WOMEN IN BAPTIST MINISTRY A short History  By Carol Ann Vaughn* "The Church hath the power to elect, approve, and ordeyne her owne Elders, also: to elect, approve, and ordeyne her owne Deacons both men and women," wrote John Smythe in 1609. He was pastor of the first identifiable Baptist church in England during the reign of King James I. In 1650 eight women and four men started the Bedford Baptist Church, where John Bunyan later served.  Pastor Thomas Lamb blessed the ministry of Mrs. Attaway, whose Tuesday afternoon gatherings attracted 1,000 people. Many contemporary observers noted the Baptist sect's openness to women's public ministries, which set them apart from other Separatists (those who had abandoned reform of the Church of England and separated from it).  Most English Separatists relied on women founders, members and preachers until they became more mainstream. Then they limited women's public roles in worship and restricted women's votes in church business. Among Anabaptists (radical reformers who emphasized adult baptism), "she-preachers" often endured the torture of tongue-screws for preaching the gospel in public.  During exile in Holland, English Baptists observed the active church women there. This prompted Englishman Robert Browne to support "our fellow she-laborourers . . . who are not only able to talk on any text, but search into the deep sense of the Scripture, and preach both in their families and elsewhere." *Carol Ann Vaughn is assistant professor of history at Judson College in Marion, Alabama.*