Susan Hunt

Author Susan Hunt, former Director of Women's Ministries for the Presbyterian Church in America, spoke today in Bowie Chapel to Associate Reformed Presbyterian women attending Synod 2003 on the Erskine College campus. Sarah Ellen Carson introduced Hunt, who will deliver two more talks tomorrow.

Carson, wife of Erskine College and Seminary President Dr. John Carson, said that although she had just met Hunt for the first time, she counts her as a longtime friend. "When my husband was teaching at Erskine Seminary, a college student approached me and asked me to be her spiritual mother," said Carson. "I wasn't sure what that meant." Carson tracked down Hunt's book, Spiritual Mothering, found out how to comply with the student's request, and later started a spiritual mothering group at the First ARP Church in Gastonia, N.C., where her husband became pastor upon leaving Erskine Seminary.

Hunt, who is a mother, grandmother and pastor's wife, referred to the occasion of her granddaughter Mary Kate's profession of faith and reception into the church as she focused on her first topic, "The Call: Legacy of Grace," examining God's creation design of woman, women's exercise of their design, the role of the covenant community and authority structure of the church, and women's calling to pass on their legacy.

Hunt said she and her husband have made each grandchild's public profession of faith, including Mary Kate's, a major celebration. "That profession encapsulates what she needs to know about life and death," she said.

The role of women as "helpers" set forth in Genesis does not suggest inferiority, Hunt said, adding that God is referred to in scripture as a helper. "A redeemed helper is not threatened by male headship," she said. "It is not a matter of status but of function." Hunt believes the authority structure of the church releases women to "fulfill their creation design."

Hunt said the name "Eve" in Genesis means life, life-giver, and mother, and that women's life-giving role is not limited to becoming biological mothers. "Every redeemed woman is called to be a life-giver in every situation, every relationship," said Hunt. "It's because of our redemption that we can live out our design."

Women have been designed by God to create a sense of community, Hunt said. "Community and compassion summarize the mission and design of women," she said.

Stressing the urgency of passing on the "legacy of grace" to women of the next generation, Hunt spoke about her relationship with her granddaughter. "No matter how long I live, I'll always have something sweet and fresh to tell Mary Kate about our redeemer," she said. Hunt concluded her remarks by asking two or three women to gather around each woman under the age of 20 for a closing prayer.

Hunt will also speak on "The Covenant: Legacy of the Promise," looking at how women in scripture lived out the implications of the covenant; and "The Commission: Legacy of Fruitfulness," studying Titus 2 and calling women to obey to its mandate and the church to equip women for a biblical approach to ministry.

Hunt holds a degree in Christian education from Columbia Theological Seminary and has written a number of books, including Spiritual Mothering (1993); Teaching Your Children to Live for God (1999); and her latest offering, as co-author with Barbara Thompson, The Legacy of Biblical Womanhood (2003).