In memory of Dr. Anne Morey
(May 16, 1948—June 3, 2012)
Dr. Robert A. Morey’s wife, Anne, passed away unexpectedly on Sunday, June 3, 2012, while they were in Florida celebrating their 40th wedding anniversary. They were lifelong friends and partners in faith who met in high school in New York City when she was 15 and he was 16 years old. The Lord, in His sovereignty, allowed Anne to complete her book on women’s discipleship before her death. May her book be a blessing to Christian women everywhere.
Dr. Anne Morey was not just a wonderful wife and mother, but she was also a fearless soldier of Christ who was not afraid, like Deborah of old, who took up the Sword of the Spirit in the cause of God and truth. Her love of truth and courage in spiritual warfare is what drew me to her when we were teenagers.
She accompanied me on the streets of New York City to hand out tracts to the lost. Together we counseled runaway teenagers in Greenwich Village. She loved going to Walter Martin’s Apologetics Class every Monday night. We discussed philosophy and theology with great relish. We loved Francis and Edith Schaeffer so much that we spent part of our honeymoon at L’Abri.
Anne graduated cum laude and went on to earn an MA and then a PhD. She ran the women’s ministries in the church, and gave biblical instruction on how women could use their spiritual gifts in the Body of Christ. This is how she developed a Biblical women’s discipleship program. Most “women’s ministries” focus on baking cookies, making dolls, gathering clothing for the poor, and sinful gossip and slander. My wife viewed them as a total waste of time. Why can’t women study the Bible in depth? Why can’t they study apologetics and theology?
Titus 2:3-5 gave Anne the key to developing God’s plan for discipling women. Mature Christian women were to be instructed by the elders of the church in seven topics, and then personally train the younger women in those subjects. If churches were to follow what God laid out in Titus 2:3-5, the women in the church would rise up as a mighty army of God to confront and conquer the evil in the church and the world.
Anne’s graduation to Glory was the most painful experience in my life. While her death was gain to her and she is far better off with Christ in heaven, the rest of us are left to struggle on in the battle. But, by the Grace of God, before she died, Anne finished her book on the biblical plan for women’s discipleship programs. Her godly influence and example lives on in the lives of the many women she discipled, as well as those who read this book and then implement its programs in their churches.
Enjoy! Weep! Laugh! Love! Learn what it means to be a woman of God.
Dr. Robert A. Morey