History of Women's Involvement in the RCA Women have made vital contributions to the Reformed Church in America throughout its 375-year history. As early as 1800 women's involvement in church activities began. Sarah Doremus, a member of South Dutch Church in New York City, organized the Women's Union Missionary Society, which spurred other Reformed churches to collaborate. In 1869 the Reformed Church in America sent its first female missionary, Mary Kidder, was a schoolteacher in Japan and founded a seminary there. Between 1875 and 1900 the newly established Women's Board of Foreign Mission raised nearly $750,000 to be used to support women missionaries, girls schools, and seminaries. With auxiliaries in nearly every congregation in 1890, the women of the Reformed Church were better organized for mission than were the men. In 1972 the denomination opened the offices of deacon and elder to women, and by 1979 women were accepted for ordination as ministers of Word and sacrament. Today, women in the RCA serve as pastors, elders, and deacons. They also contribute their time and resources through the Office of Women and the Commission for Women and in countless local ministries. In Celebration of Women in Ministry, Part 1
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