Becoming His Story. Mary-Elsie Wolfe

Becoming His Story

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How do we draw the reality of women’s experience in the history of the church in a way that doesn’t simply reproduce its lines but reads between them and redraws them for the future? Mary-Elsie Wolfe shows how in this thin book, thick and rich with insights about the past, outlines of the present, and outfittings for the future.

—Leonard Sweet

Best-selling author, professor (Drew University, George Fox University),

and chief contributor to sermons.com

Mary-Elsie Wolfe weaves together a tapestry of everyday personal experiences, scholarly sources and devotional thoughts in this book about significant “moments” that women experienced with Jesus in the Gospel of John. She’s not interested in debating the usual Pauline passages on the role of women in Christian communities; instead she invites the reader to watch, listen to and reflect on some very telling experiences and the underlying message that Jesus was giving about the place of women in his Kingdom.

—Bishop Keith Elford

Bishop of The Free Methodist Church in Canada (1997 to 2017),

executive committee member of the Free Methodist World Conference

Mary-Elsie Wolfe draws us into the stories of women in the New Testament who have fully embraced their calling and illustrates the lessons learned through her own life experiences. The invitation is to see with new eyes how Jesus and the early Church broke with cultural norms to include women and then to look beyond the restrictions of our own culture in order to participate in what God is birthing in the church today.

—Lynn Smith

Former VP of Student Development/Dean of Students, Tyndale University College and Seminary; author of Gender or Giftedness and Mentoring: Leaving a Legacy; founding member of NextLEVEL Leadership

Think of Christianity as a set of doctrines to believe or rules to observe? Then this book is for you. Wolfe makes clear, Christ is not out to make us dutiful servants but to win our hearts with his all-embracing love. Having Christ formed in us is what our souls hunger for. Mary-Elsie makes clear that no matter who we are, “our season of life is no barrier to having Christ formed in us.”

—Elisabeth Natividad

Lead Pastor, Grace Methodist Church

This is the best book I have read on the topic of leadership from the perspective of a coaching relationship. As a professional executive leadership coach, I find Mary-Elsie’s treatment of leadership refreshing as well as motivational. She deals with women and men in leadership in a fair and balanced way. Her thoughts about followership are quite insightful for both genders. If you want to learn more about leadership, become renewed in your leadership or have questions about women in leadership, this is a must-read book.

—Patrick Lattore, PhD

President of PAL~Leadership (an executive coaching company),

former associate provost and faculty member teaching leadership

at Fuller Theological Seminary

Becoming His Story: Inspiring Women to Leadership

Printed in Canada

ISBN 978-1-927355-52-7 (soft cover)

ISBN 978-1-927355-53-4 EPUB

Published by:

Castle Quay Books

Burlington, Ontario

Tel: (416) 573-3249

E-mail: [email protected] www.castlequaybooks.com

Edited by Marina Hofman Willard

Cover and interior design by Burst Impressions

Printed at Essence Printing, Belleville, Ontario

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved. • Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. • Scripture quotations marked (NRSV) are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible. Copyright © 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A., and are used by permission. All rights reserved. • Scripture quotations marked (NASB) are taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. • Scriptures marked (ESV) are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version which is adapted from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. All rights reserved.

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

Wolfe, Mary-Elsie, author

Becoming his story : inspiring women to leadership / Mary-Elsie Wolfe.

ISBN 978-1-927355-52-7 (softcover)

1. Christian women--Religious life. 2. Leadership--Religious aspects--

Christianity. 3. Leadership in women. 4. Christian life. I. Title.

BV4527.W64 2017 248.8’43 C2017-901120-0

Dedication

To Elizabeth, Abby, Eliana and Amy—my beautiful nieces and daughters. May your lives be a tapestry of grace, beauty and the fruit of the Spirit, leading others to better places, propelled by the love of God, with full engagement of the gifts and talents that you offer the world! And to Alex, Patrick, Fletcher, Braden and Gregory, may you foster a world that enjoys the freedom of all people and sees your dreams through God’s lens of hope. To all of you, dream big—in partnership with the God who is so much bigger!

Contents

To learn from Jesus

My Story

Worldview and Cultural Lens

Chapter 3

The Truth About Women

Chapter 4