Every Friday, Baptist Women in Ministry features an interview with an amazing minister on this blog. Today, we are thrilled to interview Margaret Harvey. MARGARET IS what a minister looks like!
Margaret, tell us about your ministry journey and the places and ways you have served and are serving.
My earliest memories of informal ministry started as a teenager in Cameroon, a country in Central Africa. I was raised Presbyterian and at the age of twelve, I started ministry in my congregation through music. I joined the choir and became the youngest chorister. Since then, I have been ministering through music. My church did not have Sunday School or Bible study classes to satisfy my curious mind. So as a teenager, my desire to know more about God in Christ Jesus led me to seek more information from my pastor. He was very helpful in responding to all my many questions. Through our conversations over the years, I developed interest in reading and studying the Bible.
In Junior High through High School, I continued to minister through music, both in the school choir and my church choir. At the University, I joined Campus Crusade for Christ. My involvement was evangelism. I would go out and share my faith with other students. This period of my life was very formative to my spiritual journey and spiritual growth.
After graduating from the University, I started my career as a High School teacher and continued to minister through music. Later on in life, I married a Baptist and joined Etoug-Ebe Baptist Church, located in Yaounde, the capital of Cameroon. A few years later, I joined the Teaching Ministry where I had the opportunity to teach women Sunday School classes. I also led discipleship classes. In 2010, I contributed in bringing a major change in my church on a doctrinal issues concerning women and head coverings. This incident led me to enroll in a Bible school from 2011 – 2012. I wanted to equip myself to teach and also further develop my spiritual life. At the Bible school, I was involve in “Street Ministry,” that is, ministry to street children and ministry to prostitutes. It was during this time that I started sensing God’s call upon my life. As the call deepened and became more powerful, it created a tension within me; how can I respond to God’s call in a context where women within the Baptist tradition in Cameroon were not called to full time ministry? My only source of income was from my teaching job. At this point in my life, I had a difficult decision to make. The difficulty in the decision lies in leaving my job, leaving family and friends behind, to pursue seminary education in a foreign country with all the uncertainties.
However, I had to obey. Having gained wonderful experiences in diverse ministry settings, my husband who also had sensed God’s call in my life, supported and encouraged me to pursue the call. In January, 2014, I took a leap of faith and was ready to begin a new phase of my life and vocation at Truett Theological Seminary, Baylor University.
At Truett, I served at Mountain View Community Fellowship in Boise, Idaho as a CBF intern in 2015. During my ten weeks stay there, I was exposed to a variety of ministry activities. I had the opportunity to minister to a cross section of people from around the world. Through the Church’s outreach ministry, I ministered to the refugee population and participated in the Community Service Day on June 20. This is a day set aside by six different denominations. They decided to put aside their theological differences to work together for the common good of the community. At Mountain View Community Fellowship, I had my first preaching experience. I assisted in leading worship and also facilitated Adult Bible study.
In January 2017, I joined Greater New Light Missionary Baptist Church in Waco, TX. Here, I had the opportunity to teach Adult Sunday School Classes to both men and women and also led a series of classes on “Praying the Scripture.” After graduating from Seminary, I served as associate astor at Mosaic Fellowship in Belton, TX for one year and three months. This was a church plant that was community oriented. In September 2019, I started CPE at Ascension Seton Family of Hospitals in Austin, TX. I am currently a resident chaplain at Ascension Dell Seton Medical Center, in Austin, TX.
What have been your greatest sources of joy in ministry?
One source of my joy in ministry comes from my encounters with patients. It is a privilege for me to partner with God, seeing God use me to calm the storm in their lives, give them hope, and strengthen their faith. It gives me great joy when patients and their families invite me into their sacred spaces, to share in their pain and joy. I am the first woman to be ordained by my church. This in itself is something to celebrate. And of course, having support from my spouse, who is also a minister, makes me happy.
What have been the greatest challenges you have encountered in ministry?
My greatest challenge has been self-care. CPE drains me both emotionally and physically. As a resident chaplain, I find it difficult to navigate clinicals, CPE classes, and the twenty-four hour on-call shifts per week. It means putting in fifty-five hours of work per week. With this work load, I struggle to balance my work/personal life. However, I am learning to create and respect my own boundaries. I can’t wait to complete the residency program to take control of my life again.
What is the best ministry advice you have received?
Margaret, take care of all of you! Remember, you are not the savior, Jesus is!