Jean C. Lambert

Women today are pioneering in a treacherous wilderness. Whether in the church as treasurer, deacon, adult Bible teach-er, elder or council member, minister of Christian education, missionary health professional or missionary evangelist, or as pastor, the fact remains if one is a woman in ministry, one is a pioneer. (Jean Lambert, on behalf of the Board of the Ministry, 1989)

At the 97th Annual Meeting, held in Chicago, 1982, Jean Lambert (1940–2008) became the ninth woman to be ordained in the Evangelical Covenant Church. Lambert would go on to serve in a variety of diverse contexts, alternating between parish and academy. Beginning as professor of theology at St. Paul School of Theology in Kansas City, Missouri (1976–1985), Lambert took her first pastoral call at Bethesda Covenant Church in New York City (1985–1989). From Bethesda she reentered the academy as senior lecturer of religious studies at the University of Zimbabwe, Harare (1989–1991). After a second call to parish ministry as pastor of the International Fellowship Immanuelskyrkan in Stockholm, Sweden (1992–1998), she returned to the classroom in Zimbabwe, as associate professor of theology and ethics at Africa University in Mutare (1998–2004). Reflecting on her ministry at the end of her life, Lambert wrote, “I have been a boundary-straddler, my churches and communities crossing sociological, denominational, national, linguistic lines.” This article surveys Jean Lambert’s life of faithful ministry as pioneer, advocate, pastor, and theologian.

Path to Ordination

Even prior to her ordination, Lambert had earned master’s and doctoral degrees from Union Theological Seminary and taught seminarians at St. Paul School of Theology in Kansas City, Missouri. She had served on the Committee for Revision of Book of Worship (1974–1981) and the Board of Publications (1977–1982). In 1980 Lambert was the first woman to preach at the annual meeting of the Covenant Ministerium. In spite of this wealth of experience, several internal obstacles stood between her and ordination.

Like many of her time, Lambert grew up assuming women could serve as missionaries and teachers but not as pastors. She graduated in 1962 from North Park College with a bachelor’s degree in history and minor in French and began work at Covenant Press as a staff assistant for the Covenant Companion. After two years in this position, Lambert left to pursue seminary studies at Union Theological Seminary—not with pastoral ministry in mind but rather to enrich her sensed-vocation as a Christian journalist. Through her studies she discovered a passion for Alfred North Whitehead, whose process theology provided a frame-work for her to “think about the theological puzzles that had tormented [her],” particularly “the relation of God’s will and human will, freedom and destiny, God’s goodness and power in relation to human rebel-lion and sin.” Upon graduation Lambert returned to Covenant Press as managing editor of the Covenant Companion. After three years in this position she resumed her studies, returning to Union to pursue a PhD in philosophy of religion, continuing her research on Whitehead under process theologian Daniel Day Williams.

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