Simply ChurchYes, that’s right. I said “feminine leader,” not “female leader.” Why is it that people expect leaders of either gender to think/look/act as though they are men? Photo Credit: anicaps le forum via Compfight cc Someone once sent me a Facebook picture saying, “I’m tired of Christian women leaders looking like men. This is how… Read More
I’m currently on vacation with Tony–staying in a house on a deserted beach in Eleuthera (Bahamas). This article about Elisabeth Elliot is a repost. “The fact that I am a woman does not make me a different kind of christian, But the fact that I am a christian does make me a different kind of… Read More
In 2010, Rachel Held Evans decided that for a whole year, she would attempt to obey all the commands given to women in the Bible. Her long-suffering husband, Dan, played along. As a result, amongst the other crazy things she did, Rachel didn’t cut her hair for a year, learned to cook, made her own… Read More
In the mid 1970’s I read a book called Battle for Israel by Lance Lambert from the UK. In it, he describes a prophecy. The story behind this prophecy is that a bishop of the Russian Orthodox church, Bishop Aristocoli, handed it to Mother Barbara shortly before she moved to Israel in 1911. It’s a political… Read More
For most of us, the New Year is marked by a sense of anticipation. The old year is done with; what will 2014 hold? Here are three of my ideas for what 2014 might bring for those of us in the simple/organic/house church movement (or those with an interest in the role of women in… Read More
When I worked as a doctor, there was a diagnosis I never liked to make. “Hemiplegic” is the medical term used to describe paralysis down one side of the body that occurs, for example, after a stroke. If the condition was severe, it was potentially a devastating diagnosis for the person involved, who had to… Read More
My last post about a female Indian church planter who was not allowed to share in class obviously struck a chord with many. In response, someone asked me how he could answer those who use 1 Timothy 2:12 as the basis of their belief that women are not allowed to teach and shouldn’t have authority… Read More
It takes a lot to render me speechless. Even more to make me angry. This story happened yesterday. We have had a delightful lady church planter from India staying with us this week. She trains other women church planters and between them they have seen 50,000 to 60,000 baptisms of women over the last few… Read More
Jarena Lee, an African American preacher, was born (free) in 1873 and worked as a servant girl in the home of a white family 60 miles from where she lived. As a teenager, she moved to Philadelphia where she heard the preaching of Richard Allen, founder of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, and surrendered her… Read More
Blandina was martyred in AD 177. A slave, she and her master were part of a Christian community in Lyon, (now in France). They were among a number of people who were arrested and brought to trial in the forum under the imperial legate in the reign of Roman emperor, Marcus Aurelius. Those who renounced… Read More