The October issue of Christianity Today highlights and celebrates women who are making a difference throughout the body of Christ in various channels of influence.
Sarah Pulliam Bailey and the editors compiled a list (in no particular order) of 50 who are shaping the life of the church and culture in significant ways. (To order your copy, click here.)
I was thrilled to see friends and soon-to-be-friends on the list.
I couldn’t help by cheer with Sara Groves whose music I’ve long adored, Ann Voskamp (when are we having that sleepover?), Elisa Morgan who continues to lead leaders, Jo Ann Lyon who is a fearless leader among the Weslyans, Kara Powell whose research is changing the way teenagers are raised, and so many more.
But I also can’t help but notice that any list like this has its limits, as noted by the editors of Christianity Today. These kinds of lists raise the questions of who should be included and who would you nominate.
I know many more “Women to Watch” than any list like this could ever contain—I bet you do, too.
I know women like Heather Zempel who is changing the way community life and small groups are done at National Community Church in Washington D.C. Women like Amena Brown who are carving out a unique place in the church as a spoken word artist. Women like Tammy Dunahoo who help lead the Foursquare Denomination. Women like Selma Wilson and Faith Whatley who are providing guidance in their roles at Lifeway. Women like Sheila Frost who are using their gifts to serve faithfully at a church outside of Charlotte, North Carolina. Women like Christa Flannery who are raising suburban’s full of kids to know and love Christ.
Christianity Today’s list wasn’t meant to be complete—not without your name on it (if you’re a woman). But rather this list is an invitation to begin looking at the women all around who are passionately serving Jesus and using their gifts for His glory and be inspired to do the same.
Will you join me? Oh, and who would you love to add to this list?
- Jennifer Wiseman
- Nancy Sleeth
- Katharine Hayhoe
- Bonnie Wurzbacher
- Dorothy Chappell
- Tracey Bianchi
- Roberta Green Ahmanson
- Sara Groves
- Roma Downey
- Jordin Sparks
- Mavis Staples
- Bethany Hamilton
- Marilynne Robinson
- Elisabeth Elliot
- Lauren Winner
- Luci Shaw
- Ann Voskamp
- Margaret Feinberg
- Rachel Held Evans
- Brenda Salter McNeil
- Christine Caine
- Bethany Hoang
- Lynne Hybels
- Amy Sherman
- Jenny Yang
- Joni Eareckson Tada
- Kay Coles James
- Condoleezza Rice
- Sarah Palin
- Jean Bethke Elshtain
- Michele Bachmann
- Priscilla Shirer
- Carolyn Custis James
- Anne Graham Lotz
- Joyce Meyer
- Kay Warren
- Beth Moore
- Jo Anne Lyon
- Amy Julia Becker
- Elisa Morgan
- Juli Slattery
- Leslie Parrott
- Jen Hatmaker
- Katherine Leary Alsdorf
- Esther Fleece
- Elaine Howard Ecklund
- Nicole Baker Fulgham
- Kara Powell
- Kim Phipps
- Shirley Mullen
To order your copy of Christianity Today’s “50 Women to Watch” and read more about each of these remarkable women, click here.