This is part two of our conversation with Prof Jacqualine Grey (Professor of Biblical Studies at Alphacrucis) as we continue our series on Courageous Women.

In this episode, Jacqui shares about how Jesus counter culturally treated the women of his day. We’ll see for example, how radical it would have been for Jesus to include women as his disciples. Like in the story of Mary and Martha.

The New Testament shows us how both men and women were equally valued. It would have been seen as vital that both men and women were involved in all areas of ministry and leadership in the early church. Jacqui shares how women’s involvement in the New Testament church was essential if the gospel was to grow.

We also invite Jacqui to address ‘those scriptures’ that seem to limit women in some of Paul’s letters. She helps unpack some of the context behind Paul’s words to help us better understand why he said what he did. 

Finally, Jacqui gives us a word of encouragement for both men and women who are called to be bold and courageous as we step into the new territory God has for us today. 

We continue our series on ‘Courageous Women’ as we seek to affirm and encourage women on mission. We’re diving deep over the next two weeks as we look at a biblical perspective on women in ministry. It’s great to have Rev Prof Jacqueline Grey with us from Alphacrucis University College.

Jacqui shares some of her own background as a woman in the church who has sought to study the scriptures. She then begins to unpack some of the context women faced in New Testament times. For instance, was it normal for women to be students (disciples) during this time?

In this first of two episodes with Jacqui, we start to form a biblical basis for the value God has towards women. Looking broadly at the Old Testament, Jacqui reveals the deep significance of God including both ‘male and female’ in his own image.

Whether you are a man or women, you will be blessed by Jacqui’s insights that she passionately shares with us over these two weeks.

Over the coming weeks we will be hearing from varioius women on mission. We will hear their stories. How they overcame difficulties and blockages. 

Join us as they speak into the challenges of being in ministry and leadership. Hear how they are catalysing other women to reach out. To break through the barriers they face to follow God and his call. 

We will also dive deeper into understanding a biblical basis for women in ministry and leadership as the series progresses. 

We start our ‘courageous women’ podcast series this week joined by Letitia Shelton from ‘City Women’. Letitia has a remarkable story of stepping out into her community and empowering women in her city of Toowoomba (Queensland, Australia). You will be inspired by her story of how she has catalysed many into mission beyond the traditional structures of church. Letitia is a powerful voice when it comes to seeing women stepping out to become, what she calls, ‘disruptive women’. 

Praxeis worker, Karen shares with us about how God is powerfully working in her home country of Sri Lanka. Karen shares of how God has changed her heart and called her and her husband, Spenser back to Sri Lanka. 

As you listen, you’ll be moved by the stories. From a nation currently suffering from economic collapse. Yet hope is being planted in households. From a team of local women seeking to minister amongst the poorest of the poor in central Sri Lanka. The good news of Jesus is spreading from village to village as families comes to faith even from the sharing of dying children. 

Karen shares how we can be praying for a suffering and impoverished Sri Lanka at this time. Where movement is being sparked, bringing the hope of Jesus. 

Get in touch with Karen and Spenser by emailing us at [email protected]

This week we catch up with our Praxeis leader Gabi. She has been ministering amongst Gypsy refugees from Ukraine. Gabi shares how her team has been practically serving the Gypsy people since the war broke out. They have been providing emergency food relief to 177 refugee families (representing over 1000 people) across Hungary and Ukraine through the ‘love project’. Listen to Gabi share of the wonderful opportunities God is opening up through this ministry amongst a desperate people.

This is part two of hearing from Wolfgang Simson. This week Wolfgang answers the question: what is the gospel? Get ready to hit ‘reset’ in your head and heart as Wolfgang challenges us to live by what he calls ‘the constitution of the Kingdom of God’.

This week we have Wolfgang Simson from Germany share with us his powerful story and insights into church.

Coming from a Lutheran church background, Wolfgang speaks about his deep discontentment with the status quo of the Christianity around him as a young man. Carrying a passionate heart to see justice, he talks about his search for answers in communism. Finally he encounters an angel as a taxi driver one night. From then, he passionately follows Jesus, still struggling to find answers in traditional church structures. He starts learning that he needs to join in what God is doing in Muslim and then Hindu contexts.

Wolfgang confronts our religiosity as he asks us whether our church planting is helping or in fact contributing more to the problem? He has carried a strong apostolic and prophetic voice to us as the church over many years.

Get ready to be challenged. To model a type of church that is worth multiplying. To follow and obey Jesus in every area of life.

This is part two of a conversation with David Broodryk. David shares about the importance of not only lostness but also brokenness when identifying multiplying leaders. He speaks into what to look for in potential leaders. Let your faith be fuelled this week to embrace the passions God has placed on each of our hearts.

Many of us have been inspired by David Broodryk and the vision he carries. In this first of two episodes with David, we hear more about his story. David talks openly about the radical shifts that God did in his life. These include some very personal shifts of placing significance in ministry position. Or as David says, “in the work of God versus the God of the work”. David speaks about the tactical shifts that the Discovery Bible Study uncovered. The impact of David Watson and the strategic shifts he instilled. Many of these were changes God was making in some of us in Australia at the same time.

Be inspired by David as he encourages us to keep stepping out beyond our fears of failure. To take risks and even be willing to fail many times in order to see God move and change us as leaders and the world around us. 

We continue to engage with what movements look like in the West. This week we hear from David Milne, a movement catalyser and coach from the ‘steel city’ of Wollongong, Australia. Since carrying a burden for his generation in his young adulthood, Dave has increasingly dived into participating in and studying movements.

Dave shares with us some of his learns over the years. Including the importance of seeing disciple makers belonging to a wider team. For the coaching of workers to pray and sow widely. How vital it is to journey with each other to overcome difficulties and go through paradigm shifts. These are some great insights for us to grasp from Dave who continues to empower and up-skill many across various contexts to share with others and not give up.

Be spurred on as you listen to Dave’s longing for us to keep pressing into God and to maintain our focus on reaching the lost.