Sharing Your Gifts - Lucy Wright

1760–1821

Equality of the sexes was a part of Shaker beliefs from the group’s inception in the 1770s. Founder Ann Lee preached and led the church, something almost unheard of for a woman at that time. When Ann died, leadership was taken over in part by Lucy Wright.

Lucy wasn’t always a Shaker. She and her husband, Elizer Goodrich, were Baptists. Once Elizer converted to the Shaker faith, Lucy had to decide if it was for her. She took some time to weigh this, perhaps because converting would mean giving up her husband. The Shakers believed in celibacy. Married couples who converted became “brother and sister.” Despite this major drawback, she agreed to convert.

Lucy became part of a Shaker community in New York. Elizer was sent on the road as a preacher. In New York, Lucy worked closely with Ann Lee, seeing firsthand how a woman could hold a position of authority. After Ann’s death, Lucy co-led the Shakers with Joseph Meacham. Together they organized the various Shaker communities, and after Joseph Meacham’s death, Lucy became the sole leader of the Shakers.

Under Lucy’s leadership, the Shaker community grew and thrived. She sent out missionaries to establish new Shaker communities in Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky. She organized their communal living and their way of earning money. Shortly before her death, she helped draft the Millennial Laws, a document that guided Shaker communities in all areas of worship and living. Lucy had a natural gift for organizing, and she helped her community thrive because she was given free rein to use it.

Organizations function best when their members are working to their strengths, doing jobs where their talents and natural abilities are best suited. You may already be using your gifts in your church, but have you thought of how you can use those same gifts to serve in your community? The gifts that you use in ministry can be used in a civic group, a community theater, a parent/teacher group, and other organizations that benefit the community you live in. Where can you share your gifts outside of your church?

God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another.

1 Peter 4:10