I never heard a woman preacher until I joined the charismatic movement in the 1970s. It took a while for me to get used to the idea, since the church I grew up in taught that women were most spiritual when they were silent.

My college conversations gave me great insight into human nature: as fallen creatures, we are resistant to change. We prefer the familiar, the safe, the known. And because of this, I think we can be at risk for missing how the Holy Spirit is moving in our midst.

Women in Africa are not always looking for outside assistance but are digging deep within to find the moral and spiritual resources to transform their communities.

Tucked away in the story of the growth of the church, a few verses in Acts 16 detail how a top Christian leader endangered both himself and his ministry for the sake of a person with all the counts against her.

But for those of us steeped in the history of early egalitarians, the political prominence women enjoy today can be understood as a direct extension of the gains earned for women by early evangelicals and their biblical support for women’s suffrage.

Scripture explains the enduring presence of women prophets as clearly as church history explains their marginalization. Here is some of the biblical evidence.  

The point of marriage is not simply our own happiness, but that happiness is a by-product of pursuing what God has called us to do for the sake of his kingdom.