Women in God's Mission

Accepting the Invitation to Serve and Lead

Mary T. Lederleitner

• Publisher: IVP
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN: 9780830845514
• eBook ISBN: 9780830873838
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Ministry

Christianity Today 2020 Book of the Year Award, Missions/Global Church

Women have advanced God's mission throughout history and around the world. But women often face particular obstacles in ministry. What do we need to know about how women thrive?

Mission researcher Mary Lederleitner interviewed and surveyed ninety-five respected women in mission leadership from thirty countries to gather their insights, expertise, and best practices. She unveils how women serve in distinctive ways and identifies key traits of faithful connected leaders. When women face opposition based on their gender, they employ various strategies to carry on with resilience and hope. Real-life stories and case studies shed light on dynamics that inhibit women and also give testimony to God's grace and empowerment in the midst of challenges.

Women and men will find resources here for partnering together in effective ministry and mission. Organizations can help women flourish through advocacy, mentoring, and addressing structural issues. Wherever God has invited you to serve and lead, discover that you are not alone as you answer the call.

Part one

Appreciating Their Stories

Chapter one

God’s Amazing Daughters

For me it is an adventure that I never ever dreamed or imagined it could be. I find myself doing things that are beyond my wildest hopes as a young mother—thirty years ago. I sometimes pinch myself and say, “How come I get to live here in this crazy colorful country, to share life to some degree with these amazing people? What a gift in my life—what a blast!” I feel so very privileged that I can cooperate with God in people’s lives—and that I can actually make some difference!

AUDREY IS AUSTRALIAN AND WORKS IN LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT IN A RESTRICTED-ACCESS NATION IN ASIA1

Susana is Ecuadorian, and the mission she serves and leads focuses on multiplying communities of Christ-followers among the least reached people groups in the world. Describing serving and leading in God’s mission she said,

In my journey I have learned many lessons; some the hard way. I have made mistakes, but God has extended grace and has allowed me to grow through mistakes and hardships. When I began my leadership journey, I thought I was a tough girl. I thought I could do anything and conquer the world—no obstacle seemed too hard to overcome. I had passion and faith, so God and I could do anything.

I tell you, I don’t think I have ever cried so much as that first year of leadership with my mission. I realized I wasn’t as tough as I thought I was, or as cool. I fought many battles on my knees, and those tears in my secret place with God strengthened my soul. I also learned never to take the glory for myself because God hates a prideful heart.

Susana explained that she is still on a journey “discovering new things with God day by day, by his grace.” She said, “I believe as children of God we should have a sense of destiny and seek God to know what his plans are, and be available and willing to fulfill his plans for our lives.”

God’s Invitations

I am amazed at how God constantly pulls many of his daughters into roles of service and leadership they never fully imagined. His invitations arrive in a variety of ways. They come during times of personal prayer and Scripture reading, or they arrive through a friend or colleague or pastor who needs help, and the person sees in us giftedness that can further God’s purposes. They reach us when our hearts are breaking over something in the world that is not right. We want God to fix it, but his response is to ask us to get involved in unexpected ways.

How do you respond in these moments? Some people are bold, like Susana was as a young adult, accepting God’s invitation with confidence. My response is often different. I am frequently bewildered by them. You want me to do what? Really? Are you sure? But there are so many other people who are better qualified! And so the dialogue goes until I take what are often anxious initial steps down a path that seems daunting or even impossible. Later, after I have accepted God’s invitation to serve and lead, I find myself growing and developing in new ways. As time passes, the roles begin to feel normal and obvious. What was once scary for me often becomes fun. Well of course I would do that. It makes sense. It’s how I’m made. I wonder if God laughs when he hears those thoughts in my head or comments like these coming out of my mouth. My confidence grows until the next invitation comes that stretches how I see myself, and then the pattern of self-doubt and questioning easily repeats.

My Story

I would rather focus on the stories of others, but I know some readers might want to know a little about mine. For me life started as a shy kid born into a large family that greatly valued humor. My siblings usually seemed so comfortable in a variety of settings, while I on the other hand was an anxious soul who had an uncanny knack of imagining everything that could go wrong and often thought it might. Looking back, I still wonder at God’s invitation to me. Working full time in his mission is a journey filled with adventure, risk, and unfolding mystery. Decades later, I still feel like the unlikeliest of candidates for such an invitation.

I came to personal faith in Christ the summer after I graduated from high school, and once that happened God’s invitations came frequently in a variety of ways.2 They included areas such as serving and leading in campus ministries, leading young adults and singles’ ministries in congregations, being a missionary accountant, traveling throughout Asia and leading finance operations for my mission organization, being a global mission researcher and missiologist, being an author, being a conference speaker (often for audiences of male executive directors of mission agencies), leading executive retreats, being a consultant on an executive team of a large global mission, teaching graduate students who were preparing to be missionaries and ministers, and the like.

The invitations never seem to stop. They involve starting new ministries, traveling to a wide variety of nations, and being willing to let God work on parts of my character so he can accomplish his will through me. I believe accepting God’s invitations are essential for genuine, ongoing discipleship. The types of invitations vary from person to person, but the stretching process we encounter as we accept them shapes us in tangible and eternal ways. It is often by journeying with God down these frequently unexpected paths that we grow in our ability to trust him, and we begin to develop more fully into the people he desires us to be. And, in this process of accepting God’s invitations throughout the course of our lives, his purposes in the world are furthered in significant ways.

Why Write This Book?

For both men and women it is easy to come up with reasons for not accepting God’s invitations. Whether as young adults or later as we age, full schedules, insecurities, being too focused on our own goals, or caring more about pleasing others than God can make it difficult to remain attentive to God’s plans and purposes for our lives. I also think there is something innate in the human psyche that likes to feel safe; yet responding to God’s invitations can sometimes trigger opposite feelings. From my perspective it seems harder for women to accept God’s invitations to serve and lead, for family and societal expectations often create additional gender challenges we have to navigate. For many of us, the process of accepting and living out God’s invitations is more complex.

For example, a number of women mentioned the sentiment shared by Jacqueline, a North American leader. She has been involved in a variety of ministries throughout her life such as pioneering new campus ministries in closed nations and leading women’s ministries, short-term missions, and church ministry overseas with her husband. She said,

I think in many cultures, there is an understanding that there is a different way women gain credibility than men that has always been important for me to accept and acknowledge. Part of that is men are given credibility when they are given their jobs; they can always lose it, but they are given it. Women are given their job, and then they have to prove their credibility. Earning credibility for women is hard, and they can lose it very quickly.

Reflecting on her years of ministry in a variety of contexts, Megan said, “I’ve been told you are too young. I’m not assertive enough. I’m too assertive. You get all of these contradictory messages. You have to be in that sweet spot that is acceptable, and I don’t think men have to do that. It’s a tighter box for women.” While these specific complexities are not something all women have to navigate, around the globe women face a wide variety of unique challenges because of their gender.

However, despite these challenges, when women accept and live into God’s invitations, he uses their lives in amazing and remarkable ways. This book shares the stories of women who have accepted God’s invitations, and it highlights what they are experiencing and learning on their journeys as they serve and lead. It will encourage women at different stages of their lives, and will enable men who care about them to better understand what they need, so together we might all reach our full potential. My goal in writing is to foster better understanding between men and women, so when we labor together in God’s harvest fields we might be more fruitful. I agree with Carolyn Custis James when she writes, “Men belong in the discussion about women—not as observers or merely ‘to understand women better’ . . . but as participants with a vested interest in the conversation and without whom the conversation is incomplete. The full flourishing of God’s sons requires and even depends on the full flourishing of his daughters.”3

What About Theological Controversies?

In some parts of the body of Christ there is much controversy about the role of women in ministry, but in other parts it is not debated. These differences take place along theological and denominational lines and are influenced by context and culture. Many books are written to argue for specific theological or cultural positions. As I have read and reflected on many of them, the categories they establish often are quite polarizing, and frequently they do not capture the complexity of what God is doing through women in his mission around the globe.

My desire is not to argue for one theological position over another. I have chosen this approach because I deeply value the contribution of women across the various theological and cultural spectrums. As I have followed God in mission I have come to know women from many different nations, cultures, denominations, and churches.4 In each context there are differing beliefs about what women can and cannot do in ministry, yet regardless of differing gender restrictions they always find ways to reach out with the love of Christ. As a result, God’s purposes are furthered and individuals, communities, and the world are impacted and changed for the better. I genuinely marvel at the beauty of God’s work through women who faithfully accept his invitations to serve and lead, especially when diverse cultures and theological streams are shaping their engagement in mission. I believe God works through their diversity to draw more people to himself, and I believe he is proud of his daughters who step out in faith so the world might come to know him.

Who Are the Women in the Research?

The women whose thoughts and stories will be shared throughout this book were born and raised in approximately thirty countries, and they have served in mission in many additional nations. They are from different generations and are serving and leading in many types of ministries. However, a significant thread holds the diverse sample together. Each woman mentioned is deeply respected by others who work with her in God’s mission. Just as there are excellent male leaders, but some men are not good leaders, the same situation applies to women. I like to learn from men who are respected leaders, and I want to learn about leadership from women who are deeply respected as well. Their stories and insights should shape and inform the broader dialogue about leadership in general, and leadership in God’s mission specifically.

Many books have been written about the mission of God and leadership, so the goal of this book is not to repeat that material but rather add to what has already been published. For this book I define serving and leading in God’s mission as “influencing others toward God’s purposes in the world.” Women in this research used the words serve and lead interchangeably, depending on their theological and cultural backgrounds. Yet each was influencing others toward God’s purposes. To honor their voices, these same terms are used in this text as well. Further details about how I selected their stories and how the qualitative research was conducted is available in the appendix.

Many women around the globe qualify to be included in a book like this. However, because of time and space constraints, aside from historical examples mentioned...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Dedication Page
• Contents
• Preface
• Part 1: Appreciating Their Stories
• Part 2: The Faithful Connected Leader
• Part 3: Realities of Gender Discrimination
• Part 4: What Women Need to Do Their Best Work
• Conclusion: What Might This Mean for the Future?
• Acknowledgments
• Appendix: Research Details and Methodology
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Praise for Women in God's Mission
• About the Author
• More Titles from InterVarsity Press
• Copyright