Liberating Truth

Danielle Strickland

Description

Danielle Strickland contends that women everywhere remain subjugated by cultural norms that tell them to conform, hold back, and turn aside from God's call upon their lives. Consequently many women fail to play a full part in the healing and restoration of society. The church should take the lead. In this prophetic book Danielle observes: -We should be the ones who model an alternative approach to leadership. We are the ones with the Bible and the witness of the Holy Spirit who through Scripture, reason, tradition and experience has shown, over and over again His heart for the release of women to exercise their gifts.-The book covers: The current situation (exploitation or subjugation); the historical situation (feminism and the Christian tradition); key biblical material; justice (the feminization of poverty); what does the future offer, and what should the church do?

Sujets

• Christianity

Informations

• Publié par: Lion Hudson
• Date de parution: 01 avril 2011
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780857211064
• Langue: English

Extrait

Danielle Strickland unpicks centuries-old misunderstandings of the status of women in the church with a message that is at once striking and refreshing.
- David Westlake, Integral Mission Director, Tearfund
Read The Liberating Truth and discover revelation from the heart of God that will rock your world! Danielle is a true ambassador for the Kingdom of God. She is a hard core lover of Jesus and has been powerfully used by God. I deeply love, respect, and fully endorse Danielle Strickland.
- Patricia King, Co-Founder of XPmedia
This may be the most significant issue of our time - a Christ-saturated view of gender - specifically, how Jesus sees females, and what the Bible actually says about it. In our lifetime millions of women and girls are being trafficked and millions of female babies have been aborted. Within the church countless women with Holy Spirit gifts and callings to preach the Gospel and to lead, have been silenced, marginalised and disempowered. The need for the insights expressed in this book is urgent!
- Lieut.-Colonel Janet Munn, Secretary for Spiritual Life Development, The Salvation Army
This book is amazing! Danielle gives us the theology of how God views women and specifically how this relates to women in leadership. It is an incredibly practical guide on what it takes to be in leadership and how to reach your potential. I m delighted that Danielle has written this book. She s the living embodiment of its message and one of the most inspiring people I know!
- Wendy Beech-Ward, Director, Spring Harvest
Danielle s passion for the Kingdom of God shines through as she champions God s agenda for freedom and equality. A challenging and powerful read for both sexes.
- Mike Pilavachi, Soul Survivor
The Liberating Truth is just that: liberating and truth! Danielle Strickland is one of the most anointed communicators I have ever heard. These pages will keep you gripped, challenge you, open you up to truth-filled revelation and empower you.
- Faytene Kryskow, Author/Revivalist, TheCRY and MY Canada
If you want to change the world, empower women - it is as true now as it has always been. In a world where the ugly and dangerous prejudice of gender discrimination is still too often disguised by an appeal to doctrinal correctness, The Liberating Truth poses a profound challenge.
- Steve Chalke MBE, UN Special Advisor on Community Action Against Human Trafficking
I am a woman and I want my life to make a difference. I am a leader who wants to know that God is leading me. I have a daughter who will know that God calls women to take a lead in making the world a different place. Danielle reminds us that God liberates us all from the limitations of this world.
- Ruth Dearnley, Chief Executive, Stop the Traffik
God has always used women on the frontline. Too often they ve been prevented from taking their place by their own misgivings, by the prejudice and injustice of male leaders setting restrictions, or discriminatory cultural norms.
Reading this book will convince you to let God have his way, unfettered, so that women, empowered by the Holy Spirit, take their place to preach, to lead, and influence the growth of God s Kingdom. This book gives timely, forceful, passionate support from every angle - biblically and theologically, socially and culturally, historically and politically, and especially spiritually from a Jesus perspective.
Danielle Strickland not only convinces in word, but to see her in action and hear her preach is living proof of God s power through an obedient servant.
- General Dr Eva Burrows, The Salvation Army
The Liberating Truth
How Jesus Empowers Women
Danielle Strickland

Oxford, UK & Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA
Copyright 2011 by Danielle Strickland
The right of Danielle Strickland to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
First published in the UK in 2011 by Monarch Books (a publishing imprint of Lion Hudson plc) and by Elevation (a publishing imprint of the Memralife Group): Lion Hudson plc, Wilkinson House, Jordan Hill Road, Oxford OX2 8DR Tel: [phone]; Fax [phone]; email [e-mail] ; www.lionhudson.com Memralife Group, 14 Horsted Square, Uckfield, East Sussex TN22 1QG Tel: [phone]; Fax [phone]; www.elevationmusic.com
ISBN 978 0 85721 019 7 (print) ISBN 978 0 85721 106 4 (ePub) ISBN 978 0 85721 105 7 (Kindle) ISBN 978 0 85721 107 1 (PDF)
Distributed by: UK: Marston Book Services, PO Box 269, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4YN USA: Kregel Publications, PO Box 2607, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49501
Acknowledgments - Click here
British Library Cataloguing Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Cover image: Corbis.
Cover

Praise

Title Page

Copyright

Epigraph

Dedication

Acknowledgments

Part One:
Brothels and Burqas

1. You are Not a Princess

2. Killing Us with Cotton

3. A Song of Lies

4. Invisible

5. Ball and Chain

Part Two:
What the Bible Says

6. The Whole Truth and Nothing But

7. Words Have Power

8. Jesus the Feminist

9. The Witness of the Holy Spirit

10. A Deeper Look

11. A Love that Empowers

12. What Liberation Looks Like

Notes
In the nineteenth century, the central moral challenge was slavery. In the twentieth century, it was the battle against totalitarianism. We believe that in this century the paramount moral challenge will be the struggle for gender equality around the world.
Half the Sky : How to Change the World , Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn (Virago, 2010)
This book is dedicated to the women who, in the midst of prejudice and persecution, have paved the way towards living a love that liberates. This empowering truth has changed my life and offers the kind of hope that I m convinced will change the world.
To my husband and co-labourer in the fight for God s kingdom come: your life is empowering; your love like a blazing fire; like a mighty flame. I m living my best life with you. What joy.
To my two boys, Zion and Judah: you were born to change the world and you ve already begun with me. You are warriors; may these truths help liberate you to fight by living a better way.
Vicky - you are a legend! Wendy - you are great with a pencil! Thanks to Caroline, Tony and Jenny (and all those at Lion Hudson). Thanks to all those denominations and church organizations who are willing to stand up with and for women. Here s to God s kingdom come! To the women in whose wake I walk - thank you. And to all the godly men I know who walk in this great revelation and make God look good - thank you.

A few years ago I read a popular Christian book written for women. It was highly recommended by a friend who told me it had changed her life. I thought it d be worth a read. I liked the book in many ways. I think I understood what the authors were trying to say, but, to be honest, it really bothered me at the same time.
It troubled me because it contained every possible feminine clich known to humanity. It bothered me because it assumed that a woman s longing for a man to complete her was gospel truth instead of an enemy lie. It smothered me in gooey princess talk that made me think I d been invited to a pyjama party hosted by the Spice Girls.
Its premise was that every little girl longs to be a princess. Now, I know that tons of little girls do long to be princesses. All the more, I m sure, because we help them along with excessive cultural clues. But it concerned me because I didn t fit with that norm. I didn t match the recipe. I couldn t relate.
I called my mother to ask if I had actually once longed to be a princess but then stuffed my feelings down and repressed them because of something terrible and tragic that had happened that distorted my feminine state. I was starting to think that I might never have had what it takes to be a true woman. After all, in this book my wholeness and salvation were rooted in the fact that I should have a female need to be a princess.
My mother laughed out loud. She said that I had never once even hinted that I had a longing or a need or a desire to be a princess. She was still laughing when she reminded me of the number of times she offered me money to wear a dress and I couldn t be convinced. She laughed because now, years later, as a wife and mother in full-time ministry, emotionally healthy and strongly independent, I was letting a popular Christian book bother me so much. But it did.
The popular Christian concept of a good woman is someone extremely feminine, sensitive, good-looking, and submissive to a handsome husband who keeps his promises. Lovely - if you live in Disneyland. Or, actually, if you live in this male-dominated, externally obsessed Western world.
I think that s the thing that concerns me the most: the Christian woman looks just like the Oprah one. Glossy magazines, enhanced body parts, and Botox for everyone.
So - teeth whitening and skinny jeans make for a satisfied Christian life?
Where is that in the Bible?
And is God s plan for me really about squeezing myself into a worldly mode where I m judged by my external self before my internal self has a chance to breathe? I mean, I ve even heard of female Christian worship leaders being critiqued on their size and appearance. Whatever happened to talent and gifting and anointing?
N. T. Wright wrote about this stereotyping: When you look at strip cartoons, B grade movies, and Z grade novels and poems, you pick up a standard view of how everyone imagines men and women behave. Men are macho, loud-mouthed, arrogant thugs, always fighting a