Description
In Together for Good Rev. Drs. Ella P. and Henry H. Mitchell share the secret to lasting love and friendship. This memoir chronicles the Mitchells' fifty-eight year relationship. Filled with anecdotes and the couple' down-to-earth candor, Together for Good provides encouragement, insight and wisdom to anyone seeking an example of a marriage based upon mutual love, honor and respect.
Reviews
"In a day when so many social institutions have lost their luster, Together For Good provides a sterling testament of the enduring virtue and value of a 'vibrant' lifelong commitment. The Mitchell's unique recollection of their more than half century journey together holds forth a hopeful note amidst our high-tech concerns of alienated households, fragmented families and ruptured relationships (in every regard). It is a highly recommended reading for those who would contemplate the gift of mutual companionship at its very best! Thank you Dr's. Ella & Henry Mitchell for this timeless treasure!" —A reader
"In a world where selfishness is academic and values are ephemeral, the fifty-five years of marriage and ministry shared by Ella and Henry Mitchell is truly a saga of sacred togetherness. Their life together has been both a pilgrimage and prophecy: pilgrimage in the readiness and zeal to sail treacherous or even uncharted waters to find service in God's name wherever the need seemed most compelling. Prophecy as the living affirmation of God's transcendent truth and faithfulness in the face of human incapacity. Henry and Ella have lived with tragedy and overcame it. They have lived with success and survived it. They have been blessed in the blessing of so many lives, and they are rich with nothing beyond each other. No wonder they call the story of their lives Together for Good! Goodness has a way of attracting goodness (and mercy too!) all the days of our lives." —C. Eric Lincoln, Professor of Religion and Culture, Duke University
"If you relish love stories and biographies of living saints, this book will thrill you. It provides a testimony to the enduring potential of a relationship grounded in mutual respect, trust, affection, and spirituality." —Rochelle Ingram
"The Mitchells speak straight from their hearts to ours and provide practical help and open honest means for healing the hurts of those of us who are in new or long term relationships. The book is a tender dialogue between them spanning a half century of changes, crises and challenges; reminding us that all of life is indeed dialogue and that something mystical and magical happens in relationships when we truly see, hear and tenaciously embrace the other. Their story is a special gift." —Dr. Aidsand Wright-Riggins III, Executive Director of National Ministries, American Baptist Churches USA
Author Bio
The Rev. Dr. Ella P. Mitchell (1918-2008) was a teacher, preacher, devoted wife, mother and outstanding author. She is known as the "dean of Black women preachers." Born in Charleston, South Carolina, Dr. Mitchell graduated from Union Theological Seminary in New York City, where she met her husband Dr. Henry H. Mitchell, with whom she has ministered for over sixty years. Together, they have served as co-mentors in the Doctor of Ministry Program at United Theological Seminary in Dayton, Ohio, and were founders of the Ecumenical Center for Black Church Studies in Los Angeles. Dr. Ella was the first woman Dean of Sisters Chapel at Spelman College and also taught at the American Baptist Seminary of the West and the School of Theology at Claremont. Dr. Mitchell was the editor of five volumes of the series, Those Preaching Women, and, with her husband, completed their joint autobiography, Together for Good, which shares the secret to lasting love and friendship. In October of 2007 she celebrated her ninetieth birthday surrounded by family and friends on a birthday cruise.
(1919-2022) An ordained American Baptist Churches USA minister, Rev. Dr. Henry H. Mitchell served from 1945 -1959 as a denominational staff person in Northern California. He subsequently pastored California churches in Fresno and Santa Monica before beginning his esteemed academic career. Time in academia included:
• Being named the first Martin Luther King, Jr. Professor of Black Church Studies at Colgate Rochester Divinity School
• Serving as founding director of the Ecumenical Center for Black church Studies, in Los Angeles
• Acting as Academic Dean and Professor of History and Homiletics at Proctor School of Theology, Virginia Union University
• Team teaching along with his wife, the late Rev. Dr. Ella Pearson Mitchell, as Visiting Professors of Homiletics at the Interdenominational Theological Center
• Mentoring students, again with Ella, in the Doctor of Ministry Program at the United Theological Seminary in Dayton, Ohio
Dr. Mitchell is author of three texts, Black Preaching, The Recovery of Preaching and Celebration and Experience in Preaching. He co- authored two other books, Soul Theology and Preaching for Black Self-Esteem with Dr. Emil M. Thomas. In 2004, his Black Church Beginnings, 1650- 1990, a radical rewrite and correction of early Black Church History, was released by Eerdmans Publishing. The Mitchell's inspiring love story, Together for Good, was originally published in 1999 and re-released by Judson Press in 2005.
Rev. Dr. Mitchell is a native of Columbus, Ohio. He holds degrees from Lincoln University, Pennsylvania (B.A & L.H.D, hon.); Union Theological Seminary, New York (B.D./M.Div); California State University at Fresno (M.A. Linguistics); Claremont School of Theology, California (Th.D.); and The American Baptist Seminary of the West, Berkeley, CA (D.D., hon.).