Here in the United Kingdom (UK), most churches have been without full-time leadership in recent years. When my husband and I moved to the heart of England to work with the Midlands churches of Christ almost two years ago, for the 8 regions of the London church and the 11 other UK churches, there were 7 men and one women employed as full time ministers. This is much less staff support than what these churches had been used to.

 

 

While I do not believe that having people in the full-time paid ministry is the cure for all a church’s ills (we all know that we full time people can cause our share of problems from time to time!), -- and I do believe a church can be healthy and grow in all aspects without full-time ministry staff, under the right conditions (all things are possible with God!) -- the reality of the situation here is that many good-hearted people who have stood in the gap in recent years, labouring at their full time jobs, raising their families, in some cases managing chronic illness, struggling to help hurting Christians heal and to hold the churches together, have not had the time or in some cases the training to help the churches mature and grow. And sadly, the ministry as a vocation has not been perceived in recent years as a safe place for a woman to thrive and grow and raise her family.

 

Last year I attended a UK staff retreat where the participants consisted of nine brothers and me.

 

In contrast, this past weekend I went to another UK staff retreat – with a wonderful difference, from a woman’s perspective! This time, there were 15 men and 12 women in attendance! (It should be noted – not all these women are in the paid ministry. Most are wives of men in the full-time paid ministry).

In the last few weeks, two women have been brought onto the ministry staff in London on a part-time basis: Nancy Lamb (seen in the picture on the left with her husband Barry and one of their three children) and Helen Nanjundan (seen in the picture on the right with her husband Mohan and their two children).

There’s good news for the women’s ministry in Continental and Northern Europe as well. At the end of last summer, Katrine Yttrehus went on staff in Norway, alongside her husband, Ronny. Earlier this year, Chris and Kim Reed moved from Denver to Stockholm, Sweden, to serve the Nordic churches in the full time ministry. This summer, Joe and Annie Silipo and their family will move from Los Angeles to Milan (a church they helped to plant).

 

Credit for this “beginning of the turnaround” goes first and foremost to God, then to a large and varied group of his faithful servants on the ground, from churches around the world, who have each made (and in many cases, are continuing to make) great sacrifices in particular and unique ways to help and to heal individuals, groups, and churches. Please keep the women of the European churches in your prayers!