ELDER LUCY SMITH

Acts 2:18 – The Holy Spirit will come upon all my servants, men and women alike, and they will prophesy.

The Lord loves to pour out His Spirit on the least likely candidates in order to shock the world and to bring glory to His Name. Elder Lucy Smith was a powerful African American woman of God ministering in Chicago in the early 20th Century. She built a church with several thousand people attending with healing services conducted three times per week. She was well known for powerful healings that happened regularly in her services claiming that 200,000 people had been healed by the power of God in her services. She was known for broadcasting God’s word on the radio as well as feeding the hungry by the thousands during the Great Depression. Here is a brief history of Elder Smith from an article by David E. Taylor.

“In 1910, after a marriage and nine children, she moved to Chicago after being abandoned by her husband. A couple of years after moving to the city, Elder Lucy joined Stone Church, a predominantly Caucasian congregation. A number of the most well-known divine healing ministers at that time regularly ministered there, including William Seymour, Smith Wiggelsworth, John G. Lake, Maria Woodworth Etter as well as others. She received her personal calling into the ministry of divine healing in the midst of this atmosphere of miracles.
It was Lucy who began a “one-room prayer meeting” in her own home with only two people present. It did not take long for the meeting to grow rapidly as many were being healed and baptized with the Holy Ghost during the meeting. Within three years, they relocated to a bigger facility where they remained for three more years…..
Each week, the deaf, the blind, the crippled, the lame, stroke victims, and those suffering from goiters and cancers were healed. Many crutches and canes from people who had been healed of the diseases and ailments were displayed in the basement of the church as “decoration.” A great deal of her popularity was due to the fact that she was able to attract people from all classes and colors.
During the Great Depression, they fed thousands of people and supplied food and clothing to black families.…..On June 18th, 1952, Lucy died, and over 60,000 people showed their respect. The funeral was the largest in Chicago’s history.”

Several things grabbed my attention as I read Elder Smith’s story. First, she was a mother to nine children which she supported by sewing until her ministry was able to sustain her family. Secondly, she stepped out as an African American to pastor a Pentecostal church similar to Brother Seymour in Los Angeles. This took supernatural courage and supernatural faith. Next, Elder Smith crossed the gender barrier. Women are still shunned in ministry in 2024, I can’t imagine the resistance she faced in 1924. Also, she stepped out to minister to the sick by the thousands. The hand of God was incredibly upon Elder Lucy Smith, maybe its time for another woman to step out today in the power of signs and wonders.