Gloria, a single woman in ministry, faced significant challenges as a leader in her local Colombian church. Her gender and marital status raised barriers limiting her ability to use all of her strengths and gifts to reach the lost.
Despite her family’s disapproval and great distance, Анхаа (pronounced “On-ka”) traveled from her village to the nearest city in Mongolia, 10 hours away, to begin Bible college where she began to prepare to be a church planter.
Helga, a lay leader at Ziva Nada Wesleyan Church in Split, Croatia, believes in the importance of female leaders and was recently challenged to explore that belief further, when she attended a conference with fellow leaders from Europe.
These women are a part of the global Kingdom Force — influential leaders who passionately desire to make Jesus known in their corners of the globe. They are called. They are tenacious. They are a Kingdom Force.
Gloria completed her Master of Divinity through Wesley Seminary and has been leading a church for more than four years serving as pastor. In September 2017, Aнхаа was ordained, along with one other Mongolian female pastor. Helga is learning how to lead in her cultural context confident in Christ’s provision and her purpose, encouraged by others who want to help her flourish.
It’s because of Gloria, Анхаа, Helga and women like them that Global Partners, giving global focus to the mission of The Wesleyan Church, is championing an initiative called Equip Her. Equip Her is a component of Global Partners’ Amplified Leaders initiative created to equip leaders and pastors around the world to multiple disciples and churches. Equip Her helps remove obstacles for female national leaders, so they can receive theological training. Churches will thrive as these women and men are equipped with theological training specific to their ministry contexts and cultures.
“We remember and celebrate our Wesleyan heritage,” said Dennis Jackson, executive director of Global Partners. “Many of our best leaders have been women — from Susanna Wesley to Phoebe Palmer to Jo Anne Lyon. The kingdom will advance most effectively when we call out the leadership gifts in women and men.”
The stories of these women, Global Partners’ efforts to make ordination accessible and affordable and a recent conference convening female leaders serving throughout Europe are intersecting in order to make disciples and multiply churches in the “here, near, far, and no matter how hard, places.” Equip Her is just one of many opportunities The Wesleyan Church and Global Partners is offering the Church to participate in to help make that happen.
For more information on Equip Her, click here.
For more information about Amplified Leaders, click here.
Join Global Partners Tuesday, February 19, at 9:30 a.m. (EST), for a Facebook Live conversation between Dina Horne, Global Partners missionary, and Miranda Cruz, director of The Sacred Alliance, to learn more about the need to equip women around the world with theological education.
