered to God.
Called by a Voice, Not a Vote
Jarena Lee never planned to preach. She had only a few months of schooling and served as a domestic worker in Philadelphia. But one day, as she prayed, she heard what she described as a voice from heaven:
“Go, preach the Gospel! I will put words in your mouth.”
The call frightened her. The Methodist Church, led by Bishop Richard Allen, did not yet allow women to preach. Still, the voice would not let her go. “I told them I was like Jonah,” she later wrote, “for it had been nearly eight years since the Lord had called me.”
When, during a church service, the preacher lost his voice mid-sermon, Jarena rose under the power of the Spirit and finished the message. Her words — simple, burning, Spirit-filled — brought tears and repentance. Bishop Allen could no longer deny what God had clearly affirmed: Jarena Lee was called to preach.
Fire on the Tongue, Grace in the Heart
Lee’s preaching came not from education but from anointing.
“The Lord touched my tongue as with a live coal from His altar … My mind was cleared and the Scriptures opened themselves to me.”
Every sermon came through struggle — against exhaustion, poverty, and prejudice. But her strength lay not in herself:
“At times I was pressed down like a cart beneath its shafts … but the Lord knows how to deliver the godly.”
She traveled thousands of miles — sometimes on foot — proclaiming the Gospel to both Black and white congregations. In the slaveholding South, she saw “a general outpouring of the Spirit — sinners cried for mercy.” Her ministry bore fruit across boundaries that society said could not be crossed.
Widowhood, Poverty, and Trust
After six years of joyful ministry beside her husband, the Rev. Joseph Lee, Jarena lost him and five other loved ones in quick succession. She was left a widow with two small children, no income, and no home. Yet she could write with unshakable confidence:
“I have ever been fed by His bounty, clothed by His mercy, comforted and healed when sick, succored when tempted, and everywhere upheld by His hand.”
Through every loss, she found God faithful. Her heart remained fixed on the promise: “I will be the widow’s God, and a father to the fatherless.”
A Legacy of Holy Defiance
Jarena Lee’s theology was simple but revolutionary. If Christ’s blood redeemed both men and women, then both could proclaim His Gospel. She preached equality before it became a movement, and holiness before it became a doctrine.
Her words still ring with conviction:
“Praise God for His delivering grace — oh, the depth of the riches of the glory of God, how unsearchable are His ways!”
Lee never sought fame, only faithfulness. Yet her obedience cracked open doors for generations of women who would one day stand in pulpits once closed to them. She preached a whole Gospel for a whole world, offered by a whole Savior.
No Earthly Boundary Can Silence Divine Fire
Jarena Lee’s life is more than a historical record—it is a mirror held up to our own faith. Her courage to obey God’s voice in a world that sought to silence her invites us to examine our hearts and the boundaries we’ve accepted without question. Through her story, the Spirit continues to challenge and call us today:
• What limits have we allowed culture to place on God’s call?
• Where might the Spirit still be saying, “Go, preach the Gospel”?
Her witness reminds us that when God calls, no earthly boundary can silence divine fire.
1. What limits have we allowed culture to place on God’s call?
Jarena Lee’s story exposes how easily faith communities can confuse tradition with truth. In her day, church leaders claimed that a woman’s voice in the pulpit violated order and discipline. Yet the deeper issue was not order but control. Cultural norms—patriarchal, racial, and hierarchical—were mistaken for divine will.
We, too, face this temptation. Culture still whispers boundaries around what obedience should look like. It can disguise fear as prudence, prejudice as piety, and convenience as doctrine. When we silence voices because they do not fit our expectations—women, the poor, the uncredentialed, the marginalized—we repeat the same blindness that first tried to hush Jarena Lee.
Her answer remains prophetic: “Is He not a whole Savior, instead of a half one?” The fullness of Christ’s redemption means there are no partial callings. Every heart that has been set free by grace may become a vessel of the Gospel.
2. Where might the Spirit still be saying, “Go, preach the Gospel”?
The Spirit still calls—often in quiet, surprising places. The command to “Go, preach the Gospel” is not confined to pulpits or public revivals; it might come in a hospital ward, a classroom, a refugee shelter, or an online conversation. It might sound to those least expected: a young girl uncertain of her gifts, a retiree who thinks her best years are gone, or a believer who feels disqualified by failure.
Jarena Lee heard that call not in a cathedral but in the secret chamber of prayer. She had little education, no title, and every reason to remain silent. Yet she obeyed—and God multiplied her witness. Her life reminds us that the Spirit’s geography is borderless. Wherever there are hearts to hear, there is ground for the Gospel.
Takeaway: The Fire Still Burns
When God calls, He also equips. The question is not whether the Spirit still speaks, but whether we still listen. Jarena Lee teaches that obedience often begins in defiance—not rebellion against God’s order, but resistance to human limits that obscure His will.
Cultural barriers shift with time, but divine fire remains the same. The Spirit who once said to Jarena Lee, “Go, preach the Gospel,” may now be saying to us:
“Go, love the unloved.”
“Go, speak for the voiceless.”
“Go, serve where others will not go.”
When we answer, we join her legacy—the legacy of a woman whose obedience turned exclusion into revival, and whose faith still lights the path for those who dare to believe that no earthly boundary can silence divine fire.
Prayer
Lord,
You who called Jarena Lee, awaken in us the same courage and trust.
Touch our lips with Your fire; purify our hearts for Your service.
Make us bold to speak truth in love, without fear or favor.
May Your daughters and sons together proclaim the greatness of Your salvation.
Amen.
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