The Seventh Day Baptist Women’s Society was originally organized during the 1884 Seventh Day Baptist Annual Conference in Lost Creek, WV. The petitions committee report included the following Resolution:
Resolved, That we still recommend the organization of the women of our churches into some system of co-operative work for the promotion of our denominational interests.
The Woman’s Board was created from the passing of this resolution. Originally the Board consisted of President, Vice President, Treasurer, Secretary and 4 regional representatives. The first Board of the Women’s Society was located in Alfred, NY. Since that time this volunteer Board has periodically changed locations to different churches in the denomination.
1884 – 1886: Alfred, NY
1886 – 1929: Milton, WI
1929 – 1951: Salem, WV
1951 – 1961: Battle Creek, MI
1961 – 1970: Milton, WI
1970 – 1980: Denver, CO
1980 – 1990: Los Angeles, CA
1990 – 2000: Shiloh, NJ
2000 – 2009: Daytona Beach, FL
2009 – Present: North-Central Association
During it’s first 50 years, the focus of the Women’s Society was to help co-ordinate efforts of women’s groups in local SDB churches to support the overall ministry of the Conference. These early groups had a large interest in the support of Missionaries, both foreign and domestic.
The Women’s Page in the Sabbath Recorder first appeared in the March 8, 1888 issue. That column has continued to this day and is a source of encouragement and information for members of the Women’s Society across the country. TheSabbath Recorder, including the Women’s Page, can now also be read online each month.
In the 1960’s the work of the SDB Women’s Society began to shift to new areas. The purpose of the Society remained to support the ministries of the SDB General Conference. The Society chose to do this by creating and implementing the SCSC program to provide training and service opportunities to young adults in the SDB denomination. The first SCSC project took place in the New Orleans area in 1964. There were 4 participants that summer. The SCSC program has operated every summer since 1964 and many current SDB pastors, denominational leaders, seminary students and lay leaders have served in the program in some way.
Currently the elected Women’s Board publishes an annual report and 6 month update to inform Society members and the denomination of their activities. These are available at Conference or in the Yearbook. The Women’s Board also reports directly to the SDB Women’s Society through the Women’s Interest Committee as part of the business of the General Conference each year. Simply Put, the Women’s Society newsletter is available for downloading from the community section of this website or should be available at your local SDB church.