Narrative Summary
Interview with Reverend Ellen Martin by Callee Bertram
Reverend Ellen Martian was not always addressed as a Reverend, but instead as Ms.
Martin, biology teacher. She was a high school biology teacher for twenty-four years when she
decided to become ordained. Ellen did not grow up in a religious family, both of her parents
were agnostic, but raised her to have a respect for all people. When asked how this affected her
Ellen said, that this gave her the opportunity to love all people without having embedded
theology. Both her parents grew up not attending church. Her mother was this way due to her
grandmother being in a religious commune at the turn of the century and her father rarely
attended church as a child. When he did it was at the very church she is now the senior pastor of.
Her mother said there was so much bickering that she had no wish to learn about religion. Both
of her parents shaped her views on religion, or lack there of, and on how to treat those around
you.
Ellen did not become interested in faith until she attended college for her degree
in biology and education. It was at this point that a close friend urged her to attend church. She
decided to give religion a chance. She became a member of a fundamentalist Christian
denomination. This particular denomination, at the time the church was not even considered a
denomination, did not believe that women should teach the word of God. This was even enforced
for children’s Sunday school a class that is taught by women in most denominations. This was
because men were the only ones allowed to speak or teach the word of God. Ellen described the
religion as being oppressive and sexist towards women. During her time in the church she did
not feel safe or included, the denomination was even considered a cult at the time. The time she
spent in this religion was a time of unhappiness and miserable. The pressure she felt from her
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friend is what kept her in the religion. Eventually she did make the decision to leave the church
after twelve to fourteen years. After leaving she did not attend another church for four years.
Eventually she did attend a Disciples of Christ Church. This is when she realized she no longer
wanted to sit in the pew; she had too much to share. This is when she decided to go to seminary,
after a couple years of planning, at the age of 56, she chose Eden Seminary School. She felt she
needed a strong seminary background in order to become an effective pastor. After three years
she became and ordained minister in the Congregational Church.
Ellen’s background of being a Biology teacher really does have an impact on how
she views the bible. She believes the stories told in the bible are metaphors. We are not here to
take everything the bible says as literal. She does not have to believe in the creation story.
Instead it shows her that God has always been around. This ties into what she believes God
taught her after the death of two children, one as recent as six months ago. When one loses a
child it is a time of deep reflection, and during this time Ellen found a way to reconnect to God
in a new way. Just because a person is good does not mean nothing bad will ever happen to
them. It just means God is always there for a person even in the tough times. This is what she
teaches the members of her church community and her community outside the church.
To Ellen the most important part of being a Minster is to be there for the members
of your community. The point she realized this was when she had a member of the community
come to her and say “Ellen I have been thinking about killing myself”, to which she replied
“would you let me take you to the emergency room I stay with you and I will not leave you”. To
her it is a huge moment when a person is willing to trust you with something so big and know
that you will not brush them off, but instead say with them and love them. This is especially true
when it comes to welcoming diverse members of the community into the church. Ellen’s
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background of growing up with no religion caused her to be accepting and loving of all people
no matter what. She believes that God is all welcoming, non-judging, and all loving. She lives up
to this by welcoming all into her church.
Not only is Ellen a woman in ministry in the Ozarks where it is not all that
common, but she is also a woman minister in a primarily small conservative town. The
community she lives in is moderately accepting of a female in ministry. There are some people
in the community that may not believe a woman pastor is biblical, but there are others that are
accepting with open arms and minds. Even though some do not agree with women in ministry
she has never had any rude encounters. Instead she says she is politely brushed off and that what
she is saying is not always heard. There have been times that members of her own congregation
have said they do not agree with a woman pastor, yet they are never disrespectful. Ellen believes
that the community is taking steps towards being accepting of women in ministry, but they will
not be fully accepting for a long time. Over the years Ellen has grown in her own faith and will
keep growing as long as she keeps an open mind and continues to teach her congregation, as well
as others.
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