They were especially strong on societies . There was the Church Aid Society , the Girls ' Flower Band , and the Sewing Circle . There was a Mission Band and a Helping Hand among the children . And finally there was the Women 's Foreign Mission Auxiliary , out of which the whole trouble grew which convulsed the church at Putney for a brief time and furnished a standing joke in presbyterial circles for years afterwards . To this day ministers and elders tell the story of the Putney church strike with sparkling eyes and subdued chuckles . It never grows old or stale . But the Putney elders are an exception . They never laugh at it . They never refer to it . It is not in the wicked , unregenerate heart of man to make a jest of his own bitter defeat . It was in June that the secretary of the Putney W.F.M. Auxiliary wrote to a noted returned missionary who was touring the country , asking her to give an address on mission work before their society . Mrs. Cotterell wrote back saying that her brief time was so taken up already that she found it hard to make any further engagements , but she could not refuse the Putney people who were so well and favourably known in mission circles for their perennial interest and liberality . So , although she could not come on the date requested , she would , if acceptable , come the following Sunday . This suited the Putney Auxiliary very well . On the Sunday referred to there was to be no evening service in the church owing to Mr. Sinclair 's absence . They therefore appointed the missionary meeting for that night , and made arrangements to hold it in the church itself , as the classroom was too small for the expected audience . Then the thunderbolt descended on the W.F.M.A. of Putney from a clear sky . The elders of the church rose up to a man and declared that no woman should occupy the pulpit of the Putney church . It was in direct contravention to the teachings of St. Paul . To make matters worse , Mr. Sinclair declared himself on the elders ' side .
He said XXXXX he could not conscientiously give his consent to a woman occupying his pulpit , even when that woman was Mrs. Cotterell and her subject foreign missions .
To although among as at in of on that with