Leslie Flynn has made many valuable contributions to the church during his long and distinguished career. He served as pastor of Grace Baptist Church in Nanuet, NY for forty years. He has written thirty-eight books including this 1996 title. I have never seen a long book by Pastor Flynn. His books are brief, not because he writes on unimportant topics but because he has the gift of concise statement and brevity.
Bernice and Leslie Flynn have seven daughters. Among them are a telecommunications engineer, a teacher, a database analyst, a lawyer, an artist, a professor of nursing, and a minister. Daughter Janna is an ordained United Church of Christ minister who currently serves as chaplain at Hamilton College in Clinton, New York. This book is an account of Pastor Flynn’s personal journey in response to his daughter’s decision to attend seminary and enter the ministry. Pastor Flynn writes,
In looking back, I realize that previous to my investigation into the matter I really had no opinion to change. Though raised in an environment of disapproval of women preachers, I had gone along with this view uncritically. So I did not hold any conviction on the issue or I had never given the matter much study (p. 157).
The book explores Jesus and women, women in the early church, and women in American evangelicalism at the beginning of this century, among other topics. Happily, Flynn concludes that God has called his daughter,that she is following God’s leading, and that God will bless her work.
While this book does not explore new territory regarding the issue of women in ministry, it does serve a useful purpose: This is an ideal book to give your pastor, especially if he is straddling the fence on this issue. One pastor speaking to other pastors can have a powerful impact.
